"I was good. I coulda been the next Doris Day. I know it." I know it."

He nuzzles her hair. "I'm sure you could." He moves her so she'll be seated in his lap. Her face is moves her so she'll be seated in his lap. Her face is in his neck; she makes little hiccupping sounds. in his neck; she makes little hiccupping sounds.

"So what happened, Evelyn dear?"

"I met a soldier that night. I was dumb enough to marry him and that was the end of my career." to marry him and that was the end of my career." She starts to cry. She starts to cry.

He rocks her gently in his arms.

Her voice is slippery. "You coulda been a star, too, with your golden voice." too, with your golden voice."

"I dabbled a bit in the arts. I acted for a while."

That interests Evvie, but she is too immobile to respond with any energy. She mutters. "Would I respond with any energy. She mutters. "Would I know you? Where would I have seen you?" know you? Where would I have seen you?"

He stops her with his lips and kisses her long and hard. He pulls away. "Not important." He indicates the cards. "You lost again." and hard. He pulls away. "Not important." He indicates the cards. "You lost again."

She looks confused. "Were we playing?" She doesn't remember the cards being dealt; they were doesn't remember the cards being dealt; they were all in a jumble. all in a jumble.

"We never stopped, and you lost again," he says as he lifts her T-shirt and slowly removes it. He as he lifts her T-shirt and slowly removes it. He looks at her. "You're beautiful." He pulls the looks at her. "You're beautiful." He pulls the straps of her bra down and gently kisses her straps of her bra down and gently kisses her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She moans. b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She moans.

"Now help me." He lifts her hands to help him take off his shirt. She stares at his naked chest. take off his shirt. She stares at his naked chest.

"You're beautiful, too."

"Even the band is beautiful."

She laughs, knowing the reference. "Cabaret." "Cabaret."

"Life is a cabaret, dearest Evelyn. And we shall live it to the fullest." live it to the fullest."

He lays her down on the bed and lowers his body onto hers. body onto hers.

THIRTY-SIX.

THE SHOWDOWN.

Ihad dozed off on Evvie's couch. I'm wakened by the sound of the key turning in her lock. I glance at my watch. It's four a.m. I stand and face the door as it opens. Evvie is startled to see me. Her face is blotchy, her hair and makeup a mess. For a moment neither one of us speaks.

Evvie drops the small overnight bag she's carrying. "Run out of sugar?"

Uh-oh, she's on the defensive. "More like run out of patience."

She walks past me into her kitchen and puts some water in the kettle.

I follow her. "You might want to know that Millie nearly died last night."

She has the decency to look upset. "Is she all right?"

"That's a long conversation for another time, but I will say she's never coming home again."

She pales. I can see that Evvie is trying not to react. She seems determined to deal only with right now. Evvie puts cups out for both of us. "Join me in a cup of tea?"

"Whatever. You've avoided me long enough. We have to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"You can look me in the eye and say that? Evvie, your behavior with Philip has destroyed any possibility of keeping you on this case." G.o.d, how stuffy I sound.

The kettle whistles. She pours the tea and looks straight at me. "See? I'm looking you in the eye. I don't give a d.a.m.n about this case. Call Ferguson and tell him: case solved. Phil is no murderer!"

"And how do you know this for sure?"

Her hand shakes as she lifts the cup. "Because I know how wonderful he is. Because I love him!"

I sigh. "Oh, Evvie." I feel myself trembling. I didn't expect this. "What happened to playing a role and getting at the truth?"

Now Evvie drops all pretense of wanting tea. Her eyes open wide. If she could breathe fire, she would. "I am telling you the truth. And don't you 'oh, Evvie' me. Don't you use that condescending tone. What do you think-you have a monopoly on falling in love?"

"You actually believe you fell in love at first sight?"

She mimics me. "Yes, I actually did. I fell madly in love with him the moment I saw him. And he fell for me as well."

"Please let's sit down and discuss this." I can't stop sounding stiff and formal, but this is an Evvie I don't know anymore. I thought I knew my sister, but this throws me. All our years of closeness and I could read her as well as she could read me. All this time, I thought she was playacting. How could I have been so blind?

"No, I don't want to. Your disappointment is like a black cloud fouling the room. I'm happy and I won't have you raining on my parade."

I try to say something but she won't let me.

"And don't give me this bull about our case. I don't give a d.a.m.n about it." She takes a sip of her tea, grimaces, and then pours it down the sink. "You know how many years I've waited for the right man to come along? Only all my life. I thought I might get a second chance after Joe dumped me. But what was out there? Drips." She laughs.

"Drips-there's an out-of-date word. How about losers. Deadbeats. Schmucks. I told myself it would never happen. All the good men were taken. Not that I had the right man in the first place. Joe was a dud. I fell in love with a soldier's uniform and the romance of war. I married him because he came back alive. But he was never the one, Gladdy. You know that. You've seen me through all the pain of that marriage. Once the kids had come, the trap was sprung. No way out."

I try to say something but she stops me with her hand. There's a h.e.l.l of a lot she's got to get off her chest. I listen. What else can I do?

"Then you come down here to live near me and I think, this is good, we have each other. We'll grow old together, we don't really need men, and that's that. But, no, you get to meet Jack. And both of you fall in love. You'd already had a great marriage the first time. Now you get a chance for another happy marriage. I will never have what you had twice. What will happen to me? I get to shrivel up all alone."

All these sad years, I think. I thought we were close, but she never talked about this before. She kept it all in. And my happy marriage? The one that lasted eleven years before my husband was murdered and my life ruined. What's happened to her sensitivity about that? "Evvie. We see a pattern in Philip. He goes from one retirement community to another and picks a woman-"

"Shut up! He's a good man. He was kind to Esther Ferguson. He knew she'd die soon and he gave her comfort. He let her think it was love. He explained that to me."

I hate to say it, but I have to. "He thinks you're you're going to die soon. You told him that because you knew that would attract him." going to die soon. You told him that because you knew that would attract him."

For a moment, Evvie stares at me. I feel the white heat of her rage. "You dare to think this is pity? This is different!"

"How is it different? He thinks you're rich. He thinks you'll die. He will comfort you, too. He's out to get something from you. We don't know what it is yet . . ."

"How little faith you have in me. How arrogant of you. You think you're the only one who would recognize a good man? Well, Philip is is a good man. You're wrong about him. He's kind and loving. The man I deserve to have." a good man. You're wrong about him. He's kind and loving. The man I deserve to have."

"Yes. He's a saint."

She runs out of the kitchen, toward her bedroom, shouting at me. "Get out of here. You just stay away from him!" With that, she shuts herself in.

I walk to her bedroom and stand there talking to a closed door. "Please, Evvie, don't do this."

She flings the door open. I haven't seen her like this since she was a child having tantrums. Her face is livid. "You're just jealous. You've lost Jack because of your stupid stubbornness. You won't even sleep with him! You think I didn't know what was going on? Or should I say what wasn't going on? Well, I'm not making your mistake, sister dear. I know how to please a man even if you don't! I am having the best and only good s.e.x I've ever had in my entire life and I'm not going to let you spoil it for me. Now, get out of my apartment!"

I drag my weary way through our adjoining doors back to my own apartment. For a moment I stand unmoving, as if I've lost my bearings.

My sister hates me. I no longer have a sister.

Philip is almost asleep when he hears the frantic knocking. He opens the door slightly so as not to knocking. He opens the door slightly so as not to reveal his nakedness. reveal his nakedness.

Evvie stands in the hallway, sobbing. He pulls her inside. "What is it? What's wrong?" her inside. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I had a fight. A terrible fight."

"With whom? Where did you meet someone at this hour to fight with?" this hour to fight with?"

Evvie's eyes widen and she steps back from him. "It was my next-door neighbor. She saw me coming in late, looking disheveled. She called me "It was my next-door neighbor. She saw me coming in late, looking disheveled. She called me names-" names-"

"Who is it? I'll go now." He reaches for his robe. robe.

She grabs his arms. "It's not important." Evvie suddenly realizes he has nothing on. She stops, suddenly realizes he has nothing on. She stops, startled. Sober now. startled. Sober now.

He pulls her close to him. She trembles from the bareness of his skin against her. bareness of his skin against her.

"Stay with me. All night."