“Be easier with a key, though.”
“I didn’t give anyone a key.”
“Be funny one of them was a cop, wouldn’t it?” Bobby said.
“Yeah, very,” Petey said drily.
“Throw her down a fuckin’ sewer,” Bobby said, and looked across the street. “Anybody want a hot dog?” he asked.
On Wednesday morning, Michael advised her to keep her usual Wednesday afternoon tryst with Faviola. If it was true that she hadn’t told him about the existence of the backup listening devices...
“It’s true,” she said.
“I hope so. Otherwise...”
“Don’t threaten me again,” she warned.
“I own you,” Michael said.
She was here now. Owned. Apprehensive at first. Frightened. Expectant. Certain she would be repelled by this man she now knew was a gangster. But lying here in his arms, he did not seem to be a gangster. He seemed only to be Andrew. And she wondered again what kind of woman she was.
Unless you want your daughter to learn what kind of woman you are.
Michael’s words.
What kind of woman?
I’m not cut out for this role, she thought.
I wasn’t meant to be an informer, the garment doesn’t quite fit me. Lying here in his arms, I want to shout my treachery aloud. What will I do if he ever starts telling me he’s murdered someone? Or ordered someone’s murder, like father, like son, I’ve had a dozen men killed, didn’t you know, Sarah? Will I scream No, don’t tell me, it’s a trap, I’m a trap, don’t say anything, don’t trust me, don’t love me, I’m an informer! Will I try to save him from himself and from me?
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’m afraid people are still listening to us,” she said.
She was whispering.
“Nobody’s listening,” he said. “Not anymore. I told you. We ripped everything out.”
Both of them whispering now.
Get him to talk, she thought. Get him to talk or lose my daughter.
“But who would do such a thing?” she said. “If a person’s not involved in criminal activity...”
“I’m not.”
“Well, of course, you’re not. So why would anyone want to put a bug in here?”
Get him to talk.
“A lot of business is conducted in this building,” he said, “on the phones in this building. We have competitors. I wouldn’t be surprised if any one of them was ruthless enough to do something like this.”
“Then this is just a business thing, is that right?”
“Strictly business, yes.”
“It has nothing to do with... well, when you think of bugs, you think of police. Or spies.”
“Business spies, yes.”
“But not the police.”
“No,” he said, “not the police,” and looked at her intently for a moment. “My associates are very concerned about this,” he said. “About how anyone could have got in here to bug the place.”
“Your associates,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Carter and Goldsmith?”
“Well, the people I work with. They think someone must have got hold of a key somehow. Someone I know personally. Got hold of a key and turned it over to whoever got in here to bug the place. That’s what my associates think.”
She realized all at once that he was accusing her. She was the personal someone who’d somehow stolen a key and delivered it to her husband’s detectives so they could later listen to her making love to him. The irony was so delicious, she almost burst out laughing. He was watching her intently again, waiting for some kind of answer. Well, she thought, how would Sarah Welles, the innocent schoolteacher, respond to such a bizarre notion? Never mind the Sarah who’s here as a spy. How would I myself react if the man I love accused me of working with his competitors?
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and began walking to where her clothes were draped over the back of the easy chair. She was reaching for her panties when he said, “What are you doing?”
“Getting dressed.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t like being told...”
“I’m trying to protect you!”
“Oh?” she said, and yanked up her panties and let the elastic go with an angry thwack. “And here I thought you were suggesting that I unlocked the door for whoever came in here to bug your phones,” she said, and reached for her bra.
“I’m only repeating what was said to me.”
“By whom?”
“One of my business associates.”
“Who?”
“Never mind who. He suggested...”
“What? That I stole a key?”
“That somebody might have, not necessarily...”
“Anyway, how do they know about me, these people?” she asked, reaching behind her to clasp the bra. “Did you tell them about me?”
“They know I have girlfriends.”
“Oh? Is it still plural? Still more than...?”
“They know I used to see a lot of girls. All they suggested was that one of them...”
“Not me, pal.”
“... might have...”
“Try one of your...”
“... got hold of...”
“... teenagers!”
“... my keys, which you have to admit is a...”
“No, it’s not a possibility! Not as it concerns me,” she said angrily, and stepped into her skirt, and pulled it to her waist and was fastening it when he came to her and took her by the shoulders.
“Get away from me!” she said.
“I don’t want anybody hurting you.”
“You’re hurting me right this minute!”
“I’m sorry, but you have to hear what I’m saying.”
“Let go of me.”
“Only if you promise to listen.”
“Just let...”
“All right, all right,” he said sharply, and released her. She reached immediately for her blouse.
“Listen to me,” he said.
“I’m listening,” she said.
But she was putting on the blouse.
“They suggested two things. One...”
“They? I thought this was only one of your associates. Is it more than one? Do they all think I stole your keys and...?”
“It’s just this one person.”
“Who?”
“It doesn’t matter who.”
“I’d like to know who my accuser is, if you don’t mind. You owe me at least...”
“Bobby, all right? His name is Bobby.”
“Bobby what?”
“Just Bobby, okay? He said maybe somebody I know is working for one of our competitors.”
“You tell Bobby I’m not working with any of your competitors. Is that what you think, too, Andrew? That I’m some kind of company spy?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“Well, you tell Bobby he doesn’t have to worry about me anymore. Because the minute I walk out that door, you won’t be seeing me again.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
“You do that,” he said, “and Bobby’ll know he was right.”
She was slinging her shoulder bag. She turned to him, clearly puzzled, her eyes squinted, her brow furrowed.
“We find the bugs,” he said, “and next thing you know, you’re walking out on me. Bobby’ll say that sounds very suspicious.”
“Really?” she said, and walked to him, and stood very close to him. “Then maybe you ought to tell Bobby just why I’m walking out,” she said, “whoever Bobby may be. The fast thing you can tell him, in fact, is that you don’t trust me enough to tell me his last name, if he has a last name. And you can...”