"They are?" I looked down at myself, a feeling of despair washing over me. What is it about me that invites this kind of comment? Here I think of myself as a kick-ass private eye when other people apparently see me as a waif in need of mothering.

"Mind if I make a suggestion?" she asked.

"Fine with me," I said.

The next thing I knew, she'd whipped the rubber band out of my hair. She reached in her purse and took out some kind of bottled hair snot which she rubbed between her palms and then massaged through my hair. I felt like a dog being groomed, but I liked the effect. My tresses looked faintly wet now with just the suggestion of curl. The two of us checked my reflection in the mirror.

Bibianna's mouth pulled down judiciously. "Better," she said. "You got a scarf on you anywhere?"

I shook my head.

"Let me see what I got." She began to root around in her handbag, pulling out a joint in the process. "You want a smoke?" she asked idly.

I shook my head. "I already toked up out in the parking lot before I came in."

She tucked the dope away without further comment, intent on her search through the various compartments of her voluminous bag. "Here we go. How's this?" She pulled up a square of lime green silk and then made a face. "Eh, no good. Color's not right for you. Dump the earrings. That'll help."

How do women know these things? More important, how come I don't? I removed the gaudy baubles from my ears and massaged my lobes with relief.

Meanwhile, she'd managed to unearth a second scarf, this one hot pink. She held it near my face, squinting at it critically. I thought she was going to make me dampen it with spit so she could wash my face, but she did some kind of tricky fold and tied the thing around my neck. Immediately, my color seemed to improve.

"That looks great. Now what?"

"You come on with me. I'll keep the worst of these shitheads away from you."

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I followed her into the crowd like a rookie soldier into battle. Male eyes surveyed us from head to toe, grading us according to the size of our tits, how much butt we had hanging out, and how available we seemed. Bibianna netted a lot of mouth noises, a hand gesture, and some disgusting propositions which she seemed to find amusing, tossing casual insults at the guys most vocal in their appreciation. She was easygoing, good-natured, with a quick, infectious laugh.