Sixkill

'When available,' I said.

'But you choose a work in progress.'

'People need to work,' I said.

'For crissake, people need not to get shot, too,' Susan said.

'Suze,' I said. 'I wasn't planning on having anybody watch my back. There's a time when I might, but not yet. I can't be who I am, and do what I do, if I'm calling out for backup every time somebody speaks harshly to me.'

'I know,' Susan said. 'You are what you are and you do what you do. I accepted that about you a long time ago.'

'So it gives Z a chance to see what he's learned and what he's about, without, at least not yet, too big a risk.'

'I'd prefer no risk,' Susan said.

'Me too,' I said.

She shrugged and drank half her martini.

'And I accepted it all a long time ago,' she said.

She picked up her menu.

'All the guys in all the world,' she said, in what was maybe a Bogart impression, 'I had to fall for you.'

'Isn't it grand,' I said.

She nodded as she looked at the menu.

'Yes, it is. . . .' she said. 'Mostly.'

28

I CALLED A MAN in Los Angeles named Victor del Rio, who ran most of the Latino rackets in Southern California. I had done his daughter a favor once. And he had done me a favor. And while we were on opposite sides of a lot of things, we were on speaking terms.

When you called del Rio, there was a protocol you had to go through. Bobby Horse answered the phone. I knew the faint Indian sound in his voice.

'Spenser,' I said. 'From Boston. I'm sure you remember me fondly.'

'Whaddya want,' Bobby Horse said.

'I'm working with a Cree Indian,' I said.

'I'm Kiowa,' Bobby Horse said. 'I don't give a fuck about no Crees.'

'Just reminding you of my Native American-friendly creds,' I said.

'Yay,' Bobby Horse said.

'I need to talk to Mr. del Rio,' I said.

'Talk to Chollo,' Bobby Horse said.

There was a pause. I heard Bobby Horse say something, and then Chollo came on the line.

'Who you need me to shoot today?' he said.

Chollo was a graceful, mid-sized Mexican who was probably the best shooter I'd ever seen. Vinnie Morris might be as good, hard to be sure, but if I had to bet, my money would be on Chollo. He had helped me out in a place called Proctor some years back, and more recently, he and Bobby Horse had helped me win a small war in a place called Pot Shot. As far as I could ever tell, Chollo wasn't afraid of anything at all.

'Nobody yet,' I said. 'I'm looking for information.'

'Si.'

'Guy named Elliot Silver, runs a security service out there.'

'Si.'

'Guy named Carson Ratoff, who's a lawyer.'

'I know them,' Chollo said.

'I'm working on the Jumbo Nelson case; you know about that?'

'Si.'

'You ever hear the old Jack Benny routine?'

'About si?' Chollo said, pronouncing it to rhyme with high.

'Si,' I said, pronouncing it to rhyme with tree. 'I'm told there's important money behind Jumbo, and if I discover that he's guilty, and say so, bad things will happen.'

'For sure, to Jumbo,' Chollo said.

'Know anything about important money invested in Jumbo?' I said.