that, she was frightened by the unexpected jealousy exhibited by Cotton Hawes. She had willfully promoted the relationship with Jonesy in an attempt to bring Hawes to an appreciation of her obvious charms. Her little game had worked only too well. Hawes was not only annoyed, he was furious. And she did love him. She would not exchange him for a hundred Jonesys. Or a thousand.
“Oh, Teddy,” she said, “what should I do?”
Teddy’s face became instantly alert. The impression she gave of devoting her complete attention to whoever was speaking may have simply been an illusion. She was, after all, forced to watch a person’s lips if she was to “hear” anything. But mechanical necessity did not explain the complete sympathy Teddy expressed as she listened. To the speaker, Teddy was a perfect sounding board. Her eyes, her mouth, her entire face took on a look of complete understanding. She tilted her head slightly now, and her eyebrows moved a fraction of an inch, the brown eyes focusing on Christine’s mouth.
“I’ve made a mess of everything,” Christine said, and Teddy leaned closer, watching the lips, nodding slightly to let Christine know she was listening.
“I haven’t known Cotton very long,” Christine said. “Oh, perhaps a year—but that isn’t very long as relationships go. He came into my bookshop once, tracking down some typing paper that had been used in a warning note. I have a bookshop in Isola.” She paused. “He asked me out, and I accepted. I’ve been seeing him.” She paused again. “I’m a widow, you know. Not a Professional Widow, the way some girls are Professional Virgins or Professional Mothers. My husband was a pilot during the Second World War. He crashed over Okinawa. It took me a long time to get over it, but the dead are dead, and the living must go on. So I’m not a Professional Widow, Teddy. I haven’t been wearing sackcloth and rolling about in the ashes. But…it was hard to fall in love again. It was hard to find any man who could live up to the memory of Greg. And then Cotton came along…”
Teddy nodded.
“And I fell in love again.” She paused. “I don’t think he loves me. In fact, I’m almost sure he doesn’t. I really don’t think Cotton is ready yet to become really involved with any woman. But I love him. And it’s enough to be near him, and to be wanted by him. For now, that’s enough.” Again she paused. “I did a stupid thing today. I tried to make him jealous, and I think I may have lost him. Cotton isn’t a man who can be pushed. Teddy, Teddy, what shall I do? What the hell shall I do?”
She fumbled for the purse in her lap as the tears sprang to her eyes. Snapping it open, she dug into it, expecting the familiar feel of her own bag, surprised when her hands struck something hard and unyielding. She stared into the purse.
A Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum stared back at her.
“They’re on their way over, Steve,” Kling said as he hung up the phone. “I explained the situation to them. They’re coming in through the next street.”
“Good,” Carella said. He turned back to Sam Jones. “Now, let’s do some serious talking, shall we, Jonesy?”
Jonesy nodded. His face was still white. His hands were still trembling in his lap.
“First of all, Jonesy, would you mind telling me where you went this afternoon when you left Tommy’s house for your alleged walk?”
“Alleged?”
“Yes. Alleged. Where did you go?”
“Why?”
“Because somebody sawed through a rod connected to the steering tube of the Cadillac and we had an accident that damn near killed everybody in the car. That’s why, Jonesy.”
“I thought that accident—”
“What did you think?”
“I thought it was just an accident.”
“It wasn’t. And you were conveniently out of the car at the time. Buying cigarettes, remember? Even though Tommy offered you his.”
“You don’t think…”
“All I want to know is where you went on your walk, that’s all.”
“I don’t really remember. I was very nervous. I just walked.”
“Where?”
“I came out of the house and walked. I must have walked about half a mile. Then I turned back.”
“Meet anyone while you were walking?”
“No.”
“Stop any place?”
“No.”
“Then we have only your word for your whereabouts during the time that tie rod could have been sawed through.”
“I suppose…if you put it that way…”
“How would you put it, Jonesy?”
“Why would I want to…why would I want to do a crazy thing like that?”
In a deadly flat