The Groaning Board

I are we?” He’d brought her to an apartment in the tower over the Museum of Modern Art.
    It had been “Good evening, Mr.
Veeder,” just like on Park Avenue.
    Closing the first-aid kit and setting
it aside, Veeder said, “This is my apartment.”
    “The other one...?”
    “That’s Evelyn’s.” He was massaging
her feet and she ' didn’t want him to stop. Dancer’s feet, bunions, and crooked
toes. Good thing she’d had a pedicure the day before.
    She leaned her cheek on the back of
the sofa. “I thought you weren’t coming.”
    “I almost didn’t.” He looked tired
suddenly. “Evelyn had a seizure.”
    “Oh, God, I’m so sorry.” She tried to
pull her feet away. Why am I here, she thought.
    “She was sleeping peacefully when I
left, Leslie. That’s how it is.”
    “Bill, I don’t think...” His hands on
her feet were making her inarticulate.
    “Don’t think, Leslie. Let whatever
happens happen.”
    “God,” she breathed.
    “What did you start to say about the
coke?”
    “I took it.”
    He gave her a sharp look as if she’d
done something totally out of character, out of the character he’d assumed she
was. “Where is it?”
    “I poured it out over Prince Street.”
    Veeder began to laugh. “You are a
funny lady, Leslie Wetzon.”
    “Doesn’t it strike you as odd that
we’re sitting here talking as if we’ve known each other for years?”
    “No. Sometimes people connect
immediately. It’s the chemistry.”
    “I know all about chemistry.” She
singsonged, “The chemistry has to be right between you and the manager, blah,
blah, blah...” Keeping it light wasn’t going to work.
    “I wanted you from the first time we
met, when Xenia brought you to my office to watch the Christmas tree light-uig.
    “In the biblical sense, of course.”
    “That goes without saying. After I
saw you dance—”
    “You saw me dance?”
    “Twice, actually. I saw you in Combinations when it first opened.”
    “You did? What did you think?” She
was fishing and she jj couldn’t help it.
    He had such nice even teeth. He knew
what she was doing. “You were having fun and everyone was having fun with you.
You were a vivacious little package.”
    She rolled her eyes at little
package. “I was very young.”
    “We all were.”
    “Nineteen years later and look what happened
to the vivacious little package.”
    “You are so right.” He was laughing.
“The benefit was different. Xenia knew how I felt about you and arranged for
the tickets. Now it was more than fun. Maturity brought a depth, a
sensuousness... I wanted you in my life.”
    This time when she pulled her feet
away, he let her. She felt overheated. The air conditioning made her shiver. Or
maybe it wasn’t the air conditioning. “I’m cold,” she said, trying to curl her
feet under her. Her knees protested. She put her feet on the floor.
    Veeder got up and left the room. What
the hell am I doing here, she thought again. But she didn’t move.
    He returned a few minutes later with
a pair of white athletic socks. He’d removed his jacket, and his gun. She could
see the creases in his white shirt where his shoulder holster had been.
    “Figured it was safe to put away your
weapon, huh?”
    Veeder crouched and was slipping his
socks on her feet. His hair was white, cut like a marine’s. He looked up at her
and grinned. Her hands began to move of their own accord, it seemed, for they
smoothed his high cheekbones, ran their fingers over his thin lips, the soft
bristle of his hair. An inferno burned under her skin. The hands finally got
the signal from her brain and froze. She pulled them back and, moving quickly,
stood. The socks bagged around her ankles.
    He went back to his place on the sofa
as if nothing had happened, took off his shoes, and put his feet up on the
coffee table. “You knew I used to be a cop?”
    “I knew you carried—”
    “You know cops?”
    “A few. I knew one well.”
    “Silvestri.”
    “Yes. He was there tonight. Did you
know? In disguise.“
    “Out of the bag? What did he look
like?”
    “You saw him. He’s the one Hem kept
calling Bruce Willis’ brother.” She stretched one leg against the other,
wincing as she bent her knee. “Not undercover, though. I heard he took a leave
of absence.”
    “Now that’s interesting. Did you know
he was going to be there?”
    “No. I told you we split up. I
haven’t seen or spoken to him in over a month.”
    He held his hand out to her and
pulled her