Sudden concern crossed her face. “Puff-Daddy! Is he all right?”
“Don’t worry,” Hentz said. “Your cat’s been fed and has fresh water, but he’s probably missing you.”
Dr. Penny nodded approval. “You need to be there for your cat, Denise.”
“Yes,” she said, her voice slightly stronger than before.
“Did you want to keep the wooden cat?” Hentz asked.
She shrugged. “It was sweet but it wasn’t crystal, so I didn’t care if he took it back. But he said some mean things. He knows I can’t help it.”
“So you and Phil fought about the cat?”
“And the watch.”
“You took a watch, too?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t always remember when I take things, but he kept yelling at me and said he was going to lose his job if he didn’t give it back to Mrs. Wall. It’s like when he thought I took a necklace from 4-B and he went through all my things looking for it.”
“So he took the cat up to 6-A?”
“Yes. He called up and nobody answered so he said he’d go while they were out.”
“What time was that, Denise?”
“About ten o’clock? I was trying to watch my program on HGTV and he kept going on and on about the cat and Mrs. Wall’s watch. Right after he left, that nice young colored couple chose the very same house I would have picked.”
“And that was the last time you saw him?”
She nodded. “I thought he was coming right back, but he didn’t, so I watched my channel for another hour and went to bed a little after eleven.”
Her eyes darted to Hentz’s face. “What happened to him?”
They told her as concisely as possible. “We think he may have interrupted a robber or it might be that someone followed him into 6-A. Was there anyone in the building that he didn’t get along with, Denise? The other employees?”
“If he had problems with them, he never mentioned it. He didn’t like Antoine.”
“Why not?”
“He thought Antoine was sneaky.”
“Why?”
She shrugged.
“What about the tenants?”
“They thought he was Mr. Wonderful.” Her tone turned bitter. “They felt sorry for him because of me. Like he could have had his pick of perfect wives.” She flashed an angry glance at Hentz. “You don’t have to keep pussyfooting around.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve watched enough crime shows. I know what happens when someone gets killed. The autopsy. You want to ask about Phil and me, don’t you?”
“That he was a woman?”
“He wasn’t!” she said, beginning to cry. “And don’t you go thinking dirty things about us. Don’t! You want to make out that I’m a lesbo and he was a dyke, but we weren’t. I like men and he was a man in every way except for his equipment. From the time he was a little kid, he knew he was a boy trapped inside a girl’s body. That’s how we could love each other—why we got married. He took care of me.”
Her sobs grew louder and she turned to Dr. Penny helplessly. “What’s going to happen? How can I live without Phil? Who’s going to look after Puff-Daddy and me?”
CHAPTER
12
And [society] seems to be very happy, for it wears a beatific smile and sheds an extra beam of pleasure when its members bend to speak to each other.
—The New New York, 1909
There was no getting around the reality of murder. A man had been killed in this apartment, and yes, it was awful to think about, but Dwight and I have both seen our share of violent deaths and we know that life does move on whether or not we dwell on it. Besides, we had been together less than eighteen months and we were still new to married love. Which is to say that despite the way the day had begun, once everyone cleared out, Dwight and I reverted to honeymoon mode, and it was even more delicious than I had thought it would be.
For starters, we took our coffee and the New York Times back to bed, and while he leafed through the sports section, I slipped into the bathroom and changed from sweater and slacks to my new see-through confection of black ruffles and lace.
I know, I know. Silly and a total cliché, right? All the same… I mean, sometimes a man (Dwight) likes to see his woman (me) in something besides an oversized Carolina sweatshirt, okay?
He was too absorbed in what the Hurricanes were doing to pay any attention when I slipped under