'I don't wear them anyway. I'll be all right.'
'If you need anything, just ask,' she said, and gave him her hand. 'And thank you for everything.'
'I didn't do anything,' he said.
She smiled at him and pulled the door closed.
He looked around the room, and then went and sat on the bed and took his clothing off. He rummaged in the bedside table and came up with a year-old copy ofScientific American. He propped the pillows up and flipped through it.
He could hear the sound of a shower running, and had an interesting mental image of Mrs. Glover at her ablutions.
'Shit,' he said aloud, turned the light off, and rearranged the pillow.
He had a profound thought: No good deed goes unpunished.
The sound of the shower stopped after a couple of minutes. He had an interesting mental image of Mrs. Glover toweling her bosom.
A moment later he heard the bedroom door open.
'Matt, are you asleep?'
'No.'
He sensed rather than heard her approach the bed. When she sat on it, he could smell soap and perfume.
Maybe perfumed soap?
She found his face with her hand.
'I've been separated from my husband for eleven months,' Mrs. Glover said. 'I haven't been near a man in all that time. Not until now.'
He reached up and touched her hand. She caught his hand, locked fingers with him, and then moved his hand to the opening of her robe, directed it inside, and then let go.
His fingers found her breast and her nipple, which was erect. She put her hand to the back of his head and pulled his face to her breast.
When he tried to pull her down onto the bed, she resisted, then stood up.
'Not here,' Mrs. Glover said throatily. 'In my bed.'
At quarter to seven the next morning, Detective Matt Payne drove into the garage beneath the Delaware Valley Cancer Society Building, and turned to look at Mrs. Glover, whose Christian name, he had learned two hours before, was Evelyn.
'What is this?' she asked.
'This is where I live. Where I have to change clothes.'
'The signs says this is the Cancer Society.'
'There's an attic apartment,' he said.
'Oh.'
'Come on up. It won't take me a minute.'
'I'm not so sure that's a good idea.'
'You mean, you don't want to see my etchings?'
'What happened last night was obviously insane. Maybe we better leave it at that.'
'I like what happened last night.'
'You should be running around with girls your own age, not having an affair with someone my age. And vice versa.'
'I don't seem to have much in common with girls my own age,' Matt said. 'And I don't think that was the first time in the recorded history of mankind that…'
'A woman my age took a man your age into her bed?'
'Right.'
'Go change your clothes, Matt. I'll wait here.'
'You don't want to do that.'
'Yes, I do.'
'Whatever you say,' Matt said, and got out of the Bug and went to the elevator.
When he reached the top step of the narrow stairway leading into his apartment, he saw the red light blinking on his telephone answering machine. He pulled his sweater over his head, tossed it onto the couch, went to the answering machine, and pushed the PLAY MESSAGES switch
'Matt, I know you're there, pick up the damned telephone.'
That was Amelia Payne, M.D. He wondered what the hell she wanted, and then realized she probably wanted a report on Penny Detweiler's trip home.
Then Brewster Cortland Payne II's voice: 'Matt, Amy insisted I try to get you to call her. She's positive you're there and just not picking up. She wants to talk to you about Penny. Will you call her, please? Whenever you get home?'
The next voice was Charley McFadden's: 'Matt, Charley. Give me a call as soon as you can. I gotta talk to you about something. Oh. How was Las Vegas?'
Something's wrong. I wonder what? Well, it'll have to wait.
'Matt, this is Penny. I just wanted to say 'thank you' for coming out there to get me. I forgot to thank you at the airport. When you have a minute, call me, and I'll buy you an ice-cream cone or lunch or something. Ciao.'
Oh, Christ, I don't want to get sucked into that!
'Matt, this is Joe D'Amata. They took your lady friend's car to the Plymouth place in Upper Darby. I called her house, and there was no answer. If we'd left it at the scene, there would be nothing left but the ignition switch.'
Jesus, why didn't I think about just calling Joe from her house? Because you were thinking with your dick, again, Matthew!
'Payne, this is Al Sutton. If you were thinking of coming to work this morning, don't. They want you in Chief Lowenstein's office at half past one.'
Now, what the hell is that about? Something to do with last night?
He pushed the REWIND button and went into his bedroom and laid out fresh clothes on his bed. He picked a light brown suit, since he was possibly going to see Chief Lowenstein and did not want to look like Joe College. Then he took his clothing off.
The doorbell rang.
He searched for and found his bathrobe and went to the intercom.
'Yeah?'
'You were right, I don't want to wait down there,' Mrs. Glover said. 'May I come up?'
He pushed the door release button and heard it open. She came up the stairs.
'That wasn't exactly true,' she said. 'Curiosity got the best of me.'
'They took your car to the Plymouth place in Upper Darby,' Matt said. 'There was a message on the machine. Let me grab a shower, and I'll take you out there.'
'They don't open until nine-thirty,' she said.
'Well, we'll just have to wait.'
He smiled uneasily at her, and then walked back in the apartment toward his bedroom.
'Matt…'
He turned.
'Was that true, what you said, about you don't have much in common with girls your own age?'
'Yes, it was.'
'You're a really nice guy. Be patient. Someone will come along.'
