'And he left her for you.'
'He wanted me, he needed me.'
'So what happened?'
'What do you mean?'
'How come you and DeSpain aren't cheek by jowl ever after?'
I said.
She frowned.
'I told you,' she said.
'It's over.'
'He turned out not to be everything you ever wanted? He was a pig?'
I waited. She looked at me and past me and past Hawk and Vinnie at things that none of us had ever seen. She took in a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh.
'I wanted love,' she said.
'He wanted sex.'
'That combo would never work,' I said.
'No.'
I waited again. She didn't elaborate.
'So how come you both ended up in Port City?' I said.
'I came here to work,' she said.
'And DeSpain?'
'You'll have to ask him.'
'Who was stalking you in Framingham?' I said.
'I was working part-time at a child care center,' she said.
'My supervisor was stalking me.'
'They convict him?'
She laughed. It was a surprising laugh, guttural and humorless.
'The old boy system doesn't convict its kind,' she said.
'Must be a glitch somewhere,' I said.
'Lots of guys doing time.'
'You know what I mean,' she said.
'Sure.'
We were quiet. The day had dwindled into late afternoon. The motel window, facing east, looked out on a darkening parking lot.
There were no lights on in the room except the lamp by the bed and its small yellow illumination served only to make the rest of the room look grayer.
'Tell me about Christopholous,' I said.
'It's not like you think it was,' she said.
I didn't say anything. Her voice seemed steady; and, though still quite small, gaining strength. I realized she was beginning to warm to her performance. Alone, in the center of three men's attention, she was beginning to like it.
'We were mad about each other,' she said.
'It was all we could do to keep from falling into each other's arms in public.'
'Why shouldn't you fall into each other's arms in public?' I said.
'He wanted me passionately,' Jocelyn said.
'And I loved him more than life itself.'
'But now you don't?'
She paused for a long time.
'It's over,' she said finally.
'Because?'
'Because he found someone else,' she said.
'Another Susan,' I said.
Jocelyn nodded so slowly, as to be ponderous.
