"But…"

"Oh, and another thing. I like thin black undies. You got any? Sure, you do. All women have. Well, wear them, bra and panties." With that last demand, the gangster hung up.

Lonnie shook desperately, gaping at the dead instrument. It took a long moment for her to get hold of herself, and then her mind was a seething torrent of agony and despair. He wanted her again. He wanted to debase and humiliate her again as he had last night, and what could she do to stop it? She had to think… but it was no use. To hide, to deny what she had done with him and Cylvia would be foolish. Zeigler was just the kind of slimy man who would do as he threatened. She was trapped, and she would have to submit or somehow muster the courage and fight him when he arrived. Thank God, at least, her daughter wasn't here.

Before going to the bedroom she poured herself a quick glass of scotch, and though the taste was harsh and the liquid molten fire in her throat and stomach, she downed the glass – and had an other for courage. Then she went and found the black bra and panties given to her on a past birthday, which because of their sheerness were impractical and embarrassing to wear normally. Over these she slipped a white cotton sheath with a gold chain belt, and then spent considerable time in front of the vanity putting on her makeup and combing her hair.

She wanted to be as alluring as she could when Sam Zeigler arrived in hopes of convincing him to give her the silence she needed without compromising herself too deeply. But she had the forelorn knowledge that if Zeigler insisted, she would not be able to resist.

CHAPTER TWO

Roger Carmel slumped dejectedly at his desk. The papers in front of him were all a blur to him, their words and diagrams so much confused jumbles of print before his weary, agonized eyes. He hadn't slept well the previous night; hadn't really been to sleep at all, in fact, for too much preyed on his mind, too much kept eating at him, and his infrequent dozings had been more light, dream-filled slumbers between his tossing and turnings.