How could she trust a man like this?
You took the leap, now live with it. Stop being a cop all the time.
He folded down a flap of newspaper and glanced over at her. No reading glasses. Young eyes. Or maybe Lasik.
Pearl being observant, a cop.
What's he so avidly reading?
'You look inquisitive,' he said. 'Anybody ever tell you that you resemble a little terrier when you look inquisitive?'
As a matter of fact they had, but Pearl didn't see it as something Yancy had to know.
'I was just wondering what interested you so in the paper.'
He laid the Times open over his lower body as if he were modest, which he wasn't. 'This Carver character,' he said. 'A guy stops killing years ago then suddenly starts up again. Is that normal for serial killers?'
'Not much is normal with people who sequentially kill other people.' Sequentially, dear. Sequentially. 'Or with obsessive people who have more than one sex partner at a time.'
He looked at her oddly. 'We both agree on that, Pearl. But you're a cop, difficult as I find that to believe, and I thought you might have some insight into the criminal mind. Killers' minds.'
'I'm not a cop anymore, Yancy. Private investigator.'
'You don't look like a private dick, sweetheart. C'mon over here.' He beckoned with his right hand, sunlight glinting off his gold ring.
'Think about wind power, Yancy.'
'I'll take that for a yes.'
She had to laugh, but she moved no closer to the bed.
'I couldn't help noticing something about you,' she said.
'That would be my third testicle?'
'No, your hair.'
'You mean the way it never seems to get messed up? It's trained that way. Took years. I've been combing it the same way since I was twelve and wanted to get in Amy Dingle's pants.'
'I bet you were a terror at twelve.'
'Amy Dingle would say so.'
'But that's not what I meant about your hair. I noticed it's naturally black and you dye it white.'
'Oh, sure. That's so I look older. Lobbyists who are gray eminences get taken a lot more seriously. Gotta play the role, Pearl.'
'Live a lie, you mean?'
'No. Live a version, is all. But you could call it a lie. Play your lie well; that's where the honored roll.'
'I don't think that's the exact quotation.'
'It is if you're golfing, Pearl.'
'Which I am not.'
'It's an inexact world.'
'Yancy, you are the most nimble liar I have ever met.'
'You make me blush.'
'Not so anyone would notice.'
'Make me bulge, I mean.'
'That I notice.'
Still she moved no closer to the bed.
'Do you happen to know anybody named Kahn?' she asked.
'Sure, Dr. Milton Kahn.'
That rocked her back a step. 'Where do you know him from?'
'Met him yesterday. He sat down next to me at a bar and struck up a conversation. Introduced himself. Warned me about you.'
Huh?
Peal felt anger rising in her like hot lava. 'Warned you?'
'Said you had serious personality problems and you were trouble. Didn't go into detail. Winked at me. We had a tacit understanding, being men of the world.'
'Didn't you ask him what he meant?'
'Didn't care what he meant. Still don't.'
'Did you tell him that?'
'No.'
'What did you do?'
'I considered punching him in the nose.'
Pearl felt mildly excited by the prospect of men fighting over her, then was angry at herself. She wasn't some cuddly teddy bear carnival prize.
Still…
'Did you punch him?' she asked.
'No. I talked him into buying me a drink and tactfully sent him on his way. Teach him a lesson.'
Pearl figured that wasn't exactly a duel fought for her honor. But it was something.
Yancy smiled at her. 'You look lovely as a Roman concubine.'
Pearl moved closer to the bed.
There went the toga.
32
Mick would have a cow if he knew what she was doing.
Joyce House had started work at six that morning, and she was tired. She knew Loren was waiting for her across the street and around the corner. That way he wouldn't be visible from the diner.
Mick and his rules, she thought. The guy had his good points, but he was a diner dictator.
She yelled a good-bye to Sheila, who would take her shift for the dinner customers. They were always less numerous than the breakfast and lunch crowd. That would be true even this evening-corned beef and cabbage night.
Tired as she was, when Joyce crossed with the light and Loren stepped from the doorway of a men's clothing store, the sight of him charged her with energy.
They came together with a fierce hug. He kissed her forehead and then her lips.
She ran her fingers through his dark hair, then smiled and pushed away from him, turning her head. 'Let's get farther away from the diner before any of that, Loren.'
He laughed. 'Why? You think someone followed you?'
'It's possible. Maybe your ex-wife hired detectives.'
Still grinning, he kissed her again on her forehead. 'She and I are beyond that point,' he said.
'The point of no return?' She'd heard the phrase earlier that day on CNN and it had stuck in her mind. There was something haunting and scary about it. Perhaps because she knew she had passed it.
'Exactly,' he said.
'If I were her, I'd fight to hold on to you.'
He looked more serious, his blue eyes downcast. 'There was a time she might have tried, but not now. And since I met you, there's been no doubt in my mind that my marriage is over.'
Without either of them making a conscious decision, they began walking together along the crowded sidewalk.
'I've got a surprise for you,' he said, and held something out in his right hand.
'Theater tickets!' she exclaimed.
'You mentioned you like the theater, so I thought I'd surprise you. We're on tomorrow night for Manhattan
