He closed the door.
Matt, as well as he knew Wohl, was not sure whether Wohl was pulling his chain, or whether Wohl was still sore about his having gone to the Oaks and Pines Lodge.
Matt got back in the Porsche and drove back to Center City. He was almost at Rittenhouse Square before he thought of Evelyn.
She probably ran the answering machine out of tape, he thought as he drove into the underground garage. What the hell am I going to do about her?
****
The red light on the answering machine was blinking, and when he played the tape, there had been thirteen callers who had elected not to leave their names, plus two calls from, of all people, Amelia Payne, M.D., who sounded, he thought, as if she had just sat on a nail, and demanded that he call her the moment he got in.
"Screw you, Sister Mine," Matt said aloud. "I am not in the mood for you."
He carefully arranged the Chinese goldfish buckets on his coffee table, got a cold beer from the refrigerator, and sat down to his supper.
The Chinese was cold.
He carried everything to the kitchen and warmed it in the microwave, carried it back to the coffee table, and sat down again.
The doorbell sounded.
Evelyn, Jesus Christ! Well, if she's at the door, she knows I'm here. I might as well face the music.
He went to the head of the stairs and pushed the button that activated the solenoid.
His visitor came through the door.
She looked up at him and called: "You miserable sonofabitch, how could you?"
It was not Evelyn, it was Amelia Payne, M.D.
"That would depend on which of my many mortal sins you have in mind. Come on in, Amy. Soup's on, and it's always a joy to see you."
"I have been angry with you before," Amy said as she reached the top stair. "And disgusted, but this really is despicable."
He was concerned.
Amy is really angry, and that means she thinks I have done something really despicable. But I haven't.
"Are you going to tell me what you're talking about?"
The telephone rang. Without thinking, he picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Matt," Evelyn said.
"I can't talk to you right now. Let me call you back."
"But you won't, will you?" Evelyn said, her voice loaded with hurt, and then she hung up.
"Jesus!" Matt said. He looked at Amy. "How about an egg roll?"
"What I'm talking about, Matt," Amy said, back in control of her temper, "is you going to bed with Penny."
Jesus Christ! How did she hear about that? The answer to that, obviously, is that Penny told her. Patients tell their psychiatrists everything.
"What in the world were you thinking?" Amy demanded.