Maybe so. But let’s make it informed speculation. Where haven’t we looked? There’s got to be a dusty secret hiding in some corner somewhere.
Another one.
Something too obvious to notice, maybe.
Just like the last one.
The data’s piling up. There’s a pattern in there. There has to be. We’ve just got to find it. Write the new stuff down.
Watson and Crick, I said.
That’s us, she agreed. Write it down.
I took out some blank cards. I wrote the new stuff down. I was surprised. Ten new cards. Jesus. A lot of new data.
I sorted the new cards into the deck. I spread them out. We looked at one card after another. We generated a lot of blank looks between us. We had another drink. We thought about stuff. Loose ends. Weak links. Where to go to next.
I pulled a card. Two names.
I tossed it to Dorita.
We talked to them already.
That was then. This is now.
Good point. We have more material.
Time passes. Attitudes change.
Right, she said. Let’s give it a shot.
Fine. You go see the girlfriend again.
Sarah.
Cherchez la femme.
If you insist.
Me, I’ll go home. I’ve got to get back to Kelly.
What, you’re not going to go try to get something more out of your junkie friend?
Serge? Are you kidding? We’d be lucky just to find him alive. After Sarah you can go cherchez la junkie too, if you like. I’m going home.
Your French is so bad it’s giving me a hernia.
So go herniate. Hey, I like that. ‘Go herniate.’ I think I’ll use that. Next time I run into Warwick.
Dorita laughed. She leaned over. She kissed me. Her mouth was soft and yielding.
The contrast with her personality was striking.
105.
Kelly and I baked bread. We watched old episodes of Family Guy. The place was warm. We made some Chinese soup. We loved to make Chinese soup. I tried not to remember that it was four days til the preliminary hearing.
We laughed. We ate. We joked.
The investigation could wait. Who was I fooling, anyway? I was no investigator. I was a dad. The little shit probably did it anyway.
My cell phone rang. It was Dorita.
Where the hell are you? she asked.
Home.
Still? Jesus. I should have known. I’m coming over.
I’m not sure…
See you in a few.
Damn.
Dorita’s coming over, I said to Kelly.
Okay, she said.
You’re sure? I asked.
Sure I’m sure, she said. Why not? She can have some soup.
I couldn’t read her.
By the time Dorita got there we were working on the sorbet. Chocolate walnut.
We’d kept some soup warmed on the stove.
Dorita didn’t look to be in a soup and sorbet mood.
I’ve got it, she said.
You’ve got it, I replied. Great. Have some soup.
You’re kidding. Didn’t you hear me? I said I’ve got it. I’ve got the last piece of the puzzle.
Okay, okay. What is it?
Here’s the scoop. It took me awhile, but I tracked her down.
The girlfriend?
Sarah.
Sarah. Right. And?
Quite a number.
I think you said that last time.
I may have. Anyway, it still applies. And I got something, darling. Something good.
You’ve outdone yourself.
More than I can say for your day’s work.
I can’t deny it. You win this round.
Just wait. I think I won the whole damn war.
I’ll gracefully concede.
You’d better. Or I’ll…
She looked at Kelly.
Okay, said Kelly. You can stop there. I’m going to Peter’s.
Sorry, I said.
Don’t worry about it, Dad, she said, heading for the door.
I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant.
All right, I said to Dorita. Can we get to the bloody point?
The point is, said Dorita, that it had nothing to do with poker.
Meaning?
Larry supposedly went to Jules’s place to collect on a poker debt. You remember that, don’t you, lunkhead?
I love you too. Yes, I remember it. Haven’t managed to verify that there even was a game, though.
That’s probably because there wasn’t one. Poker had nothing to do with it.
Nothing?
Nothing.
Now that is interesting. What did it have to do with?
Larry knew something.
Yes?
Sarah didn’t know what. But whatever it was, Larry thought it was going to make him rich.
A shakedown? Precisely.
Yet more interesting. What did he know, exactly?
You’re not listening. She didn’t know. He didn’t tell her. But it was something big. Something really big.
Well. I’m not sure that you’ve exactly busted the case wide open here, darling. I’m not even sure you’re right about the poker thing.
