"Does that make you a full-fledged legal secretary?"

Arlene shrugged again. "Mostly I do word processing, spend a lot of time on the phone tracking down the claimants, and look up the occasional legal crapola on the Net. The so-called lawyers are too cheap to buy any law books or DVDs."

"You enjoy it?" asked Kurtz.

She ignored the question.

"They pay you what?" said Kurtz. "Two thousand or so a month?"

"More than that," said Arlene.

"Well, I'll add five hundred to whatever they're paying you."

She snorted a laugh. "To do what?"

"Same thing you used to do. Just more of it on computers."

"There some miracle going to happen to get you your P.I. license back, Joe? You have three thousand bucks a month set aside to pay me?"

"You don't have to be a licensed P.I. to do investigations. Let me worry about paying you. You know that if I say I will, I will. You think we can get an office near the old place on East Chippewa?"

Arlene laughed again. "East Chippewa's gotten all gentrified. You wouldn't recognize the place. Uptight little boutiques, delis with outside seating, wine and cheese shops. Rent has gone ballistic there."

"Jesus," said Kurtz. "Well, office space near the downtown will do. Hell, a basement would do as long as it has several phone lines and electricity."

Arlene exited the Thruway, paid the toll, and headed south. "Where do you want to go today?"

"A Motel 6 or someplace cheap in Cheektowaga would work."

"Why Cheektowaga?"

"I'm going to have to borrow your car tomorrow morning, and I thought it might be more convenient for you to pick me up on the way to your job. You can give them notice tomorrow morning and pack your stuff, I'll pick you up in the early afternoon, and we can look for the new office."