Susan and I checked out of the hotel the next morning and moved to Hank Summers' place. He wasn't using it, and I thought it'd be a safer place. I didn't trust Franklin, who seemed a little too interested in Susan. Besides, this was the number Franklin knew to call. Susan was not enthusiastic about staying in the home of a nitwit like Hank Summers, not even when I suggested we could act like a couple of rock stars and trash the place.
I called Hawk at Giles' number, and he agreed to come down. The next time I'd be meeting Franklin, it wouldn't be in a high class restaurant. Then, instead of trashing the place, we each sat down and started to read. Susan was reading Encyclopedia of the Human Brain by V.S. Ramachandran. I was reading Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough. An hour and a half later, the phone rang and it was from the guard station. I told them to let Hawk through.
"I do believe my own keen detective insight has determined that the boy at the guard station was nervous about letting me in," Hawk said. He was carrying a big gym bag, which he laid down by the door.
"That's because you black guys scare him," I said.
"You thank that it? Hi Susan." He came up and gave Susan a peck on the cheek. Then he looked around. "Hank Summers like his houses big."
"Just like his office."
"He probably compensating because his wing wang is teeny tiny. You white guys are always compensating."
"I'll have you know that my Honeybuns is perfectly well endowed," Susan said.
"Too much information," Hawk said. "More than I wanted to know."
"Is that right?" Susan said. "Didn't you guys use to work out at the same gym and shower in the same showers when you were boxing?"
Hawk grinned.
"Yeah, but I too much of a gentleman to look."
Soon we all returned to our reading. Hawk reached into his massive gym bag, moved a sawed off shotgun out of the way, and took out a massive book, The Chimpanzees of Gombe, Patterns of Behavior by Jane Goodall. We were still reading when Hank Summers' phone rang, and I picked it up and heard Franklin on the other end.
"I have some people to talk to you."
"Where at?"
"My office, it's close to Hyperion and Titan." Franklin gave me directions.
"Good," I said. "We'll be down in an hour and a half."
"Ah," Franklin said. "Will the beautiful Susan be accompanying you?"
"No," I said. "I'm bringing someone else."
"Very good," Franklin was unflappable. "We will see you in an hour and a half then."