‘The woman who took Anna’s request went a step further,’ Rosie continued. ‘She called the Police Department and asked if she could speak to him. She spun a big story about how her group wanted to give him a Women’s Commendation Award.’
He considered this, then burst out laughing. Rosie smiled wanly.
‘The duty sergeant checked his computer and said that Lieutenant Daniels was on vacation.
Somewhere out west, he thought.’
‘But he could be vacationing here,’ Bill said thoughtfully.
‘Yes. And if someone gets hurt, it’ll be all my f — ‘
He put his hands on her shoulders and swung her around. Her eyes flew wide, and he saw the beginning of a cringe. It was a look that hurt his heart in a new, strange way. He suddenly remembered a story he had heard at the Zion American Center, where he had gone to religious-study classes and USY until he was nine. Something about how, back in the days of the prophets, people had sometimes been stoned to death. At the time he had thought it the most fabulously cruel form of punishment ever invented, much worse than the firing squad or the electric chair, a form of execution which could never be justified. Now, seeing what Norman Daniels had done to this lovely woman with her fragile, vulnerable face, he wondered.
‘Don’t say fault,’ he told her. ‘You didn’t make Norman.’
She blinked, as if this were a thought which had never occurred to her before.
‘How in God’s name could he have found this guy Slowik in the first place?’
‘By being me,’ she said.
Bill looked at her. She nodded.
‘It sounds crazy, but it’s not. He can really do that. I’ve seen him do it. It’s probably how he busted that drug-ring back home.’
‘Hunch? Intuition?’
‘More. It’s almost like telepathy. He calls it trolling.’
Bill shook his head. ‘We’re talking about a seriously strange guy, aren’t we?’
That surprised her into a little laugh. ‘Oh boy, you don’t have any idea! Anyway, the women at D and S have all seen his picture, and they’ll be taking special precautions, especially at the picnic on Saturday. Some of them will be carrying Mace . . . the ones who might actually remember to use it in a jackpot situation, Anna says. And that was all sounding good to me, but then she said “Don’t worry, Rosie, we’ve been through scares like this before” and that turned it around again. Because when a man gets killed — a nice man like the one that rescued me in that horrible bus station — it’s not just a scare.’
Her voice was rising, picking up speed again. He took her hand and stroked it. ‘I know, Rosie,’ he said in what he hoped was a soothing voice. ‘I know it’s not.’
‘She thinks she knows what she’s doing — Anna, I mean — that she’s been through this before just because she’s called the cops on some drunk man who threw a brick through one of the windows or hung around and spit on his wife when she came out to pick up the morning paper. But she’s never been through anything like Norman, and she doesn’t know it, and that’s what scares me.’ She paused, working to get control of herself, then smiled up at him. ‘Anyway, she says I don’t have to be involved at all, at least not at this point.’
‘I’m glad.’
The Corn Building was just ahead now. ‘You didn’t say anything about my hair.’ She looked up again, a quick, shy glance this time. ‘Does that mean you didn’t notice it or you don’t like it?’
He glanced at it and grinned. ‘I did notice and I do like it, but I had this other thing on my mind — being afraid I might never see you again, I mean.’
‘I’m sorry you were so upset.’ She was, but she was also glad he had been upset. Had she ever felt even remotely like this when she and Norman had been courting? She couldn’t remember. She had a clear memory of him feeling her up under a blanket at a stock-car race one night, but for the moment, at least, everything else was lost in a haze.
‘You got the idea from the woman in the painting, didn’t you? The one you bought the day I met you.’
‘Maybe,’ she said cautiously. Did he think that was strange, and was that maybe the real reason he hadn’t said anything about her hair?
But he surprised her again, perhaps this time even more than when he had asked about Wendy Yarrow.
‘When most women change their hair color, what they look like is women who’ve changed their hair color,’ he said. ‘Most times men pretend they don’t know that, but they do. But you .
. . it’s like the way your hair looked when you came into the shop was a dye-job and this is the way it really is. Probably that sounds like the most outrageous con you’ve ever heard, but it’s the truth . . . and blondes usually look the least realistic. You ought to braid it like the woman in the picture, too, though. It’d make you look like a Viking princess. Sexy as hell.’
That word hit a big red button inside her, kicking off sensations that were both powerfully attractive and terribly alarming. I don’t like sex, she thought. I have never liked sex, but —
Rhoda and Curt were walking toward them from the other direction. The four of them met in front of the Corn Building’s elderly revolving doors. Rhoda’s eyes scanned Bill up and down with bright curiosity.
‘Bill, these are the people I work with,’ Rosie said. Instead of subsiding, the heat continued to rise in her cheeks. ‘Rhoda Simons and Curtis Hamilton. Rhoda, Curt, this is — ‘ For one brief, abysmally black second she found herself completely unable to remember the name of this man who already meant so much to her. Then, thankfully, it came. ‘Bill Steiner,’ she finished.
‘Goodtameetcha,’ Curt said, and shook Bill’s hand. He glanced toward the building, clearly ready to slide his head back between the earphones.
‘Any friend of Rosie’s, as the saying goes,’ Rhoda said, and held out her own hand. The slim bracelets on her wrist jangled mutedly.
‘My pleasure,’ Bill said, and turned back to Rosie. ‘Are we still on for Saturday?’
She thought furiously, then nodded.
‘I’ll pick you up at eight-thirty. Remember to dress warm.’
‘I will.’ She could feel the blush spreading all the way down her body now, turning her nipples hard and even making her fingers tingle. The way he was looking at her hit that hot-button again, but this time it was more attractive than scary. She was suddenly struck by an urge — comical but amazingly strong, nevertheless — to put her arms around him . . . and her legs . . . and then simply climb him like a tree.
‘Well, I’ll see you, then,’ Bill said. He bent forward and pecked the corner of her mouth.
‘Rhoda, Curtis, it was nice to meet you.’
He turned and walked off, whistling.
‘I’ll say this for you, Rosie, your taste is excellent,’ Rhoda said. ‘Those eyes!’
‘We’re just friends,’ Rosie said awkwardly. ‘I met him . . .’ She trailed off. Suddenly explaining how she had met him seemed complicated, not to mention embarrassing. She shrugged, laughed nervously. ‘Well, you know.’
‘Yes, I do,’ Rhoda said, watching Bill’s progress up the street. Then she turned back to Rosie and laughed delightedly. ‘I do know. Within this old wreck of femininity there beats the heart of a true romantic. One who hopes you and Mr Steiner will be very good friends.
Meantime, are you ready to go back at it?’
‘Yes,’ Rosie said.
‘Are we going to see an improvement over this morning, now that you’ve got your . . . other business more or less in order?’
‘I’m sure there will be a big improvement,’ Rosie said, and there was.
VI
The Temple
of the Bull
1
Before going to bed that Thursday night, Rosie plugged in her new phone again and used it to call Anna. She asked if Anna had heard anything new, or if anyone had seen Norman in the city. Anna gave a firm no to both questions, told her all was quiet, and then offered the old one about no news being good news. Rosie had her doubts about that, but kept them to herself. Instead, she offered Anna hesitant condolences on the loss of her ex-husband, wondering if Miss Manners had rules for handling such situations.
‘Thanks, Rosie,’ Anna said. ‘Peter was a strange and difficult man. He loved people, but he wasn’t very loveable himself
‘He seemed very nice to me.’
‘I’m sure. To strangers he was the Good Samaritan. To his family and the people who tried to be his friends — I’ve belonged to both groups, so I know — he was more like the Levite who passed by on the other side. Once, during Thanksgiving dinner, he picked up the turkey and threw it at his brother Hal. I can’t remember for sure what the argument was about, but it was probably either the PLO or Cesar Chavez. It was usually one or the other.’