"And what makes you think I'm the man for the job?" I said.

Penny smiled at me again. She thought my modesty was very becoming.

"The horse world is a small one, sir. You were involved in some sort of case over there in Alton a few years back, with Jumper Jack Nelson. I knew of it. I talked with the Alton Police, with someone in the South Carolina State Attorney's Office. My attorney looked into it. We talked with the FBI in Atlanta. We talked with a man named Hugh Dixon with whom I once did some business. We talked to a Massachusetts State Police captain named Healy, and a Boston police captain named Quirk."

"How the hell did you find Hugh Dixon?" I said.

"I have money, sir. My attorneys are resourceful."

"And I'm the man?"

"Yes, sir, you are."

"Fairly expensive," I said.

"What are your fees?" Clive said.

I told him.

"That will not be an issue," he said.

"And who is the outfit in Atlanta that's on the job now?" I said.

"Security South."

Meant nothing to me.

"The on-site supervisor is a man named Delroy. Jon Delroy."

That meant nothing to me either.

"Will Mr. Delroy be pleased to see me?"

"He'll cooperate," Clive said.

"No," Penny said. "I don't think he will be pleased to see you."

Clive looked at her.

"Well, it's the truth, Daddy. He will be absolutely goddamned livid."

Clive smiled. He couldn't help being condescending, but it was a genuine smile. He liked his daughter.

"Penny has been quiet during our interview, Mr. Spenser. But don't assume that it's habitual."

"Jon will have trouble with you bringing in someone over him," Penny said. "Mr. Spenser may as well know that now."

Clive nodded.

"He's not really 'over' Jon," Clive said. "But Jon may feel a bit compromised. That a problem to you, Mr. Spenser?"

"No."

"Really?" Penny said. "You think you can work with someone like that?"

"I'll win him over," I said.

"How?"

"Northern charm," I said.

"Isn't that an oxymoron?" she said.

"You're right," I said. "Maybe I'll just threaten him."

TWO

"LAMARR, GEORGIA?" SUSANsaid.

She was lying on top of me in her bed with her clothes off, her arms folded on my chest, and her face about six inches from my face. Pearl the Wonder Dog was lying somewhat grumpily on the rug at the foot of the bed, having been displaced, if only temporarily, by me.

"Just an old sweet song," I said.

"Don't sing. Do you know anything about racehorses?"

"Secretariat gave me a big lap once," I said.

"Anything less specialized?" Susan said.

"That's about it."

"And you are being brought in over someone who has heretofore been in charge?"

"Yes."

"So you are going to Georgia without Pearl, or me, and you'll be gone for who knows how long, and you don't know what you're doing, and the people you're working with will resent you."

"Exactly," I said.

"And you're doing this because you love horses?"

"Because I hate starving," I said. "I've been doing pro bono for you and Hawk so long that I can't afford to buy a new knuckle knife."

"Too bad virtue is not, in fact, its own reward," Susan said.

"Or if it really were, the reward would need to be monetary."

"Well, perhaps we can visit."

"You and Pearl could come down," I said.

"Pearl does not, obviously, fly in a crate in the hold of some disgusting airplane," Susan said.

"It's an easy drive," I said. "One overnight stop."

Susan stared at me. Her eyes were so close they were out of focus as I looked up at her. They seemed bigger than human eyes could be and bottomless, like eternity.

"I cannot bear to drive long distances."

"Of course you can't," I said. "Maybe Paul would come up from New York, for a weekend, and take care of Pearl."

"That might work," Susan said. "Or Lee Farrell, or Hawk."

"And then you can come to Lamarr on an airplane and ball my brains out."

"Didn't I just do that?" Susan said. "Except for the airplane part?"

"Yes," I said, "and brilliantly."

"I know."

"However," I said, "I don't think we've ever done it in Georgia."

"Well, if you insist on going down there," Susan said, "what's a girl to do?"

"What she does best," I said.

"In which case we'll never be able to eat lunch in Lamarr again," Susan said.

THREE

I SHOWED UP in Lamarr with some clean shirts and extra ammunition in my black Nike gym bag, checked into the Holiday Inn on the highway outside of Lamarr, and set out to visit my employer.

Lamarr was one of those towns you read about but no one you know ever lived in. It was probably like the town that Jack Armstrong lived in with his sister Betty, when he starred at Hudson High. The downtown was three-story buildings, mostly brick, along the main street, with some stores and restaurants, a pool hall, a movie theater, and a railroad station. There were two cross streets, where more business was done during daylight hours. In the center of the town was a square with a statue of a man on horseback, and some benches. As I drove through the downtown, the streets were lined with trees, and behind the trees were lawns on which sat some nice-looking southern-type houses, mostly white, with verandas. Often vines grew over the verandas and made them leafy.

At two in the afternoon I was ringing the bell at the Clives' front door. They lived in a white mansion with a wide pillared veranda across the front, which sat in the middle of something that looked like the world's largest putting green. A sprinkler system was producing a fine spray to protect the lawn from the East Georgia summer, and the sun shining through the spray made it iridescent.

Penny Clive, in white shorts and a blue top that didn't quite conceal her belly button, answered the door. All of her that I could see uncovered was a smooth tan. Not the deep-cured kind, but a gentle healthy-looking one that seemed casually acquired, though the evenness of it made me wonder just how casual the process was.

"Well, hello," she said.

She had a light voice with some kind of rich undertone, which made everything she said imply somewhat more than it seemed to. I had a moment when I thought maybe it wasn't so bad that Susan couldn't be here. I thought about whether I should feel guilty about that and decided I should not since I was simply being human, albeit male human.

"Hello."

"Please come in. Do you have everything you need at the hotel?"

We stood in a vast, high central hallway with dark floors that gleamed with polish.

"Bed, television, a/c, running water, what more could there be?" I said.

"What indeed?" she said, and the little smile lines at the corners of her wide mouth deepened. "I was just having some iced tea on the terrace-would you have some with me?"

"Of course," I said, and followed her the length of the corridor and out through some very large French doors onto a wide white-brick terrace under a green-and-white-striped canvas canopy.