Page 10 (2/2)

"She was discontented?"

"I don't know if that's the right word" She turned to glance at her bust of Medusa "Disappointed? You got the feeling that Barb's life wasn't quite what she'd had inwas okay, her husband was okay, her apart more than just okay, and she didn't have it"

"Someone described her as restless"

"Restless" She tasted the word "That fits her well enough Of course that was a time for women to be restless Sexual roles were pretty confused and confusing"

"Aren't they still?"

"Maybe they alill be But I think things are a little more settled now than they were for a while there She was restless, though Definitely restless"

"Her e was a disappointment?"

"Most of them are, aren't they? I don't suppose it would have lasted, but we'll never knoe? Is he still with the Welfare Departer

"I didn't know hiood enough for her At least I got that iround was low-rent coreith the Vanderbilts, but I gather she had a proper suburban childhood and a fancy education He worked long hours and he had a dead-end job And yes, there was one other thing wrong with him"

"What was that?"

"He fucked around"

"Did he really or did she just think so?"

"Hedeal, just a casual, offhand sort of proposition I was not greatly interested The man looked like a chipmunk I wasn't much flattered, either, because one sensed he did this sort of thing a lot and that it didn'tto Barb, but she had evidence of her own She caught hi in the kitchen with the hostess And I gather he was dipping into his welfare clients"

"What about his wife?"

"I gather he was dipping into her, too I don't-"

"Was she having an affair with anybody?"

She leaned forward, took hold of her coffee e for a wo nails would be an i her a very low salary You could alot a better hourly rate for baby-sitting, and Barb didn't even get to raid the refrigerator So if she wanted time off, all she did was take it"

"Did she take a lot of time off?"

"Not all thatan occasional afternoon or part of an afternoon for so than a visit to the dentist A woman has a different air about her when she's off to meet a lover"

"Did she have that air the day she was killed?"

"I wished you'd askedI know she left early that day but I don't have any memory of the details You think shespecial at this stage Her husband said she was nervous about the Icepick Prowler"

"I don't think… wait aabout that afterward, after she'd been killed That she'd been talking about the danger of living in the city I don't know if she said anything specific about the Icepick killings, but there was so watched or followed I interpreted it as a kind of premonition of her own death"

"Maybe it was"

"Orwatched and followed What is it they say? 'Paranoiacs have ene"

"Would she let a stranger into the apartuard to begin with-"

She broke off suddenly I asked her as the er and you let me into your apartment"

"It's a loft As if it makes a difference I-"

I took out my wallet and tossed it onto the table between us "Look through it," I said "There's an ID in it It'll ave you over the phone, and I think there's soraph on it"

"That's not necessary"

"Look it over anyway You're not going to be very useful as a subject of interrogation if you're anxious about getting killed The ID won't prove I'm not a rapist or a ive you their right names ahead of time Go ahead, pick it up"