"Gino home?" I said.

"Who should I say is calling?"

"Spenser," I said.

"He knows me."

"Certainly, sir, and the other gentleman?"

"Hawk."

"I'm Mr. Fish's personal assistant," the handsome young man said.

"Is there something I could help you with?"

He was wearing what appeared to be a pale blue sweat suit, with a stand-up collar. The sweat suit looked like it was made of silk. It also looked like it had never known sweat.

"Just tell Gino we're here, and we want to tell him something about Marty."

"Mr. Anaheim?"

Neither Hawk nor I answered. The personal assistant still hesitated. Hawk and I still stood.

Finally the personal assistant said, "If you'll excuse me for a moment."

He closed the door.

Hawk looked at me.

"Personal assistant?"

I shrugged.

"That's what he said."

Hawk nodded. The front door opened again and the personal assistant was there.

"Mr. Fish is busy at the moment, but if you wish to wait, he'll see you as soon as he's through."

"We'll wait," I said.

"Please come this way then," the personal assistant said.

He led us to the right off the central entry hall into a room with a huge picture window that looked out at the ocean. He gestured gracefully at the rock maple chairs with red plaid cushions that stood on either side of a brick fireplace. Neither Hawk nor I sat.

"Mr. Fish will be with you as soon as he's free," the personal assistant said.

"Yes he will," I said.

The personal assistant frowned as if he were puzzled. Then he nodded politely and left the room. Hawk went and looked out the picture window at the harsh gray ocean ruffled white here and there at the tips of its waves by the onshore wind.

"Thing about getting a place with a great view," Hawk said, "is, after you moved in and looked at the great view for a few days, you get used to it and it ain't a great view anymore. It just what you look at out your window."

"You're a deep guy," I said.

"And sensitive," Hawk said.

"Maybe I should host a talk show."

"Will you have me as a guest?" I said.

"

"Course not."

Hawk continued to look at the ocean. The room where we waited was completely furnished in rock maple furniture with red plaid upholstery. Couch, four armchairs, two slipper rockers.

There were a couple of Hingham buckets around to serve as ashtray stands, and there was a big red-toned braided rug on the floor. The fireplace had a large round eagle mirror over the mantel.

"I wonder who's Gino's decorator," I said.

"Molly Pitcher," Hawk said.

"What was it we doing here?"

"Looking for Bibi."

"And why we think she be here?"

"We don't," I said.

"But we don't know where else to start. So if we find out what was going on between Gino and Marty and Anthony and Julius, maybe we'll get an idea of where to look for Bibi."

"Or maybe we won't."

"Welcome to the world of detection," I said.

"And why we looking for Bibi?"

"Because we're worried about her."

"Of course we are," Hawk said.

The door opened and Gino came in with Vinnie Morris. He saw Hawk and nodded to him. Hawk made no response.

"I came to see you," Gino said.

"Now you come to see me."

"Equipoise," I said.

Gino smiled with neither warmth nor humor, on and off.

"Geoffrey spoke of Marty Anaheim," he said.

"Geoffrey?"

"My assistant. He said you wanted to tell me something about Marty."

"I just told him that to get in," I said.

"I don't know anything about Marty. Is he back from Las Vegas?"

"I didn't know he was in Las Vegas," Gino said.

"I don't know if he's back. Marty worked for me for fifteen years. He does so no longer."

"Can you tell me why?"

"No."

"Do you know his wife? Bibi?"

"I'm afraid not," Gino said.

"I require that my private life be my own. I treat others on the same basis."

"He used to beat her up."

"Beating people up is what Marty does," Gino said.

"It is why I employed him so long."

"You implied last time I saw you that Marty might be stealing from you."

"Did I."

"Yeah. You know Anthony Meeker?"

"Who?"

"That's a mistake, Mr. Fish. Last time we talked you knew his name."

"It's a mistake of my age," Gino said.

"I still think well, but I no longer remember well. Is Anthony Meeker Julius Ventura's son-inlaw?"

"Yes, you implied last time that he might be stealing too."

Gino was sitting in one corner of the big rock maple couch. He had his legs crossed and his thin hands resting in his lap. I could see the dappling of age spots on the backs of them. He pursed his lips a little and stared for a moment out his big picture window at what probably seemed to him, his ocean. He raised his hands from his lap and put his fingertips together and tapped his lips for a moment. Then he pointed his fingertips at me.

"You think, Mr. Spenser, that I am being cute," Gino said.

"It is not an unreasonable thought. I am capable of cuteness. Indeed there is very little that I am not capable of. But in this instance I know very little more than you do. There have been some financial irregularities in my business. It was Marty's responsibility to oversee all the financial transactions and to ensure that they were as alleged. These irregularities came inopportunely at a time when we were beginning to organize in contemplation of a merger. I came to you to see if you could shed any light on whether Marty was culpable. You didn't shed much, being primarily interested in getting me to shed some light on your interest. It was largely a waste of our time."

"But you fired Marty."

"No. Marty left."

"Did he give a reason?"

"None. He simply failed to show up for work one day, and I have not seen him since. You tell me he was in Las Vegas. He may still be there. Or he may be next door, I simply don't know."

"When did he take off?"

"Three, no, four days after I came to see you."

I did some quick calendering in my head. That made it the same day we found Anthony. When I got more time I'd think about that.

"As far as I know, Mr. Fish, he came to Vegas and checked into the MGM Grand either under another name, or in a room rented for him by another guy. Tough little guy, big nose, wore a Panama hat all the time. Very quick with a gun."

"You saw him there?"

"Yes."

"And you were in Las Vegas…?"

"Looking for Anthony Meeker."

"On behalf of his wife?"

"His wife and his father-in-law."

"Do you know why Marty was in Las Vegas?" Gino said.

"Anthony Meeker was there with Marty's wife."

Gino was very still. I waited. Gino looked at his ocean again.

"And Shirley Ventura was in Vegas as well," he said.

"You know about her."

"Yes. Do you have any knowledge of who killed her?"

"No. Cops are trying to act like it was a random act, but I don't think they believe it."