Sudden Mischief Read Free

dissolution?"
    "All it proves is they haven't evicted you," I said.
    Sterling laughed out loud.
    "A hard man is good to find," he said when he had stopped laughing.
    "You want me to look into this a little?" I said. "See if I can fix it?"
    "I wish someone would fix Francis Ronan," he said.
    "Yes or no?"
    "What do you charge?"
    "Pro bono," I said.
    "Well, the damn price is right, I guess. Sure, why not? You may as well take a whack at it."
    "Okay. Who's your lawyer."
    He shook his head.
    "You don't have a lawyer?"
    "Haven't got to it yet," he said. "Thought I'd wait until there was an actual court date. No point in paying some guy to shuffle papers for a month."
    "Sometimes if a good lawyer shuffles them right, you don't have to go to court."
    "Oh," he said, "a good lawyer."
    And he leaned back in his chair and put his head back and laughed again. It was a big laugh and sounded completely genuine.
    "I'll need the names of the plaintiffs," I said.
    "Sure. I had Patti start a file on this. Ask her for a copy."
    I stood. He stood. We shook hands.
    "Give Susan a kiss for me," he said.
    "No," I said.

chapter three
    HAWK WAS SIPPING champagne at the corner of the bar in the Casablanca in Harvard Square and saving the bar stool next to him for me. As far as I could tell, no one had contested the seat.
    "I ordered us a mess of pan-fried oysters," Hawk said. "Figured you could use the protein."
    Jimmy the bartender looked at me and pointed to the Foster's tap. I nodded.
    "Been here before?" Hawk said.
    "Susan and I come here."
    Jimmy brought the beer.
    "Irish," Hawk said.
    "His name is James Santo Costagnozzi," I said.
    "Bad luck," Hawk said. "To look Irish when you not."
    "Unless you're trying to pass," I said.
    "Nobody trying to pass for Irish," Hawk said.
    "Is that an ethnic slur?" I said.
    "Believe so," Hawk said.
    The pan-fried oysters arrived and we ate some.
    "Feelin' stronger?" Hawk said.
    "Potent is my middle name," I said.
    "Always wondered," Hawk said. "How you doing with Susan's ex?"
    "I met him today," I said.
    "Umm," Hawk said.
    "Umm?"
    "Umm."
    "What the hell does `umm' mean?"
    "Means how'd you feel talking with Susan's ex-husband."
    "He seemed like kind of a goofball to me."
    "Umm."
    "His name was Silverman," I said. "He changed it to Sterling."
    "Cute."
    We ate some more oysters.
    "He's got that sort of Ivy League old money WASP goofiness that they have," I said.
    "Silverman?"
    "Sterling," I said.
    "So he trying to pass."
    "I'd say so."
    "And succeeding," Hawk said.
    "Yes. He's got it down cold. Bow ties, everything."
    "Maybe he just like bow ties."
    "Who just likes bow ties?" I said.
    "Got a point," Hawk said. "How he measure up?"
    "To what?"
    "To you."
    "No better than anybody else."
    Hawk grinned.
    "'Cept me," he said. "How you feel about him?"
    "Something's wrong," I said. "Susan tells me he's at the verge of dissolution. He says he's doing grand and has the office to prove it."
    "So somebody lying," Hawk said.
    "Right."
    "And it ain't Susan."
    "Also right."
    "How she know he is in a state of near dissolution?" Hawk said.
    "Wow," I said. "You talk like an Ivy Leaguer yourself."
    "Ah's been practicin'," Hawk said. "How she know?"
    "I assume he told her."
    "So he either lying to her, or lying to you."
    "And he hasn't got much reason to tell her he's going under if he's not," I said.
    "'Less he looking for sympathy."
    "He's got no reason to," I said. "He's two, three wives past her."
    "So why he go tell her his troubles?"
    "Well, she's a good one if you need some help."
    "How long since he seen her?"
    I shrugged. "Maybe twenty years. She was already divorced when I met her."
    "And now he decides she's a good listener?"
    "Umm," I said.
    "'Tha's right," Hawk said.
    We were quiet. Someone was playing The Platters on the jukebox. In the corner of the bar up high a hockey game played silently on television. The perfect compromise.
    "Maybe knew about you," Hawk said.
    "He wanted me he could walk into my office and tell me