"It couldn't hurt, and it might help."

"Yeah. I guess so. Let's go inside and sit."

They were half way to the sofa when the buzzer sounded from downstairs.

"Who in the world-?" Kara said, and went to the speaker.

Someone named Ed was here. She seemed to know who he was and buzzed him up.

Rob gave Ed a quick once-over when he arrived: about five-eleven, pushing forty, brown hair, medium build, yuppyish. His eyes darted from Kara to Rob.

"Oh, sorry," he said. "If I've come at a bad time...?"

"No. Come on in," Kara said with a resigned tone. "Ed, meet Rob Harris. Rob, this is Ed, an old friend of Kelly's."

They shook hands and Rob noted that Ed's palm was moist.

"Nice to meet you, Ed," he said. "I didn't catch your last name."

"Uh, Bannion," he said.

Kara said, "Ed's a lawyer with Paramount. He's offered to help with any legal problems connected with Kelly." She turned to Ed. "And Rob's a detective with the New York Police. He's working on Kelly's case."

For an instant, Rob thought Ed's eyes were going to bulge out of their sockets.

"Oh," Ed said to him. "How interesting. Miss Wade, uh, Kara, told me you suspect foul play. Any, uh, suspects yet?"

"Not yet. But we're closing in on a couple of guys."

Ed's expression was tight, almost a mask.

"Really? Great! I, uh, hope you catch them soon."

"Only a matter of time. By the way, how did you know Kelly?"

"She was his mother's nurse when she was in the hospital," Kara said. She seemed impatient. "Ed, you might as well come in and hear this, too."

"You think that's wise, Kara?" Rob said.

He didn't know what Kara was going to say, but he felt he should hear it first. Plus, Kara's words were getting slurry and she looked a little unsteady on her feet. How many drinks had she had?

"I don't know if it's wise or not, but Ed thinks the world of Kelly and the way the papers treated the circ.u.mstances of her death you'd have thought she was a hooker or something. I just want to set the record straight, let him know that none of it was her doing. You want a drink, Ed?"

"Yes. Uh, no. No, maybe I'd better not."

Ed looked ready to jump out of his skin. Rob wondered why.

"All right," Kara said. "Let's sit down and I'll tell you all about it."

A cop! Dear sweet Jesus an honest to G.o.d New York City detective!

Ed could feel his armpits growing steadily wetter as the perspiration poured out of him.

What am I doing here with a cop, for Christ's sake?

He really wanted that drink Kara had offered, but he didn't dare take it. He had to watch every word he said. No telling what might slip out if he started drinking. And besides, he didn't want to leave fingerprints anywhere. Kara had said the cops had fingerprints of the guys her sister had been with before she died.

Jesus! Why did I get myself involved in this?

He realized Kara was talking to him. If the round table were a clock, she would have been at noon, Ed at six, and the detective, Harris, at three.

"I spoke to my sister's psychiatrist today. I think you both ought to know what he told me."

Kara paused to take a sip of her drink and Ed realized that she was about two sheets to the wind. She appeared to be stretched to the breaking point.

"He told me that Kelly suffered from something called a multiple personality disorder."

"No kidding," Ed said. He'd read Sybil Sybil twice. He'd always found the subject fascinating. "I've heard that kind of thing's supposed to be very rare." twice. He'd always found the subject fascinating. "I've heard that kind of thing's supposed to be very rare."

"Yeah, well,- Kelly had a second personality called Ingrid. She was the one doing all the crazy things, not Kelly."

Detective Harris sipped his own drink. " 'Ingrid?' That was the name she used at the Plaza that night."

Kara nodded. "Right." She turned to Ed. "That's why I wanted you to know. I didn't want you to think she was some sort of hypocrite playing Florence Nightingale in the daytime and Irma La Douce at night. She had a real problem and she was fighting it. I know she could have beaten it if she'd had more... time."

Her lips quivered and she bowed her head. Ed's heart d.a.m.n near broke for her. And for the dead Kelly. Apparently she'd been a very troubled woman. Ed's stomach got queasy. He hadn't known she was mentally ill when he was... G.o.d, he'd been humping her, he'd even bitten bitten her, some poor sick girl who didn't even know she was there. her, some poor sick girl who didn't even know she was there.

He felt dirty.

"I understand," he said. He desperately wanted to lighten Kara's load. "But I never could think badly of your sister. No matter what."

He noticed Detective Harris staring at him. The cop nodded at Ed, as if to say, Thanks Thanks. Which was kind of strange. Was there something going on between these two?

He felt a compulsion to keep talking, to keep the silence at bay.

"But if I remember correctly from Sybil Sybil, don't most multiple personalities have abused childhoods?"

Immediately Ed knew he'd said the wrong thing. Kara slammed her gla.s.s on the table and was on her feet, glaring at him. Her face was livid.

"It never happened! Never! Don't you dare say that about my father!"

Ed was stunned. was stunned.

"What? I didn't-"

"Get out! Get out of here!"

Ed stumbled to his feet and Harris rose with him.

Harris said, "Maybe you'd better..."

"Yeah."

Harris walked him away from the table. He turned to him at the door.

"Let me have your card," the detective said. "I may want to call you."

Ed's bladder suddenly wanted to empty.

"Why?"

"There are still a lot of unanswered questions about Kelly Wade. Maybe you can answer a few."

"Sure," Ed said, fighting the urge to run.

He fumbled out a card and shoved it into the detective's hand, hoping he wouldn't notice how his hand trembled.

Harris glanced at it then slipped it into his pocket.

"Great. We'll be in touch."

And then Ed was out in the hall, slowly fleeing for the street, wondering how he would explain to his office why the NYPD was calling him. He cursed himself every step of the way.

s.h.i.t-s.h.i.t-s.h.i.t! You're in deep s.h.i.t, Ed! And you deserve to be in deep s.h.i.t. Because you're an a.s.shole, Ed! Only a primo five-star flaming a.s.shole could get himself into a mess like this!

"You can go, too," Kara told Rob as he closed the door behind Ed.

He turned and stared at her. She was still standing by the table, looking as if she was going to come apart. He couldn't leave her like this.

"Can I finish my drink first?"

"Sure."

He slipped into his chair again and took a small sip. He'd have to nurse this one. Finally, Kara slumped back into her own chair. She ignored her drink and stared at the wall.

"What's wrong, Kara?"

"Nothing."

"Want to talk about it?"

"No."

He rattled the ice in his gla.s.s. "You didn't ask me over here just to tell me that Kelly had a multiple personality. You could have told me that on the phone. If you want to talk, I'll listen. If you need a friend, I'm here."

Kara continued to stare at the wall, but Rob noticed tears gathering in her eyes. She spoke without looking at him, and her voice was so full of pain that he felt his own throat begin to constrict.

"He says our father molested us as children."

Rob was numb for a moment. He'd never met Kara's father. He died before she came to New York.

"Good Lord, is that... is that true?"

"No!" she said through her teeth. "Never!"

"Then what's the problem?"

Kara went through her conversation with Dr. Gates almost word by word. Rob listened with growing alarm, piecing together the picture, sensing what was coming and not wanting to hear it.

Finally, toward the end, Kara seemed to run out of steam. To spare her further torture, Rob finished it for her.

"So you're afraid you might have a second personality, too, this 'Janine,' hiding inside of you."

Kara shrugged. "Yes and no. I know Ingrid was lying about my father, I just know it! But do do I know it? I don't know what I really know anymore! Am I talking complete nonsense or does any of that make sense to you?" I know it? I don't know what I really know anymore! Am I talking complete nonsense or does any of that make sense to you?"

Rob reached out and put his hands over hers. She didn't pull it away.

"It makes sense. I just don't know how to help you. I wish I did."

She got up and walked past him. A few steps and she was in the living room. Rob turned in his chair to watch her as she sat on the sofa with her hands clamped between her knees.

"I've got to know, Rob. I can't go through the rest of my life not knowing. I'm a mother. For Jill's sake, if not my own. I've got to know if I'm okay inside. I mean, am I all one piece or is there a time bomb named 'Janine' ticking away in my head? I've got to know!" know!"

She looked so miserable, so tortured. Rob went over and sat next to her.

"What about hypnotism? Didn't Gates say that's how he found this Ingrid inside of Kelly?"

She nodded. "Yes, but..."

Rob waited.

"Rob, I'm so scared!" she said.

Instinctively, he slipped his arms around Kara and pulled her against him. She buried her face against his shoulder. Her voice was m.u.f.fled.

"I've got to know, but I want it to come out all right. I mean, what if Ingrid was telling the truth? G.o.d, what if there is is a Janine inside of me?" a Janine inside of me?"

"Don't you think you'd know?"

"Kelly never knew until Gates discovered her other side. What'll I do?"

Rob thought about that. He tried to put himself in her place. What would be best for her?

"I look at it this way," he said slowly. "If you take a chance and it turns out something's there, it'll be painful, painful as all h.e.l.l, but at least you'll know where you stand and you can start dealing with it. The way it is now, you're nowhere. And you'll remain nowhere until you have some facts to steer by."