“No.”

“Why not?”

“There are lots of reasons.”

“Name some.”

I said, “It stinks.”

“What does?”

“The whole business.”

“Why?”

I said, “Hale came to Los Angeles. He hired us to come to New Orleans and find Roberta Fenn. Why didn’t he get a New Orleans detective agency on the job?”

“Because he had confidence in us. We’d been recommended to him.”