Read The Case of the Lady in Apartment 308 for Free Online Page B

his life would be a big mistake. She would give a man nothing. She would use him. That was all.
    So Ed discarded Marcia before they even went back to the dock.
    However, having been raised by his mother and father, Ed did take the woman back to her apartment. He didn’t walk inside with her. He stopped at the front steps and allowed her to get out without any help from him.
    She exited the car with silken ease, sliding out with no trouble. She carried her own things plus the fish she’d caught and she closed the car door.
    Ed left. He drove back to his compound. There he showered and went back to bed. He lay thoughtfullyconsidering. And once more he gave up on the woman altogether.
    When he wakened, there were three messages on his answering machine. He turned up the volume and listened to that woman, Marcia, who said in a normal voice, “You are invited to a fish dinner tonight at 6:00 p.m.”
    That was all. No comment on the outing. Just that he was invited.
    The second was his mother, who said, “Some woman called and asked how you like fish cooked. Who was that?”
    As he was listening to the tape, his mother called again. She asked, “Who was that female?”
    And her second son replied, “I don’t know.”
    The third call was from a manufacturing firm out in California, which said, “We haven’t been shaken off the continent as yet, and we’re hiring. Your résumé was quite interesting.” And the male voice added, “Please call John. I’m John.”
    The voice cheerfully gave the number and said, “We’re looking forward to hearing from you.”
    Ed thought John sounded like a guy with humor and ease. Ed went to his file and looked up the company, what he’d read on them and what he’d written to them in application. It was a good company.
    Maybe California was the answer to his restlessness. It was a long way away. Perhaps that’s what Ed Hollingsworth needed.
    When a man has abandoned an area—or a woman—his attitude changes. With the incident past, he can become hateful and critical…or he can be tolerant and kind.
    He could be kind.

4
    A s Ed showered and shaved, he wondered how Marcia had found his mother’s phone number. He hadn’t dared mention the question to his mother. Her radar would perk up if Ed seemed curious about any woman.
    Had Marcia asked Amy for the number when they were on the river? How would Amy have known? Did Amy know his parents’ names and phone number? How? Why would she have given the number to Marcia?
    When the two women had been talking, had Amy’s ready talk been in reply to Marcia’s questioning? Questioning about Edgar Hollingsworth?
    Was…Marcia…curious about him?
    He was going to her place for supper. She was going to share the fish she’d caught. They’d be alone together under different circumstances.
    She’d tell him that her silence had been because she wanted his body so badly that she hadn’t been able to think straight enough for idle conversation. That shehadn’t dared to speak to him because she couldn’t keep her hands off him.
    Sure.
    He’d go to her apartment with his bouquet of fl—
    He was going to take flowers to her?
    Well, that was ordinary. Most guys did that. It wouldn’t be unheard of. He could pick some of those blue flowering weeds from in back of the apartments’ garages. They’d be flowers, but nothing to knock her over.
    It’d be subtle.
    But she would be touched. She’d smile at him and say, “Okay.”
    And he’d pretend he didn’t understand her submission. He’d give her his small, double whammy, subtle killer grin and say, “They’re like your eyes.”
    She’d fold.
    They’d quickly be naked and tussling around in the bed, with him trying his damnedest to keep up and— The fish would burn in the oven.
    He’d exclaim, “The fish!”
    But she’d say…she’d say…“Who cares?”
    She’d use his body recklessly with great lascivious hunger. She’d use her nakedness and busy fingers and hungry mouth to