She shook her head. 'Believe me,' she said, 'there's no connection.
He's a fellow I've known for a couple of years.'
'And he just happened to drop in?'
'No, he had an appointment.'
'An appointment? What kind of an appointment?'
'Oh, for God's sake,' she said. 'What kind of an appointment do you think he had with me? He wanted to come over and spend an hour discussing Wittgenstein.'
'He was a john.'
'Of course he was a john.' She looked at me sharply. 'Does that bother you?'
'Why should it bother me?'
'I don't know. Does it?'
'No.'
'Because it's what I do,' she said. 'I turn tricks. This is not new information. It's what I did when you met me and it's what I still do.'
'I know.'
'So why do I get the impression that it bothers you?'
'I don't know,' I said. 'I just thought—'
'What?'
'Well, that you were keeping the doors barred for the time being.'
'I am.'
'I see.'
'I am, Matt. I'm not taking any hotel dates, I turned down a couple of people already. And I'm not letting anybody in the door that I don't know. But the fellow who came over yesterday afternoon, he's been a regular date of mine for a few years. He'll show up one or two Saturdays a month, he's no trouble, and why shouldn't I let him in?'
'No reason.'
'So what's the problem?'
'No problem. A girl's got to make a living, right?'
'Matt—'
'Got to accumulate some more ready cash, got to buy some more apartment houses. Right?'
'You've got no right to be like that.'
'Like what?'
'You've got no right.'
'I'm sorry,' I said. I picked up a piece of cheese. It was a dairy product, and a likely source of vitamin B-12. I put it back down on the plate.
I said, 'When I called this morning.'
'And?'
'You told me not to come over right away.'
'I told you to give me an hour.'
'An hour and fifteen minutes, I think it was.'
'I'll take your word for it. So?'
'Did you have someone over here?'
'If I'd had someone here I wouldn't have answered the phone. I'd have put the mute on and let the machine pick it up in silence, the way I did when you and I went into the bedroom.'
'Why did you tell me to wait for an hour and a quarter?'
'You won't let it alone, will you? I had a fellow coming at noon.'
'So you did have somebody coming.'
'That's what I just told you. He called me just a few minutes before you did, as a matter of fact. He made a date to come over at noon.'
'At noon on Sunday?'
'He always comes on Sunday, usually late morning or early afternoon. He lives in the neighborhood, he tells his wife he's going out to buy the paper. He comes over here, and I suppose he picks up the Times on his way home. I suppose that's part of the kick for him, putting one over on her that way.'
'So you told me—'
