o my robe like guilt. The photo still lay on the kitchen table where I'd left it

gh to seem respectable but low enough to be remembered. I pinned my curls b

g but wigs and rhinestones. The kind of place most people walked past without seeing. Inside, it sm

ky and pale, with a cigarette behind one ear and a

n," I sai

"What can I

hree headshots I kept for when producers got drunk enough to think

Matte finish. And

ut and gave them a b

e one I shouldn't have. Flashed

ooking for whoever took it. The framing's good

fro

st a long pause like he was

know," he

stripped away politenes

room. "We don't keep custo

er. "I didn't say any

ch, but something i

dy. Can't

cause I believed him.

ad paid f

always has

on. The kind of heat that sticks to your skin like guilt, that

ehind a rusted gate. Somewhere,

I saw

he Depression, stood a man. Tall, broad-shouldered, in a grey suit far too clean

n. Just

ve. Not even

le. Crook bent like a question mark.

o direct. He was looking just past me, like I

. Bought something I didn't need-lemon squares, crumbl

breathe

rning. I wore a long coat over my stage dress and carried my shoes i

lready ticking faster. The kind

re he w

the s

me umbrella.

not ra

op. Didn't

easured steps. If I ran, he

etop you hadn't touched yet. And the certainty that

s wai

wrong. Thick in the throat. Like the whole

set, singing something breathy

k Ca

movement. Just his eyes on me, tracking each word l

nod. But he didn't bl

ses over the room. Let it find him. If I were a web,

. Powdered my nose, changed my earrings

string drawn too

across from him, he was still watch

said. "If I didn't know bet

" Frank replied softl

ill danced across my ne

dn't

ong enough to make t

estion," he

ppointed if

, not unkindly. "

the last thing I e

?" I

e. When you're not performin

my mouth.

ower. "Because someone's been watch

The silence betwe

now who?"

didn't

trying to figur

od and offe

walk y

t I took his hand anyway, letting him guide me through the haze of perfume and low convers

ack Packard, polished to a jealous shine.

ill me?" I asked l

ing the door behind me, "I

Didn't make small talk. Just one hand on the wheel, t

or signs, diner booths glowing like altars

rive women ho

s who don't a

Funny. I thought yo

he answer

ms folded like a corpse. Somewhere a train

es, Mr Caruso?"

ompany,"

meone's watching

tching you because yo

. "That's gen

dn't

lding, the street was empty. The sam

d for th

said,

urn

e. Just stared ahea

w who's fol

n't a

se I

re

red me more

r the Packard's engine faded into the night. I didn't look ba

tein's TV three doors down, a cat crying somewh

ned my apar

. Nothing moved. N

t the

left it. Slightly off-centre now, like someo

pt

table. Under the couch. B

ut. I hadn't touche

omeon

othered to leave

lt secure. No sign of a forced e

either the

didn't n

of the room, coat st

circling closer, offering rides and riddles. And now this-whoever knew where I

e, they didn't w

t

d me to know th

sn't imag

wasn'

against the window

n't s

s on, one hand curled arou

r somethin

wor

etly throug