“What are they worth today?”
“Off seven at the opening. I hate to think what’s happening in New York now.”
The lawyers wanted him, and he moved off.
“Alix has a short position in the stock,” Shayne said. “Lucky girl.”
“So have I,” Evie said. “They were all so sure of themselves. I didn’t believe any of it for a minute.”
“You were going to tell me what happened to Alix.”
“She has a two-picture deal with Twentieth Century. It was part of Marcus’s package.” She sighed. “Marcus will have to marry her, I’m afraid. She learned her lesson with Larry — no more of these unofficial arrangements. She’ll eat him alive. But I’m not bitter.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“You were wrong about one thing. I don’t mind telling you now that it’s over. But there’s too much noise here.”
When she stood, she lost her balance and knocked against him, jabbing him accidentally with one of her knitting needles. He straightened her out. Confused, she touched her hair.
“All that warm scotch.”
She started toward an exit sign. They went through a swinging door into a kind of pantry.
“I’ve been pretty monogamous on the whole,” she said, “but that’s about to change. And if you’re interested, Mike, I’m available, starting today, because I think you’re too fantastic! And I’ll straighten you out on something because you put so much thought and effort into this.”
“About Keko?”
Evie came closer. Reaching up, she played with the hair over one ear.
“She was a schemer, yes. But she wasn’t as tough as you made her out. When I came in, she was just sitting there!”
“In the bathtub?”
“Up to her armpits in soapy water. She made all those arrangements; and then at the last minute, she chickened out. She was fighting the pills. And do you know, she actually tried to climb out?”
“And you stopped her?”
“I stopped her,” Evie said with satisfaction. “She really wanted to do it. I was carrying out her wishes.”
“And that’s how the bruises got on her shoulders?”
“No, they were already there — you were right about that. But I made them worse! How she fought, like a tiger. I really did it for Marcus. She would have destroyed him if that affair had continued one minute longer. I’ve never been able to tell him I drowned her.”
“And now he’s walked out.”
“Oh, well. Mike,” she said sleepily. “Did I make myself clear? When I said I’m available, I’m available right here, right now. I’m contracepted. I want to touch you.”
Her fingers left his face and moved down his chest to his stomach, where they stopped on the little portable mike which Shayne was holding between them. Her face changed. Her eyes flickered down. The long wire snaked out beneath the padded door. Shayne’s thumb was holding the switch open.
“Men are really and truly bastards,” she said. She pulled a gun out of her knitting bag and fired twice. The small caliber bullets struck Shayne two powerful blows, but they didn’t penetrate the thickly woven vest beneath his shirt. He continued to look at her, and Evie clutched her head with both hands and screamed.