Chapter 15

I returned to my office and sat in the quiet of midmorning, waiting for the new women in my life to fall into place.

The landlady was lying to me. Why, I had no idea.

My paying client liked to threaten me with guns and wanted me to solve a murder for which I was already a suspect.

Then there was the third female, one who sometimes bought me drinks and was undoubtedly using me to get herself a story. All of which was all right if there was even a remote possibility she would sleep with me. At least, that’s what I told myself.

I sighed and put my feet up. A paperback copy of The Odyssey sat on a corner of my desk, right next to a bucket of nine-millimeter slugs. I opened it up and read about Odysseus, who was bewitched by Circe and spent a year on her island, not to mention in her bed. Didn’t seem like the worst thing in the world, except when Circe tried to turn Odysseus into a pig. Life can be a tricky thing. Especially where women were involved.

I put down Homer and picked up the here and now. I needed an education, quick and dirty, about an old rape that might be spawning fresh murder. And I thought I knew just where to get it.