Scam

do?”
    “That’s all.”
    “How did he describe this guy?”
    “Said he was tall and thin, I couldn’t miss him.”
    “That was the whole description, tall and thin?”
    “And white. Tall, thin, and white. There’s a lot of tall black men. Not so many white.”
    “Did he tell you his name?”
    She shook her head. “No names.”
    “No names?”
    “Right.”
    “Why do you say names?”
    “Because I wasn’t given any.”
    “No, why do you use the plural? Names. Who else’s name weren’t you given?”
    “Oh. Well, the guy in the bar and the guy on the phone.”
    “So you weren’t given his name either.”
    “Right.”
    “You had no idea who you were talking to?”
    “No, but it didn’t matter.”
    “What do you mean by that?”
    “He’d already talked to Shelly. We already had a deal. So long as I said yes.”
    “Which you did?”
    “That’s right.”
    I took a sip of coffee. “There wasn’t any other way you were supposed to know this guy? I mean, what if you’d gotten into the singles bar and there were two tall, thin white guys there?”
    “I don’t know. But it didn’t happen. You really expect something like that to happen?”
    I certainly did. From personal experience, had I been given that assignment, there would not have been two tall, thin white guys in the bar, there’d have been three.
    Of course, in her case, everything had been fine.
    “Okay, so what happened?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You went to the bar, you met the guy, and then what?”
    “What do you think? I sat down next to him, said hello, and he offered to buy me a drink.”
    “As easy as that?”
    “What, am I so unattractive? You can’t imagine someone buying me a drink?”
    “No, I’m sure he did. So what did you talk about?”
    “Nothing much. Just bullshit. What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this? Do you come here often? You know, the same old corny, cliché lines. Guys say ’em in a joking manner, goof on ’em. You know?”
    “Actually, I don’t. But go on. What else did you talk about?”
    “He told a few jokes—not very good, as I recall—and I laughed at ’em and he kept buying drinks.”
    “How many did he buy?”
    “More than he should. He must have had three or four, and he didn’t hold them well. You know, once he stumbled off to the men’s room, took his time coming back. In fact, I wasn’t sure he was coming back.”
    “Did he?”
    “Yeah. Eventually. But after that he wasn’t too coherent.”
    “But he came back to you?”
    “He came back to the bar, yeah.”
    “And you kept on drinking with him.”
    “Yeah, sure. That was the deal.”
    “And he kept talking to you?”
    She shrugged her shoulders, wrinkled her nose. “Like I say, he’d had too much to drink, wasn’t relating really well. I sat there with him, trying to make small talk, kid him along. I don’t think he was really interested at that point.”
    “How long did you stay with him?”
    “Until seven. Like I was supposed to.”
    “What happened then?”
    “I left.”
    “With him?”
    “Don’t be silly. Why would I leave with him?”
    “I don’t know why. I’m just asking if you did.”
    “Of course not. Seven o’clock, I got up and went.”
    “So anyone who says the two of you left together would be wrong?”
    She pulled back, cocked her head. “Who said that?”
    “I didn’t say anyone said that. I’m just saying if they did.”
    “They’d be wrong.” She frowned, looked at her coffee cup. “I suppose someone might have got the wrong idea.”
    “Oh? How is that?”
    “Well, he got up when I left, and I think he followed me out. Not that I waited for him—I got the hell out of there fast as I could. But someone who saw him follow me might think we left together.”
    “But you didn’t?”
    “No, we didn’t. I left by myself and went on home.”
    “And what happened to the guy?”
    “I have no idea.”
    “The guy who paid you to do this—you ever hear from him again?”
    “No, I didn’t.”
    “What about your agent?”
    “What about her?”
    “She hear from him? Was there any feedback on the job?”
    “Not that I know of.”
    “Did you ask?”
    “No. Why would I ask?”
    “I don’t know. Just curiosity.”
    “Yeah, well, the answer is no. In something like that, you wouldn’t expect to hear from the client unless there was a problem. Since I did the job, there wouldn’t be any problem. So I wouldn’t expect to hear.” She looked at me.