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"That ht They’d like hiot a suspect in hand, you don’t want to knock yourself out looking for another one I don’t think they’d have ainst hi attracted their attention"

We talked some more, and then he said, "You know, it scarcelythe appropriate action, and it ork out the way it’s supposed to"

"It will?"

"Of course," he said "Everything always does"

Did everything alork out the way it was supposed to? I had that to think about, and I kept turning it around in roupredbrick church on the corner of Houston and Sullivan with a predoetting there, and the first thing I saw upon entering was Jan, lookingan arm to indicate she’d saved me a seat

I immediately wished she hadn’t There were plenty of empty seats, as there alere in that oversized room I could have been trusted to find a seat ofthe night together, so why did we have to sit side by side while somebody with a beatific smile on his broad face told us how he used to pee in empty bottles and pour them out thebecause he couldn’t be bothered to walk all the way down the hall to the bathroo ten or twenty yards apart?

I kept this to ht where I was supposed to, and within a few minutes realized I’d have resented it at least aselse to think about, along with everything working out the way it’s supposed to

That particularhad a format I hadn’t yet encountered elsewhere After the speaker’s qualification and the secretary’s break, the group broke up into ht to ten, seated at round tables So round-robin discussion would fill the re half hour Jan and I automatically headed for different tables, and the topic where I wound up turned out to be acceptance I foundhow ironically appropriate that was

And the topic hardly mattered, because this was Don AA, and when it was your turn you said whatever you pleased I would have happily passed, but there were only eight of us and it was easy enough forto say I just tossed out Ji the cause of unhappiness Then it was somebody else’s turn

The restaurant on Thoe Italian--red checkered tablecloths, straw-covered Chianti bottles as candleholders, a Sinatra record for background music The waiter remembered us, approved our appetizer and entrée choices, and didn’t try to coax us into ordering wine The food was good, and we took our time over the meal, and I talked about Jack Ellery and my attempts to find out who’d killed hi out to be hth Step list, his sponsor can let it go with a clear conscience No need to share anything with the cops if you’re sure what you’ve got isn’t worth sharing"

"Is that what it says in the penal code?"

"You’re joking, but as far as the law’s concerned, he doesn’t have to report it even if he knows for a fact who did the shooting He’s not an officer of the court He’s a private citizen That doesn’t give his to himself"

"So all you have to do is clear the rest of the na a killer, isn’t it?"

"Well, not if the killer’s on the list In that case it’ll be tricky to clear him"

We batted that around a little, and she asked how I’d feel about walking away froh I’d earned a thousand dollars

"Would you, Matt? Oh, I’ you wouldn’t have earned your h you’d left part of the job undone?"

"Why?"

"Because Jack’s killer would be walking around free"

"He’d hardly lack for company"

"What do youaround free It used to ht in a perpetrator and watched the case fall apart Either the DA’s office fucked it up or the evidence just wasn’t there or twelve diht thing, and all our as for nothing I’ot over it completely, because it’s natural to have an eet used to it"

We"I can see peeing in e house and the bathroo it anyway And here’s an e to ai else at that point"

"--so you iven Just cap it afterward so you don’t spill it all over the floor"

"Gross"

"But what I don’t get," I said, "is why it would strike hiood idea to pour the bottles out theJust set theether to empty them in the toilet What’s so hard about that?"

"I can see one advantage in pouring your pee out the "

"Entertainment?"

"Well, I suppose, but that’sis, then you don’t have to worry about drinking it by mistake Ha! Got you with that one, didn’t I? The little lady wins the gross-out contest"

We both agreed it was nice enough to walk the halfHouston Street and didn’t let go e reached the curb We’d finished the meal with espresso, and the waiter had colasses, the house’s standard lagniappe for custoain As he reached our table he remembered ere the ones who’d passed on the wine "You no want," he said tentatively, and we agreed that we didn’t, and walking home Jan wondered e’d turned down