“I like it here,” she said slowly, looking around at the pedestrian blond furniture.
She was seated on his bed, hands gripping the spread. She had not taken her hat off, or her gloves.
She must have sat that way all during the time they were in the other room, Ellery thought. Hanging in midair. Like her probable excuse for leaving the Priam house. A visit somewhere in town. Among the people who wore hats and gloves.
“Why do you feel you have to hide, Delia?”
“It’s not so messy that way. No explanations to give. No lies to make up. No scenes. I hate scenes.” She seemed much more interested in the house than in him. “A man who lives alone. I can hardly imagine it.”
“Why did you come again?”
“I don’t know. I just wanted to.” She laughed. “You don’t sound any more hospitable this time than you did the last. I’m not very quick, but I’m beginning to think you don’t like me.”
He said brutally, “When did you get the idea that I did?”
“Oh, the first couple of times we met.”
“That was barnyard stuff, Delia. You make every man feel like a rooster.”