lying.'
'Why would she lie?'
'To discreditBroadfield .'
He seemed genuinely puzzled. 'But why would she want to do that? She was a prostitute, wasn't she?
Why should a prostitute try to impede our crusade against police corruption? And why would someone else murder a prostitute inBroadfield's apartment? It's all very confusing.'
'Well, I won't argue with you on that.'
'Terribly confusing,' he said. 'I can't even understand whyBroadfield came to us in the first place.'
I could. At least I had a good idea now. But I decided to keep it to myself.
Chapter 6
I stopped at my hotel long enough to take a quick shower and run an electric razor over my face. There were three messages in my pigeonhole, three callers who wanted to be called back. Anita had called again, and a police lieutenant named Eddie Koehler.And MissMardell .
I decided that Anita and Eddie could wait. I called Elaine from the pay phone in the lobby. It wasn't a call I wanted to route through the hotel switchboard. Maybe they don't listen in, but then again maybe they do.
When she answered I said, 'Hello. Do you know who this is?'
'I think so.'
'I'm returning your call.'
'Uh-huh.Thought so. You got phone troubles?'
'I'm in a booth, but how about you?'
'This phone's supposed to be clean. I pay this little Hawaiian cat to come over once a week and check for bugs. So far he hasn't found any, but maybe he doesn't know how to look. How would I know? He's really a very little cat. I think he must be completely transistorized.'
'You're a funny lady.'
'Well, where are we without a sense of humor, huh? But we might as well be reasonably cool on the phone. You can probably guess what I called about.'
'Uh-huh.'
'The questions you were asking the other day, and I'm a girl who reads the paper every morning, and what I was wondering was, can any of this lead back to me? Is that something I should start worrying about?'
'Not a chance.'
'Is that straight?'
'Absolutely.Unless some of the calls you made to find things out can work back toward you. You talked to some people.'
'I already thought of that and sealed it off. If you say I got nothing to worry about, then I don't, and that's the way Mrs.Mardell's little girl likes it.'
'I thought you changed your name.'
'Huh? Oh, no, not me. I was born ElaineMardell , baby. Not saying my father didn't change it a while back, but it was already nice andgoyish by the time I came on the scene.'
'I might come over later, Elaine.'
'Business or pleasure?Let me reword that.Your business or mine?'
I found myself smiling into the telephone. 'Maybe a little of both,'
I said. 'I have to go out toQueens , but I'll give you a call afterward if I'm coming.'
'Call me either way, baby. If you can't come, call. That's why they put- '
'Dimes in condoms.I know.'
'Awww, you know all my best jokes,' she said. 'You're no fun at all.'
MY subway car had been decorated by a lunatic with a can of spray paint. He'd had just one message for the world and he had taken pains to inscribe it wherever the opportunity had presented itself, restating his argument over and over again, working in elaborate curlicues and other embellishments.
WE ARE PEOPLE TWO, he informed us. I couldn't decide whether the last word was a simple spelling error or represented some significant drug-inspired insight.
WE ARE PEOPLE TWO.
I had plenty of time to ponder the meaning of the phrase, all the way out toQueens Boulevard and Continental. I got off the train and walked for several blocks, passing streets named after prep schools.
Exeter ,Groton ,Harrow . I eventually got toNansen Street , whereBroadfield and his family lived. I don't know how they namedNansen Street .
TheBroadfield house was a good one, set a ways back on a nicely landscaped lot. An old maple on the strip of lawn between the sidewalk and the street left no doubt about what time of year it was. It was all on fire with red
