"Sound like?" Cissy blinked.
"His voice. Tell me what his voice was like."
"Um ... It was jolly."
"Jesus, Cissy, do you practice being stupid? It was put on," Jacko said to Eve while Cissy, obviously insulted, sprang up and flounced -- Eve could think of no other word for it -- into the kitchen. "You know that fake cheer. Deep, rumbling. He said something like ... 'Have you been good little girl? I've got something for you. Only for you.' Then I stepped out and he looked like he'd swallowed a live trout."
"You didn't recognize him?" Eve asked Cissy. "There was nothing about him, under the costume, under the makeup, that looked familiar? Nothing about his voice, the way he moved?"
"No." She walked back in, rigidly ignoring Jacko and sipping from a glass filled with fizzy water. "But it was only a couple of minutes."
"I'm going to have you review the discs, take a look at them when we enlarge and enhance. If there's anything familiar, I want to know."
"Isn't this a lot of trouble for something so silly?"
"I don't think so. How long have the two of you lived together?"
"On and off for a couple years."
"A lot of off lately," Jacko mumbled.
"If you weren't so possessive, if you didn't punch every man who looks at me sideways," Cissy began.
"Cissy?" Eve held up a hand, hoping to forestall the domestic dispute. "What do you do for a living?"
"Me, I'm an actor -- teach acting when I can't land a part."
There's one, Eve mused.
"She's terrific." With obvious and shameless pride, Jacko grinned at Cissy. "She's rehearsing for a play off-Broadway right now."
"Way off," Cissy said, but she moved back to Jacko with a smile and sat beside him again.
"It's going to be a huge hit." He kissed one of her pretty hands. "Cissy be
at out twenty other women at the auditions. This one's her big break."
"I'll be sure to watch for it. Cissy, have you used the services of Personally Yours?"
"Um ..." Her gaze skidded away. "No."
"Cissy." Eve put all cop in her voice, in her eyes, and leaned forward. "Do you know the penalty for lying during an interview?"
"Well, for goodness' sake, I don't know what business it is of yours."
"What's Personally Yours?" Jacko wanted to know.
"A computer dating service."
"Oh, for Christ's sake, Cissy! For Christ's sake." Furious, Jacko shoved off the couch, rattling knickknacks as he stomped around the living room. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"We broke up!" All at once the little fairy managed to out-shout the giant. "I was mad at you. I thought it would be fun. I thought it would teach you a lesson, you dummy. I've got a perfect right to see who I want when I want when we aren't co-habitating."
"Think again, honey." He swung back, black eyes glinting.
"See, see?" Cissy jabbed a finger at him as she appealed to Eve. All the flirty softness in her eyes had turned to flint. "This is what I put up with."
"Calm down, both of you. Sit," Eve ordered. "When did you have your consult, Cissy?"