"Home?"
I went to the door and looked out.
The cool night breeze was blowing peacefully down the hall.
No excited neighbors hung out of doorways.
A small gun had gone off and broken a pane of glass, but noises like that don't mean much any more.
I held the door open and jerked my head at Carmen.
She came towards me, smiling uncertainly.
"Go on home and wait for me," I said soothingly.
She put her thumb up. Then she nodded and slipped past me into the hail.
She touched my cheek with her fingers as she went by.
"You'll take care of Carmen, won't you?" she cooed.
"Check."
"You're cute."
"What you see is nothing," I said. "I've got a Bali dancing girl tattooed on my right thigh."
Her eyes rounded.
She said:
"Naughty," and wagged a finger at me.
Then she whispered:
"Can I have my gun?"
"Not now.
Later. I'll bring it to you."
She grabbed me suddenly around the neck and kissed me on the mouth.
"I like you," she said. "Carmen likes you a lot."
She ran off down the hall as gay as a thrush, waved at me from the stairs and ran down the stairs out of my sight.
I went back into Brody's apartment.
16
I went over to the folded-back French window and looked at the small broken pane in the upper part of it.
The bullet from Carmen's gun had smashed the glass like a blow.
It had not made a hole.
There was a small hole in the plaster which a keen eye would find quickly enough.
I pulled the drapes over the broken pane and took Carmen's gun out of my pocket.
It was a Banker's Special, .22 caliber, hollow point cartridges.
It had a pearl grip, and a small round silver plate set into the butt was engraved:
"Carmen from Owen."
She made saps of all of them.
I put the gun back in my pocket and sat down close to Brody and stared into his bleak brown eyes.
A minute passed.
The blonde adjusted her face by the aid of a pocket mirror.
Brody fumbled around with a cigarette and jerked:
"Satisfied?"
"So far.
Why did you put the bite on Mrs. Regan instead of the old man?"
"Tapped the old man once.
About six, seven months ago.
I figure maybe he gets sore enough to call in some law."
"What made you think Mrs. Regan wouldn't tell him about it?"
He considered that with some care, smoking his cigarette and keeping his eyes on my face.
Finally he said:
"How well you know her?"
"I've met her twice.