‘They did. But what in life doesn’t, if it’s important?’

Sex, dinner and collaring a prick of a criminal, Sellitto thought. Most of the time those didn’t hurt. But he shrugged. ‘What I was going to ask was, you draw them yourself? Design them, I mean.’

‘No. I went to an artist in Boston. The best on the East Coast. I just wanted Quetzalcoatl. Mexican god.’ Her finger touched the snake on her chest. ‘And we talked for a couple of days and she got to know me. She did the plumed serpent and recommended the constellations. I got Dorothy’s shoes too. She smiled. Sellitto smiled. ‘I don’t mean to be overly political, except I do. See, that’s how women artists handle an inking. A man goes into a male artist and says I want a chain, a death’s-head, a flag. And out he comes with a chain, a death’s-head or a flag. Women take a different approach. Less impulsive, less instant, more thoughtful.’

Sellitto muttered, ‘Kinda like life in general. Men and women, I mean.’ The questions about Unsub 11-5 still needed to be answered. But he now asked, ‘Hey, just curious, you know. How’d you get into this business?’

‘You mean, aside from the skin art, I seem like a schoolteacher?’

‘Yeah.’

‘I was a schoolteacher.’ Thomson let the pause linger. Timing. ‘Middle school. Now, there’s a DMZ for you. You know, a no-man’s-land between the hormones to the south and the attitudes to the north.’

‘I got a kid. A boy. He’s outta college now. But he had to get to that age, you know.’

She nodded. ‘It wasn’t flying for me. I went to get a work at a parlor in town and, hard to explain, it set me free. I quit the school and opened a shop. Now I do skin art and canvas painting too. Shows in SoHo, uptown too. Couldn’t’ve done it, though, if I hadn’t gotten inked in the first place.’

‘Impressive.’

‘Thanks. Now you were asking about the American Eagle machine.’

Thomson’s was the one shop in the Tri-State area that sold parts and needles for that model. She also had a used model for sale. To Sellitto it looked gnarly, dangerous. Like a ray gun from some weird science-fiction flick.

‘Can I ask? Why’re you interested?’

The detective debated. He decided he owed it to her to tell all. Maybe it was that she was so devoted to the art. Or that she had a really incredible chest. He told her what 11-5 was doing.