'I'm a simple Mexican shooter,' Chollo said. 'High finance, you'll need to talk with Mr. del Rio.'
'That's where I started,' I said.
'Mr. del Rio likes me and Bobby to screen his calls,' Chollo said.
'And I'm going to make it through?' I said.
I waited. It was probably two minutes before a new voice came on. It's a long time when you're on hold, but I had called before, and I knew the drill.
'Spenser? This is Victor del Rio,' the voice said.
'Thanks for taking my call,' I said.
'I don't forget things,' del Rio said.
'Chollo tell you what I'm looking for?' I said.
'Of course.'
'What can you tell me,' I said.
'A great deal,' del Rio said. 'I am just ruminating on how much I will tell you.'
'These people colleagues?' I said.
'Competitors, more precisely,' del Rio said. 'Not enemies, but they could become such.'
'And you'd prefer they didn't.'
'It will do me no economic good to make them such,' del Rio said.
'For what it's worth, no one will know where I got my information,' I said.
'Your word on that?'
'My word.'
'Your word is good,' del Rio said. 'Allow me to think another moment, is there anything I could tell you that only I would know.'
I waited.
Finally del Rio said, 'There's two brothers, Alexander and Augustine Beauregard. They run a company called AABeau Film Partners, in Burbank. The company funds movies. Most people refer to them simply as Alex and Augie, and what they really do is they launder money.'
'Mob money,' I said.
'Yes. They are connected to many criminal enterprises here in the Southland.'
'Mob wants to wash some ill-gotten gain,' I said. 'So they invest in AABeau Films. AABeau invests in movie production. When the film is made, take their cut, return the money to the Mob as profit from a legitimate enterprise.'
'Loosely defined,' del Rio said.
'Okay, you're not a film fan,' I said. 'But that's probably pretty much how it works, isn't it?'
'It is,' del Rio said.
'And you know this because . . . ?'
'Despite my distaste, I have occasionally invested.'
'Ill-gotten gain?' I said.
'No gain is ill gotten,' del Rio said.
'I like a man who is clear on what he believes,' I said.
'We both know what we believe,' del Rio said. 'The fact that we do not believe the same does not prevent mutual respect.'
'No,' I said. 'It doesn't. Where do Silver and Ratoff come in?'
'Silver is AABeau's security consultant. Ratoff is AABeau's lawyer.'
'They in-house?' I said. 'Or do they have other clients.'
'They have other clients, but it's probably camouflage.'
'Same clients?' I said.
'As each other?'
'Yes.'
'They seem always to work in tandem,' del Rio said.
'Silver do detective work, or strictly security.'
'He does some investigating, if needed. But mainly he supervises, ah, compliance, for AABeau.'
'Strong arm?' I said.
