“He couldn’t help you,” he said.

“Because you knew Colin briefly? Has that helped so much?”

“Let’s forget it.” He had been thinking that he alone had access to information from such a variety of confidential and obscure sources that no other single individual could do the job he had done already, as little as he thought of it. This was the first time the idea had come to him, and in his surprise he had to see that it was true. And as well as he had been able to learn, he was the only living person who had met both of MacIver’s wives. Now Betty Kaminsky put her hands in her lap. He owed her another apology, for stringing her along and cutting her down. “I appreciate what you’ve done, Betty, and I’ve been trying to be honest with you. It’s hard to see in advance where the line should be drawn. I am sorry.”

“I wasn’t thinking about it,” she said.

He waited. Something was happening. She was staring past him, frowning a little. “I know what I wanted to tell you,” she said quietly. “It’s impossible. His death was a great shock to me. I said that I thought he killed himself because of what he had done while he was alive. It was one of those intuitive statements. I didn’t have control of the facts in a way that I could communicate them to you. I still don’t, although I came here wanting to believe that I was going to get control. Don’t misunderstand. I do think that he killed himself.” Her chest heaved.

“I didn’t come down here simply to tell you things, no matter what I thought. You see the way I’ve done myself up. The best clothes I have. What he called me still stings. I’ve been afraid that you believed it, or rather, that it was true. The whole thing is confused in my mind and I can sort it out, but I don’t know if I can say it. I wanted to get you interested. I wanted you to see me in a favorable light.” She regarded him carefully, waiting for an answer. He could not say that he had even a hint of an understanding.

“Do you want me to tell you what I think of you? Is that it?”

“No, I’m afraid of that. I want to think that you’re enjoying my company—that if I wanted, if I tried for it, I could have you make a pass at me.”

“We’re not like that, Betty, either of us.”