The Groaning Board

“I’m crazy
in love. It’s scary, like letting go without a safety net.”
    “Aw, Birdie mine.” He hugged her.
“I’d say, be careful, but I’m afraid it’s too late.”
    “Too late for what?” Bill Veeder
asked. His hand touched Wetzon’s.
    Carlos patted her topknot. “If you
hurt my Birdie, big boy, you’ll have to answer to me.”
    “Carlos!” Wetzon felt a mortified
flush rise from the throat.
    “And a host of others, it seems,”
Bill said with good humor. “Is it all right if I take Leslie away now and feed
her?“
    “Why don’t you ask Leslie?” Wetzon
snapped. She gave Carlos a sharp nudge with the toe of her shoe. “She’s reached
a terrifying age and can make mature decisions for herself.” Carlos caught her
and whispered in her ear. “Not if she thinks with her—”
     
    “Where are we?” Bill was full of
surprises. He’d taken her to a small pizzeria-type restaurant in the section of
the City i known as Little Italy. He’d been greeted by the owner, as more
friend than client.
    “Lombardi’s,” Bill said. “The best
pizza in New York is made here.”
    “Better than John’s?”
    “Yes. How about pizza with fresh
clams? Their specialty.“
    “This makes me so happy. I thought at
first that you didn’t like food.”
    “Why would you think that?”
    “No food in your fridge.”
    “I missed you. The Vineyard was—”
    “I couldn’t.” He’d sent her tickets
and she’d gotten in the cab and ridden as far as Fifth Avenue. Then she’d told
the driver to turn around and take her home.
    “For a while there you thought I
might be the killer. Gaslight, you said.”
    She smiled. “It was the blue
pinstripe. Todd’s doorman said a man in a blue pinstripe had brought him home.
Seems ridiculous now, but things happened between us so fast. I didn’t trust
it. It seemed too slick.”
    “I think you meant Suspicion, not Gaslight. “
    “Cary Grant may or may not be trying
to kill his wife.“
    “That’s Suspicion. In Gaslight, it’s Charles Boyer.”
    “Oh, dear, I much prefer Cary Grant
to Charles Boyer.“
    “I’m going to defend Ellen Moore,” he
said.
    “I’m sorry.
    “She’s entitled to a defense. That’s
my job.”
    “And A.T. will foot the bill. I guess
Ellen’s entitled, but she’s a monster. She killed five people and has no
remorse. You’re going to plead insanity?”
    “She isn’t sane.”
    “What about the baby?”
    “What baby?” He was probably a great
poker player, because he didn’t give anything away.
    “Wasn’t there an adoption agreement
between Ellen and Hem and Min?”
    “Now how would you know that?”
    “Um...” She separated her knife and
fork, moved them from one side to the other.
    “Remind me never to leave you alone
in my office.”
    She grinned at him. “My guess is
there was no baby. Ellen is pathological. She lies. Am I right?”
    “Attorney-client privilege.”
    “Did you ever read a book called The
People of the Lie by a psychiatrist named Scott Peck?”
    “No.”
    “You ought to. You’ll find your
client there.”
    “Thank you for the advice.”
    She squinted at him. Was he making
fun of her?
    A sudden, decidedly unpleasant
thought came to her. “You’re going to call me to testify.”
    “Yes.” Flat out, there it was. “I
have to.”
    She threw up her hands. “Hey, what
the hell. What did you do about Jonathon?”
    “I fired him. His behavior was
unprofessional and inappropriate; his judgment was atrocious. Of course, he’s
not the first man to be besotted by a woman.”
    She raised her beer to him. “I’ll
drink to that.”
    He reached across the table, held her
chin for a moment. “Your friends...” He paused.
    “My friends?”
    “Margolies and Carlos, and the two...
lesbians. They’ve all warned me in no uncertain terms that I’ll be dog meat if
I hurt you.”
    “I love my friends.”
    “I would never hurt you. I’m in love
with you.”
    “You’re married.” She held up her
hand. “Don’t say it. My friends know me.” She thought, If you don’t take
risks because you ’re afraid of getting hurt, what kind of life do you have, after
all? Can you say at the end of it, I’ve lived fully? She’d always been a
risk taker, albeit a timid one.
    Who risks starvation and security to
become a dancer? Who leaves dancing to open a business in a profession totally
unfamiliar to her with a partner she hardly knows? Who ends a relationship with
a solid citizen like Alton Pinkus, who