"Okay, let's just relax now," I said, "take deep breaths»

"You think I'm this, like, nice, innocent person," she went on, "but I'm not. I'm not like that at all."

"Look»

"Stop saying 'look!" she screamed.

Great, I thought. Now she'd attack me again and Carmen would come to the door, complaining, and we'd have a replay of last night.

"Let's just cool it, all right?" I said. "I'm not trying to get into some he-said, she-said blaming match with you. What I mean is… I mean, it's not me, it's you… I mean, it's me, not you… It's my fault."

"I was married once," she said.

"You were married," I said as a statement.

"Yes, I was married. See, you don't know anything about me. You just think you do."

Rebecca still looked unstable, and I didn't want to say anything to upset her any more.

"His name was David," she added.

"David, huh?"

"Yes, David," she said. "When I met you, I thought it was, like, an omen. I thought that God had brought another David into my life to give me a chance to do things right, to, like, prove I could have a normal relationship? See, things with David and me got fucked-up.

Like, really fucked up."

"Did this 'other David' live in New York?" I asked, convinced she was making this whole story up.

"No, this was when I was living in L.A.," she said. "He owned this bar I used to hang out at in Venice. You know my snake tattoo?" She stuck out her shoulder to show me the tattoo of the coiled python. "David had the same one on the back of his leg he didn't have any more room on his arms. Anyway, he was a lot older than me I was twenty-two; he was forty-two? I guess I was, like, looking for a father figure or something?"

I was staring at her, trying to look like I was believing her.

"Anyway," she said, "after we were going out for, like, a month he was, like, "Let's get married." The wedding was nothing fancy we got in his car and drove to Vegas. We were both drunk during the ceremony it was a blast but when we drove back to L.A. the party was over. I remember the first time he hit me. I couldn't believe it I just stood there, staring at him, my nose gushing blood. After that things started getting bad like, really bad." She was crying. "Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I mean all that abuse every day. I knew I had to end it somehow, so one day I just…" Her voice faded, overtaken by sobbing. She couldn't answer for several seconds, and then she said,

"I ended it. One day I just ended it."

I knew she was making the whole story up. It was just a lame, desperate, last-ditch attempt to get sympathy from me, and it wasn't going to work.

"Look, I'm very sorry your marriage didn't work out, but»

"Stop saying 'look," she said, clenching her fists.

"All right, look," I said. "I mean, not look. I mean, I think you're a really great person. I'm sure you'll land on your feet, and some guy's gonna be lucky to»

"You still don't get it, do you?" she said. "I don't want 'some guy'

I want you. Before I met you I didn't think I'd ever have a normal relationship with a guy again. I mean, I thought I was, like, cursed or something. Then I met you and fell in love. I know you don't think I care about you, that I'm just into partying and all that? But it's not true. I care about you a lot more than anything in the world. I just have a hard time showing it sometimes, that's all."

She started crying again. She suddenly seemed harmless and innocent, and I had to remind myself that she was insane.

"I'm really sorry about this," I said, "but it's over, so you can just forget about trying to»

She started kissing me. I was trying not to kiss her back, but it was hard to stop myself. Then the phone started ringing.

Holding on to my shoulders, she said, "Let it ring."

"I'll be right back," I said, wriggling free.

I went into the kitchen and picked up.

"David, is that you?"

Shit. I was hoping I'd never hear that annoying, mousy voice again.

"Yes," I said, trying to act natural because Rebecca could overhear us.

"I couldn't do it," Sue said. "The body's still up in my apartment."

Rebecca was looking over, trying to eavesdrop. She was about ten feet away, though, and I hoped she couldn't hear the voice on the other end.

"Oh, hi, Steve," I said, deciding I'd pretend to have a conversation with Steve Pinkus, who worked in Copyediting.

"Steve?" Sue said. "Who the fuck's Steve?"

"No way," I said, smiling.

"Stop dicking around, you stupid asshole," Sue said. "We're in big trouble now, really big trouble, and I wanna know what the hell you're gonna do about it."

"What exactly is the problem?" I asked, looking at Rebecca, who was still watching me.

"I told you the problem, you fuckin' jerk-off I didn't call the cops, so you better get your ass over here right now and do something."

I pictured Ricky, or whatever his real name was, sitting next to Sue, maybe with an ice pack on his head. They must've thought they'd found a real sucker.

"I'm sorry about that," I said, glancing at Rebecca again, who was still listening in.

"Sorry about what?" Sue said. "What're you talking about?"

"Can I send you a new file in the morning?"

"What?"

"That sounds great."

"I'm gonna call the cops right now I'm not playing around, dickhead."

"Okey do key Bye-bye."

I hung up the phone and returned to the dining area.

"Something wrong?" Rebecca asked.

"No, that was just Steve Pinkus in Copyediting. Look, it's nothing personal. I've had some great times with you and I think you're a great person and all that, but I really think we should»

The phone started ringing again.

"Let the machine pick up," Rebecca said in a raspy, sexy voice that usually turned me on.

The phone was still ringing.

"I'll take it in the bedroom," I said.

When I picked up, the answering machine had already answered Ja Rule rapping in the background with Rebecca's voice saying, "We're out having fun right now, but if you leave us a message»

"Hello," I said.

"Hang up on me again and I'm gonna»

"Look, I know what you two are doing," I said in a hushed tone, "and it's not gonna work. So you better go out and find yourself a new sucker, because»

"What're you talking about?" she said. "Ricky's dead, and you better get your stupid ass over here and do something about it."

Sue sounded truly panicked. Maybe it was all a scam Ricky was sitting right next to her, coaching her on what to say and this was all part of the setup.

Or maybe it wasn't.

I took a deep breath, shaking my head, then said, "Gimme half an hour," and hung up.

I remained in the bedroom for a few minutes, trying to pull myself together. Finally I changed into jeans, a sweatshirt, and sneakers, and then I returned to the dining alcove, where Rebecca was still seated, waiting for me.

"Gotta go," I said.

"What do you mean?" she said, frowning.

"Problem with the file for my story," I said. "Gotta go to the office and resend it."

"Can't you do that from here?"

"I didn't back it up on disk."

"Come on."

"Sorry."

"When are you coming back?"

"Hour or so."

"Why so long?"

"I might have to stick around while they copy edit it."

"What about dinner?" She bit down gently on her lip and looked me up and down. "I had a really great dessert planned too."

"Let me know how it was," I said.

I hailed a cab on Columbus and had to say, "Avenue B and Sixth Street," five times, the fifth time practically screaming, before the Russian driver understood what I was saying. As we pulled away, I noticed that the cab reeked of cigarettes. I cranked open the window, letting in bus exhaust and street noise. We passed Spazzia, where Barbara and I used to go for brunch sometimes on Sundays.