‘Nope. Sat at the bar for ten minutes or so, finishing his drink.’
‘What was he drinking?’ Carella asked.
‘Jim Beam and water.’
Carella looked at Brown. Brown shrugged. Carella went to the phone booth and dialed Naomi Schneider’s number.
* * * *
‘Let it ring,’ the Deaf Man said.
She was naked. They were on her bed. She would have let it ring even if it was the fire department calling to say the building was on fire. The phone kept ringing. Spread wide beneath him, her eyes closed, she heard the ringing only distantly, a faraway sound over the pounding of her own heart, the raging of her blood. At last the phone stopped.
All at once he stopped too.
‘Hey,’ she said, ‘don’t...’
‘I want to talk,’ he said.
‘Put it back in,’ she said.
‘Later.’
‘Come on,’ she said.
‘No.’
‘Please, baby, I’m almost there.’ she said. ‘Put it back in. Please.’
He got off the bed. She watched him as he walked to the dresser, watched him as he shook a cigarette free from the package on the dresser top. He thumbed a gold lighter into flame, blew out a wreath of smoke. Everything was golden about him. Gold watch, gold lighter, golden hair, big magnificent golden...
‘There’s something we have to discuss,’ he said. ‘Something I’d like you to do for me.’
‘Bring it here, I’ll show you what I can do for you.’
‘Later,’ he said, and smiled.
* * * *
They were in the unmarked sedan, heading back toward the precinct. The heater, as usual, wasn’t working. The windows were frost-rimed. Brown kept rubbing at the windshield with his gloved hand, trying to free it of ice.
‘I told her to stay home,’ Carella said. ‘I specifically told her to...’
‘We don’t own her,’ Brown said.
* * * *
‘Who owns you?’ the Deaf Man said.
‘You do.’
‘Say it.’
‘You own me.’
‘Again.’
‘You own me.’
‘And you’ll do anything I want you to do, won’t you?’
‘Anything.’
* * * *
‘You think we ought to stop by there?’ Brown asked. ‘It’s on the way back.’
‘What for?’ Carella said.
‘Maybe she just went down for a newspaper or something.’
‘Pull over to that phone booth,’ Carella said. ‘I’ll try her again.’
The phone was ringing again.
‘You’re a busy little lady,’ the Deaf Man said.
‘Shall I answer it?’
‘No.’
The phone kept ringing.
* * * *
Carella came out of the booth and walked back to the car. Brown was banging on the heater with the heel of his hand.
‘Any luck?’ he asked.
‘No.’
‘So what do you want to do?’
‘Let’s take a spin by there,’ Carella said.
* * * *
‘I need you on Christmas Eve,’ the Deaf Man said.
‘I need you right now,’ Naomi said.
‘I want you to be a very good little girl on Christmas Eve.’
‘I promise I’ll be a very good little girl,’ she said, and folded her hands in her lap like an eight-year-old. ‘But you really owe me an apology, you know.’
‘I owe you nothing,’ he said flatly.
‘I mean for not calling me all this...’
‘For nothing,’ he said. ‘Don’t ever forget that.’
She looked at him. She nodded. She would do whatever he asked her to do, she would wait forever for his phone calls, she would never ask him for explanations or apologies. She had never met anyone like him in her life. She almost said out loud, ‘I’ll bet you’ve got girls all over this city who’ll do anything you want them to do,’ but she caught herself in time. She did not want him walking out on her. She did not want him disappearing from her life again.
‘I want you to dress up for me,’ he said. ‘On Christmas Eve.’
‘Like a good little girl?’ she said. ‘In a short skirt? And knee socks? And Buster Brown shoes? And white cotton panties?’
‘No.’
‘Well, whatever,’ she said. ‘Sure.’
‘A Salvation Army uniform,’ he said.
‘Okay, sure.’
That might be kicks, she thought, a Salvation Army uniform. Nothing at all under the skirt. Sort of kinky. Little Goodie-Two-Shoes tambourine-beating virgin with her skirt up around her naked ass.
‘Where am I supposed to get a Salvation Army uniform?’ she asked.
‘I’ll get it for you. You don’t have to worry about that.’
‘Sure,’ she said. ‘You know my size?’
‘You can give me that before I leave.’
’Leave?’ she said, alarmed. ‘I’ll kill you if you walk out of here without...’
‘I’m not walking out of here. Not until we discuss this fully.’
‘And not until you...’
‘Be quiet,’ he said.
She nodded. She had to be very careful with him. She didn’t want to lose him, not ever again.
‘Where do you want me to wear this uniform?’ she said. ‘Will you be coming here?’
‘No.’
‘Then where? Your place?’
‘Uptown,’ he said. ‘Near the precinct.’
‘Uh-huh,’ she said, and looked at him. ‘Is that where you live? Near the precinct?’
‘No, that’s not where I live. That’s where you’ll be wearing the uniform. On the street up there. A few blocks from where I work.’
‘We’re gonna do it on the street?’ she asked, and smiled.
‘You have a very evil mind,’ he said, and kissed her. She felt the kiss clear down to her toes. ‘This is a stakeout,’ he said. ‘Police work. Both of us in Salvation Army uniforms.’
‘Oh, you’re gonna be wearing one, too.’
‘Yes.’
‘Sounds like fun,’ she said. ‘But what do you really have in mind?’
‘That’s what I have in mind,’ he said.
‘A stakeout, huh?’
‘Yes, a stakeout.’
‘Even though you’re not a cop, huh?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, I know you’re not a cop.’
‘I’m not, huh?’