The Unbidden Truth by Kate Wilhelm Read Free Book Online Page A

and he did. After that he always brought a glass of ice water.”
    â€œYou just left it on the piano when you were finished?”
    Carrie looked shocked. “I never had it on the piano. He started to put it there the first time, and I told him not to do that. You don’t put a glass on the piano. He brought a little table over, and that’s where the water was.”
    â€œYou always left it there after playing?”
    She nodded. “Yes.”
    â€œWhat did you do on your breaks? Where did you go then?”
    â€œBack to the dressing room to hang out. Like I said, I get sweaty. I wash my face and put on fresh makeup usually. Probably I did that night. I don’t remember.”
    â€œYou didn’t walk outside for some fresh air, anything like that?”
    â€œNo. I usually did some stretches maybe, just relaxed.”
    Barbara nodded. “You had seven hundred dollars when they arrested you, and you had put two new tires on your car that last week. Where did that money come from?”
    â€œMy tips. I was making more money than I’d ever made before. I need two more tires. I was going to get them the next week, and still have enough for my share of the rent and food.”
    Impressed, Barbara asked, “How much were you making in tips?’
    â€œAbout a hundred or hundred fifty a night. Once it was two hundred. I worked three nights a week. My car needs a tune-up. I figured a few more weeks and the tires would be good, and I’d get a tune-up, a few clothes and then move on probably.”
    â€œWhy, Carrie? You were doing so well, why move on?”
    She had been open, talking freely without hesitation, now she closed, and that tightness appeared around her mouth.After a moment, she shrugged. “I don’t know why. I just don’t like to stay in one place long. I like to keep moving.”
    â€œMaybe we’ll have coffee now,” Barbara said, rising. “Would you rather have something else?”
    â€œCoffee’s okay.”
    Â 
    Later, talking about her life as a wanderer, Carrie said, “I slept in the car pretty often, sometimes at the rest stops on the interstates. No one bugs you if you look like a tourist, and I guess I did. And when I got a job, I usually could find a pretty cheap room somewhere. It wasn’t too bad.”
    â€œWere you ever in trouble in any of those cities? You know the district attorney will probe, just in case, and if you were there’s a record of it.”
    Carrie shook her head. “I was told to move on a few times, that’s about it. No speeding tickets, nothing. I wasn’t looking for trouble.”
    â€œWhat were you looking for?”
    She drained her coffee cup and set it down. “Nothing. I wasn’t looking for anything.”
    â€œOkay. Did you remember what Wenzel said to you that last night? You said he was talking crazy.”
    â€œHe called me a bitch and a slut, and said I’d find out it didn’t pay to try to play games with him, to fuck him over.” She shrugged. “Crazy talk. I wasn’t trying to play games with him. I was trying to keep out of his way.”
    Soon after that Barbara stood up. “It’s after twelve. I’ve kept you long enough. Thanks, Carrie.”
    â€œJust one thing,” Carrie said. “You told me some people said they saw me going into his room. It’s a lie. Why would they lie about it? What for?”
    â€œI don’t know. We’re looking into them.”
    Carrie got up then, but still hesitated. “It looks bad for me, doesn’t it? I don’t even have a character witness.”
    â€œIt usually looks bad at this stage,” Barbara said. “Remember, I haven’t even started to poke around in Joe Wenzel’s past. He might have had a hundred enemies. If he did, we’ll find them and go on from there.”
    As if she had not heard Barbara’s words, Carrie said, “They charged