'Did you have sexual intercourse with Miss Palmer on that occasion?' Parver continued.
Darby looked at Rainey, who waved off his concern.
'Sure.'
'How many times after that did you and Miss Palmer meet?'
'I dunno, four or five. I don't remember exactly.'
She checked her notes. 'Miss Palmer says she met you at the Bavarian Inn six times. You have said five. Then six. And this time four or five. Which is it?'
'Look, what's the dif? I had a fling with her. I never tried to say I didn't. I told the cops that the first night they talked to me.'
'So was it four, five, or six?' she asked calmly.
'I just told you, I don't remember. Okay, six. Hell, it was six if Poppy says so. I don't mark my calendar, maybe she does.'
'But you always had sex with her?'
'Yeah. Why, does it turn you on hearing about it?'
'That's enough of that, Darby,' Vail snapped.
'Look, what I did was in self-defence. How many goddamn times do I have to repeat it to you people? Why don't you go out and bust some drug dealers, do something for the community?'
Vail turned to Rainey. 'This can go on forever if that's what he wants,' he said.
'Just answer the questions, yes or no,' Rainey said, still staring at Vail.
'Let's go back to the day you shot your wife,' Parver said. 'Did you to to the Skin Game Club that day?'
'No. We stopped in a beer joint out on 78. I don't know if it's got a name. The sign in front says cocktails.'
'Did you see Poppy Palmer at all that day?'
'Nope.'
'Talk to her?'
'Not before the shooting.'
'At any time?'
'I called after the police came and I found the paper with her number on it by the phone.'
'Why did you call her?'
'I wanted to tell her what happened and I wanted to know about the phone number. Where Ramona got it because Poppy's number isn't in the book and she told me Ramona had called her about four-thirty, five o'clock and went crazy on the phone. Said she was gonna fix me. You know all that, you talked to Poppy.'
'What did she tell you exactly?'
'Just that. Ramona called her and was all outta shape. And, like, blamed Poppy for what happened. And Poppy couldn't get a word in edgewise, Ramona was crying and screaming so. Said she was gonna fix my wagon. That's exactly what Poppy told me, that Ramona said she was gonna fix my goddamn wagon.'
'What time did you leave the bar on 78?'
'I don't know, about five-thirty. I wasn't watching the clock.' He chuckled. 'Usually my old lady didn't take a shot at me when I came home late.'
'Roughly what time was it?'
'It takes about a half hour to drive home and the news was coming on when I got there. I could hear Dan Rather talking on the TV when I walked in. It was just starting.'
'Show us on the diagram exactly what happened when you entered the house.'
'Damn!' He grabbed a pencil and traced his steps into the house on the diagram. As he told the story, he began talking faster. 'I come in the house here and I walk to the doorway to the living room that's, I don't know, five feet maybe, and as I look into the living room, she's… Ramona's… sitting in the easy chair here and she's aiming my .38 target pistol at me and she cuts loose! Just starts shooting! So I dive straight ahead to the other side of the arch and I'm against the wall here and she puts a shot here where this X is, and another one here, and I panic and I shove two shells in my shotgun and just then she shoots again and the bullet goes through the wall here and misses my
