Free Ed McBain_87th Precinct 47 by Romance

six, found out who was in charge, got the man moved before they operated.
     Police escort all the way down to Buenavista, sirens blaring, you’d’ve thought the
Mayor
was in that ambulance.”
    “So you were in the city, anyway …”
    “Yes.”
    “So you called me …”
    “Well, yes.”
    “… just so it shouldn’t be a total loss.”
    “Right. Also, I was very hungry. And I owed you a meal.”
    “No, you didn’t.”
    “Yes, I did. How’s your hamburger?”
    “What? Oh. Yeah. Good. I guess,” he said, and picked it up and took a big bite of it. “Good,” he said.
    “Why do you keep staring at me?” she asked.
    “Habit of mine.”
    “Bad one.”
    “I know. You shouldn’t be so beautiful.”
    “Oh, please.”
    “Why’d you walk out last night?”
    “I didn’t walk out.”
    “Well, you cut things short.”
    “Yes, well.”
    “Why?”
    Sharyn shrugged.
    “Was it something I said?”
    “No.”
    “ I kept trying to figure out what I’d said. All day today, I kept trying to figure it out. I almost called a dozen times. Before
     I finally did, I mean. What was it I said?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Tell me, Sharyn. Please. I don’t want this starting on the wrong foot, really. I want this … well … tell me what I said.”
    “You said the color I was wearing was good for me.”
    Kling looked at her.
    “ So?” he said.
    “I thought you were saying that the color was good for
my
color.”
    “ That’s what I
was
saying.”
    “So that started me wondering if the reason you’d asked me out was that I was black.”
    “ Yes, I know. You asked me …”
    “And I started wondering what it was you
wanted
from me. I mean, was this just de white massa hittin on de l’il house nigguh? I guess I didn’t want to risk finding out that
     was all it might be. So I thought it’d be best if we just shook hands and said goodnight, without either of us exploring the
     question too completely.”
    She bit into the sandwich again, sipped at her beer, her eyes avoiding his. Kling nodded and took another bite. They both
     ate in silence for several moments, Sharyn polishing off the sandwich as if she hadn’t eaten in a week, Kling working less
     voraciously on the hamburger.
    “ So what are you doing here now?” he asked.
    “I don’t know,” she said, and shrugged. “I guess I figured you were really being nice, saying the color suited me, the color
     was good for me, and that this wasn’t very much different from what you might have said to a blonde wearing black or a redhead
     wearing brown, or whatever colors it is dat de white girls wears, hmmm?”
    She had done it a second time, he noticed. Falling into a sort of exaggerated black English whenever she was saying something
     he was sure made her uncomfortable.
    “And I guess I finally realized you didn’t want anything from me that you didn’t want from any
other
woman …”
    “ No, that isn’t true,” he said.
    “Which is okay, I mean,
vive la difference, n’est-ce pas?
What the hell. A man is attracted to you …”
    “I am.”
    “You don’t go asking is it the color of my eyes, or the color of my skin …”
    “It is.”
    “… the same way you don’t go asking yourself is it because
he’s
so white.”
    “Is it?”
    “I mean, blond hair and light eyes, does he have to be
so
white? Where are the goddamn
freckles?
I mean, the first time I date a white man, couldn’t he …”
    “Is it?”
    “… be a slightly
darker
shade of Charlie, couldn’t he …”
    “The first time?”
    “Yes.”
    “Me, too. You, I mean. You’re the first black woman I’ve ever known.
Getting
to know, that is. That is, I
hope
I’m getting to …”
    “Yes, you are.”
    “I hope so.”
    “I hope so, too.”
    “Would you like some coffee?”
    “Yes, please.”
    He signaled to the waiter.
    “Also,” she said, “I thought it was kind of cute, your calling me and telling me you were willing to come all the way out
     to Calm’s Point again, at