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"ForNice clothes, nice hair Gave me a couple of bucks to point you out when you caured I'd take a chance, look here and there and see if I could find you I got Eddie coverin' the desk for me You comin' back to the hotel?"

"I hadn't planned to"

"What you could do, see, you could look her over and gin to point you out or not point you out I'd just as soon earn the couple of bucks, but I'o and retire on it, you knohat I mean? If you want to duck this dame-"

"You can point me out," I said "Whoever she is"

He went back to the desk I finishedto the hotel When I walked in Vinnie nodded significantly toward the wing chair over by the cigarette machine, but he needn't have bothered I'd have spotted her without help She looked utterly out of place, a well-groomed, well-coiffed, color-coordinated suburban princess who'd found her way to the wrong part of Fifty-seventh Street A few blocks east shethe rounds of the art galleries, looking for a print that would go ith the mushroom-toned drapes in the family room

I let Vinnie earn hisfor the elevator Its doors were just opening when she spoke er"

"How-"

"Saw your picture on your husband's desk And I probably would have recognized your voice, although I've only heard it over the phone" The blonde hair was a little longer than in the picture in Douglas Ettinger's photo cube, and the voice in person was less nasal, but there was noher "I heard your voice a couple of tiain when I called you back"

"I thought that was you," she said "It frightened "

"I just wanted to nized the voice"

"I called you since then I called twice yesterday"

"I didn't get any es"

"I didn't leave any I don't knohat I'd have said if I reached you Is there someplace more private where we can talk?"

I took her out for coffee, not to the Red Flame but to another similar place down the block On the way out Vinnie tipped iven hiive me We were no sooner settled with our coffee than she put her purse on the table and gave it a significant tap

"I have an envelope in here," she announced "There's five thousand dollars in it"

"That's a lot of cash to be carrying in this town"

"Maybe you'd like to carry it for me" She studied my face, and when I failed to react she leaned forward, dropping her voice conspiratorially "The money's for you, Mr Scudder Just do what Mr London already asked you to do Drop the case"

"What are you afraid of, Mrs Ettinger?"

"I just don't want you poking around in our lives"

"What is it you think Isecurity in the presumptive power of five thousand dollars Her nail polish was the color of iron rust Gently I said, "Do you think your husband killed his first wife?"

"No!"

"Then what have you got to be afraid of?"

"I don't know"

"When did you er?"

She met my eyes, didn't answer

"Before his as killed?" Her fingers kneaded her handbag "He went to college on Long Island You're younger than he is, but you could have known hi before they were ain after her death"

"And you were afraid I'd find that out?"

"I-"

"You were seeing him before she died, weren't you?"

"You can't prove that"

"Why would I have to prove it? Why would I even want to prove it?"

She opened the purse Her fingers clu open and took out a manila bank envelope "Five thousand dollars," she said

"Put it away"

"Isn't it enough? It's a lot ofnothing?"

"It's too er?"

"Me?" She had trouble getting a grip on the question "Me? Of course not"

"But you were glad when she died"