'What number?'
She gave it to him.
'Hang up. Call you right back.'
Erica waited nervously, wondering if she would answer at all, but when the ring back came, she did so immediately.
'Hi, baby!'
'Hullo,' Erica said.
'Some phones are better'n other phones for special kindsa calls.'
'I understand.'
'Long time no see.'
'Yes. It is.'
A pause.
'Why'd you call, baby?'
'Well, I thought . . . we might meet.'
'Why?'
'Perhaps for a drink.'
'We had drinks last time. Remember? Sat all afternoon in that goddamn Queensway Inn bar.'
'I know, but . . .'
'An' the same thing the time before that.'
'That was the very first time; the time we met there.'
'Okay, so you don't put out the first time. A dame cuts it the way she sees; fair enough. But the second time a guy expects to hit the coconut, not spend an afternoon of his time in a big gabfest. So I still say - what's on your mind?'
'I thought . . . if we could talk, just a little, I could explain'
'No dice.'
She let her hand holding the phone drop down. In God's name, what was she doing, even talking with this... There must be other men.
But where?
The phone diaphragm rasped, 'You still there, baby?'
She lifted her hand again. 'Yes.'
'Listen, I'll ask you something. You wanna get laid?'
Erica was choking back tears, tears of humiliation, selfdisgust.
'Yes,' she said. 'Yes, that's what I want.'
'You're sure, this time. No more big gabfest?'
Dear God! Did he want an affidavit? She wondered: Were there really women so desperate, they would respond to an approach so crude?
Obviously, yes.
'I'm sure,' Erica said.
'That's great, kiddo! How's if we hit the sack next Wednesday?'
'I thought . . . perhaps sooner.' Next Wednesday was a week away.
'Sorry, baby; no dice. Gotta sales trip. Leave for Cleveland in an hour.
Be there five days.' A chuckle. 'Gotta keep them Ohio dolls happy.'
Erica forced a laugh. 'You certainly get around.'
'You'd be surprised.'
She thought: No, I wouldn't. Not at anything, any more.
'Call you soon's I get back. While I'm gone, you keep it warm for me.'
A second's pause, then: 'You be all right Wednesday? You know what I mean?'
Erica's control snapped. 'Of course I know. Do you think I'm so stupid not to have thought of that?'
'You'd be surprised how many don't.'
In a detached part of her mind, as if she were a spectator, not a participant, she marveled:
Has he ever tried making a woman feel good, instead of awful?
'Gotta go, baby. Back to the salt mines! Another day, another dollar!'
'Goodbye,' Erica said.
'S'long.'
She hung up. Covering her face with her hands, she sobbed silently until her long, slim fingers were wet with tears.
Later, in the bathroom, washing her face and using make-up to conceal the signs of crying as best she could, Erica reasoned: There was a way out.
It didn't have to happen a week from now. Adam could prevent it, though he would never know.
If only, within the next seven nights he would take her, as a husband could and should, she would weather this time, and afterward, somehow, tame her body's urgency to reasonableness. All she sought - all she had ever sought - was to be loved and needed, and in return to give love. She still loved Adam. Erica closed her eyes, remembering the way it was when he first loved and needed her.
And she would help Adam, she decided. Tonight, and other nights if necessary, she would make herself irresistibly attractive, she'd wash her hair so it was sweet-smelling, use a musky perfume that would tantalize, put on her sheerest negligee . . . Wait! She would buy a new negligee - today, this morning, now . . . in Birmingham.
Hurriedly, she began to dress.
Chapter 4
The handsome, gray stone staff building, which could have done duty as a state capitol, was quiet in the early morning as Adam Trenton wheeled his cream sport coupe down the ramp from outside. Adam made a fast 'S' turn, tires squealing, into his stall in the underground, executive parking area, then eased his lanky figure out of the driver's seat, leaving the keys inside. A rain shower last night had slightly spotted the car's bright finish; routinely it would be washed today, topped off with gas, and serviced if necessary.
A personal car of an executive's own choice, replaced every six months, and each time with all the extras he wanted, plus fuel and constant attention, was a fringe benefit which went with the auto industry's higher posts. Depending on which company they worked for, most senior people made their selections from the luxury ranges - Chrysler Imperials, LincoIns, Cadillacs. A few, like Adam, preferred something lighter and sportier, with a high performance engine.
Adam's footsteps echoed as he walked across the black, waxed garage floor, gleaming and immaculate.
A spectator would have seen a gray-suited, lithe, athletic man, a year or two past forty, tall, with broad shoulders and a squarish head thrust forward, as if urging the rest of the body on. Nowadays, Adam Trenton dressed more conservatively than he used to, but still looked fashionable, with a touch of flashiness. His facial features were clean-cut and alert, with intense blue eyes and a straight, firm mouth, the last tempered by a hint of humor and a strong impression, over-all, of open honesty. He backed up this impression, when he talked, with a blunt directness which sometimes threw others off balance - a tactic he had learned to use deliberately. His manner of walking was confident, a no-nonsense stride suggesting a man who knew where he was going.
Adam Trenton carried the auto executive's symbol of office - a filled attache case. It contained papers he
