Mean Streets

left a puzzle for someone-me-to solve that would reveal the truth.'

'She was devious, that Maria-Luz.'

I smiled. 'Yeah.'

We pulled into the tiny covered carriageway of the guesthouse and I stumbled out of the car, suddenly exhausted.

Mickey caught my arm. 'Hey… uh… you leaving soon? 'Cause I still got a lot of questions.'

'Sorry, Mickey. I have to go tomorrow.'

'Oh.'

The church bells from the zocalo rang the quarter hour. I checked my watch; it was still early for Oaxaca on el Dia de los Muertos-only ten fifteen. But it felt like two a.m.

We walked up the stairs to my room, the house still quiet while everyone was at the cemetery. I stopped and studied Mickey as he waited for me to unlock my door. He was tired, but standing straighten His sullen look had changed into a thoughtful frown as he tried to understand what had happened and what might happen next.

'Hey,' he said again. 'Is Iko… going to… chew on the lawyer in hell?'

'I don't think so. When Banda dies, the dog gets to go free.'

Mickey grinned. It was really a nice grin. I smiled back.

Then I stumbled into my room and fell onto the bed and into sleep.

In the morning, I returned to Mexico City with only a short pause to lay some plans and then say good-bye to Mickey and his aunt. Mickey was grinning again, though this time there may have been more malice in it than the night before.

It was pretty early, but I managed to call Banda's office and get an appointment through his secretary. If he skipped out on me, I would hunt him down.

But he didn't. He was there when I arrived, even if he seemed a little puzzled about my appearance in his office. With a dog.

He looked at the strange dog and frowned. 'Did you pick up a stray in Oaxaca?'

'No. Don't you recognize this dog, Mr. Banda? A former client of yours was sure you would.'

Iko began to growl like he had at the airport and stalked toward the desk. Banda stood up, looking nervous. 'I think you should call off your dog.'

'He's really not mine,' I said, closing the door behind me. 'If you take a good look at him, I think you might recognize him. He's Maria-Luz's dog. And Hector Purecete's. Who used to be Estancio Rivera. You know: the guy your partner tried to kill by sinking the Dulcia.'

'I think you should be more careful what you say, Miss Blaine. That's slander.' He didn't look at me, just at the dog. The dog his secretary hadn't noticed. Nor anyone else we passed on the street or at the airport.

'Truth is a complete defense, I'm told. And the insurance company was never that convinced it was an accident,' I replied. 'But you know that. Because you helped cover it up. And still are. Which is how a guy in a two-man office can afford to fly to New York to watch the Yankees all season, every season. Because you steal, and you blackmail, and you pay people off. Like you paid off the guy at customs to break the dog so I'd go home. Didn't you?'

He was backing up as Iko kept coming, inexorable as death.

'Don't know what you're talking about…'

'Oh, yeah, you do. And so do the federal investigators who drop in to chat with you once in a while, and the petty officials, and everyone else you pay off so they won't pull your license and throw you in jail to rot. There's a long list of your transgressions if you know where to look. Like I do.'

'What the hell do you want, Miss Blaine? I'm sure we can settle up and go our ways. You and your dog,' he added, as if he'd like to spit, but didn't dare. He was sweating and turning pale. 'Will you be happy if I admit I paid to have the dog broken? Is that it?'

'No. I do like hearing you say so, but it's not enough. What will make me happy is if you were to suddenly remember Miss Arbildo's amended will. The one where she leaves everything to the families of the sailors who died on the Dulcia.'

'There's no such will!'

'There was.'

'No, there wasn't! Just the ones I showed you. Whose word are you taking? Mine or some… informant living in the hills?'

I walked closer to him. Iko had backed him to the wall. 'I am taking Maria-Luz's word for it. And in a few minutes, I'll take yours, because I think you'll want to make a clean breast of the whole thing.'

'You're crazy! Just as crazy as she was.'

I gave him a cold look. 'Iko, rip his throat out.'

The little dog let out a banshee howl and leapt for Banda's chest.

Banda screamed, and tried to cover his face and neck with his hands, falling over his desk chair as he flailed at the ghost dog.

The secretary pounded on the door, yelling.

I stuck my head out. 'He fell. He's OK,' I added, pointing to the thrashing man on the floor. 'Or not.' I shrugged.

The secretary stared at her boss, shrieking and writhing on the floor, and backed away muttering about the police and the doctors. I wasn't too worried. They wouldn't find a scratch on him.

Iko was biting savagely at Banda, who seemed to be feeling every snap of the little dog's incorporeal jaws. I have to hand it to Mickey and Maria- Luz: they did fine work. Iko was only 'alive' to the man whose life he was tied to: Banda.

'Iko,' I called. 'Get off that piece of trash.' I clapped my hands for the ghost dog's attention. 'Iko!'

Reluctantly, the dog jumped to the ground and stood on stiff legs in front of the lawyer, growling. Banda dragged himself up the wall, panting and shaking. He stared at the apparition with horror.

'Wha-what… is that?'

'It's retribution, Mr. Banda. That is Iko. He was on board the Dulcia when it sank. But Hector Purecete saved him. I don't think there's ever been a dog in this world-or the next-who hates you the way this one does. And he's all yours.'

I elbowed him sharply in the gut and he gasped. I pushed the bundle of hair into his mouth and shoved his jaw shut. Convulsively, he swallowed.

Then he gagged for a moment, staring at me, until he caught his breath again.

'Jesus. What was that?'

'It's Iko. It's the little bit of magic that was in the dog you were so scared of. And now it's yours. For the rest of your life. And maybe a little longer.'

He ran for his washroom and tried to throw up, but there was nothing to toss. He shook and prayed and babbled for a moment as Iko circled him, hackles raised and teeth bared.

'Payback's a bitch, isn't it?'

He glared at me as a renewed pounding started on the door. I backed up and leaned against it. 'You want to talk to these guys or do you want to get out of this mess?' I asked.

'I want to get the hell rid of you. And your damned dog!'

'Your damned dog, now, Banda. But I can tell you how to get rid of him. If you do what I want.'

'I'll have you arrested,' he growled, rubbing his throat as he staggered out of the washroom.

'Oh, come on. You know my lawyer. You think that's going to fly? And if you think you can arrange an accident for me like Jimenez did for Purecete, consider that you currently have a dead dog waiting for a word from me to start biting the living hell out of you. It won't kill you. But I'd bet you'll wish it would. Whoever is on the other side of this door is going to think you've gone insane when they see you rolling on the floor with an invisible dog. Because only you and I can see Iko.'

If hate were a living thing it would have leapt for my throat from his eyes. 'Saiga!' he shouted at the door. 'Salga! Estoy bien!'

The knocking died away.

'What. Do you want?'

'Ms. Arbildo's real will. I want it registered and entered for probate, or whatever you need to do to execute it. Today.'

'I don't have it,' he spat. 'It's gone. I burned it!'

'Then forge it. Like you forged the ones you showed me before. The estate is to be divided among the families of the crew of the Dulcia.'

'There is no estate to divide! Don't you get it, estupida gringa? It's all gone. The estate is bankrupt. The money is gone!'

'You told me Maria-Luz was loaded. That thirty thousand U.S. was a 'drop in the bucket.' And it didn't disappear until you were the sole controller. So you can un-bankrupt it the same way you broke it in the first place, Banda. And if you don't, you won't just have an angry ghost dog on your ass. Because even you and your dead partner and your cheap secretary can't possibly have blown that much money, and certainly not without leaving a trail wide enough to march the Mexican army down. So, you still have it. Which means it can be returned to its rightful owners.'

He glowered.

'Iko,' I said.

He threw himself into his chair, saying, 'No, no! Please.' He snatched his keyboard and began to type.

I came and stood over his shoulder, watching, while Iko growled nonstop. I looked the finished document over.

'That's pretty good, Banda. I see you'll still be able to feather your own nest, if less regally than before,' I added, glancing around his very nice office.