He was quiet for a moment, then looked at her and mumbled, “All right, all right.” It was like a curtain lowered for a change of mood. Grogan rubbed his hand across his mouth, as though to wipe away the tightness and replace it with a soft smile. He went on smiling as he gazed down at the elegant carpet. He murmured, “Lita, this is Corey Bradford.”

Lita nodded politely to Corey. Then she took a backward step, as though to get a fuller look at him. It started with his shoes. And he thought, she sees sad-looking shoes with the leather cracked, no shine at all and the heels worn down. And pants that need pressing and wouldn’t last through another cleaning, with a jacket to match. Now she’s looking at the necktie. It’s an old necktie, the threads are coming loose. Same applies to the shirt. So all right, so we’re not exactly up there with the ten best dressed. Let’s let it go at that. But no, she won’t let it go, she’s looking at the shoes again—

He heard himself saying, “I have a pair of new ones, but these are more comfortable.”

“Really?” She folded her arms lightly across her middle. “Do you really have a pair of new shoes?”

“No.” He grinned. “I was kidding.”

She gave him a side glance. It was ice.

He went on grinning at her. “Just kidding,” he said. “Can you take a little kidding?”

Lita didn’t answer. She turned her back to him, said good night to Grogan, and moved toward the stairway. Going up the stairs, she put on the reading glasses and started leafing through the pages of Thus Spake Zarathustra.

Grogan waited until she was upstairs. Then he faced Corey and said, “You should’na done that. It don’t take much to get her annoyed.”

Corey shrugged. “So next time I’ll know.”

Grogan frowned at him. “You take life real easy, don’t you?”

He shrugged again. Grogan went on frowning, studying him. Then Grogan said, “Sit down.”

Corey sat, leaned back in the chair and watched Grogan pacing back and forth in front of him. It went on that way for some moments, and Corey thought, don’t say nothing, just wait it out. And whatever you do, don’t play tag with him. You can see he’s in no mood for games. The man is having aggravation and aside from his other worries he’s got himself a bedroom problem. It’s fifty to one he ain’t getting much these days.