"The newspapers will ..." She stopped.
"The newspapers," she said, and this time she said the words with the tone of discovery. Hawes watched the discovery claim her face, watched as she stirred her memory. Her eyes were beginning to narrow.
"I remember reading a story about Carella," she said.
"In one of the newspapers. The time he got shot. It mentioned that his wife ..." She paused.
"His wife was a deaf mute!" she said, and she turned glaring eyes on. Teddy.
"What about it, Marcia Franklin? What about it?"
Teddy did not move.
"What are you doing here?" Virginia said.
She had begun rising.
Teddy shook her head.
"Are you Marcia Franklin, come to report a burglary? Or are you Mrs. Steve Carella?
Which? Answer me!"
Again Teddy shook her head.
Virginia was standing now, her attention riveted to Teddy. Slowly, she came around the desk, sliding along its edge, ignoring the bottle on its top completely. It was as if, having found someone she believed to be related to Carella, her wait was nearing an end. It was as if should this woman be Carella's wife-she could now truly begin to vent her spleen. Her decision showed on her face. The hours of waiting, the impatience of the ordeal, the necessity for having to deal with other people while her real quarry delayed his entrance showed in the gleam of her eyes and the hard set of her mouth. As she approached Teddy Carella, Hawes knew instinctively that she would inflict upon her the same-if not worse punishment that Meyer Meyer had suffered.
"Answer me!" Virginia screamed, and she left the desk completely now, the bottle of nitro behind her, advanced to Teddy, and stood before her, a dark solemn judge and jury.
She snatched Teddy's purse from her arm, and snapped it open. Byrnes, Kung, Willis, stood to the right of Teddy, near the coat rack. Miscolo was unconscious on the floor behind Virginia, near the filing cabinets. Only Meyer and Hawes were to her right and slightly behind her-and Meyer was limp, his head resting on his folded arms.
Quickly, deftly, Virginia rifled through the purse. She found what she was looking for almost immediately. Immediately, she read it aloud.
"Mrs. Stephen Carella, 837 Dartmouth Road, River-head. In case of emergency, call..." She stopped.
"Mrs. Stephen Carella," she said.
"Well, well, Mrs. Stephen Carella." She took a step closer to Teddy, and Hawes watched, hatred boiling inside him, and he thought, It was nitra, it isn't nitro, it isn't nitro.... "Aren't you the pretty one, though?"
Virginia said.
"Aren't you the well-fed, well-groomed beauty? You've had your man, .. you~' you ye nan your man, ann you've still got your good looks, haven't you? Pretty, you bitch, look at me!
LOOK AT ME!"
I'll jump her, Teddy thought. Now.
While she's away from the nitro. I'll jump her now, and she'll fire, and the rest will grab her, and it will be all over. Now. Now.
But she did not jump.
Hypnotized as if by a snake, she watched the naked hatred on Virginia Dodge's face.
"I was pretty once," Virginia said, "before they sent Frank away. Do you know how old I am? I'm thirty-two. That's young. That's young, and I look like a hag, don't I, like death one of them said. Me, me, I look like death because your husband robbed me of my Frank. Your husband, you bitch. Oh, I could rip that face of yours apart! I could rip it, rip it for what he's done to me! Do you hear me, you little bitch!"
She stepped closer, and Hawes knew the gun would flash upward in the next moment.
He told himself for the last time, There's no nitro in that bottle, and then he shouted, "Hold it!"
Virginia Dodge turned to face him, moving closer to the desk and the bottle on it, blocking Byrnes and the others from it.
"Get away from her," Hawes said.
"What!" Virginia's tone was one of complete disbelief.
"You heard me. Get away from her. Don't lay a hand on her."
"Are you giving me orders?"
"Yes!" Hawes shouted.
"Yes, I am giving you orders! Now how about that, Mrs.
Dodge? How about it? I am giving you orders! One of the crawly little humans is daring to give God orders. Keep away from that girl. You touch her and..
"And what?" Virginia said. There was a sneer in her voice, supreme confidence in her stance-but the gun in her hand was trembling violently.
"I'll kill you, Mrs. Dodge," Hawes said quietly.
"That's what, Mrs. Dodge. I'll kill you."
He took a step toward her.
"Stand where you are!" Virginia yelled.
I'm not afraid of your wedge any more, your little bottle. You know why? Because there's nothing but water in it, Mrs. Dodge, and I'm not afraid of water. I drink water!
By the gallon, I drink it!"
"Cotton," Byrnes said, "don't be a ..
"Don't take another step!" Virginia said desperately, the gun shaking.
"Why not? You going to shoot me?
Okay, damnit, shoot me! But shoot me a lot because one bullet isn't going to do it!
Shoot me twice and then keep shooting me because I'm coming right at you, Mrs.
Dodge, and I'm going to take that gun away from you with any strength that's left in my hands, and I'm going to stuff it right down your throat! I'm coming, Mrs. Dodge, you hear me?"
"Stop! Stop where you are!" she screamed.
"The intro ..
"There is no nitro!" Hawes said, and he began his advance in earnest, and Virginia turned to face him fully now. To her left, Byrnes gestured to Teddy, who began moving slowly toward the men who stood just inside the gate. Virginia did not seem to notice. Her hand was shaking erratically as she watched Hawes.
"I'm coming, Mrs. Dodge," Hawes said, "so you'd better shoot now if you're going to because ..
And Virginia fired.
The shot stopped Hawes. But only momentarily, and only in the way any sudden sharp noise will stop anyone.
Because the bullet had missed him by a mile, and he began his advance again, moving across the room toward her, watching Byrnes slip Teddy past the railing and practically shove her down the corridor. The others did not move. Shut off from the bottle of nitro, they nonetheless stood rooted in the room, facing an imminent explosion.
"What's the matter" Hawes said.
"Too nervous to shoot straight? Your hand trembling too much?"
Virginia backed toward the desk. This time, he knew she was going to fire. He sidestepped an instant before she squeezed the trigger, and again the slug missed him, and he grinned and shouted, "That does it, Mrs. Dodge!
"The nitro..." she said, backing toward the desk.