Page 4 (1/2)

She said, "Listen, I'ot work to do"

"It'll take you less tiet rid of ht this over, then turned abruptly and walked into the building "It's freezing out there," she said "C' up too ht of stairs to the basee room with kitchen appliances in one corner and an army cot on the all There were exposed pipes and electrical cables overhead Her art was sculpture, and there were several examples of her work in evidence I never saw the piece she was currently working on A wet cloth was draped over it The other pieces were abstract, and there was a estive of seato be able to tell you et a deal on the rent that way I', and I'h to yell at people when they're late with the rent Most of the tioes on in the building"

"You knew Vanderpoel and Miss Hanniford?"

"By sight"

"When did they move in?"

"She was here before I moved in, and I've been here two years in April He o I think just before Christht"

"They didn'twith someone else before that"

"A man?"

"A woman"

She didn't have any records, didn't know the naave me the landlord's name and address I asked her what she remembered about Wendy

"Not a hell of a lot I only notice people if they make trouble She never had loud parties or played the stereo too loud I was in the apartment a few times The valve was shot on the bedroo too ulate it I put a new valve in That was just a couple of o"

"They kept the apartment neat?"

"Very neat Very attractive They had the triht for aI was in the place before he moved in, and I think I remember it wasn't as nice then He was sort of artsy"

"Did you know she was a prostitute?"

"I still don't know it I read lots of lies in the papers"

"You don't think she was?"

"I don't have an opinion either way I never had any coain, she could have had ten men a day up there, and I wouldn't have known about it"

"Did she have visitors?"

"I just told you I wouldn't know about it People don't have to get past et upstairs"

I asked her who else lived in the building There were five floor-through apartave me the names of the tenants in each I could talk to the to talk to me, she said But not the couple on the top floor-they were in Florida and wouldn't be back until the et back to what I was doing" She flexed her fingers, indicating an impatience to return them to the clay

I told her she had been very helpful

"I don't see that I told you anythingmore you could tell me"

"What?"

"You didn't know them, either of them, and I realize you don't takeBut everybody invariably forms an impression of people they see frequently over an extended period of tie of the two of the that extended beyond your hard factual knowledge of them That's probably been shifted out of position by what's happened in the past week, what you've learned about them, but I'd like to knohat your iood would that do you?"

"It would tell me what they looked like to huot sensibilities"

She gnawed at a fingernail "Yeah, I see what you mean," she said after a moment "I just can't find where to pick up on it"

"You were surprised when he killed her"

"Anybody'd be surprised"

"Because it changed how you saw them How did you see theht, you jarred so loose I never even put words to the tune before, but you kno I thought of theht"

"Why?"

She closed her eyes, frowned "I can't say exactly," she said "Maybe the way they acted when they were together Not anything they did Just the vibrations they gave off, the sense you got of the The sense of how they related to each other"

I waited

"Another thing I didn't dwell on this, I ht to speak of, but I sort of took it for granted that he was gay"

"Why?"

She had been sitting She got up now and walked to one of her creations, a gunmetal-colored mound of convex planes taller and wider than herself She faced away froers

"Physical type, I suppose Manneris You'd think I would know better than to think in those ter with s People generally assued me "I'm not," she said

"Was Wendy Hanniford?"

"Hoould I know?"

"You guessed Vanderpoel uess about her?"

"Oh I thought- No, I'ay by the way she relates to ht"

"And you assuht" She looked up at ot"

Chapter 4

I had some dinner in an Italian place on Greenwich Avenue, then hit a couple of bars before I took a cab over to Johnny Joyce's I told the bartender I was looking for Lewis Pankow, and he pointed me toward a booth in the back

I could have found hiy and towheaded, with an open face and a recent shave He stood up when I approached hilen-plaid suit that couldn't have cost him much, a pale blue shirt, a striped tie I said I was Scudder, and he said he was Pankow, and he put out his hand, so I shook it I sat down opposite him and ordered a double bourbon when the waiter came around Pankow still had half a beer left in front of hiuess it's about the Hanniford ood collar for you"