Chapter 15

A week later, a flushed, angry Oscar confronted Rene in her apartment. She stared at him, not believing what she heard.

"Of course I read all about it!" he exploded. "It was in the papers for goodness sake!"

"I helped catch a dangerous fiend, Oscar," she said softly. She wondered if this was the same man who had loved her so beautifully only a few short weeks ago. His face was twisted in rage and non-understanding.

"Sure! But how did you catch him? You let yourself be used as sex bait for a fiend and a lunatic!"

"It was the only way it could be done."

"It was the job of the police to catch him-not yours! I ... I'm ashamed of you, Rene! It was bad enough when you did the sort of work you did...."

"I thought we had that all worked out, Oscar. I thought you understood."

"Sure! But what you did-serving as bait-letting that man take you into the desert-undressing naked before him-letting you tie him up-then you doing what you did! Ugh! It was disgusting!"

"Would you rather have seen me dead?"

"Yes!" Oscar cried out, his face red. "I'd rather see you dead than ... than...." He faltered, searching for words.

"Let me help you express yourself, Oscar," Rene said quietly. "You'd be ashamed to have me as your wife, wouldn't you?"

"What will my friends say? My business associates? They all read about you! It was in all the newspapers!"

"Oscar," Rene rose to her feet and drew a deep breath. "I did something the other day that I thought I was ashamed of. I did it because I wanted to and enjoyed doing it. But after it was over, I wondered why I did it ... if I was in love with you."

Oscar stared at her. "What are you talking about?"

"I laid for another man ... even though I thought I was in love with you." She smiled as Oscar stared at her in shock, and then she went on: "If I had been truly in love with you, I wouldn't have done it, would I? But now I'm glad I did, Oscar, because I've just discovered that I was never in love with you ... just as you never were with me, either."

"You're a whore!" Oscar screamed.

"I'm only a woman, Oscar, and a human being. Now why don't you just leave and go back to your friends and business associates? They're the only ones you really care about, anyway!"

Oscar stormed to the door in a fury. There he stopped and looked back at Rene. She was smiling.

"Thank you, Oscar," she said. "Thank you for showing me the real you. I almost made a terrible mistake."

Speechless, furious, he charged out and away from Rene.

She turned to her dresser and fixed her hair, singing aloud at the joy that was in her heart, and hurrying and hoping that she wasn't too late.

It wasn't too late.

Rocky came out of the police station after his tour of duty. He was depressed and detached, uninterested in anything going on around him.

And then he heard his name called.

He stood stock still, unable to believe his ears. And then he saw her and couldn't believe his eyes. She was a big as life, however, and running down the street toward him, her arms out-flung, her mouth laughing as she called his name over and over.

He gathered her into his arms, unaware of anything else but the nearness and warmth of her as she melted in his embrace. Her lips were on his, hot and moving, blending into his lips.

"Rocky!" she cried. "Oh, darling, I'm glad I found you!"

"But what happened?" he asked wonderingly. "You said you were in love with another man...."

"Rocky, do you think I'm a whore?"

"Yes! And I love it."

"But do you think I was dirty in posing for pictures as I did ... and for using myself as bait for the killer?"

"Of course not. You're a big girl and you know what you're doing. What's this all about anyway?"

"Would you marry a girl like me?"

"Would I! Like a shot!"

"Then darling," Rene pressed herself against him hard, not caring who saw or what anyone would think, "you're the man I want to marry! Will you marry me?"

"You mean I can screw every day-every night-every hour-over and over again-the way we jazzed together the other day?"

"As much as you want, my darling."

He took her hand and led her to his car.

When they were inside, he said holding her close: "I'll marry you on one condition, baby!"

"Name it."

"That from now on you expose that delicious body only to me and pose only for me."

"But, darling! I didn't know you were a camera bug!"

His lips were fractions of an inch from hers, his hand was on her boob, palming its fire.

"I am," he said, "from this minute on...."

A moment later a uniformed cop looked into the car, his face red because of what he saw, and said, "Hey, there! Don't you know it's against the law to do that right out in public...? Oh! Excuse me, Detective Raven! I ... er ... didn't recognize you in ... er ... that position!"

"Let's get out of here, baby," said Rocky. "This place is just lousy with fuzz."