Chapter 19

Clara sat up in bed abruptly. The room was dark. The thick curtains were drawn, shutting out the outside world so that it was impossible to tell what time of day it was. Only the murky grayness, in which shapes without color or design were barely discernible, indicated that it was no longer night.

At the foot of the bed sat Garnett, the glowing tip of his cigarette brightly visible in the darkness. "Good morning," he said with a note of sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh!" said Clara, starting violently. "You scared me! How long have you been here, spying on me like that?"

"This long," he said, indicating a fairly lengthy ash on his cigarette. "Do you always sleep so soundly?"

"I sleep a lot more soundly when I don't wake up to find someone staring at me. Were you making faces at me while I was asleep?"

"My dear girl," he said with deliberate pompousness, "I am not in the habit of making faces at people

-not even at bone-lazy young ladies whose sole aim in life seems to be to sleep through it."

Clara glowered. "First you tell me when to go to bed, and now you tell me when to get up. I suppose that next you'll be telling me to go brush my teeth. And not to forget to scrub behind my ears. And undoubtedly you've already decided what I'm going to eat for breakfast."

"Undoubtedly," echoed the devil's advocate, rising and stubbing out his cigarette in the ash tray on Clara's night table. "Orange juice, a mushroom omelette, cinammon toast and coffee." He crossed the room to the vanity table near the door and returned with a covered tray. "Hardly breakfast," he remarked, as with one hand he propped up the pillows under Clara's back and shoulders. Then he placed the tray across her knees and removed the white linen napkin with a flourish. "More like brunch," he said. "It's nearly one-thirty, you know."

The expression of pleased surprise which had lighted Clara's face when she saw the tray and its contents now faded into one of dismay. "One-thirty!" she echoed. "Oh dear! And I was supposed to meet Bess Lynd half an hour ago!"

"Bess Lynd?" Garnett's eyebrows lifted questioning-

"Yes. She's a girl I met last night in the th--uh hallway. She's very nice and friendly, and she invited me to go swimming with her this afternoon. I promised to be in her room at one o'clock. I don't know how I could've overslept. I usually wake up by noon, no matter what time I go to bed."

Garnett smirked. "Even if it's not until seven or eight in the morning?"

"You've been spying on me!"

"Not exactly." Gamett poured some coffee into her cup. "Milk and sugar?"

"Yes, please. Two lumps, spy."

"Actually, Clara, I didn't spy. All I did was drop by about three a.m. to see that you were all right. And, when you weren't here at three, I checked again at four ... and five ... and six.. . "

"I don't know what time it was when I got back. Of course, if I'd known you were coming, I'd have made it a point to be here," she said, her voice heavy with sarcasm. "But I assumed you'd be too busy 'investigating' Alice Burton to think about me."

"My pet," laughed Garnett, "you underestimate me. I'm a man of many talents and abilities, and I'm perfectly capable of thinking about you while doing a number of other things."

"If this is all such a big joke to you," Clara pouted. "Why don't you just forget it! All you seem to care about is making fun of me and displaying your cheap wit. You should have become a comedian instead of a lawyer!"

Garnett smiled unpleasantly. "You seem to be very anxious to get me out of the legal profession. First you come to me and ask me to emulate Perry Mason counselor-cum-sleuth. Then, after I spend a great deal of my other clients' time sleuthing on your behalf, you announce that you don't think I'm suited to this kind of work-that in your eminently qualified opinion I'd be better off in another field altogether." Malice was evident in his acid tone and in his icy gaze.

Clara's eyes widened, and her cheeks paled. "Oh, Conrad," she said, "I didn't mean . .

"Look, Clara," he interrupted her, the malice gone as quickly as it had appeared. Suddenly he was totally in earnest: "Please believe me when I say that I take the Scorpion more seriously than I have ever taken anybody else in my life."

"You really mean that, don't you?" she asked so softly that she appeared to be thinking out loud.

"Yes. I mean it. You see, Clara, when you grow up a little more, when you learn a little more about human nature, you'll learn that people very often make light of the things which matter the most to them. It's a defense mechanism, a way of protecting themselves against ridicule ... and sometimes against danger."

"Danger?" Clara's eyes widened once more. "Are you trying to tell me something, Conrad? Did you learn something last night? Something that makes you think Rita's in danger?"

Gamett smiled and patted Clara's hand reassuringly. "Yes and no," he said. "I did learn something last night. But nothing that led me to believe your sister's in danger. In fact ... well, never mind that now. Suffice it to say that since the last time we talked, I've acquired quite a bit of knowledge of the internal workings of this little sex-Mecca-and of the powers-that-be here. And, if all goes according to plan, I'll reveal to you the identity of the Scorpion before midnight tomorrow."

Clara gasped. "Oh, Conrad! I feel like such a rat for not trusting you and for saying all those nasty things about your lack of interest in finding the Scorpion! But tell me all about it, I'm just dying to know!"

"All in good time, my child, all in good time. And speaking of time, it's now thirteen minutes before two. What were you planning to do about this Bess Lynd you were supposed to meet?"

"Oh dear, I'd forgotten about her. Well, I don't suppose she's still waiting for me. I guess I could find her at the pool, though. I really ought to apologize. And I do want to take a dip."

"An excellent suggestion. Why don't you hustle into your bathing suit while I take the tray back to the kitchen and change into my trunks. I'll meet you at the pool in twenty minutes."

"That's fine. I'm sure Bess'll be delighted to meet you. She told me she'd seen you and me together. She thinks you're really sharp."

"She does, eh? How very complimentary."

"Yes, I think so ... Would you hand me my robe, please? And look that other way."

"Look the other way? Great Scott, Clara, I've seen you completely nude. How can you possibly be embarrassed about letting me see you in a nightgown?"

"I'm not wearing a nightgown. And besides, our days of intimacy are over. I've decided that I'm not going to do anymore sexing around. Now that you've found the Scorpion, I don't have to."

Garnett studied her face gravely. "I'm afraid you're wrong. You see, the Scorpion hasn't been found. We're going to have to set a trap for him-with you as bait. Now don't be afraid. You won't be in any danger. But you will have to do quite a little 'sexing around,' as you so quaintly put it."

"Oh, Conrad. You didn't say anything about that before!"

"I know. And I'm sorry I brought it up now. I was planning on telling you when we came back from the pool, when we'd have plenty of time. I don't want to waste this lovely sunlight. Come on now, get up. I'll explain everything to you very soon."

"All right, whatever you say. But please hand me my robe."

"I think you'd better come and get it," Garnett grinned. "That way I'll know you're up and not planning on going back to sleep the minute I walk out."

"I'll get up. Once I have my robe on ... honestly, Conrad, I don't see how you managed to uncover the identity of the Scorpion. You're always so busy trying to uncover me." On cue, she clutched the covers more tightly around her.

Garnett's grin broadened. "Now who's trying to be a comedian? And stop hiding like that, you'll smother yourself."

"Perhaps I prefer to smother than to have you ogling my body."

"All right, you win." He held the robe in front of him and advanced toward the bed. "Here," he said, "take the robe. I'll keep my head turned." But, as she reached for the robe, he dropped it and snatched the bedclothes away.

"Sometimes," hissed Clara, covering herself with her hands, "I hate you. You know, you can be so nice. But you don't want to be nice. Sometimes I think you just want to humiliate me. Sometimes I get the feeling that you make me do all those terrible, dirty things not because you enjoy them so much but because you enjoy seeing me do things that you know make me ashamed of myself. Am I right, Conrad? Do you want to humiliate me, to see me groveling before you? Is that it?"

Garnett's face had lost its almost perpetual sardonic smile, and the mocking gleam was gone from his eyes. He looked at Clara almost tenderly. Then he said very gently: "Let me teach you something, kid. Never ask a question if you won't be able to understand the answer." With that, he lightly kissed the top of her head, gently tweaked one of her nipples and walked out of the room. Almost immediately he reappeared in the doorway. "It is now one: fifty-three and thirty seconds," he announced. "You have exactly fourteen minutes and thirty seconds left. If you're late, I'll duck you." He winked broadly and disappeared.