Page 105 of Nobody's Fool

“Right, exactly. It’s a good name. You want something in this life, you have to envision it. Buzzy Berg is the name of a big movie producer. So I envisioned it, I repeated it, and”—he spreads his hands—“here we are, Mr. Pierce.”

“Kierce,” I say.

“Pardon?”

“My last name is Kierce. Like Pierce but with aK. And my first name is Sami.” I spell it for him. I see something cross his face, like maybe five percent recognition. I push on. “We knew each other twenty-two years ago. In the Costa del Sol of Spain.”

“Ah.” He looks at me now. Everything about him changes, but Ican’t say from what. Is it fear, anger, resentment, regret—I don’t know. “Are you taping this?” he asks me.

“No.”

“I remember you now. It was, what, a few hundred dollars in another country a quarter century ago. The statute of limitations has long run out.”

“I know.”

“Are you here for revenge then?”

“No, not that either.”

“What then?”

“I want some answers. That’s all. And then I’ll let you be.”

“And if I refuse?”

“I would rather not start with the threats.”

“And I would rather not relive my sordid past. And so I’ll ask again: If I refuse?”

“I’ll do all I can to make you miserable. The people who set up this meeting. The Belmonds. You know who they are?”

“Of course.”

“I am asking these questions on their behalf, not mine.”

“On their behalf?”

“Yes. You do not want them on your bad side.”

He frowns. “How can my past have anything to do with the Belmonds?”

“If you refuse,” I continue, ignoring his question for the time being, “they’ll use their vast resources, influence, and connections to make your life miserable.”

“I don’t really understand any of this,” Buzz says.

“Tell me about Anna.”

A small smile comes to his face. “Are you sure this is for the Belmonds?”

“I am sure,” I say as firmly as I can muster. “Tell me about Anna.”

“You liked her, didn’t you?” There is a bit of cruelty to the smile now. “What makes you think I know where she is now?”

“I didn’t ask where she is now,” I say. “I want you to tell me about her. Her full name. Where she grew up. How you two met.”

“Why?” he asks.

“How about starting with how you two met?”