Nightmare in Pink Read Free Page A

out of here!"
    "Let's have a nice little talk."
    In her fury she made an unwise lunge to yank me off the couch. I caught her wrists. She was a very strong little girl. She nearly got her teeth into my hand before I could get my forearm under her chin. She tried to kick, but she didn't have the room or the leverage. But she fought-grunting, writhing, flinging herself around until she landed in a sitting position, with a great padded thump, beside the couch. She slumped then, breathing hard in exhaustion, a tousle of the blue-black hair hiding one blue eye.
    "Damn you!" she gasped. "Damn you, damn you, damn you!"
    "Will you listen?"
    "No!"
    "It's all very simple. How about this guy, this wonderful marriageable Howard Plummer? What kind of a dreary excuse for a girl are you?'
    "I'm not listening to you."
    "The tiresome thing about you, honey, is that if he was still alive, you probably wouldn't listen to him either. Suppose you found the money and he was still alive. I can see the scene. Your eyes flash fire. Fists on your hips. A hell of a nasty tone of voice. Howie, darling, prove to me you're not a thief, and it better be good. Why, that poor slob really lucked out of marrying you, darling girl. Howie, darling, this little red smudge on your collar better be blood, you two-timing bastard. Howie, baby, don't you take a step outside our happy home without letting me know where you are every single minute."
    "You… you filthy…"
    "You poor righteous little prude. Poor Miss Prim."
    "What are you trying to do to me?"
    "Make you give your man the same break any court would give him. Innocent until proven guilty. And the court wouldn't have gone to bed with him before condemning him without a trial, baby."
    I released her wrists. She belted me a good one, and a micro-second after it landed, I jarred her down to her heels with an open handed blow. The blue eyes swarmed out of focus and came back, shocked and wide, and then the tears hit her. They choked her and ripped her up, and she leaned into me, grinding her face into the side of my knee. I stroked her hair. It was all spasms, as convulsive as trying to steady a vomiting drunk.
    I wondered if she had really cried since her Howie had died. She was ridding herself of poison, coughing it out. It took her a long time to slow down and begin to ride it with any kind of reasonable rhythm. I got up and boosted her onto the couch and went off and found her bathroom, brought her back a cold wet washcloth and a big soft dry towel. I sat on the floor beside the couch and patted her once in a while. She drifted into a limp exhaustion, punctuated by a hiccup now and again. She sighed and turned her face toward me. I swabbed it with the cold cloth and she dried it on the towel. She stared at me, quiet and solemn as a justly punished child.
    "Trav. Tray, I've been horrible."
    "So?"
    "Don't you see? I didn't even give him a chance. He couldn't explain, and I didn't even give him a chance."
    "Do you understand that, Nina?"
    "N-No."
    "You had to muffle the pain any way you could. Lessen the loss. By trying to believe he lied and cheated. But you couldn't really believe it. It's a proof of how much love there was."
    "But it's so unfair to him."
    "Not to him, honey. To his memory, maybe. Not to him."
    "What… what can I do now?"
    "There's just one thing we can do. It's what I came to do. It's what Mike sent me to do. Let's find out what happened."
    "But you made me think it was just the money that…"
    I pushed her hair back away from the other puffy eye. "Mike said I might have to shake you up.
    She stared at me. She shook her head slowly from side to side. She made a mouth. "You two. You and Mike. How could you know more about me that I knew?"
    "Is it a deal?"
    Her smile was frail, but it was a smile. "We'll have a lot of nice little talks."

    After she regained enough energy to check the larder, she told me how far and in what direction I had to go to find a delicatessen. When I returned, she