'And it doesn't do any harm, either,' Rita said, 'if people think I might discard it easily.'
'More easily maybe than you actually do,' I said.
Rita smiled.
'I'm pretty easy,' she said.
'We all use what we've got,' I said.
'Like you don't? You know what you look like. You know perfectly well that half the women in the city would disrobe in a heartbeat if you simply glanced at them.'
'Now you tell me,' I said.
'I'll sit in on this if I may,' Rita said.
'Glad to have you,' I said.
'How you want to play the opening moments?' Rita said.
'Margie will let him in,' I said. 'You'll be sitting on the edge of your desk with your legs crossed.'
'You like that,' Rita said.
'I do,' I said. 'So will Jumbo. I'll be behind the open door, and when Margie closes it behind him, I'll step out and lean on it.'
'And then?' Rita said.
'We'll improvise,' I said.
34
IT WAS TWO O'CLOCK in the afternoon, and through Rita's big windows the harbor looked a lot bluer than I knew it to be, when Margie ushered Jumbo into the room and closed the door behind him. Jumbo had a box of candy. Probably kept a store of candy for occasions like this. He started into the room. Margie closed the door, and I stepped behind him and stood with my back against it. He looked at me.
'What the fuck?' he said.
'Ah, yes,' I said. 'The ultimate question.'
Jumbo looked at Rita.
'What's he doing here?' Jumbo said.
'We want to talk,' Rita said.
'You fucking got me down here to talk?' Jumbo said.
'I did,' Rita said.
'You lying bitch,' Jumbo said.
'Exactly,' she said. 'Sit down.'
Jumbo looked at the door and me standing in front of it. He and I both knew he couldn't get past me.
'You fucking people are digging yourself a fucking hole you'll never get out of,' he said.
'I'll agree,' Rita said, 'that there's a hole being dug.'
'I'm telling you right now, you got no idea the trouble you're in,' Jumbo said.
Rita nodded.
'Sit down,' she said.
Her voice was imperative. No curing erectile dysfunction now. Maybe causing some. Jumbo sat. He held the box of candy in his lap. Rita stood and walked around her desk and sat.
'I'm not trying to put you in jail,' I said. 'I'm just trying to find out what happened to Dawn Lopata.'
'You can talk to my fucking lawyer about that,' Jumbo said.
'You know Zebulon Sixkill is working for me now,' I said.
It wasn't quite true. Henry had given him a job at the Harbor Health Club, handing out towels and bottles of water and checking people in. A condition of his employment being that he wear a tight white T-shirt. So I lied. It was nothing compared to the whopper Rita had recently told.
'I don't care where he is or what he's doing,' Jumbo said. 'He's a freaking loser.'
I nodded.
'I'm gonna give you a list of names,' I said. 'Whenever you hear a name you know, tell me.'
'What, are we playing some fucking parlor game.'
'Elliot Silver,' I said.
Jumbo stared at me.
'Carson Ratoff,' I said.
