"You something else, girl."
"You talk real nice to me and I just might have to show you just what that something is."
"You talk real nice to me and I just might think about letting you. But I have work to do first."
"Hmm. Go ahead, keep talking. I like the way you work. But I warn you, I like to talk."
"So I’ve heard."
"Gee say that about me?"
"No, she didn’t."
"Then who?"
"I have ways of finding out things I need to. That is, like, what I do. Find things out about people." Chésará tipped her head and looked strangely at me. Why don’t you just tell her that you have her sister’s house bugged and her brother in-law said that about her? I didn’t mean to say it, but it was out there now. The telephone rang.
"Hello."
Saved by the bell.
"Hi, Gee."
It was her. I sat up straight. I got excited just knowing she was on the phone. Chésará looked at me and smiled. I tried to hear what Mrs. Childers was sayin’, but I couldn’t.
"Your private dick is here. You sure know how to pick them."
Whatever Mrs. Childers was sayin’ to her, it wiped the seductive smile off her face.
"Bye, Gee." Chésará hung up the phone. She looked at me, the seductive smile returned just as quickly as it left. "That was Gee on the phone."
"Really, what did she say?"
"That I should stop tryin’ to flirt with you and cooperate."
I smiled.
"You like my sister don’t you, Nick?"
"What makes you say that, Miss, I mean, Chésará?"
"The funny look you get on your face anytime I mention her."
"How do I look?"
She made a funny face and laughed. "Your know, eyes all glazed over. Gee has that effect on men. So do I."
"I noticed."
"Once we have a man, it’s hard for him to resist us. Like this guy Gee kicked it with for a while. He just won’t leave her alone."
My back stiffened. "What do you mean?"
"If Gee knew I told you this, she’d freak." Chésará repositioned herself on the couch, which only proved to expose more cleavage. She was flirting even when she wasn’t. "While Gee was in St. Martin, she met this guy at the hotel bar. He was there with his wife and kids. Well, he told Gee that he was from Brooklyn. That he owned a used car lot on Utica Avenue. He gave her his card. So Gee called him and they got together a few times. Now he won’t leave her alone."
"Why doesn’t she want to see him anymore?"
"’Cause he can’t fuck. Gee said that he couldn’t keep it up long enough to do anything for her. Gee said she rocked the house two times and he came."