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“Why?”
“Because Dink escaped from the funny farm van and i
s loose. I told Eggers I wasn’t in charge of escaped lunatics, and he told me I am now.”
“So you have a new assignment,” Stone said. “Be optimistic-it gives you another opportunity to impress Eggers and Marshall Brennan.”
“I don’t want to impress them anymore,” Herbie said. “They have no gratitude.”
“Herbie, you were asked to deliver Dink to Winwood Farm, and you failed.”
“I didn’t fail-his keepers failed!”
“You entrusted him to them, and they failed you. But you failed Eggers.”
“That’s warped,” Herbie said.
“Tell me something, Herbie, did you enjoy your tasks?”
“Well, yeah, but then everything went to hell.”
“Find a way to enjoy tracking down Dink. You’ll feel better.”
“I have no experience in the field of missing persons,” Herbie wailed. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Herbie, imagine that Dink owes you two hundred grand and that he is trying to avoid you.”
“I wouldn’t let him get away with that,” Herbie said.
“Exactly. What Dink actually owes you is his carcass at Winwood Farm. Find him and make him pay.”
“Where do I start?”
“Ask yourself, ‘If I were Dink Brennan and I wanted to avoid Herbie Fisher, where would I go?’”
Herbie regarded his well-buffed shoes morosely. “I don’t know where he would go.”
“Well, you know that he would probably not go back to the one place you already know about: his dorm room. Right?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Who are his friends? Who is his girlfriend? Where does he drink? Those are all pertinent questions. Start finding out the answers.”
“Can I hire a PI? Those guys know how this is done.”
Stone sighed. “All right, I will authorize you to hire a skip tracer for three days at the expense of Woodman and Weld.”
“Eggers would go nuts if I spent that money.”
“No, Eggers would simply bill Marshall Brennan.”
“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Suck it up, Herbie. Get it in gear, move your ass.”
Herbie got up and slouched toward the door.
“Herbie?”
