"I'm sure it's the same man. I'll bet it's someone jealous of Jimmy and me."

"You and Christopholous are an item?"

She looked down at the tabletop. She didn't say anything.

Hawk was looking at the door, his coat open, leaning back a little in his chair. Vinnie's jacket was unzipped. His eyes ranged the room. The only people besides us were two middle-aged women in sweat clothes sharing a dish of frozen strawberry yogurt. I waited. She was silent.

"You and Christopholous?" I said.

She shook her head.

"I didn't mean to say that."

I waited.

"I can't talk about it."

I waited some more. She raised her amazing eyes toward me and gave me the full charge.

"Please," she said.

"I simply can't."

"Sure," I said.

Her eyes were very intense.

"Imploring" was how she probably thought of it.

"You will protect me?" she said.

"Of course," I said.

"We'll be there every minute."

"Could you, I mean no offense to anyone, but could you do it yourself."

"It would be my pleasure," I said.

"We'll have to take turns, in fact. But it never hurts to demand the very best."

Hawk and Vinnie both glanced at me for a moment, and then went back to looking around the room and watching the door.

"Are you on your way to the theater now?" I said.

"Yes."

"Then I'll start my shift now. I'll walk you there."

Hawk dropped a ten on top of the check.

"Big tip," Vinnie said.

"Reward for remembering all those muffins," Hawk said.

"They're coming too?" Jocelyn said.

"Just to watch," Hawk said.

"Find out what makes him the very best."

"Won't do you any good," I said.

"It's a white thing."

"Good," Vinnie said, and held the door open while Hawk went out and we followed him.

CHAPTER 19

With Hawk and Vinnie behind us, Jocelyn and I strolled through the misting drizzle to the theater next door. She went in to rehearsal, and I went up to Christopholous' office on the second floor. Vinnie and Hawk lounged in the theater lobby, blending in to the theatrical scene like two coyotes at a poultry festival.

I sat in the chair across from Christopholous. The lights were on, making the day outside look even gloomier. The old brick office walls were bright with posters from previous Port City productions.

"Does Rikki Wu contribute a lot to the theater?" I said.

"A lot," Christopholous said.

"And she holds an honored place on the board."

"A camel will pass through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich man will enter the kingdom of heaven," I said.

Christopholous grinned.

"That may be true of heaven," he said.

"It is very much not true of a theatrical board of directors."

"The remark was sexist anyway," I said.

"It should have been 'rich person."

" "No doubt," Christopholous said.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just to know," I said.

"But why do you want to know?"

"Because I don't. If I knew what was important to know, and what wasn't, I'd have this thing pretty much solved."

"Of course. Rikki's very generous. And very rich. Mr. Wu makes a great deal of money."

"Gee, the restaurant didn't look that busy," I said.

Christopholous shrugged.

"Perhaps he has other interests," he said.

"Like what?"

"Oh, God," Christopholous said.

"I don't know. It was just an idle remark."

"Sure," I said.

"How about Jocelyn Colby."

"Jocelyn?"

"Yeah. How do you and she get along."

"Jocelyn? Fine. She's a nice young woman. Limited in her acting skills, but ever compelling in the right role. Very attractive.

Especially up close. The cheek bones. And those eyes. Film might actually be a better medium for her."

"You ever go out with her?" I said.

"Go out? You mean date?"

"Yeah."

"God, no," Christopholous said.

"I could be her father."

"You've never had a, ah, relationship?"

"What the hell are you talking about. She's an actress in a company I direct. She's a nice kid. She's around a lot. I like her.

But, no, I've never even thought about having any kind of sexual relationship with her." Christopholous laughed.

"You reach a certain age, and you discover that if you're going to talk with children, you'd rather they were your own."

"You have children?"

"Three," Christopholous said.

"All of them older than Jocelyn."

"Wife?" I said.

"I divorced their mother, thank God, twenty years ago," Christopholous said.

"What makes you ask about Jocelyn?"

"Same answer as above," I said.

"Just accumulating data."

"But, I mean, are you asking everyone in the company if she went out with them? And why her in particular?"

I didn't want to tell him. I didn't know why, exactly. But one of Spenser's crime-stopper tips is: You rarely get into trouble not saying stuff. I shook my head vaguely.

"She have any romantic interest in anyone in the company?" I said.

"Jocelyn is, ah, affectionate. I don't follow the social interaction of my company too closely," Christopholous said.

"But she did seem sort of interested in Lou."

"Montana? The Director?"

"Yes. I don't mean to suggest anything more than it was. She seemed for a while, when he first came aboard for Handy Dandy, to be especially interested in him. They'd have coffee together, and I know she called him a lot."

The day outside was cold enough to awaken the thermostat. I could hear the steam heat tingling in the pipes, still unwieldy from summer dormancy.

"What about him?" I said.

Christopholous smiled and shook his head.

"Ah, Lou," he said.

"Life is imperfect. One must make do. Most of Lou's experience is in television."

"Ugh!" I said.

"Ugh, indeed," Christopholous said.

"And worse, Lou is petty and pompous, and half as good as he thinks he is. But he can pull a play together. And at least while he is with us he appears to be committed to the company and to the rationale of the Theater Company. One cannot always hire the best Director. One must hire one who is willing to work for what one can pay."

"It is ever thus," I said, just to be saying something.

Christopholous shook his head.

"Not necessarily," he said.

"In my experience, the actors are a bit different. Here we almost always get actors who care about the craft, about the art, if you will. It is in many ways a terrible profession. Sticking to it in the face of all the reasons to quit takes dedication and toughness. For most of them, the payoff is performing. The really good ones can always give a good performance despite the playwright or the Director, even in television or a dreadful movie."

"Olivier," I said.

"Yes, or Michael Caine."

"So, it's a kind of autonomy," I said.

"If they're good enough and tough enough," Christopholous said.

"Interesting that you understand that so quickly; most people don't."