Rain Gods (Hackberry Holland 2)

?What are they doing here??

The secretary didn?t answer.

?Get rid of them. Tell them I?m out of town,? Artie said.

?I don?t think they?re going away, Mr. Rooney,? the secretary whispered.

Artie paused, his eyes locked on Hugo?s. ?Tell them to wait a minute,? he said. He replaced the receiver in the cradle. ?Go in my conference room and stay there.?

?What for?? Hugo said.

?You ever meet Esther Dolan??

?What about her??

?You?ve energized Batgirl, you idiot.?

WHEN NICK AND Esther entered the room, Artie Rooney was sitting behind his desk in a powder-blue suit and a blue-and-gold striped tie and a silk shirt that was as bright as tin, his swivel chair tilted back, his hands hanging loosely over the arms of the chair, a man in charge and at peace with the world.

?Long time, Miss Esther,? Artie said, addressing her in the traditional manner that a gentleman who was a family friend would address a woman in New Orleans.

Esther didn?t reply, her gaze boring into his face.

?We need to straighten out some things,? Nick said.

?I?m always happy to see old friends,? Artie said.

?What happened to your hand?? Nick said.

?An accident with my electric hedge clipper.?

Even while he addressed Nick, Artie?s attention was fixed on Esther, who wore a tight purple dress with green flowers printed on it. ?Y?all sit down. I got some shrimp and a pitcher of vodka martinis in the refrigerator. You been doin? okay, Miss Esther??

?We?ve tried to contact Hugo Cistranos,? Esther said. ?He?s going to hurt a young woman and her boyfriend, an ex-soldier.?

?Hugo? News to me.?

?Cut the crap, Artie,? Nick said.

?You came to Galveston to insult me?? Artie said.

?Nick has told me everything,? Esther said. ?About those gangsters working for you and how they almost killed Nick by a farmhouse. He told me about the Oriental girls, too.?

?You sure about what you?re saying here? This has got me all confused.?

?They were killed because you were smuggling them into the United States. They were peasant girls machine-gunned by one of your hired animals,? Esther said.

?I?m part owner of some dating services. Maybe I?m not altogether proud of that. But I have to put food on the table like everybody else. Your husband is not innocent in this, Miss Esther. And don?t be saying I murdered anyb

ody.?

?Nick just signed over all his interests in what you call ?dating services.??

Artie looked at Nick. ?I?m hearing this right? You sold out in Houston and Dallas??

?No, I didn?t sell out, I got out,? Nick said.

Artie straightened in his chair and rested his arms on his desk pad. He took a pill from a tiny tin container and put it in his mouth, then swallowed it with a half-glass of water. A look of tension, of pain held carefully in place, seemed to recede back into his face. ?I don?t have contact with Hugo anymore. I think maybe he?s in New Orleans. Maybe I?ll be hanging it up here and moving back there myself.?