The Axeman's Jazz

as ‘Bull.’ ”
    Nini squealed. She was apparently given to dramatic displays. “That’s him! That’s my doctor!” She couldn’t know the “criminal” was Sonny’s father.
    Possibly no one else but Missy and Sonny knew either, since last names weren’t used in the group. Did Di know? Skip glanced at Sonny and Missy, who were taking it as she might have expected—they were rigid, staring straight ahead, not looking at Di, not looking at anyone.
    Di was holding Nini’s hands now. “Oh, Nini, I’m so glad I told. Don’t go to him. Don’t let that monster touch you.”
    “Oh, Di, oh, Di. What if I had? Oh, my God, what if I had?”
    Steve caught Skip’s attention and rolled his eyes—the whole thing was just too Southern for words.
    Cindy Lou had an innocent look. Innocent verging on smug.
    Skip felt hands massaging her shoulders, and then soft breath in her ear. “Let’s get out of here,” whispered Alex.
    “What’s wrong—you don’t like mutilation stories?”
    “I’ve got to talk to you.”
    The way he’d stomped out of the apartment the night before, she’d never have expected him to speak another word to her. Surely, she thought, the average man would have quit by now, would have put her down as a mental case or a nasty tease.
    Okay. Maybe he had got something on his mind besides another try: She reached for her purse, for the reassuring heft of her .38.
    “Meet me at Bruno’s.” A bar in the same block.
    “Five minutes.”
    There was no one to cover her but Steve or Cindy Lou. Choosing brute strength, she dropped Steve a note: “Pretend you’re going to the men’s room. Follow me to Bruno’s. Stay out of sight.”
    Alex was waiting with a gin and tonic for her, which she took and pretended to sip.
    She said, “I thought you thought I was crazy.”
    “I was wondering something,” he said. “Why haven’t you mentioned you’re a cop?”
    “Oh. Someone at Cookie’s told you.”
    “That’s not all they told me. I found out how your dad’s Don Langdon, the society doc, and how you went to McGehee’s, and how you’re the black sheep of your family. I heard all that stuff and I got into thinking you were really down on yourself.”
    She was taken aback. “I beg your pardon?”
    “Look, you’re so used to thinking of me as the next thing to a rapist, you forget I’m a psychologist. You don’t share in the group. You never talk about your work. You just say you have a dumb civil-service job. You’ve obviously got a self-esteem problem because you aren’t a success.
    “I thought that’s why you kept blowing hot and cold. You wanted to have sex with me, but you didn’t think you could handle it. Then last night on the way home I figured out what was really going on. The way you weren’t a bit freaked out by those chickens. The way you always keep your backpack with you. How you asked me to go out last night, just like you hadn’t practically kneed me in the balls the night before.”
    “I only threatened to.”
    “I finally got it. You saw the chickens and you thought I did it. I even mentioned the Axeman, neatly bringing him together with the chickens. So you decided I was the guy. And instead of telling your sergeant or whatever you’re supposed to do, you thought you’d do a little unofficial sleuthing. Think how great it would look if humble Skip Langdon, the one with the self-esteem problem, brought in the Axeman all by herself. So you tried. But you freaked yourself out and ended up sniveling.”
    “Not a nice way to put it, Alex.”
    “But true.”
    “Well, at least you don’t think I’m crazy anymore.”
    “No, but I still think you’ve got a self-esteem problem. You’re ashamed to admit what you do for a living.”
    “I guess you’re right, in a way. I’m not ready for people to know.”
    “You’ve got to face it, Skip. If it’s not what you want to do, then you’ve got to quit doing it.”
    “I’m almost ready to talk about it in the group.”
    “Talk about it to me.”
    She put her untouched drink on the bar. “I really can’t. I’ve got a date. But I do promise to quit stuffing my feelings. And with the help of my higher power, I’m going to try to open up more to my recovery. I guess that’s all I really have to say, except that I’m just really grateful to be here tonight and I want to thank you for sharing.”
    “Always leave ’em laughing.” He gave her a friendly wave as she left.
    He came out seconds later,