Tedy Sapp was drinking coffee at his table to the left. His blond hair was still brightly artificial. He had a new earring, but he was still wearing the Bath House employee costume, green polo shirt and chinos. Unlike the bartender and the two waiters who were setting up for lunch, Tedy filled the green polo shirt to fabric-stretching capacity. The muscles were so prominent, and the body so hard, and the gaze so flat that if I weren't so tough, Tedy Sapp might have scared me. Fortunately I was with Susan.
"Goodness gracious," Tedy said when he saw me. "Ya'll came back."
His voice had a gentle hoarseness, which as he talked, you soon forgot.
"Hello Tedy. This is Susan Silverman."
"The shrink," Sapp said.
"Yes," Susan said.
"And main squeeze," Tedy said.
"And only squeeze," Susan said, and put out her hand and smiled.
Tedy didn't appear to scare her. Tedy smiled back and stood and put out his hand and shook hers. Susan didn't appear to scare him. He gestured us to sit.
"Coffee? Beer? Late breakfast?"
"Coffee," I said.
"Could I get some hot water and lemon?"
Sapp grinned and didn't comment. He gestured one of the waiters over.
"Two coffees," he said. "And a pot of hot water and some lemon."
The waiter nodded and started away.
"And could I have some of those fake sugar thingies?" Susan said.
The waiter paused.
"We have Equal, m'am."
"That'd be great," Susan said.
"High maintenance," Tedy said.
"And well goddamned worth it," Susan said.
"You think?" Sapp said to me.
I nodded vigorously.
"How's the ophthalmologist?" I said.
"High maintenance," Tedy said.
He smiled.
"And well goddamned worth it," he said.
The waiter brought coffee and hot water with lemon and some little Equal thingies. I put a little cream and sugar in mine. Susan squeezed the lemon into the water, and stirred in a packet of Equal.
"So," Tedy said, looking at the room. "What do you need?"
"There's a town out west, place called Potshot. It's being harassed by a bunch of bad guys, and the cops can't seem to do much."
"They got the wrong cops," Sapp said.
"They do," I said.
Sapp picked up his coffee cup and held it in both hands while he took a sip.
"Lemme guess," he said to Susan. "He's gonna ask me if I want to go out there with him and straighten things out."
"How could you know?" Susan said.
"Gay intuition," Sapp said.
"Of course," Susan said.
Sapp looked at me.
"How many bad guys?" he said.
"Thirty or forty," I said.
"How many guys you got?"
"Counting you, three."
"There's two guys you asked ahead of me?" Sapp said.
"They were closer to home."
Sapp grinned.
"Aside from the fun of going out to West Bum Fuck, excuse me, Susan, in August to shoot it out with forty hoodlums, what's in it for me?"
"You get to work with me again," I said.
"Hot diggity," Sapp said.
"And I'll pay you a lot."
Sapp nodded and drank some more coffee.
"Place closes the month of August so everybody can have vacation."
"What could be more convenient?" I said.
"You planning on hiring anybody else?"
"I have a few more in mind," I said.
Sapp looked at Susan.
He said, "How do you feel about all of this?"
"I wish he were a portrait painter," Susan said, "but then he wouldn't be him, would he?"
"And that would be a bad thing?" Tedy said.
Susan smiled."Yes, God help me, that would be a bad thing."
"And you a shrink," Sapp said.
"When you two get through doing Sonny and Cher," I said, "could we sort of focus on the reason I'm here?"
"Which is to recruit me," Sapp said.
"Yes."
"Okay," Sapp said.
"Okay we'll focus? Or okay, you're in?"
"Okay, I'm in," Sapp said. "Though I may have to have Susan talk to Ben."
"The ophthalmologist?" Susan said.
Tedy nodded.
"Him," he said.
"How long have you been together?" Susan said.
"Twelve years."
"Do you think Ben wants you to be different than you are?"
"No," Sapp said and grinned. "I guess he only has eyes for me."
Susan sighed.
Chapter 21
IN LATE JuLY, in southeastern Nevada, the temperature is 100 and the sun shines every day. No one much cares about this in Las Vegas, because everything is air-conditioned and everyone is inside. Losing money.
I was at the bar in the Mirage, nursing a beer, playing the dollar slots, and waiting for Susan to get rid of fifty dollars playing blackjack. She had brought fifty dollars to gamble with and, since she didn't really know how to play blackjack, it wouldn't take long. I had tried to explain to her that the object was not to spend it, but to try to win more with it. I'm pretty sure she didn't believe me.
Bernard J. Fortunato was across the way with a dark-haired woman in spike heels who would have been taller than he was in her stocking feet. They were playing blackjack. Bernard was looking good in a blue seersucker suit, pink shirt, pink-and-white striped tie and a snap-brim straw hat with a pink hatband. I waited. It was bad form in Vegas to break someone's concentration while he was losing his money. I was in no hurry. I had ten more dollar coins to give to the slots at the bar. Occasionally I would win. But I was undeterred. I would keep feeding coins into the slot until they were gone.
After awhile Bernard J. Fortunato and his tall companion had won enough, or lost enough, I couldn't tell which, and headed for the bar where I sat. He spotted me while he was still halfway across the casino floor. He stopped and stood motionless while he looked at me, trying to remember. Then he came the rest of the way to the bar and stood in front of me.
"Spenser," he said.
I nodded. Bernard looked around. "Hawk with you?"
"No."
Bernard nodded as if this information confirmed his suspicions. He put a hand on the brunette's arm. "This is Terry," he said.
Terry smiled and put her hand out. She had on a short flowered summer dress with thin shoulder straps. She was quite beautiful, with big eyes and a wide mouth. All of her that showed, which was considerable, was pretty good. She was carefully made up, and probably somewhat older than she looked.
"Very pleased to meet you," she said.
"And you," I said.
They sat at the bar. Bernard sat beside me and Terry sat beside him.
"Whaddya drinking?" Bernard said.
"I'm all set," I said.
The bartender came down the bar.
"Coupla Mai Tais," Bernard said.
The bartender went away. Bernard looked at me sidelong with his head tilted.
"Whaddya doing here?" he said.
"I'm looking for you," I said.
"Why?"
"Confidential," I said.
The bartender came back with two Mai Tais and set them on the bar on little paper napkins.
Bernard said to Terry, "Take your Mai Tai couple a stools down the bar, while I talk with this guy."
"Sure," Terry said, and picked up her drink and her napkin and moved down to the end of the bar. She didn't seem to mind.
When we were alone, Bernard said, "So?"
"Still got that short Colt?"
"Sure."
"Want to make some money?"
"How much?"
"A lot."
"Sure."
"You want to know what you have to do?" I said.
"Let's get right to the amount," Bernard said.
I told him.
"And expenses?" Bernard said.
"Yes."
"Okay," he said. "What do you need done?"
I told him.
"Hawk in on it?" he said.
"Yes."
"Some others?"
"Yes."