I'm a fool to kill you

TWENTY-ONE

I should have thought to take a key to the bungalow with me, but I didn’t, so I had to knock when I got back. When Ava opened the door, she was wearing a red wig and sunglasses.

‘What’s with the get-up?’ I asked, stepping in and closing the door behind me.

‘I didn’t know who it would be,’ she said. ‘And just in case the police came back with you and wanted to talk to Lucy Johnson. .’ She backed away and did a quick pirouette.

‘You make a good redhead, Lucy,’ I said.

She took the wig off and said, ‘I’ll leave that to Rita Hayworth.’ She ran her hand through her short black hair, and took off the sunglasses. ‘How did it go?’

‘Fine,’ I said. ‘They took me to the hospital to see Larry, the cab driver.’

‘What for?’

‘Well, among other things they wanted to find out from him if I was the one who beat him up.’

‘Why would you do that?’

‘That’s what they wanted to know, but Larry cleared me.’

‘Was he the driver who brought me here this morning?’ she asked.

‘Yeah.’

‘Did he mention me?’

‘No, he kept mum.’

‘Is he being taken care of?’ she asked.

‘Yeah, I’ve got his bills covered.’ I didn’t tell her Frank was paying. I don’t know why, exactly, I just didn’t.

‘It’s gettin’ late,’ I said. ‘Aren’t you sleepy?’

‘No, not yet,’ she said. ‘I had a nap, remember?’

‘Probably the first sleep you’ve had in days,’ I said. ‘Maybe you better lay down anyway.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I’ll get a room somewhere-’

‘Stay here!’ she said, abruptly.

‘What?’

‘I–I don’t want to be alone,’ she said. ‘While you were gone I kept hearing noises, kept thinking there was some fucking creep outside trying to break in.’

‘Ava, I can get a room in the hotel-’

‘No,’ she said, ‘I don’t just want you nearby. I want you close. I want you here, Eddie.’

‘All right,’ I said. ‘I’ll sleep out here on the sofa.’

‘Nonsense,’ she said. ‘We’re adults, and there’s a large bed in the bedroom. We’ll share it-’

‘I don’t know-’

‘-but right now,’ she went on, ‘tell me what happened at the hospital.’

‘All right,’ I said. ‘Let’s sit down. .’