Bad Business

30

Coop gave it one more try at breakfast. Susan and I were at a C table by the window, where I was eating corned beef hash with a poached egg, and Susan was nursing half a bagel. Carrying a cup of coffee, Bob strode across the room trailing a gentle hint of expensive cologne. He pulled over a chair from another table, turned it around and sat straddling it with his forearms resting on the back.

"Hope I'm not interrupting," he said.

"Not at all," I said. "We were just speaking aimlessly of our hopes and dreams."

Coop smiled.

"You are a kidder, aren't you?"

"Makes me fun to be around," I said.

"Sure does," Coop said. "Whadda you think, Susan."

"Fun," she said.

She broke off a corner of her bagel and dabbed on a teardrop sized smudge of cream cheese. Coop watched her for a moment. Then he looked back at me.

"Well," Coop said to me, "on that very subject, I'd like to make you a little offer."

"You'd like to employ me to look into Rowley's death," I said.

Coop was startled. It was maybe the first actual feeling I'd seen him show.

"Well," he said. "Yes. How did you know?"

"Because I turned down your pipe surveillance offer in Tulsa.

"Tulsa?"

"Yeah. Tulsa in June is always tempting, but I couldn't leave Susan."

Coop looked genuinely confused. "Who made you that offer?" he said. I grinned at him.

"Gav," I said.

"Oh, well, I try not to micromanage. Are you interested in my offer?" He grinned. "I'm the CEO, it supersedes Gav's offer."

"Rank has its privileges," I said.

"Damn straight," Coop said. "You interested?"

"No," I said.

"Could I ask why?"

"I have a client," I said.

"And our interests coincide. Wouldn't it be better for Marlene if we assumed the cost of investigating her husband's death? She's a widow. Her resources may not be limitless."

"I don't know if your interests coincide," I said. "The only way I'll know that is by doing my work."

"You might consider working for us both. We could certainly improve upon your fee."

"Same answer," I said.

"He's a stubborn one, Susan."

"But fun to be around," Susan said.

Coop studied me for a moment. The rest of the Kinergy revelers were drifting in for breakfast, most of them lining up for the vast buffet.

"I'm a businessman," Coop said. "And if I can't close a deal one way, I come around at it from a different direction."

I ate some hash.

"How about coming aboard as a consultant?" I smiled.

"Consultant Spenser," I said.

"We could give you a pretty substantial consulting fee." "And I would advise Gavin on matters of security."

"As needed," Bob said. He grinned.

"No heavy lifting," he said. "You'd be free to pursue your own cases as well."

"And Rowley's death?"

"Anything you discovered you could share with us, help us provide maximum assistance to the police."

"That's all?"

"Sure," Coop said. I looked at Susan.

"That's all," I said to her.

"How nice," she said.

Her bagel was nearly a third gone. She must have been ravenous.

"Coop," I said. "Susan and I will be driving home after breakfast. Let us think about your offer."

"Sure thing," Cooper said. "We'd like to have you aboard, Big Guy."

"Thanks, Coop."

Cooper got up and moved through the room. He stopped at several tables, putting his hand on shoulders, patting backs, laughing, bending over to confide.

"Coop," Susan said.

"He likes me," I said "He really, really likes me."

"What's this about Tulsa?"

"I'll tell you on the ride home," I said.

"What do you think he wants?" Susan said.

"He wants to know what I know."

"So he's fearful you'll discover something unfortunate for him or his company."

"Which means," I said, "that there is something unfortunate to discover."

"And," Susan said, "he knows what it is. Do you suppose he'll try to buy off the cops too?"

"He won't get anywhere with Healy," I said. "But Healy's a state employee. You run a company like Kinergy, you have state access."

"There was a time," Susan said, "when you would have told Coop to go fuck himself."

"True."

"And were he to have objected, you would have offered to hit him."

"Impetuous youth," I said.

"Now you are pleasant, for you, and say you'll think about it."

"Balanced maturity," I said. "I sometimes learn more by being pleasant."

Susan smiled. "And," she said, "you can always offer to hit him later."

"And might," I said.

We finished breakfast and got our luggage. Susan carried my small overnight bag. I carried her big bag, and her smaller one, and the one that contained her makeup, and one she referred to as the big poofy one, and a large straw hat she had worn to the beach, which didn't fit into anything.

"Why don't you get a bellman," Susan said.

"Are you trying to compromise my manhood?" I said.

"Oh, yeah, that," she said. "Now and then I forget." I loaded the back of the car.

"Make sure to open up my big bag so it lies flat," Susan said. I did, and closed the trunk lid, and walked around to get in. As I opened the door on my side, I got a glimpse in the outside rearview mirror of a smallish man with long dark hair going into the hotel. I turned for a better look, but he was gone.

"Just one minute," I said to Susan.

I walked back across the parking lot and into the lobby. There was no smallish man with long black hair. I looked in the dining room. Nothing. I glanced at the bar off the lobby, but it was closed until noon. I gave it up and went back out and got in the car.

"Looking for something?" she said.

"Thought I saw someone I knew," I said.