'They'll send Stephano,' Z said.
Quirk and I both looked at him. He sipped his scotch.
'Stephano DeLauria,' I said.
'Alice's husband,' Z said. 'Nicky Fellscroft's enforcer.'
'You know him?' I said.
'I've seen him,' Z said. 'And I've heard about him.'
'I'm told he's good,' I said.
'Hall of fame,' Z said. 'Like a man playing with boys.'
'Like us,' I said.
'Maybe better,' Z said.
'I'll see what I can learn about Stephano,' Quirk said.
'I'll make a call, too,' I said.
Quirk nodded. He looked at Z again.
'Why are you so sure?' Quirk said.
'Been with Jumbo for a while. Pay attention. Everybody got a lot of faith in Stephano, and everybody scared of him.'
'But you're willing to go up against him,' Quirk said.
'Oh, sure,' Z said. 'Indians are always optimistic.'
'And with so little reason,' Quirk said.
'If you're right,' I said to Z, 'he may bring others.'
'So did Custer,' Z said.
48
'I DON'T THINK he's changed,' Susan said. 'You know him better than I do, but I think he has gotten rid of a lot of stuff that wasn't really Zebulon Sixkill.'
'How'd he do that?' I said.
'He seems finally to have someone he can emulate,' Susan said.
It was Sunday morning, and we were having a breakfast that extended into the afternoon.
'Me?' I said.
'You,' Susan said.
She had drunk a small fruit smoothie, which had brought her past noon, and was now eating a single soft-boiled egg, with whole-wheat toast, which would probably take her to mid-afternoon.
'Well, who wouldn't emulate me?' I said.
'Everyone at Harvard,' Susan said.
'Oh, them,' I said.
'Z is, from my admittedly limited vantage, becoming more like you every day,' Susan said. 'Which suggests to me that he was probably a good deal like you to start with.'
'Big and handsome, with a magnificent physique?' I said.
'Sure,' Susan said. 'It may be why he came to you in the first place.'
'Because he was like me?'
'Because at some unconscious level, he may have sensed that he might be,' Susan said.
'Think maybe that might be why I took him on?'
'Yes,' Susan said.
'Seeing beyond the magnificent-physique similarities,' I said.
Susan nodded.
'He did well at the shoot-out,' she said.
'Just fine,' I said.
She nodded.
'And so did you,' she said.
'Good as ever,' I said.
'In neither case was that because of how you looked,' Susan said.
'Who you are is not always how you look?' I said.
