if I could’ve gotten leave, there was no way for me to get out. Not that I’d have wanted to.”
“Why wouldn’t you have wanted to?”
“My parents were dead, Jackie. Nothing was bringing them back. But the Thirty-Fourth needed every soldier it could muster. If we all started taking leave, a lot more men would have died who didn’t need to.”
“That was very heroic of you.”
“No, it wasn’t. Heroes are special people who do things they’re not expected to do. I was just a grunt doing my job like millions of other grunts. Only I got to come home for no good reason other than I was lucky enough not to die.”
“Still, that must have been awful, not even seeing them buried.”
“It happened to lots of boys during the war. Why should I be any different?”
“That’s extraordinarily magnanimous of you.”
“Those are big college words for such a little thing.”
“I’m an only child, too. I don’t have anyone, either.”
“Well, you have your father, like it or not.”
Her fingers stopped stroking his belly for a moment before resuming.
“You sure know how to press my buttons, Archer,” she said. “And not in a good way.”
There were a few moments of silence until Archer said, “Hey, did that detective fellow Shaw come and see you too?”
She sat up and looked down at him, covering her nakedness with the sheet.
“Yes. I didn’t like him. He asked a lot of questions.”
“What did you tell him?” he asked.
“Well, what did you tell him?”
“The truth. Mostly.”
“I told him the whole truth. Nothing for it.”
“Meaning?”
“He asked where we met, and I told him.”
“At the bar?”
“Well, that’s the truth, Archer.”
Well, there goes my parole. My butt’s heading back to Carderock regardless.
“And what did he say?”
“Nothing, but he wrote it all down.”
“I’m sure he did. He’s a man who likes his pencil and paper. What else?”
“That Hank had hired you to collect a debt from my father. But he already knew that.”
“What else?”
“That you had to carry Hank to his room and then we went back to your place for a nightcap.”
“Did you tell him what else we did?”
“Not in so many words. Did you tell him we slept together?”
“What else was I supposed to say?”
“A gentleman would not have betrayed a lady’s secret. I do have a reputation to preserve, Archer.”
“Is that right? Well, he called you Hank Pittleman’s mistress.”
“I corrected him on that. Not that he cared. Just looked at me funny.”
“Man’s a bulldog. He’s not going to let this go.”
“We have nothing to hide, Archer.”
“You and I know that. But what about him?”
“I’m sure it will be fine.”
“What about Marjorie?”
“What about her?”
“She may sell out everything.”
“She may. It’s her right. I told you that.”
“So you really think she’s going to turn on you then, even after being nice to you today?”
“We’re not friends, Archer. We needed each other, that’s what I’ve been telling you, only apparently you weren’t listening. With Hank dead, Marjorie Pittleman would love to see me in the street with not a dime to my name. I went over there today trying to buy some time, make her see me in a supportive light.” She sighed heavily. “But Marjorie’s no dummy. With Hank dead my goose is cooked.” She grabbed her pack of cigarettes and lighter off the nightstand and ignited a Chesterfield. Archer declined her offer of one.
She took a puff, blew smoke sideways from her mouth, and said in a funereal tone, “Well, it was fun while it lasted.” She pulled the sheet tighter around her with her free hand as she smoked her cigarette. “It’s a man’s world, Archer. Your kind has all the money and all the power.”
“Hold on, now. Don’t lump me in with the likes of Hank Pittleman. My pockets are just about empty, and as for power, that’s a laugh. I’m an ex-con with about as few prospects as a man can have, even after helping to win a big war.”
She tousled his hair. “Well, I can see your point. But it still makes me so mad. It wasn’t that long ago where we couldn’t even vote. Women have to scrounge around the edges for our share, and let the men think they’re so far above us, we’re just happy to be along for the ride. It won’t always be that way, but it’s the way it is now.”
“Is that your psychology education talking?”
“That and my common sense and living in this world.” She snuffed out her smoke in a tall glass of melted ice. “So now I’m up