Beauty Queen

conference.
    Gertrude Utley showed him in, and the two of them talked in her office at the campaign headquarters, with the door shut.
    "I understand," said Manuella, "that you have made some allegations about homosexuals in the New York Police Department."
    She looked at him with her eyes wide and steady, though her stomach was just a bit nervous.
    "I did not make any statement to that effect," she said.
    "At the press conference yesterday, you had a list of names," he said. "You implied that some of these names are members of the NYPD."
    "No," she said. "I don't believe I implied that at all."
    They had settled into the deadly word game, looking each other in the eyes. Jeannie wondered if Manuella could sense her nervousness. Cops were like sharks—they could smell blood a mile away.
    "Well, could you enlighten me as to exactly what you did say?" asked Manuella.
    "I'd be happy to," she said.
    She made a show of fishing in some folders on her desk and pulled out a copy of the statement that she'd read to the press yesterday. "Here is what I said. All I said was that homosexuals are found on some police forces in the country."
    He read her statement swiftly, but she knew that he did not miss a single word. Then he looked at her silently for a moment.
    "Mrs. Colter, let me put it this way. Do you have any information about homosexuals in the NYPD?"
    "Not at the present time."
    "And supposing you were to come into possession of this kind of information?"
    She looked him right in the eye. "I would campaign to have these people exposed and fired. I do not believe that homosexuals are fit to be law-enforcement officials. By their very nature, they are in violation of the law."
    His eyes bored into hers. She knew now that, however cooperative Manuella had been in the past, he was on the verge of becoming an enemy of hers.
    "Mrs. Colter, this list of names . . . may I see it?"
    All at once she realized what a trap she had set for herself. If she did give him the list, he would burst out laughing, and she would be the laughingstock of the whole country by tomorrow. Her mind raced to pull together the right words.
    "I'm sorry," she said, "I can't give you the list."
    "Supposing I decide that you are withholding information from the police, Mrs. Colter? New York State still has a sodomy law on the books. You would be withholding information on lawbreakers from me."
    She drew herself up, and the correct words poured into her mind, strong and clear. Surely it was with God's help.
    "Oh, I did not allege that these people have broken the law," she said. "I don't pretend to know what they do in their bedrooms. My information is simply that their lifestyle suggests what may be a homosexual orientation."
    They were silent for a moment, Manuella's eyes holding hers.
    He made a small smile. "Very good, Mrs. Colter. Very good." He gently brandished the statement. "May I keep this copy?"
    "Certainly," she said.
    He got up to leave.
    "And, Mrs. Colter ... if you do come into possession of any information on homosexuals in the police force, I presume that you will contact me first, before you do anything else."
    She smiled her Miss America smile at him, and got up to escort him to the door.
    "Certainly," she said.
    When he had gone, she shut the door, collapsed into her chair and broke into a sweat.
    That same day, Mary Ellen checked in with Jewel and Sam to find out how they felt about it. At Murphy's Coffee Shop, Jewel was enraged.
    "That holier-than-thou bitch," she said. "I'm so mad I can hardly type. And I'm supposed to do this dynamite little feature on the SCUBA unit . . ."
    At Pier 36, Sam just shrugged, but Mary Ellen could tell he was a little nervous.
    "I watched her on TV," he said. "She's a spooky broad. I got this creepy feeling that she knows where I borrow my library books."
    "What's happening on the Mattachine books, anyway?"
    "Dunno," he said. "They had a helluva time saving them. They had to move out of the building, right? So they threw the books in boxes and took 'em somewhere. The auction is supposed to be next week. Wonder if anybody will buy them."
    But Sam didn't want to talk much about that.
    "Hey," he said, "wanna see Miss Beautiful's kittens? They're getting so big. 'Scuse me, I should say Miz Beautiful when I'm around you, right?"
    The next day was Sunday. As the city still reverberated with his daughter's sayings and doings, Bill quietly spent the early morning at his office, doing some papers. Then he took