The Clinic

“I don't know, man. Can I go?”

“Soon, Ted,” said Milo. “So what you're telling me is in terms of your relationship she called all the shots.”

“I let her,” said Barnaby. “She was gorgeous. But I learned. Like the song. If you wanna be happy, marry an ugly girl.”

“You and Mandy ever talk marriage?”

“Right. Picket fence, two kids, and a fucking station wagon. I told you- she liked stuff.”

“Clothes and jewelry and cars.”

“Yeah.”

“And coke.”

Barnaby's hands clenched again. He looked upward. “I am not getting into that.”

“Why not?”

“You got no rights on the reservation, I'm just talking to you 'cause I cared about Mandy. I can walk anytime. It's my right.”

“True,” said Milo. “But what happens if I drive over to Cathedral City PD and tell them about your past?”

“What past?”

“Vegas cops said you and Mandy used heavily and that you were her source.”

“Bullshit.”

“They said after she died you used even more. That's why no one in Vegas wanted you back.”

The sweat on Barnaby's creviced face gave it the look of a fresh-glazed doughnut. He turned his back on us. The scars on his neck stood out like braille. “Why're you doing this to me?”

“I'm not doing anything to you, Ted. I just want to know as much as possible about Mandy.”

“And I'm telling you what I know!”

“I brought up the dope because I'm interested in Mandy's lifestyle.”

“Her lifestyle? What do you think it was? Doing johns!”

“Dope means bad guys. Bad guys hurt people.”

Barnaby didn't answer.

“Did she owe money to anyone?” said Milo.

“I never saw her bankbook.”

“Any of the guys you bought coke from pissed at her?”

“You say I bought for her.”

“Any bad guys pissed at her?”

“Not that I knew.”

“She trade sex for coke?”

“Not that I knew.”

“And you never set her up to do that?”

“I'm no pimp.”

“Just her spare-time buddy.”

“Look,” said Barnaby, “it wasn't like that. I had nothing over her, she was her own boss. She liked me 'cause I listened to her. I'm a good listener, okay? Work the casinos, you hear sad stories all day long.”

“What were Mandy's problems?”

“She didn't have any that I saw.”

“Happy girl.”

“Seemed to be.”

“And you have no idea who her regulars were?”

“No.”

“The night she was killed, did she say anything about who she was going to meet?”

Barnaby massaged his neck. “You're not getting it. She never said anything about work.”

“You told Vegas you were working that night.”

“I didn't have to tell them. Tons of people saw me. I didn't even find out about her being killed until the next day when I called her and some cop picked up the phone. They asked me to drive over to the station. Then they asked me to go to the morgue and identify her.”

“Did she work anywhere else but her apartment?”

“Probably.”

“Probably?”

“If she picked up some player and he had a room in the casino, they probably went upstairs.”

“If?”

“Okay, when.”

“She ever work the street?”

“Yeah, right. She was a hard-up, two-bit hooker.”

“Any idea why she was killed out on the street?”

“Probably walking the john out and he freaked.”

“Did she make a habit of walking johns out?”

“How would I know? You asked me to guess, I'm guessing.”

“You never dropped in on her during working hours?”

“Yeah, right. And piss her off grandly.”

“So she laid down the rules.”

“She was the star, man.” Faint smile. “One time, when we were- she was in a good mood, she said, I know you're bugged by what I do, Teddy, but try to get past it, it's no big deal, just acting. Right, I said. And the Oscar goes to. And she laughed and said, exactly. They should give an Oscar for what I do- best supporting actress with her legs spread. I- it, that bugged me. I didn't like hearing it. But she thought it was funny, laughed like crazy.”

“When did she get sterilized?”

Barnaby's hands dropped. “What?”

“When did she get sterilized- have her tubes tied?”

“Before I knew her.”

“How long before?”

“I don't know.”

“So she told you.”

“It only came up because I got stupid, started talking about how I liked kids, one day it would be cool to have a couple. She laughed- she laughed a lot.”

He licked his lips again. “I said what's funny, babe? She said you're cute, Teddy. Go ahead, have some rug rats with some nice girl. Have an extra one for me 'cause I got fixed. I said what do you mean? And she said fixed. Operated on. I said what'd you go and do that for? She said no fuss, no mess, no pills to give me cancer. Then she laughed again, said I consider it a business expense, wish I coulda taken it off as a tax deduction. Big joke. I didn't like it but with Mandy, you went along or you got off the bus. When you went along with her, laughed with her, things were cool.”

“And when you didn't?”

“She shut you out.”

“So she got sterilized before you met her. Meaning over a year ago.”

“I met her a year and a half before she died and it was before that.”

“Did she say where she had the operation?”

Second's hesitation. “No.”

“She ever mention the name of the doctor?”

“No.”

“What, Ted?”

“She never mentioned the name.”

“She tell you something else about him?”