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Matt walked naked and dripping to the telephone and picked it up.
“She’s not here, whoever she is,” he said.
“Then where the hell is she?” Chad Nesbitt challenged.
“Since I’m not even sure who you’re talking about, pal—”
“Susan Reynolds, of course,” Chad said shortly.
“Not here. The last time I saw the lady, she was in your dining room.”
“She’s not with you?” Chad asked, obviously surprised, and went on before Matt could reply. “But she was, right?”
“Listen carefully. She is not here. She has never been here. Let your imagination soar,” Matt said. “Consider the possibility that she left your place with someone else.”
“You were putting the make on her, Matt,” Chad challenged.
“Indeed I was. But the lady proved to be monumentally uninterested.”
“She didn’t call home,” Chad said.
“Thank you for sharing that with me.”
“She always calls her mother before she goes to sleep,” Chad said.
“How touching!”
Daffy Browne Nesbitt came on the line. “Don’t be such a sarcastic son of a bitch, Matt. Honestly, you’re a real shit!”
“I would appreciate it if you would attempt to control your foul tongue when under the same roof as my goddaughter,” Matt said solemnly.
“She didn’t call her mother last night,” Chad said. “So her mother called her. At the Bellvue. And then she called here.”
“Why did she call there?”
“I just told you,” Chad said, somewhat impatiently. “There was no answer at the Bellvue. Then she called here, at half past two. Daffy told her that she had gone with you to listen to jazz.”
“Daffy told her what? Why?”
“I certainly didn’t want to tell her mother that she was in your apartment,” Daffy said.
“Have you been eavesdropping all along, Daffy, or did you just come on the line? The reason I ask is because I have already told Chad that your pal is not now, and never has been, in my apartment.”
“Then where is she?” Daffy challenged indignantly.
“This is where I came in. I haven’t the foggiest idea where she might be, Daffy, and”—he shifted into a Clark Gable accent—“frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
Chad chuckled.
“The both of you are shits,” Daffy said, and hung up.
“You might try washing her mouth out with soap,” Matt said.
“She’s upset. She lied to Susan’s mother, and now she’s been caught at it.”
“I’m the one who should be pissed about that, old buddy. She told Mommy that the family virgin was out with me.”
“You’re close,” Chad said. “Be a good chap, won’t you, and go by the Bellvue?”
