Manhattan Is My Beat

rented.
    “That’s cheating.”
    “Don’t bet if you don’t know the odds.”
    “I don’t know, Rune,” Stephanie said. “You think Mr. Kelly was into hidden treasure or something, but look, here’s this woman rents Richard Gere films ten times in six months. That’s just as weird as Kelly.”
    Rune shook her head. “Naw, you know why she does that? She’s having an affair with him. You know the way it is now, sex is dangerous. You have to take matters into your own hands. So to speak. Makes sense to me.”
    “Funny, you seem like more of a risk-taker—tracking down hidden treasure and murderers. But you won’t go to bed with a guy.”
    “I’ll sleep with somebody. I just want to make sure it’s the right somebody.”
    “‘Right’?” Stephanie snorted. “You
do
like your impossible quests, don’t you.”
    Rune slipped the bootleg
Manhattan Is My Beat
into the VCR. A few minutes later she mused, “Wasn’t she beautiful?” On the screen Ruby Dahl, with the bobbed blond hair, was walking hand in hand with Dana Mitchell, playing her fiancé, Roy, the cop. The Brooklyn Bridge loomed in the background. It was before the robbery. Roy had been called in by his captain and told what a good job he was doing. But the young patrolman was worrying because he was broke. He had to support his sick mother. He didn’t know when he and Ruby’d be able to get married. Maybe he’d leave the force—go to work for a steel company.
    “
But you’re so good at what you do, Roy, darling. I would think they’d want you to be commissioner. Why, if I were in charge that’s what I’d make you
.“
    Handsome Dana Mitchell walked beside her solemnly. He told her she was a swell gal. He told her what a lucky stiff he was. The camera backed away from them and the two people became insignificant dots in a shadowy black-and-white city.
    Rune glanced down at the countertop. “Ohmygod!”
    “What?” Stephanie asked, alarmed.
    “It’s a phone message.”
    “So?”
    “Where’s Frankie? Dammit. I’m going to kick his butt….”
    “What?”
    “He took the message but he just left it here under these receipts.” She held it up. “Look, look! It’s from Richard. I haven’t heard from him since yesterday. He dropped me off on the West Side.” Rune grimaced. “Kissed me on the cheek good-bye.”
    “Ouch. A cheek-kiss only?”
    “Yeah. And after he’d seen me topless.”
    Stephanie shook her head. “That’s not good.”
    “Tell me about it.”
    The message read:
    Rune—Richard asked you over for dinner tomorrow, at seven, hes cooking. He has a surprise for you and he also said why the hell don’t you get a phone. Ha ha but he was kidding
     
    “Yes! I thought he’d given up on me after we went to the nursing home on Sunday.”
    “Nursing home? Rune, you gotta pick more romantic places for dates.”
    “Oh, I’m going to! I’ve got this totally excellent junkyard I go to—”
    “No, no, no.”
    “It’s really neat.” She fluffed her hair out again. “What should I wear? I have this polka-dot tank top I just got at Second-Hand Rose. And this tiger-skin skirt that’s about eight inches wide … What?”
    “Tiger skin?”
    “Oh, like, it’s not
real
…. If you’re into rain forests and stuff like that. I mean, it was made in New Jersey—”
    “Rune, the problem isn’t endangered species.”
    “Well, what
is
the problem?”
    Stephanie was examining her closely. “Are those glow-in-the-dark earrings?”
    “I got them last Halloween,” she said defensively, touching the skulls. “Why are you looking at me that way?”
    “You like fairy stories, right?”
    “Sure.”
    “You remember Cinderella?”
    “Oh, it’s the
best
. Did you know in the real story, the Brothers Grimm story, the mother cut the ugly sisters’ heels off with a knife so their feet would fit into the—”
    “Rune.” Stephanie said it patiently.
    “What?”
    “Let’s think about the Disney version for a minute.”
    Rune looked at her cautiously. “Okay.”
    “You remember it?”
    “Yeah.”
    Stephanie walked around Rune slowly, examining her. “You understand what I’m getting at?”
    “Oh … a makeover?”
    Stephanie smiled. “Don’t take it personal. But I think you need a fairy godmother.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
     
    Rune wanted slinky.
    Stephanie reluctantly indulged her but the expedition to stores that specialized in svelte was a failure. Rune spent a half hour in tiny, hot changing rooms trying