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Lisa.
    “So,” Alicia said, mopping up the last few drops of sauce in her bowl with semolina bread, “this Lisa, what do you think about her?”
    “I’m not sure. She seems too anxious to make Ingo’s case for him.”
    “But you kiss her, anyway, yes?” she said, without meeting my eyes.
    “No. She kissed me. But you knew.”
    “I am a sorceress. I know such things. I tasted it on your lips when you came in.”
    “It was a joke,” I said. “I talked tough to her, and when I finally said something nice, she felt she had to respond. Couldn’t stop her.”
    “Hey, it’s OK. What can I do? You drive women crazy.”
    “You know how passionate I am for you.” I said. “ Only you, on this entire planet.”
    “Say more.”
    “As long as you can make pasta like this.”
    She tossed her head back and laughed. “Who else is going to put up with you? Not some iron lady from New York. Look, you want to stay and make love to me?”
    “You want me to?”
    “Not if you’re going to fall asleep. You look tired.”
    “Been a demanding day.”
    “Go home then,” she said. “Tomorrow you make up for no love tonight. Don’t forget.”
     
    I didn’t meet another car on the five dark miles of road from Southold to Greenport. North Fork highways that are busy on summer nights are desolate by October. It’s as though someone turns a switch and closes down the whole area at nine o’clock. When I turned onto my street I could see the lights of the ferry terminal four blocks away, and the far-away reflection of illumination on Shelter Island in the water.
    I parked the car in the driveway and mounted the steps to the front porch of my house, a two-bedroom bungalow, built in 1922, renovated in 1964, and not touched since. I was eager to fall into my bed. But a voice from the dark corner of the porch stopped me before I could put the key in the door.
    “There are matters we should discuss, Seidenberg,” said Lisa Harper.
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER V
     
     
    She was sitting on the wicker love-seat, her feet up on the cushion, clasping her knees with her arms. I could make out her face in the faint beam from the streetlight outside that spilled through a hole in the overgrown bushes against the porch. Had she deliberately placed herself in that dim spotlight, or was it just one of those cosmic coincidences?
    “I’d just about given up on you,” Lisa said. “Out to dinner?”
    “You could say that,” I said.
    “With a friend?”
    “That, too.”
    “Ah. A romantic attachment. Am I right? A strong relationship.”
    “I’m pleased with it.”
    “And of course she is, too,” she said
    “Oh? Why do you think that?”
    “I think you’re reliable. I think you’re levelheaded and realistic. I think you’re probably a thoughtful lover.”
    “All that after having met me just this afternoon? I never realized how quickly people find me out,” I said. “You come on the ferry?”
    “Only two cars and me. Seemed a shame for the boat to make the trip just for us.” She swung her legs off of the love-seat and stood to face me. “It’s chilly out here. You going to invite me inside?”
    I unlocked the front door and we stepped into the living room. I turned on the lights with the switch just inside the door. “To think that just a few hours ago you resented my questions. And you took such pleasure giving me a rough time. You get off on irritating people?”
    “How can you say that, Seidenberg? I did kiss you, didn’t I?”
    “My lady friend knew it, too.”
    “How?”
    “She’s a sorceress. But she wasn’t angry about it. I told her it was a joke.”
    “You think I was just having some entertainment with you?” She settled herself on the sofa.
    “Let’s say I don’t think you were expressing a truly profound emotion.”
    “What do I have to do, Seidenberg,” she said, “take off my clothes?”
    “One, it’s too chilly in here to play. Two, though I hate to admit it, I’m too tired to do a