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back and all?”
    I remembered that. “And we do. We have your back. Why would you even question that?” I’d told him that we were going to be approaching the murder from a different perspective. “James, tonight we’re going to talk about Amanda and see if Em can remember—”
    â€œKind of a change in the plans, amigo.” I heard him take a breath. I was certain it was a lungful of smoke.
    â€œGot a smoke break already?”
    â€œChef Bouvier phoned me and asked me to go out and call you.”
    â€œCome on, James. What’s so important?” Jeez, had something happened already? Fifteen minutes had passed and he was already either panicked or had the murder solved. Amazing, even for James. He was quiet for a moment, and my heart was racing. I had no idea where the conversation was going.
    â€œHas something happened? It has, right?”
    â€œI hate to ask this, Skip.”
    â€œDamn you, tell me what you need.”
    â€œA dishwasher.”
    I shook my head. “A what?”
    â€œDishwasher.”
    â€œAnd how can I help you with that? I don’t know any—”
    â€œYou, Skip.”
    I was taken aback. Stunned. Taking my eyes off the road for two seconds, I about slammed into the back of a BMW. “Me?”
    â€œDishwasher didn’t show up. With two of us back here, we can talk to a lot more people, put together a lot more scenarios.”
    â€œOh, no. No. No. No.”
    It was a pattern. James would sucker punch me if it meant getting him out of a jam. “You volunteer to wash the dishes. Em and I have stuff to do. Research, doing background checks. You need someone on the outside. You know that and we’ve already discussed—”
    â€œEm’s on the outside, pard. You and me, we’re a good team.” I heard another intake and exhale.
    â€œCome on, James, what am I going to do about my job? It’s not as easy to ask for time off. I mean, you can date your boss. Ernie and I would not work out well on a date.”
    He coughed. It served him right.
    â€œYou blow that job off half the time anyway.”
    I did. I sold security systems to apartments and businesses in the urban community of Carol City where no one had anything worth securing. I didn’t punch a time clock and I could make my calls any time I wanted. Anyway, it wasn’t like I was setting the world on fire with my sales. Far from it.
    â€œJames, I didn’t sign on to scrape plates and dispose of other people’s garbage. That’s not my end of the job.”
    â€œSkip, there’s three thousand dollars a week on the line here.Three thousand dollars a week. Minimum two weeks pay. Do you hear me?” I could sense the frustration in his voice. He’d been on the job for a quarter of an hour and already it sounded like he was losing it. “I told Chef you’d do it. The title of the job says it all, amigo. Dishwasher. You don’t have to have any experience. So get your ass back here. Okay? We’re going to solve this crime and we’re going to become an agency that gets a lot of attention. And business. We’re a team, amigo. A team. Got it?”
    â€œI can’t believe you’re doing this. Hell, we just started this gig, and already you’re pushing my buttons.”
    â€œSkip, the only buttons you have to worry about are on the dishwasher. The two of us are going to be a whole lot more effective. Will you do it?”
    And like a dumb ass, I agreed.
    â€œGive me twenty minutes.” I was not happy.
    â€œFifteen, Skip. These dishes are piling up pretty fast.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

    James was busy scraping plates when I walked in. Tossing me an apron, he pointed at a box of rubber dishwashing gloves sitting on a stainless-steel counter.
    â€œGlove up, pard.”
    I looked to my right as fire erupted under a cast-iron skillet. A young man with a white coat and Miami Dolphin cap deftly picked