But she hated them too, much, much more than her headless young major, who had been arrested as soon as she had handed in her report. He hadn’t been violated and abused every day. He hadn’t had to live with the shame, the knowledge that you were no longer the person you had wished yourself to be. She should have been Leni the lawyer, not Leni the hooker. Her only comfort was that she was doing it for the best reason of all—not really for that “higher cause,” but for the life of her father.

“Leni?”

She didn’t notice the general’s voice at first. She must have been staring at the mirror for too long. He would want to go now, thank God.

“You looked as though you were miles away!”

She lifted herself off him, putting on her practiced smile.

“Not at all, Kurt, far from it,” she purred. “I was just thinking how much I love watching myself on top of you.”

The general nodded his head in polite acknowledgment, as though he had performed some small service for her, such as opening a door. Fool.

“And I can’t wait to try some of that delicious coffee you’ve brought me.”

“It’s the best,” he said as he got up. “You deserve it.”

Leni lay back on the bed, smiling back up at him coquettishly, although the true nature of her expression was relief. Now was the time, in this supposedly postcoital glow, in which she gleaned most of her information. But tonight she couldn’t be bothered. It was getting near one o’clock, and she would still have to type up her two other clients from this evening. They would be angry with her, she knew it, but it was too bad.

No, perhaps she had better give it a try. She turned herself onto her stomach, and let her head and arms dangle over the side of the bed.

“So when will I see you again?”

“Not as soon as I would wish.”

“Oh?”

“Maybe many months.”

“Where are you going?”

“I can’t tell you that, my little Leni.”

“Will you bring me back some more coffee, though?”

“They don’t have much coffee where I’m going.”

“Is that a clue?”

The general’s face turned sour. He crouched down in front of her, the rolls of his stomach just inches from her face. Grabbing her chin, he yanked her head up to face him.

“You’re a good fuck, and that’s how it stays. What I do, or who I am, is no business of yours, understood?”

Leni did her best to nod. She wasn’t scared—she rarely was. Having seen these men having an orgasm, she found it impossible to take them seriously.

“Sure,” she said, “sure. It was just an innocent question.”

“There are no innocent questions, young lady.”