"I didn't do anything wrong," Richard said. "How can this be happening?"
"Why would she cry rape on you?" I asked.
"Somebody did it," Belisarius said. "If not you, then who?"
Richard shook his head. "Betty dates a lot. I know of at least three other men, myself."
"We'll need their names."
"Why?" he asked.
"Son, if you are going to argue with me every step of the way, this won't work."
"I just don't want to drag anyone else into this."
"Richard," I said, "you are in trouble here. Let Carl do his job, please."
Richard looked at me. "You dropped everything to ride to my rescue, huh?"
I smiled. "Pretty much."
He shook his head. "How'd Jean-Claude feel about that?"
I looked away, not meeting his eyes. "He wasn't thrilled, but he wants you out of jail."
"I'll just bet he does."
"Look, kiddies, we don't have a lot of time here. If you two can't curb the personal stuff, maybe Anita here should leave."
I nodded. "I agree. You're going to have to tell him details about Ms. Schaffer that I don't want to hear. And you need to be able to talk freely about her."
"Are you jealous?" Richard asked.
I took in a deep breath and let it out. I would have liked to have said no, but he could smell a lie. I'd been doing okay until he'd made that crack about Betty being his girl for the rough stuff. That had bugged me. "I have no right to be jealous of you, Richard."
"But you are, aren't you?" he asked. He watched my face while he asked it.
I had to force myself to meet his eyes while I answered. I wanted to dunk my head, and I couldn't stop the rush of color up my face. "Yeah, I'm jealous. Happy?"
He nodded. "Yes."
"I'm out of here." I wrote the phone number of the cabin on Belisarius's notebook and pressed the buzzer to be let out.
"I'm glad you came, Anita," Richard said.
I kept my back turned to the door, hoping Maiden would hurry. "I wish I could say the same, Richard."
The door opened. I escaped.
7
"Have fun visiting your boyfriend?" Maiden asked as he followed me down the hall.
I waited at the second locked door. "He's not my boyfriend."
"Everyone keeps saying that." Maiden unlocked the door and held it open. "Maybe it's a case of the lady protesting too much."
"Take your library card and shove it, Maiden."