'He told me it was his wife, but he was ready to dump me anyway, something better came along.'
'So you figure he's got a girlfriend now?'
'Anthony's always going to have a girlfriend. It ain't just sex.
He needs somebody to brag to.'
'Would he leave his wife, you think?'
'Wife's his ticket to ride,' Dixie said.
'Anthony needs a lot of money and he don't know how to earn it.'
'Anthony sounds like kind of a lizard,' I said.
Dixie smiled a little.
'Phony Tony.'
'How come you went out with him?'
Dixie shrugged. Her small naked breasts looked vulnerable in the unshaded light from the bare bulb above her.
'I ain't got that much else going right now,' she said.
CHAPTER 11
Why is someone a compulsive gambler?' I said to Susan.
We were having dinner at her place in Cambridge, sitting at her counter eating Chinese takeout. Susan gave Pearl the Wonder Dog a Peking ravioli with her chopsticks. I was eating with a fork.
'I don't know,' Susan said.
'But you're a goddamned shrink,' I said.
'You're supposed to know stuff.'
'I know a lot of stuff, and one bit of stuff that I know is that it is unwise to generalize about the causes of compulsive behavior.'
I ate some chicken with cashews.
'Can compulsive gamblers be helped?'
'Sure,' Susan said.
'Same old conditions. If they want help. If they are able to do the work.'
'Is it the hope?' I said.
'The chance for the big hit?'
'Often it's losing,' Susan said.
'The thrill of defeat?' I said.
Susan shrugged.
'Something like that, maybe. Sorry I'm not more helpful.'
'Only idle curiosity,' I said.
'I don't need to know why he's compulsive to find him.'
'I doubt that your curiosity is ever idle,' Susan said.
There were a few grains of rice on the countertop near Susan's elbow, spilled when Susan had served it from the carton. Pearl got up with her forepaws on the counter and lapped it off.
'She likes a balanced diet,' Susan said.
Susan's office was downstairs and she had come from work to dinner, still dressed in the conservative gray pants suit and understated jewelry that was part of her Dr. Silverman look. Her thick black hair was shiny. Her eyes were very large, and full of thought.
She had a wide mouth, faultlessly made up. Her perfume smelled like rain.
'Hawk and I are going to Las Vegas Monday,' I said.
'We'd like you to join us.'
'What about my appointments?'
'Can you reschedule for a few days?'
'Will Henry take Pearl?'
'Yes.'
'Will we see Wayne Newton?'
'I can't promise anything,' I said.
'Can I sleep with you?' she said.
