HUNG BY THE CHIMNEY WITH CARE :: Part Two

Making sure that LCM wouldn't pass out in a puddle of his own sick, I went into the Boom Boom Room. It was my kind of dive bar -- the smell of du Mauriers and vodka hung in the air, and a disco ball shed the kind of light that didn't show wrinkles or surgical scars.

I walked up to the bar. "Gimme the usual."

An Appletini slammed down onto the polished wood, and I tossed it back in one gulp.

Someone snorted. "Drinking hard tonight, ZanZan?"

Only my friends and creditors called me ZanZan. I peered at the barman. "Gaik, what the hell are you doing back there?" I said.

Patrick "Sweetknees" Gaik shrugged, running a damp Ungaro rag over the bartop. "After that blizzard closed the Barn for two nights, I needed to make some extra cash," he said. "Hell, I was practically raised in a bar."

This was true. It also reminded me that in a former life, Patrick used to be a caterer who was my connection to the criminal underworld. "You still got your contacts?" I asked.

He blinked once. "Yep -- you're still visible."

Actors. "I meant your contacts, doofus," I snapped. "I need to dig up some information about missing mimes and a certain comedian."

Patrick took a step back, holding the rag protectively across his heart. "You don't mean -- look, Zan, I'm not going up against him. He makes Jocelyn Wilderstein look normal."

I gave him a gimlet look. "I need to find him, Gaik. Before more mimes go missing."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Time to pull out the big guns. "Has anyone here ever seen a picture of your college...girlfriend?"

He glared at me. "Oh, you bitch. All right, I'll see what I can find out."

"Thanks."

He shrugged, shaking his head as he poured me a refill. "Oh, by the way -- that gimlet look?"

I paused.

"I don't know how to make one of those, but if you give me a rusty nail look..."

Everyone's a comedian. I sighed and slapped a bill on the bar. "Keep the change."

Leaving Patrick to his side job, I headed deeper into the Boom Boom Room, Appletini in hand. I'd already spotted a certain couple in one of the back booths. They might know what was going on, if I could just get their attention off the yarn.