Lotty had almost been killed once, helping me in a crisis, and Mr. Contreras had been shot. Conrad had left me after a similar episode. I couldn’t bear to have one more person maimed on my account, even one I didn’t know well. I thanked him but turned my roaring Skylark south toward home.

Chapter 26: If You Can’t Swim, Keep Away from Sharks

26 If You Can’t Swim, Keep Away from Sharks

I had called Lotty from a pay phone on my way home to tell her I was still alive and to ask her to phone me with only the most innocuous questions. She wasn’t best pleased at being awakened—it was past eleven—and took in my request with a terse wish for me to stop being so melodramatic. Melodramatic and foolhardy. Those were hard words to take to bed.

When I left Mr. Contreras, he sent Peppy up with me for comfort. I hoped she brought enough that I could keep at bay my nervous fantasies about someone scaling the side of the building to break into my bedroom.

As I switched off the light the phone rang. I sucked in a breath, wondering what new threat might lie at the other end of the line, but I answered. “Warshawski’s twenty–four–hour detective service.”

“Miss Warshawski?”

It was a child’s voice, high–pitched with its own nervousness. “Yes, this is V. I. Warshawski. What is it, Robbie?”

“I’ve been calling you and calling you tonight. I thought you’d never answer. First I was just going to tell you about BB’s shoes—you know, you asked if any of them had horseshoe buckles or something, and I don’t think so—but this is worse, it’s about that man, that man they showed on the news. He was—” I heard a click and the line went dead.

I squinted at my caller–ID pad and dialed the number on it. It rang fifteen times without an answer. I hung up and tried again, making sure I’d entered the right numbers. After twenty rings I gave up.

One of his parents must have heard him talking to me and cut off the phone. I pictured the mad swimming Eleanor standing over the phone, listening to it ring when I called back. Or they turned off the sound and watched a light flashing red until I hung up, while Robbie protested, crying, his father mocking him for his tears and making him cry harder.