Potshot

"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 go

"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 gri

"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 pla

"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 So

"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 gri

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."

"How many?"

"So far, counting you and me, five."

"You got some others guys in mind?"

"I'm working west," I said.

"L.A.?" he said.

"Yes."

"Okay. What's first?"

"First," I said, "is you drive down to Potshot and rent us a house. Talk to a local broker down there, J. George Taylor."

I handed him one of my business cards with Taylor's name and address on the back.

"House should be big enough for six, seven guys. Use any name you want as long as it matches your car registration. Move in. When you got a phone, call me. Don't say anything much to anybody about anything."

Bernard looked at me disgustedly.

"Don't talk? What do I look like, Blabbermouth Barbie? I done this kind a work before."

"Good to hear," I said.

"And I'm a cash-and-carry business. Up front."

I took a checkbook from my inside pocket and wrote out a check and ripped it out and handed it to Bernard. He looked at it to make sure it was done properly, then he folded it and put it in his wallet.

"This clears, I'll head down to Potshot," he said. "I'll let you know."

I stood. Bernard jerked his head at Terry, who smiled and picked up her drink and moved back down the bar beside him.

"Nice to have met you," she said to me.

"You too," I said.