“Irene,” said Frank, “let’s get Regina and go. She’s not going to tell you anything.”

“What do you say, Vivian?”

“What do I say? I say how is it possible you’ve lived with a man for almost twenty years without knowing him? You’ve lived with him, slept with him, paid the bills with him, had a child by him, and now, all of a sudden, you want the ‘truth.’ You’ve seen him around Regina, you’ve seen her reaction to him. Don’t you trust what you see, Irene? Don’t you trust yourself?”

The question hung in front of me like a distorted mirror. You are the rock! Answer her! Gloria, say something!

“You don’t trust yourself,” she went on. “The day you asked me to meet you, I knew that.” Frank turned to me, blinking incredulously. “That’s right, Frank. She’s already come to me for answers. And her questions told me more than I told her.”

Wait a minute, I’m running this! You’re supposed to be helping me!

Frank and Vivian and the rest of them stared at me and nobody said a word. I watched Virgil get up and go to the bar for more ice and return to his chair. The movement was too casual for a first-time guest. And sitting there in the circle with the rest of them, he looked just a bit too snug.

“Did you tell me the truth, Vivian?” My voice sounded tiny. Her eyes seemed to diminish it.

“What would you like to hear? What would ease your mind the most? Which story, Frank’s or mine, would be easier to adjust to?” She waited, but I couldn’t answer. “Can’t make up your mind?” She turned to Gloria. “What about you? I assumed you were brought along to help her. Two little peas from the same pod. You almost look alike.”

Gloria spoke up, acidly. “You’re a great one to be talking about peas and pods, with the festoon you’ve got here.” She nodded in the direction of the group. “I happen to believe Frank.”

Vivian smiled, “Well, then, Irene, there’s your answer.”

Frank stood up again. “That’s enough. Where’s Regina?”

Vivian brushed him off with a glance and looked at me. “Shall I let him go upstairs?”

“I—” I looked at Frank. His face was flushed, his eyes wild. He took a few steps across the living room in the direction of the spiral staircase. Immediately, Leo and Tom and Virgil stood up.

“You stay put,” Vivian snapped at Frank. “This is my house and Regina is here with Irene’s sanction. It’s up to her whether or not you’ll go up there.”

There it was, there was the proof. She said it was up to me. They weren’t holding Regina, there was no design on her, she would be delivered to me when I said so. It was up to me.

“Well?” said Vivian. “Shall I send him up?”

I couldn’t look at Frank. I couldn’t look at any of them. “No, I . . . no.”