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Emery, wake up!
The brown eyes snapped open and looked into hers. She detected a wince, and she shrank back as if from an unkind word. He had trained her in
that behavior, much the same as the dog had been trained. And what had he done to the dog? And why did he have to lie about it? What had he
done?
Having a nightmare, Emery?
Were you dreaming of Rosie or your mother?
Yes, a nightmare. I look in this hole and it s alive with maggots, and I m going into it. It s all coming undone. Who s doing this to me?
If Pansy had believed in ghosts, she might have had an answer for that. It was the face of Emery s mother she saw in the mirror across the room,
and it was her own face.
The bouncer and the bartender each had the frowzy redhead by one flabby arm, and even so, she was giving them trouble as they led her out the
door. The two large men had loud, hollered words with the woman on the sidewalk and out of Betty Hyde s earshot.
Hyde looked around her, noting the rodent droppings on the floor. Definitely not an A rating from the Board of Health.
Reminders of her less accomplished relatives were on the faces of every drunk at the bar. Her glass had lipstick stains from the previous customer.
The slatternly waitress had actually seemed amused when she complained, but a dollar bill had bribed the girl back to the table with a clean glass,
and Hyde had slugged back the whole shot. With enough whiskey, anything could be borne.
She leaned forward as she spoke to the younger woman who sat on the other side of the small table.
Mallory, how do you find these places?
Of course, she understood the logic. No one from the Coventry Arms was likely to wander in, not without their own private security. The bulge under
Mallory s coat could only be a gun. Now that was comforting.
Tell me more about Eric Franz, said Mallory.
Anything specific? And what did Eric have in common with a judge and a gigolo?
Are you sure he s blind?
Dead sure, said Betty Hyde.
How so?
If the blindness was fraud the wife didn t know. How does a man keep a thing like that from his wife?
Maybe she did know.
No, Mallory. Annie believed he was blind.
How can you be so sure?
Well, I did tell you his wife had an interesting sense of humor& for a bitch. She used to flirt with men in front of him. Nothing spoken only the
rubbing up, the nuzzling. What Annie did with other men were the sort of things Eric couldn t see or hear. It was quite a show the two of them in
public. And there were other jokes at his expense, the faces she made, the obscene gestures. It was the darkest humor. You couldn t look away.
You couldn t tell her to stop. You were a prisoner to every exhibition.
Why did she hate him so much?
Because he loved her so much too much. If only he d been rude to her occasionally, it might have gone a long way toward improving the
marriage. She was that type.
And his type? He was a doormat?
A nice guy. But you re right. She had nothing but contempt for him in all the time I knew them.
Is that why they never had children?
You know, there was a time when I could ve sworn Annie was pregnant. She had that certain aura of impending motherhood. That special glow that
comes from vomiting every morning. But then, when I saw her again, she was her old self drop-dead gorgeous and frighteningly awake.
You think she got rid of it?
Abortion? Yes, I do, but there s no way to confirm it. I pride myself in being a hardcase, but I can t ask a blind man if his wife aborted their only child.
Well, I could if it had the makings of a good story. Does it?
Did you tell Eric I was a cop before I joined the consulting firm?
No, dear. I only told him you might be interested in any little tidbits about the judge. But it was all over the news. Every channel said you were a
dead cop.
A fireman was killed on Monday. Do you remember the news story?
Yes, he died saving an old man. It was a long story.
What was the fireman s name?
I don t remember& Oh, I see. Yesterday s news who remembers the details, the names and faces? But you, my dear, have a memorable face.
And Eric Franz is blind.
When she returned home, she hung up her clothes in the closet as Helen had taught her to do. The cat had already sensed her presence and was
pounding its hello on the bathroom door with the soft thuds of paws. She pressed the play button on her answering machine, and went into the
kitchen to open a can of tuna for her star witness.
It was Riker s voice on the machine.
Mallory, do any of the suspects have a dog?
Charles dimmed the lights of the front room and settled back on the couch, long legs splayed out in front of him. An early Christmas present from
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