Lita’s arm came down and the girl blocked the blow with crossed open hands. Lita used her other arm and her fist hit the girl on the shoulder. The girl went down on her side, rolled over and got to her feet and dodged another blow. She couldn’t dodge the next one. It caught her on the temple and she fell sideways, then landed on the rug sitting down. She sat there weeping softly, her face in her hands. Lita aimed another blow with her fist, then seemed to change her mind and looked around the room, finally focusing on the brass-ornamented fireplace. In a holder there was an intricately carved brass poker, its handle a dragon’s head. Lita crossed to the fireplace and picked up the poker and tried the weight of it in her hand. She said to the girl, “Now tell me the truth.”

“Is like I say before,” the girl wept. She started to get up from the floor. Lita moved quickly with the poker raised high. The girl sat down again and covered her head with her arms.

“You’re a thief,” Lita said.

“Why you call me a thief? I no take nothing.”

“Perfume.”

“What perfume?”

“A five-ounce bottle,” Lita said. “Thirty dollars an ounce.”

The girl looked up, bewildered. She shook her head slowly. She said, “Is wrong for you to say this. Is very unfair—”

“You went out last night. You sneaked out.”

“Is like I say before.”

“I don’t want to hear that,” Lita said. “You’ll tell me why you went out.”

“To go for walk,” the girl wailed. “Is like I say before. To go for walk.”

“At half-past four in the morning?”

“I no could sleep. Too hot in room. No could stay in bed.”

“Keep telling me that and you’ll stay in bed for a month, in a cast.”

“You no can do this. Is not right.”

Lita swung the brass poker and it came down on the girl’s back just below her shoulders. The girl yowled, fell forward and was facedown on the floor as Lita raised the poker again. Corey got up from the chair and lunged forward. Then he had the poker in his hand and tossed it onto the floor behind him. Lita grabbed for the poker but he blocked her path.

“Get away,” she hissed. “You’re not in this.”

He smiled lazily. His eyes said, don’t come any closer.

She stepped back. It wasn’t retreat. She was coiled, her arms bent stiffly and her fingers hooked, the fingernails aiming. Then she came at him with the fingernails going for his eyes.