I patted my sweaty curls self-consciously. “I could ask you the same thing. I thought we were supposed to talk at one to make sure no one had attacked me.”

“Yeah, I thought it wouldn’t hurt you to get a dose of your own medicine. Not at the time, I mean, but later, when it occurred to me to go see him in person. I thought, well, Vic’ll be worried when she calls—if she calls—and don’t get an answer. But I didn’t have any way of reaching you and I thought, all the times you’ve kept me hanging without word one, it won’t hurt you none to be in a bit of a stew.”

“Well, I’m glad you had a good time.” I was too tired to fight. “By the way, how long were you gone? Peppy seemed pretty eager to get outside when I stopped by at one.”

That was a low blow; I was sorry as soon as the words left my mouth. One of Mr. Contreras’s jealously guarded prerogatives is having the dog live with him on the grounds that I’m gone too much of the time to be a fit owner.

His brown eyes clouded with hurt. “That ain’t fair, doll, when you know I’m here day and night for the princess. I wouldn’t go off for days at a time without a thought for her needs the way—well, anyway, I wouldn’t leave her in the lurch.”

He, too, was pulling his punches—cutting himself short instead of launching a full-scale attack on my periodic absences. I patted him on the shoulder and turned to go upstairs.

“Don’t you even want to know what I found out?” he demanded.

“Yeah. Yeah, sure I do. Just let me wash up first.”

“I’m barbecuing some ribs,” he called after me. “Want me to save some for you?”

News about cholesterol and colon cancer had no effect on Mr. Contreras’s diet. In fact, maybe years of spare ribs had made him the hale, fit man he was today. They certainly sounded more comforting after my dreary afternoon than the low-cal, high-nutrition dinner I’d been planning. I thanked him, but warned him it would be a good hour before I’d be ready.

The bath turned black as soon as I stepped into the tub. I couldn’t soak in such filth. Submerging for a few seconds to rinse the sweat from my hair, I climbed out and emptied the tub, wiping the grimy ring away as the water receded. I turned on the shower, but I’d drained the heater filling the tub and cleaning it.