‘I’ll check it out,’ I said. ‘How much can you pay?’

‘Would fifty bucks be okay? I mean, for a start?’

I get five dollars for a summons and two dollars an hour for guard work. Industrial snooping pays better, plus expenses. For just about anything else I get what the traffic will bear up to maybe twenty-five dollars a day. Chelsea is not a haven of the rich. The kid surprised me by having fifty dollars. I didn’t think that there would be more.

‘Tell me more about Jo-Jo. Other friends?’

‘We ain’t got a lot of friends. Jo-Jo he’s kind of a loner, you know? We works mostly on motors. I asked around some.’

‘I’ll start from scratch,’ I said. ‘Girls?’

‘Nothin’ special. Maybe some I don’ know about.’

‘You mentioned a Driscoll?’

‘Nancy Driscoll. She’s older like. Only she ain’t a real girl friend. I mean, she chased him, you know?’

‘Where do I find her?’

‘I don’ know. I ain’t seen her in a while. I figure Jo-Jo been keepin’ her under wraps from me, you know?’

‘Where did he play cards, shoot dice, drink, have his fun?’

‘Jo-Jo don’t gamble. He likes movies. He drinks a lot o’ places. Maybe by Fugazy. He goes to dances by Polish Hall. He goes to the Y. He goes by the Y alone; I don’ swim.’

‘Give me a list; anyone and anywhere. His home address. You got a picture?’

‘I figured you’d want that,’ Pete said.

He handed me a small snapshot. It was poor, but it showed Pete with a motorbike and a tall, blond, good-looking boy of the same age. It would have to do. After Pete gave me the list of names and places, I sent him home.

I called Marty. I had fifty dollars and first things first, right? She was friendly but busy.