Detective

though. I hated to do it, but I couldn’t take a chance on Kathy calling my wife again. If they beeped me for a case, I was gonna call and stall the client no matter what.
    I lay down on the floor and was out like a light.
    I woke up at 5:30 that afternoon. No one had beeped me. I checked the answering machine. No one had called, except for Fred. He had the info, as promised. Pluto was Victor Millsap. Red was Rodney Forrester from East Hampton, Long Island. It was as simple as that.
    I checked out East Hampton on the map. It was way the hell out in Suffolk County near the tip of Long Island, which was why I’d never been there, and why Red hadn’t been showing up on the tracking unit. He was way out of range.
    My relief was boundless.
    I took the subway home and got there a little after six. Needless to say, my wife was not in the best of moods. I made up a bullshit story about my beeper being on the fritz, and having three cases in Brooklyn and one in Queens, and having had to juggle Richard in between them. Actually what I did was lie, but somehow “made up a bullshit story” sounds better. I told her I spent nine actual hours on the cases but was putting in for thirteen, that I was sorry to be away all day but we really needed the money. I told her, too, that I was sorry Kathy had called her, but neither I nor any other mortal man had control over Kathy, and I was sorry I hadn’t called Richard but how was I to know my beeper was on the fritz, etc., etc. and the end result was I was such a silver-tongued devil that by the time we got Tommie in bed I began hinting about an amorous episode, to which she actually concurred.
    As usual, she made fun of the interest I took in her as she undressed. She is always amazed that after ten years of marriage I am still fascinated by her breasts. I guess that’s the difference between men and women. My wife is calm and relaxed and amused by my attitude. Personally, I’m always jumping out of my skin.
    An added bonus of lovemaking is that afterward my wife is usually happy and content and rolls over and goes to sleep. This night was no exception. By 11:30 she was out like a light. I, on the other hand, was wide-awake and well-rested. I slipped out of bed, pulled on my clothes, and by 11:45 I was on my way out the door.

19.
    T HERE W AS N O R EASON TO believe that Rosa would be at the same spot at the same time as she had been the other night, but when I got to the corner of 48th and Broadway, there she was, large as life. It was a little after one in the morning. I’d driven down to my office, parking being no problem that time of night, gone in, and made a few preparations. Then I’d left the car there and strolled over to Broadway to check out the corner. And there she was again, just as before. She wore a yellow pullover this time, but the breasts seemed to be the same, and once again there seemed to be no discernible undergarment.
    I stopped near the corner and looked at her, as if hesitating and making up my mind. This wasn’t hard to do, since what I was actually doing was hesitating and making up my mind. She looked at me and smiled. I smiled back somewhat nervously. I blushed, I’m sure convincingly, and strolled over.
    “Hi,” I said.
    “Hi,” she said. It was a wonderful invitation.
    I wasn’t sure what to say next. She seemed quite familiar with that sort of approach, and took the initiative. “You looking to party?”
    “Could be,” I said. “How much would it cost?”
    “Fifty bucks straight, seventy-five half and half, a hundred around the world.”
    “Around the world?”
    “Yeah.”
    “What countries you visit?”
    “France and Greece.”
    Hmm. Some itinerary. Book me on a world-wide cruise.
    “A hundred bucks?” I asked.
    “That’s right.”
    What the hell, I thought, I’m not going to let her keep it anyway. “O.K.,” I said. “Take me around the world.”
    She hesitated a moment, and I realized I’d done something wrong, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Damn, I should have done more research. Then it hit me. I’d agreed to the price too quickly. I hadn’t tried to bargain her down. The prices she quoted me were only asking prices. She probably rarely got them. The johns who were actually parting with their money were better businessmen than I.
    However, the lure of the C-note was too strong for her to ignore. After a moment, she smiled, took my arm, and led me down the street to the hotel where I’d seen her take