‘No animals and positively no men,’ I said softly as he walked across the landing to the lower flight of stairs.
He looked hastily over his shoulder, paused, said aggressively, ‘Ug-huh?’
I shook my head.
‘If you heard anything, it was probably the voice of your conscience.’
I went on up the stairs, leaving him to stare after me, pivoting slowly on his heels until we lost sight of each other.
The second floor was a replica of the lower floor, even to the bottles of milk and the newspapers. I walked along the corri- dor, treading softly, studying the numbers on the doors. Room 23 was half-way down and on the right-hand side. I paused before it, wondering what I was going to say to her. If what Maxie had told me was true, and it probably was, then the girl could clear Perelli if she wanted to. It now depended whether or not I could persuade her to throw Barratt to the wolves.
As I raised my knuckles to knock on the door I heard a quiet cough behind me. I looked furtively over my shoulder. There was something in the atmosphere of the place that would have made an archbishop feel furtive.
Behind and opposite me a door had opened. A tall, languorous redhead lolled against the doorway and surveyed me with a smile that was both inviting and suggestive. She wore a green silk wrap that outlined a nice, undulating hip, her legs were bare and her feet were in swan’sdown mules. She touched her red-gold hair with slender fingers that had never done a day’s work in their lives, and her neat, fair eyebrows lifted in a signal that is as old as it is obvious.
‘Hello, Big Man,’ she said. ‘Looking for someone?’
‘Huh-uh,’ I said. ‘And I’ve found her. Don’t let me keep you from your breakfast.’