Chapter Two

A Concert

Eve waited impatiently for Roger to call, but when a week had gone by without a word, she gave up hope. She even stayed home most of the next weekend for fear of missing his call. In desperation she tried to find his name in the phone book but without success. Either he didn’t live in Manhattan, which was likely enough, or his phone was unlisted. She wished she had asked him for his number. Then again if a man was interested in a girl he would call her, and if not there was little use in having his number. But why should she be surprised anyway? There was nothing special about her. To him she was just another chick from the Village. He probably thought she was a lousy lay like everyone else. She had had her little adventure, it was great and she should be satisfied with that. There was no point in torturing herself. And with that she decided to put him out of her mind.

Next Friday afternoon Eve was standing by the register in the bookstore where she worked when the phone rang.

“Hello, is Eve Sloan there?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Hi, I thought I recognized your voice. This is Roger, Roger Nettles. We met in the gallery a couple of weeks ago.”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Are you doing anything tonight?”

“Uh, maybe.”

“I have tickets for a concert tonight, at the Metropolitan Museum. The Juilliard String Quartet. When I was at your apartment I took a glance at your record collection, and I thought you might be interested.”

“Uh ...What time does it start?”

“Eight o’clock. What time do you get off?”

“Seven.”

“I can pick you up at the store. So how ‘bout it?”

“Um ... Okay.”

“Just look for a black limousine in front. I have the address. So I’ll see you at seven.”

“Okay.” Then he hung up.

Eve stared for several seconds into space until she was roused out of her revery by a customer. For the rest of the day she went about in a state of nervous agitation. Calm down she told herself, he’s just a man, great in bed, but let’s not make too much of it. It’s way too early to be caring this much. No doubt all he wants is the one thing. But then that’s what she wanted too.

A few minutes after seven she was standing in front of the store when a black limousine pulled up and stopped. She stepped down to the street and walked towards it as the rear door opened and a man stepped out. It was Roger wearing an expensive looking dark gray suit of conservative cut.