'Maybe he did,' Quirk said. 'And if he did, we'll try to prove it. But right now I think he's being railroaded, and I can't stop it and stay a cop.'
'What if I find out that he's guilty as charged?'
'Tell me,' Quirk said. 'I'll be thrilled. You want to look at our notes, so far?'
'I like to start fresh,' I said. 'I think better if I'm in the process.'
'Yeah,' Quirk said. 'I know.'
'Okay,' I said.
'Okay you'll take the job?'
'Yep.'
'Just like that?' Quirk said.
'Yep,' I said.
'You might start out by talking to Rita Fiore,' Quirk said.
'You might start out by not telling me what to do,' I said.
'Okay,' Quirk said. 'What are you gonna do?'
'I'm gonna talk to Rita Fiore,' I said.
'Good idea,' Quirk said.
He almost smiled.
3
PEARL SCRATCHED at the bedroom door.
Susan got out of bed naked and let Pearl in, then came back and got into bed too late to keep Pearl from getting between us. Susan tried to pull the covers up, but Pearl was in the way.
'You cold?' I said.
'I don't like to lie around naked,' Susan said.
'I've seen you naked five thousand times,' I said.
'That's not the point,' she said.
She was trying to get the covers out from under Pearl so that she could pull them over herself.
'What is the point?'
'Lying around naked is wanton,' she said.
'And that's a bad thing?' I said.
'You keep peeking at me,' Susan said.
'I don't peek,' I said. 'I stare.'
Pearl moved around vigorously for a moment until she was entirely comfortable, and put her head down in a position that allowed her to look at both of us.
Susan looked at her alarm clock.
'It's ten o'clock in the morning,' she said.
'On a Saturday,' I said.
'And we've already had sex,' she said.
'Nice start to the weekend,' I said.
'And we'll probably have sex again before the weekend is over,' she said.
'If we can shake Pearl,' I said.
'We're grown people,' she said.
'I know,' I said.
'Don't you think we're oversexed?'
'You're the shrink,' I said. 'You tell me.'
'Yes,' she said. 'I believe we are.'
'What should we do about it?' I said.
'Encourage the pathology,' Susan said, and smiled her rebelangel smile at me.
We were quiet. The sun wasn't high enough yet to shine into Susan's bedroom window, which faced west. But the light outside the window was bright.
'Quirk wants you to help him with that Jumbo Whosis murder,' she said.
