“You didn’t.”

“No. I had a message from her last night, but when I called back she wasn’t there.”

“She called you last night.”

“That’s right.”

“What time?”

I tried to remember. “I left the hotel around eight and got back a little after ten. The message was waiting for me. I don’t know what time it came in. They’re supposed to put the time on the message slip but they don’t always bother. Anyway, I probably threw away the slip.”

“No reason to hang onto it.”

“No. What difference does it make when she called?”

He looked at me for a long moment. I saw the gold flecks in the deep brown eyes. He said, “Shit, I don’t know what to do. I’m not used to that. Most of the time I at least think I know what to do.”

I didn’t say anything.

“You’re my man, like you’re working for me. But I don’t know as I’m sure what that means.”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at, Chance.”

“Shit,” he said. “Question is, how much can I trust you? What I keep coming back to is whether I can or not. I do trust you. I mean, I took you to my house, man. I never took anybody else to my house. Why’d I do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“I mean, was I showing off? Was I saying something along the lines of, Look at the class this here nigger has got? Or was I inviting you inside for a look at my soul? Either way, shit, I got to believe I trust you. But am I right to do it?”

“I can’t decide that for you.”

“No,” he said, “you can’t.” He pinched his chin between thumb and forefinger. “I called her last night. Sunny. Couple of times, same as you, didn’t get no answer. Well, okay, that’s cool. No machine, but that’s cool, too, ’cause sometimes she’ll forget to put it on. Then I called again, one-thirty, two o’clock maybe, and again no answer, so what I did, I drove over there. Naturally I got a key. It’s my apartment. Why shouldn’t I have a key?”

By now I knew where this was going. But I let him tell it himself.

“Well, she was there,” he said. “She’s still there. See, what she is, she’s dead.”

Chapter 22

Chapter 22