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Oh, of course. ” Checkbook, the magic word. “Beamer” didn’t hurt either. Dale beamed, smacking Tess one more time. As she ran to her car, she wondered if he treated all the female clients like this, or only those at least a foot taller. She waited in her car for Ava to leave, watching her through the club’s glass front. She seemed in no hurry now as she talked to the man with the squash racket. Animated, almost flirtatious, she leaned toward him and touched him frequently, innocently. Feather-light touches to his shoulder, his wrist, his hand.

I’ve been watching Ava off and on for almost a week now. ” Rock’s eyes held hers, but he was incapable of saying BALTIMORE BLUES / 47 anything. He reminded Tess of an old dog, trusting a beloved master not to put him to sleep—unless the master absolutely had to. “She shoplifts. Little things, things she can’t possibly need. ” As she had expected Rock considered this good news. He sighed, the air escaping from his massive lungs as if he had been holding his breath for several days. It was bad, but it wasn’t as bad as he had feared.

I’m just jealous because her suit costs more than I make in a week. It fit perfectly, too, Tess noted. She had never been so polished. Tess considered herself well dressed if her hose didn’t run and her blouse didn’t pull out of her waistband. Today, of course, Tess had dressed to disappear. Jeans, a white T-shirt hanging loose, basketball sneakers. She didn’t worry about Ava remembering her face, but she had tucked her braid under a black wig, one of the Gabor sisters’ creations. The wig belonged to Kitty, who wore it one memorable Halloween, playing a fortyish Cleopatra to a twentyone-year-old Julius Caesar, an anachronism she said Shakespeare would have loved.