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Did they--"
"Listen, Jake, I'll give you something." Tabor took a few steps in his
direction. "But then, really, you have to get the hell out of my
house. I can't, you know, teach in the States anymore. This position
is important to me."
"Give me what?"
"Information," he said. "You're probably aware that Arnie was the sort
of man who wasn't satisfied with one affair at a time.
He was involved not only with Eve but with Izabel."
"That I already know."
"You probably don't know, however, that Izabel was having him watched.
She wanted to find out what he and Eve did and who else he might be
seeing down here."
"Who did the watching, the National Security Police?"
"No, no, Izabel rarely utilized her government connections for private
matters," Tabor told him. "She hired a small local outfit called
Observaci6n Discreto, run by a scoundrel named Cleve Shannon, who--"
"Used to be a private cop in Chicago."
"Is he another of your old chums?"
"Never met the guy, but his reputation was fragrant enough to have
reached me in GLA," answered Jake. "He was tagging Junior during his
final days, huh?"
"Shannon's very good at gathering dirt," said Tabor. "He's supposed to
turn over all the material he gathers to his client, but I've heard he
sometimes keeps copies."
"Meaning he might have something hidden away that's worth looking
at?"
"Up to and including the fatal accident, yes."
Jake nodded, got to his feet. "Thanks, Matson," he said. "It's been
terrific renewing our old friendship."
A SKEPTICAL EXPRESSION touched Gomez's face. "Are you certain,
chiquita, that you're capable of differentiating betwixt truth and
crapola?" he inquired.
The dark-clad silver blonde said, "Papa grande, I'm telling you the
absolute truth. I--"
"If you think I'm in the grand pappy class, your perceptions obviously
aren't--"
"You're twice my age, cholo," she pointed out. "Now can we get back to
business?"
They were in the musty office of the Club Sofiador and three of the
four walls were thick with foot-square monitor screens. The two dozen
monitors behind the young woman's desk showed what was going on in the
various holographic sex cribs on the next level down. It made a
kaleidoscopic blur of real and simulated naked flesh.
"Are you offering to sell me Dreamer's current address?"
She gave him a disappointed frown. "I really am Dreamer's kid sister.
My name is Rita," she said. "I've heard of you, Senor Gomez--and even
more of your illustrious partner, Jake Cardigan. I think maybe you can
help me and do yourself some good."
"How so, tara?" The detective was sitting on an armchair that faced
her desk. "And, to keep the record straight, I happen to be every bit
as illustrious as Jake. In fact, in certain circles they'd rank me
higher than--"
"Can you shut your boca for just a moment, so I can explain?"
asked Rita. "My brother disappeared yesterday, early in the morning,
we think. It was, we're certain, Dacobra's men who got him. Do you
know who Captain Dacobra is?"
"Si, but why would his security goons grab Dreamer?"
"It could be for any number of reasons," she said. "For one thing, our
esteemed government has long suspected my brother of being sympathetic
to the underground Revoluci6n Party."
"And is he?"
"In more ways than they even suspect."
"My notion is that they hauled him in for a different reason,"
Gomez said. "See, cara, it was Charley Charla up in Manhattan
"Una vi bora " "A dead viper." "Charla's dead?"
Nodding, Gomez replied, "Diced by some lads with lazrifles.
Quite probably because he was in the midst of providing me with
information."
"What's the connection with my brother?"
"Among CharleY's last words was a message to me to contact Dreamer
Garcia of this address," Gomez explained. "According to Charley, your
missing hermoso has some useful knowledge to sell me."
"About what, Gomez?"
"A connection between the Joaquim Tek Cartel and the murders of Eve
Bascom and Arnold Maxfield, Junior."
"Mierda.t" Rita made a rapid sign of the cross. "If those Joaquim
pendejos are involved, then--"
"Didn't you know about any of this?"
"I know that my brother, even though he's not an especially law-abiding
citizen, is strongly opposed to Tek," she answered. "He's had run-ins
with Joaquim's people before. But I'm not aware of anything recent."
"The cartel is in a position to tell Captain Dacobra what to do?"
The young woman laughed. "Tek runs Nicaragua, Gomez." Resting his
elbow on the chair arm, he rested his head against his palm. "Whatever
Dreamer had to sell me in the way of information was worth a thousand
bucks."
"Charla could just have been lying, you know."
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