“If I have to make a guess,” she said, “from what I overheard, those three were lining up men who’d take them on trips. They were whores who kept it from looking like ordinary whoring, and they’d clip the men for all the traffic would bear. So I guess they’d have to have some kind of protection, some muscle they could call on if the customer got ugly about it. It had to be something like that, with that man Griff scaring them off. And maybe he even helped find the customers in the first place somehow.”
“When they were talking together, did the names of other men come up?”
“The other two kidded Del about some man. Somebody named Terry. They’d kid her in a very rough way, and she’d get angry.” She shook her head. “No other names I can remember.”
“Do you know if she kept much cash on hand?”
“I know she paid cash for everything, even the rent. But that’s all I know about that. Oh, wait a minute. One time, months ago, I finished up and it was time for her to pay me the twelve dollars. She just had some ones in her purse and she told me to wait. She took her purse into the little kitchen and closed the swinging door. She was in there a long time. Five minutes, maybe. Then she came out with the ten-dollar bill for me. I don’t think she worried about me being honest, not after the time I took a pretty pleated blouse of hers home with me to wash and iron for her. It was Italian, hand-made, and she’d bought it in Nassau. The minute I got it wet, I saw the shadow through the little pocket, and there were four hundred-dollar bills in there, folded into thirds and fastened with a paper clip. I dried the money out and took it back to her the next time, and she thought it was the funniest thing in the world. I told her we good church-going Baptist ladies, we don’t hold none with stealin’. She made me take twenty dollars for bringing it back.”
“Did she tell you this time she was leaving?”
“No. I had to go there last Monday, expecting her to be in bed when I unlocked the door and went in. But she’d packed up and left. I looked around and saw she’d taken all her best things and all her luggage, so I knew it would be a long trip. It was a mess there, believe me, things thrown all over, empty glasses, drawers all open. It looked as if she had to leave all of a sudden. So I straightened it all up, made the bed fresh, and decided she’d get in touch with me when she got back.”
“Just one last thing, Mrs. Walker. Would you know where she usually went when she went out in the evening?”
“Good places along the beach, I’d say. Before she gave up smoking, that’s what the book matches would say. The Ember Room, and Ramon’s and The Annex. Places like that. And when the other women were there, sometimes they’d talk about places like that, who they saw there, things like that.”
“I certainly appreciate your help, more than I can say.”
“I want to ask questions about what happened to her, and I have the feeling you don’t want me to.”
“I’ll make a deal with you. When this is over, one day I’ll look you up and tell you how and why it happened, because by then there couldn’t be any danger to you in knowing.”
She nodded. “And I haven’t talked to you at all.”
“Right.”
We went out toward my car. She stopped and said, “I’ll walk home from here, Mr. McGee.”
“No trouble to drop you off, Noreen. They’ve kind of lighted the neighborhood street lights.”
She turned so that the porch lights shone on her face. Suddenly she grinned in a mischievous way, giving me a glimpse of the wry humor she kept so carefully hidden. She backed away a full step, crouched slightly, and with a little snap of her right wrist, a slender four-inch blade appeared. She held it with an ominous competence, palm upward, knife hilt butted into the heel of her hand, thumb holding it against the bunched fingers.