"No."
"I can get you a blanket if you're cold."
"I'm fine, thanks."
"I thought, with the rain, you might be a little chilly."
"No."
"You look good naked," the girl said.
"Thank you."
"I'll feed you, don't worry," she said.
"I know you will."
"But about those questions, they're really bothering him, you know. He's liable to get bugged completely and just decide the hell with the whole thing. I mean, I like having you and all, but I don't know if I'll be able to control him much longer. If you don't cooperate, I mean."
"Messner was my source," Carella said. "He gave me the description."
"Then it's a good thing we killed him, isn't it?"
"I suppose so."
"Of course, that still doesn't answer those questions I was talking about."
"What questions?"
"For example, how did you get the name? Messner may have given you a description, but where did you get the name? Or the address, for that matter?"
"They were in Tinka's address book. Both the name and the address."
"Was the description there, too?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"You know what I mean, doll. Unless Tinka had a description in that book of hers, how could you match a name to what Messner had told you?" Carella was silent. The girl smiled again. "I'm sure she didn't have descriptions of people in her address book, did she?"
"No."
"Good, I'm glad you're telling the truth. Because we found the address book in your pocket the night you came busting in here, and we know damn well there're no descriptions of people in it. You hungry?"
"Yes, I'm very hungry," Carella said.
"I'll feed you, don't worry," she said again. She paused. "How'd you know the name and address?"
"Just luck. I was checking each and every name in the book. A process of elimination, that's all."
"That's another lie," the girl said. "I wish you wouldn't lie to me." She lifted the gun from the tray. She held the gun loosely in one hand, picked up the tray with the other, and then said, "Back off."
Carella moved as far back as the handcuff would allow. The girl walked to him, crouched, and put the tray on the floor.
"I'm not wearing anything under this robe," she said.
"I can see that."
"I thought you could," the girl said, grinning, and then rose swiftly and backed toward the door. She sat in the chair and crossed her legs, the short robe riding up on her thighs. "Go ahead," she said, and indicated the tray with a wave of the gun.
Carella poured himself a cup of coffee. He took a quick swallow, and then picked up the sandwich and bit into it.
"Good?" the girl asked, watching.
"Yes."
"I made it myself. You have to admit I take good care of you."
"Sure," Carella said.
"I'm going to take even better care of you," she said. "Why'd you lie to me? Do you think it's nice to lie to me?"
"I didn't lie."
"You said you reached us by luck, a process of elimination. That means you didn't know who or what to expect when you got here, right? You were just looking for someone in Tinka's book who would fit Messner's description."
"That's right."
"Then why'd you kick the door in? Why'd you have a gun in your hand? See what I mean? You knew who he was before you got here. You knew he was the one. How?"
"I told you. It was just luck."
"Ahh, gee, I wish you wouldn't lie. Are you finished there?"
"Not yet."
"Let me know when."
"All right."
"I have things to do."
"All right."
"To you," the girl said.
Carella chewed on the sandwich. He washed it down with a gulp of coffee. He did not look at the girl. She was jiggling her foot now, the gun hand resting in her lap.
"Are you afraid?" she asked.
"Of what?"
"Of what I might do to you."
"No. Should I be?"
"I might break your nose all over again, who knows?"
"That's true, you might."
"Or I might even keep my promise to knock out all your teeth." The girl smiled. "That was my idea, too, you know, knocking out Messner's teeth. You people can make identifications from dental charts, can't you?"
"Yes."
"That's what I thought. That's what I told him. He thought it was a good idea, too."
"You're just full of good ideas."
"Yeah, I have a lot of good ideas," the girl said. "You're not scared, huh?"
"No."
"I would be, if I were you. Really, I would be."
"The worst you can do is kill me," Carella said. "And since I'm already dead, what difference will it make?"
"I like a man with a sense of humor," the girl said, but she did not smile. "I can do worse than kill you."
"What can you do?"
"I can corrupt you."
"I'm incorruptible," Carella said, and smiled.
"Nobody's incorruptible," she said. "I'm going to make you beg to tell us what you know. Really. I'm warning you."
"I've told you everything I know."
"Uh-uh," the girl said, shaking her head. "Are you finished there?"
"Yes."
"Shove the tray away from you."
Carella slid the tray across the floor. The girl went to it, stooped again, and picked it up. She walked back to the chair and sat. She crossed her legs. She began jiggling her foot.
"What's your wife's name?" she asked.
"Teddy."
"That's a nice name. But you'll forget it soon enough."
"I don't think so," Carella said evenly.
"You'll forget her name, and you'll forget her, too."
He shook his head.
"I promise," the girl said. "In a week's time, you won't even remember your own name."
The room was silent. The girl sat quite still except for the jiggling of her foot. The green neon splashed across the floor, and then blinked out. There were seconds of darkness, and then the light came on again. She was standing now. She had left the gun on the seat of the chair and moved to the center of the room. The neon went out. When it flashed on again, she had moved closer to where he was manacled to the radiator.
"What would you like me to do to you?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"What would you like to do to me?"
"Nothing," he said.
"No?" she smiled. "Look, doll."
She loosened the sash at her waist. The robe parted over her breasts and naked belly. Neon washed the length of her body with green, and then blinked off. In the intermittent flashes, he saw the girl moving — as though in a silent movie — toward the light switch near the door, the open robe flapping loose around her. She snapped on the overhead light, and then walked slowly back to the center of the room and stood under the bulb. She held the front of the robe open, the long pale white sheath of her body exposed, the red silk covering her back and her arms, her fingernails tipped with red as glowing as the silk.
"What do you think?" she asked. Carella did not answer. "You want some of it?"
"No," he said.
"You're lying."
"I'm telling you the absolute truth," he said.
"I could make you forget her in a minute," the girl said. "I know things you never dreamed of. You want it?"
"No."
"Just try and get it," she said, and closed the robe and tightened the sash around her waist. "I don't like it when you lie to me."
"I'm not lying."
"You're naked, mister, don't tell me you're not lying." She burst out laughing and walked to the door, opening it, and then turned to face him again. Her voice was very low, her face serious. "Listen to me, doll," she said. "You are mine, do you understand that? I can do whatever I want with you, don't you forget it. I'm promising you right here and now that in a week's time you'll be crawling on your hands and knees to me, you'll be licking my feet, you'll be begging for the opportunity to tell me what you know. And once you tell me, I'm going to throw you away, doll, I'm going to throw you broken and cracked in the gutter, doll, and you're going to wish, believe me, you are just going to wish it was you they found dead in that car, believe me." She paused. "Think about it," she said, and turned out the light and went out of the room.