'There are no waters here,' I said.
'I was misinformed,' she said.
Chapter 10
The dean had given me Typhanie Hall's address, which was in Cambridge, and Luis Deleon's, which was, improbably, in Marblehead. Cambridge was closer, and I had a suspicion that Marblehead was going to be a waste of time, so here I was with an appointment to see Typhanie on a bright sunny morning. Crocuses were up, and the Harvard students were out in all their infinite variety. I waited in my car on Brattle Street while two Episcopalian women wearing big hats and Nike running shoes paused in the middle of the road to discuss human rights. I wanted to run them over. Cambridge was the jay-walking capital of the world, and I felt the only way to get control of the situation would be to kill a few. I was, however, wary of the Cambridge Police, so I blew my horn instead. The ladies looked up and glared at me. One, wearing purple stockings and sandals, gave me the finger.
I didn't like where the Lisa St. Claire thing was going, but I wasn't in charge of where it went. So when the ladies got out of the way, I parked near Longfellow Park under a sign that said Resident Parking Only, and found Typhanie Hall's address, down. a side street, near Mt. Auburn.
Typhanie had an apartment with a side entrance on the first floor of a large yellow Victorian house. When she let me in she was wearing aquamarine spandex tights and an oversized navy blue tee shirt. Her bright yellow hair was pulled back and held in place with one of those frilly elastic dinguses designed for the purpose. A long pony tail spilled down her back. She had on a lot of eye shadow, and her nails were long and brilliant red. Like, wow!
'Do you have any word on Lisa?' she said when I was in and seated on a big hassock in her blond wood living room.
'Not really,' I said. 'You?'
'No. I'm worried to death about her. Ordinarily we talk nearly every day.'
'You have no idea where she might go?'
'Maybe her dad,' Typhanie said. 'She always talked about visiting her dad.'
'You know where her dad might be?'
'No.'
'You know his name?'
'No.'
'Is his last name St. Claire?'
'I don't know. She always said she wanted to find him, but she would never talk about him. Would you like some coffee? Or tea?'
'No thanks.'
A big yellow cat came around the corner and sniffed at my foot and then rubbed himself along my leg.
'That's Chekov,' she said. 'He's usually not that friendly with strangers. You must be special. You don't mind if I have some coffee, do you?'
I shook my head.
'I'm just not anything at all without several cups in the morning to get my motor revved.'
Her motor seemed sufficiently revved to me, but I had just met her and didn't know what kind of rev she was capable of. I waited while she went to the kitchen and came back with her coffee in a large white mug. The mug had a picture of Einstein on the side.
'You've known Lisa for a long time?' I said.
The yellow cat lay on his back on the floor by my foot and looked at me with his oval yellow eyes nearly shut. I rubbed his ribs with the toe of my shoe a little and he purred.
'Oh yes, we met last fall, at the Cambridge Center Adult Ed center. We both love taking classes. Both of us love a good time, and we hit it right off. Would you like some Perrier or some spring water?'
'No thank you. Did she date a lot?'
'Oh yes. We both did. I'm not one of those grim feminists. I love men.'
'You're not?' I said.
Typhanie smiled brilliantly.
'She go with anyone in particular?'
'Well, she was dating Luis. But Lisa wasn't ready to settle down, in those days. She was looking for a good time.'
'Until she met Belson,' I said.
'Yes, then it was time.'
'Why?'
'Why?'
I realized I couldn't move too swiftly with Typhanie.
'Yeah, why was it time?' I said.
'Who knows? There's a time for everything, you know? Before then it wasn't time. Then it was.'
