There, hung dead center between a rapper and a villain from the old Batman TV show, was a photograph of Esperanza “Little Pocahontas” Diaz dressed in her suede bikini. The bikini top was starting to slide down her shoulder. Esperanza posed in the ring, sweaty and proud and looking up.

Myron turned to her. “You stole that pose from Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C.”

“I did.”

“I had that poster on my wall when I was a kid.”

“So did I,” Esperanza said.

Peter was still beaming. “Great, right?”

“You know,” Myron said, “I was a professional basketball player.”

“For about three minutes.”

“You’re so nice to your customers.”

“Part of my charm. Your food will be out soon.”

Peter left them alone. Esperanza was killer in an aqua blouse. She wore gold hoop earrings and a thick bracelet. Her cell phone buzzed. She took a look and closed her eyes.

“What?” Myron asked.

“Tom.”

“He’s texting you?”

“No, it’s my attorney. Tom canceled all settlement talks.”

“So he’s going full frontal.”

“Yep.”

“I’d like to help.”

She shook him off. “We’re not here to discuss Tom.”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t.”

Nicole the waitress came over with appetizer-sized Cold Sesame Noodles and a Sizzling Duck Crepe. Serious yum. They both went quiet for a moment and ate. Way back when, Myron Bolitar had founded a sports agency cleverly dubbed MB SportsReps. The M stood for Myron, the B for Bolitar, the SportsReps because he repped athletes. Marketing—it’s a gift, really.

Esperanza came on as his receptionist/assistant/confidante/assorted other hats. She went to school at night to get her law degree. Eventually she moved up to full partner, though she didn’t insist on changing the name to MBED because, really, that would be confusing. They did drop “Sports” from the name when they started representing actors and musicians and the like, so that in the end, the company had been called MB Reps.

Big Cyndi took over as receptionist and, well, agency bouncer. Things went along pretty swimmingly until they all fell apart. When Tom started this slash-n-burn custody hearing a year ago—back then he’d claimed Esperanza was an unfit mother because she worked too hard—Esperanza had been so freaked-out by the threat that she asked Myron to buy her out. Myron hesitated, but then when Win disappeared, the thought of continuing without both of them was too disheartening. They ended up selling MB Reps to a mega-agency that took their clients and got rid of the name altogether.

“So I went to the Alpine police station,” Esperanza said, “to see what they were doing with the Moore-Baldwin case.”

“And?”

“They wouldn’t talk.”

Myron stopped eating. “Wait, they wouldn’t talk to you?”

“That’s right.”

He thought about that. “Did you flash cleavage?”

“Two buttons’ worth.”

“And that didn’t work?”

“The new police chief is female,” Esperanza said. “And straight.”

“Still,” Myron said.

“I know, right? I was a little insulted.”

“Maybe I should try,” Myron said. “I’m told I have a terrific ass.”