Starlet left her corner and raced off to what looked like a vacant building. She opened the door, ducked in, and came right back out again. There was a huge smile on her face and it was clear that she could scarcely believe her good fortune. That made Hannah wonder if this was the first time anyone had ever given her anything without expecting something in return.

“Is Little Dingo’s okay with you, Anne?” Starlet asked her.

“It’s fine with me. I’m just along to take notes and check off that list of questions Mother gave me to make sure she doesn’t forget to ask something. I’m acting as Mother’s secretary, but you’re getting paid. I’m not.”

Starlet laughed. “That’s the breaks, ” she said, and led them down the street.

Less than five minutes later, they were settled in the back circular booth of the grungiest bar Hannah had ever seen in her life. The floor was wavy with the residue of spilled drinks and other fluids of unknown origin that had probably never been mopped up, and the tabletop was sticky with dried substances that Hannah didn’t want to try to identify. The walls were dingy and reeked with an odor that combined cigarette smoke and urine in unequal proportions, and the lighting was almost nonexistent.

“It’s very dark in here,” Delores said, and Hannah noticed that her mother was deliberately not touching the tabletop. Hannah wasn’t touching it, either. She was too busy wondering whether the whistle Mike had given her would work in here to summon the officers who were waiting for them.

“Yeah, it’s dark,” Starlet said. “Dingo wants it that way. Some of the guys that come here don’t want to be seen, if you know what I mean?”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Delores said. “Do they serve food here, Starlet?”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t eat it. I know a guy that used to cook here and he told me there were rat traps all over the kitchen. And I know for a fact that the new cook bangs on a pan when he opens the door to scare all the roaches back into hiding. If you want something to eat, you should stick with things in bags like chips or pretzels. And don’t get anything to drink in a glass. Dingo’s got beer and wine in bottles, and that’s okay if you drink it right out of the bottle.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Hannah said. “What do you want to drink, Starlet?”

“Oh, I don’t drink when I’m working. I gotta be on my toes, you know? You got to order something though,” Starlet informed them. “Dingo put us in this special booth and he’ll expect some kind of payment for it. It’s not like he’s renting space here, you know.”