"So you're going to have a tough couple of days sweating it out, ain't you, Clarence?" Aimee stared at him with delight. "Ain't it a shame I can't help you out? Tsk-Tsk! No. We never come across nobody named Knott." "In this place?" "Nope." "In the music store?" "Nope." "Afterwards? In the bars? Where we ate?" "Nope." Lennox opened his mouth to ask another question, then faltered. Gabby asked it for him. "And in your apartment, Aimee?" "He couldn't talk to nobody," Aimee snapped. "He passed out soon as we come in. Big shot! And when he come to he ran right out." She intercepted the look of salvation and relief that passed between Lennox and Gabby and began to shake with rage. "And afterwards?" Gabby asked. "What about afterwards?" "The notebook was there for twelve hours after Jordan left. Did anybody named Knott have a chance to leave a message in it?" "The only body in that apartment is named Driscoll." "Your friends?" Gabby persisted. "I got no friends." "Your ... clients?" "What's that crack supposed to mean?" "Look, Aimee--" Lennox began. "Shut up, big shot. I asked her. Leave her answer." "It wasn't a crack," Gabby said composedly. "I wouldn't dream of insulting you, Aimee. I simply meant--" "Not now!" Lennox interrupted in alarm. "Don't be honest now, dear." "I meant that we know you're a prostitute," Gabby continued candidly, "And one of your clients might have been Knott." "Suffering Jesus on echo!" Lennox groaned. "Listen, Aimee, she's just kidding. She--" "Yeah. She's a sweet little kidder. And what price does she put on her sweet little ass that makes her so high and mighty?" "What are you ashamed of, Aimee?" Gabby asked quietly. "I'm not ashamed of you." Aimee turned on her in fury. "The come-on's your racket, huh? The tickle and tease. You save your ass for the big price and after you're married it turns out nothing. But nothing!" "You're old-fashioned," Gabby smiled. "We aren't amateurs any more." "And they come crying to me and taking it out on me, like Clarence.... Because you save it so hard you don't know what to do with it but lay on it." "Shut up," Lennox growled. "You must of got him plenty hot Saturday night, sister. You're so God damned glad he never touched me. You want to see how he touched me? I'll show you." Aimee stood up so violently that her chair toppled. She yanked up her skirt and displayed her naked behind, criss-crossed with black and blue welts. Then she dropped her skirt and burst into hysterical laughter, covering her teeth with her hand. "It was like old times when my old man took a strap to me after he.... I felt like a kid again. We had a million laughs." Lennox grunted in anguish. Gabby looked at him, then stood up impulsively and took Aimee's hands. "He did a dreadful thing, Aimee. He's ashamed and so am I. Please let us make it up to you. We'll do anything."