She poured him out some more coffee. “He’s a habit. I’ve been with him for a couple of years. He’s kind to me and I guess he’s crazy about me.” She shrugged. “You know how it is. I don’t know anyone I like better, so I feel I may as well make him happy.”
Fenner nodded, sat back and lit a cigarette. “What’s Thayler mean to you?”
Curly’s face froze. The laughter went out of her eyes. “Once a dick, always a dick,” she said bitterly, getting to her feet. “I ain’t talking shop with you, copper.”
“So you know that?”
Curly began to stack the plates. “We all know it.”
“Nightingale?”
“Sure.”
“But Nightingale pulled me out of that jam.”
“He owes Crotti something.” Curly took the plates away.
Fenner sat thinking. When she came back, he said, “Don’t get that way, baby. You an’ I could get places.”