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hall and outside to his car. He climbed in and drove out through the still open gates. There was a new man in the gate house.

CHAPTER 7
    E ASY WENT FROM THE air conditioner back to the cornbeef sandwich. It was sitting in a paper plate on the exact center of his desk blotter. He sat down in his swivel chair, unbuttoned his $200 sport coat and picked up a half of the sandwich. Next to it on the plate were three potato chips, a half a dill pickle and a raw carrot. A memo beside the plate explained, “The carrot is from Hagopian when he dropped by to say ‘Hello.’”
    Easy took a bite of the sandwich, watching the ceiling of his office. The tiny alarm clock at the edge of his desk was ticking loudly. Frowning at it, he tried to calculate if Jill was in Spain.
    Someone knocked cautiously on the rear door.
    Rising, Easy called out, “Yeah?” From habit he stood clear of the door.
    “I want to see you.”
    He unlocked the door.
    Danny Goffman, a tan carcoat over her shoulders, was standing out there in the dark. “I didn’t see any lights out front so I came around back to the parking lot. You ought to take better care of your car.”
    “I’m planning to have it washed.”
    She circled his office, pulling the coat tighter. “You keep it awfully cold in here.”
    “My secretary has trained the air conditioner to keep everything always icebox crisp.” Easy nodded at the client’s chair. “Sit down.”
    She ignored him, moved to the sofa against the wall. She dropped down onto that. “Don’t let me interrupt your dinner.”
    Easy pushed the sandwich aside. “You have something to tell me?”
    “My husband’s quite pissed off at you, not to mention curious,” she said. “Ennis has a nice black and blue spot right here.”
    “Ennis is the gatekeeper?”
    “Uh-huh.” She shrugged out of the coat. You’re in pretty good shape for somebody who lives on deli food.”
    “It’s the raw vegetables that do it,” he said. “Where’s Gary Marks?”
    The redhaired girl sat for a half minute watching him. “I really don’t know.”
    “You have an idea, though.”
    “I wanted to see you again,” said Danny. “Isn’t that enough reason for coming?”
    “Is it?”
    She looked away from Easy. “They took him away from me.”
    “Who? People from your husband?”
    “No, Jake doesn’t know I’m seeing Gary again,” she said. “Besides, if he had something to do with this he’d be bragging to me by now. No, I don’t know who they were.”
    “They took him from the cottage in Westwood?”
    “Yes, they were waiting at Gary’s place when we got there after dinner Monday. They seemed to know all about Gary, even about me.”
    “How many of them?”
    “Two,” replied Danny. “One was a little odd-looking guy with kinky blond hair, the other was a really fat spade. He seemed a little gay to me.”
    “Did Gary know them—know who they were?”
    She shook her head. “I’m sure he didn’t.”
    “Was the house torn up when you got there?”
    “Yes, that was the first thing we saw when we walked in.” She rubbed her palms along the legs of her white trousers. “Then the little kinky one came out of the bedroom with a goddamn gun. They told me they wanted to talk to Gary alone, that I could go home to my old man.”
    “Did you?”
    “You know I did, Easy,” she answered. “I couldn’t get involved with any trouble, with cops or anything. They knew that. Little trouble with Jake I have most of the time, but big ones I want to avoid. So I drove myself home and kept my damn mouth shut. Until now.”
    “What else did these guys say?” asked Easy. “How do you know they took Gary away?”
    Danny began rubbing her wrist. “Well, the little blond guy made a couple jokes about being old friends of the family, of Gary’s family. I guess you know about his father.”
    “Yeah, what else?”
    “The fat spade kept giggling. He said something about if they couldn’t get what they wanted they might have to