'Being trained in people skills, I perceive that you feel triumphant,' Susan said.
'I'll say. I was hand-fed my supper by an adoring Eurasian cutie,' I said, 'who then titillated me by suggestively eating a grape.'
Susan put her book facedown, open, on her lap.
'Well,' she said, 'no wonder you feel triumphant.'
'Also I found out that Ginger came down here with a banker-type sixtyish white guy from Boston and left him here and took off with Robert Rambeaux.'
'Ah ha,' Susan said.
'You remember my mention of Rambeaux?'
'The New York pimp.'
'You do listen,' I said.
'It's my training,' she said.
'As a shrink?'
'No, as a woman,' Susan said. 'Hard to overcome early habits.'
'Should we order up room service?' I said. 'You could feed me something.'
I sat on the bed beside her. She had on a lacy-topped copper-colored nightgown.
'I feed your ego nearly every day,' she said. 'That's enough.' She took my hand. 'How'd you find all this stuff out?'
'I asked,' I said. 'And of course the virile power of my masculine self was enough to entrance Suki. She'd have told me anything I asked.'
'Suki?' Susan said.
'Un huh. And asking the band about Rambeaux was just sort of an inspiration.'
'Unconscious integration,' Susan said.
'That too,' I said. 'Besides, Suki told me that Ginger took off with one of the musicians.'
'So now what,' Susan said.
'We'll go to New York and discuss this further with Rambeaux.'
'We will? When will we?' Susan said. She had moved my hand between her breasts and held it there.
'Well, not right away,' I said. 'Probably have to rest up a little first.'
'Good thought,' Susan said. 'Perhaps you'd care to lie down on a comfortable psychologist?'
'Are you sure it will be restful?' I said.
'I hope not,' she said.
'Need to figure out who Warren is,' I said, I had slid down on the bed beside her. I put my free arm around her. 'I don't know if Warren fits, but he's a loose piece and I can't ignore him.'
'Maybe you could ignore him for just a little while,' Susan said.
'How little?' I said.
'It's up to you, big fella,' Susan murmured.
'Then we'll ignore him for a large while,' l said.
And we did.
26
We got back from St. Thomas on a Monday. Susan had patients on Tuesday, so I went to New York without her. Someone told me that the Parker Meridien had a health club, so this time I stayed there. Besides, it was but a few strides from the Russian Tea Room. It was my intention to keep going to the Russian Tea Room for lunch until someone recognized me. Or mistook me for someone. Or gave me a table downstairs.
To recover from the shuttle ride down, I went immediately to the health club in the hotel and did three sets of everything on the Nautilus machines. Then I rode one of the Exercycles for a half hour at a ten setting and limped back up to my room and took a shower. I bet I could bench press more than the maitre d' at the Russian Tea Room. If he came to the health club, I wouldn't seat him either.
I went down into the high flossy lobby and had two bottles of Heineken beer in the lobby bar and felt sufficiently reinvigorated to try a walk uptown.
It was about four in the afternoon when I turned down 77th Street from Fifth Avenue and about ten past four when I arrived in front of Robert Rambeaux's apartment. He didn't answer the bell. I rang some other bells but no one buzzed me in. I leaned against one wall of the entry and waited. At about fourforty a tall young man wearing a T-shirt that said JACOB's PILLOW on it came out and I went in before the door closed behind him. He glanced at me as I went in and then moved on. The slow narrow elevator took me to Rambeaux's floor. I knocked on his door with no result. I wished I could open a door with a credit card like they did on TV, but all I ever did was screw up the card. I could kick it down.
I pressed my ear against the door to hear what was in there. If Robert was still scared and in there with a gun, kicking the door down would get me a faceful of .32 ammunition.
