The Picture Business

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Norton had both a gambling problem and a communications problem. The communications problem consisted mainly of Norton’s not listening when Helio told him about his debt problem. Finally Helio sent for Paulie.

“I want you to solve Norton’s problem for me,” he said, which Paulie did.

After Paulie dumped the body in a place he knew about on Saddle Peak, he returned to Norton’s home in Topanga Canyon to make sure he hadn’t accidentally left anything behind. He hadn’t, but he liked the house, which was spacious and filled with hght and had a beautiful view of Saddle Peak, where Norton was resting forever with all his problems solved for him, so Paulie sat down at Norton’s computer, logged on, and did a little credit check.

He found out that Norton owned the place free and clear, having bought it with the profits when his parents, who owned a cheese farm or something in Wisconsin, had died in a boating accident. So Paulie packed all of Norton’s personal stuff into cardboard boxes and heaved it off the redwood deck into the canyon below, and moved his own belongings from his apartment in Glendale. He changed the phone number and the locks, and told the post office that Norton’s new address was “Post Restante, Paris, France.” He sold Norton’s cars and motorbike to a guy that he knew in West Hollywood. When the gardener and maid came by, Paulie told them he was the new tenant, and he’d be paying them from now on.

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