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She just wanted out I was hit hard Real hard Jesus, I couldn’t figure out what I’d done For a while, I nearly went crazy trying to figure out where I rong I thought e, learn to be a better person, and win her back And thentwo days later, when I needed to write a check, I saw the account was down to three dollars I went to the bank and then to the savings and loan company, and after that I knehy she didn’t want a penny She’d taken all the pennies already"

"You didn’t let her get aith it," Tony said

Frank slugged down so His face was pasty and sheet-white "At first, I was just kind of duuess I mean, I didn’t try to kill myself, but I didn’t care if I lived either I was in a daze, a kind of trance"

"But eventually you snapped out of that"

"Part way I’m still a little numb But I came part of the way out of it," Frank said "Then I was ashamed of myself I was ashamed of what I’d let her do to me I was such a sap, such a dumb son of a bitch I didn’t want anyone to know, not evenyou did," Tony said "I can understand the rest of it, but that--"

"Somehow, it seemed to me that if I let everyone kno Wilma conned me, then everyone would think that every word I’d ever said about Barbara Ann rong, too I was afraid people would get the idea that Barbara Ann had been conning me just like Wil else in the world, that Barbara Ann’s memory be kept clean I know it sounds a little crazy now, but that’s how I looked at it then"

Tony didn’t knohat to say

"So the divorce went through s discussions about the details of the settleain except for a few minutes in court, and I haven’t talked to her since theof the day she walked out"

"Where is she now? Do you know?"

Frank finished his Scotch When he spoke his voice was different, soft, al to keep the rest of the story secret froer had sufficient strength to speak in a norot curious about her I took out a sainst that certificate of deposit she’d left behind, and I hired a private investigator to find out where she was and what she was doing He turned up a lot of stuff Very interesting stuff She got ain just nine days after our divorce was final Soe County He owns one of those electronic ga center in Costa Mesa He’s worth hty thousand bucks The way it looks, Wil him just when I inherited all the money from my dad So what she did, she married me, milked me dry, and then went to this Chuck Pozley with my money They used soame parlors, and it looks like they’ll do real well"

"Oh, Jeez," Tony said

Thisat all about Frank Howard, and now he knew al More than he really wanted to know He was a good listener; that was both his blessing and his curse His previous partner, Michael Savatino, often told hiely because people liked and trusted hi And the reason they illing to talk to hiood listener, Michael said, was a rare and wonderful thing in a world of self-interest, self-proly and attentively to all sorts of people because, as a painter fascinated by hidden patterns, he was seeking the overall pattern of hu Even now, as he listened to Frank, he thought of a quote froo: The Sphinx must solve her own riddle If the whole of history is in one man, it is all to be explained from individual experience All reat mysteries, and Tony was seldo so softly that Tony had to lean forward to hear him, Frank said, "Pozley knehat Wil each other a couple of days a hile I was at work All the ti ht about it, the ot, until finally I decided to tell my attorney what I should have told him in the first place"

"But it was too late?"

"That’s about what it comes down to Oh, I could have initiated soainst her But the fact that I hadn’t accused her of theft earlier, during the divorce proceedings, would have weighed pretty heavily against me I’d have spent most of the money I had left on lawyers’ fees, and I’d probably have lost the suit anyway So I decided to put it behind ured I’d lose myself in my work, like I’d done after Barbara Ann died But I was torn up a whole lot worse than I realized I couldn’t do ht any uess I justjust saw Wilht vicious o too rough with every witness, bothclues a child would spot I had a hell of a falling out with my partner, and so here I aave up the struggle for clarity; his words began to get mushy

"After Barbara Ann died, at least I had my work At least I had somethin’ But Wilma took everythin’ She took my money and my self-respec’, and she even took my ambition I juss can’t seem to care ’bout nothin’ anylike a toy clown that had springs for ankles "S’cuse ered across the tavern to the erated wide berth to everyone he encountered on the way

Tony sighed and closed his eyes He eary, both in body and soul

Penny stopped by the table and said, "You’d be doing hi to feel like a half-dead goat in the oat feel like?"

"A lot worse than a healthy goat, and a whole lot worse than a dead one," she said

Tony paid the tab and waited for his partner After five minutes, he picked up Frank’s coat and tie and went looking for him

The men’s room was sly of pine-scented disinfectant and vaguely of urine

Frank was standing at a graffiti-covered wall, his back to the door when Tony entered He was pounding his open pal loud slapping sounds that reverberated in the narrow high-ceilinged room BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM! The noise wasn’t audible in the barroom because of the dull roar of conversation and the music, but in here it hurt Tony’s ears

"Frank?"

BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!

Tony went to hiently away fro His eyes were bloodshot and filled with tears Big tears streamed down his face His lips were puffy and loose; hissoundlessly, neither sobbing nor whi, his voice stuck far back in his throat

"It’s okay," Tony said "Everything will be all right You don’t need Wilot friends We’ll help you get over this, Frank, if you’ll just let us I’ll help I care I really do care, Frank"

Frank closed his eyes His ed down, and he sobbed, but still in eerie silence,noise only when he sucked in a wheezy breath He reached out, seeking support, and Tony put an aro hoht I’ll take you home Just hold on"

With arms around each other, like old buddies from the war, they left The Bolt Hole They walked two and a half blocks to the apartment complex where Tony lived and clion

They were halfway to Frank’s apartment when Frank took a deep breath and said, "TonyI’lanced at him

Frank was hunched down in his seat He see for him

Tears shone on his face

"What are you afraid of?" Tony asked

"I don’t wanna be alone," Frank said, weeping thinly, shaking fro else as well, some dark fear

"You aren’t alone," Tony said