She had taken an apartment in a suburb near the airport and was just leaving the building to drive to Wisconsin when a long white Cadillac pulled up. It blocked her way because another car was parked close behind hers.
"Come on, Barbs," Chet Armstrong pleaded from behind the wheel of the Cadillac, leaning his handsome head out of the car. "At least come to lunch with me?"
Barbara, at first startled to see him, could think of nothing she would like less.
"There's not much a gimp with a cane can do to a girl at lunch, is there?" Chet coaxed. "I promise... I've turned over a new leaf. I'm not the same guy you used to know. The only thing the same about me is, I'm still crazy about you. Even more than ever. I'd be much better for you than that guy you see at Glenview..."
So you know all that, do you?, Barbara thought but didn't say. You even know about Stephen Collier. What spy agency do you hire, or do you do the spying yourself, or hire No Face to do it? Instead, she just said, "Please move your car away.
I don't want to have anything to do with you. If you don't stop bothering me, I'll notify the police and have a peace bond taken out on you."
He paid no attention and instead got out of his car. In a blue striped suit and tan cashmere topcoat, he limped toward her with his cane.
"See how helpless I am? What harm could I do you, even if I wanted to."
His cane began to look like a weapon to her. Maybe his limp was as phony as he was.
"I just want to love you, Barbs. That's all I ever wanted to do to you."
She remained in her car, but felt helpless. She didn't want to ram his car, for fear she would damage her own, and she needed it to drive to Wisconsin. She would not get out of her car for fear he would attack her, even though he looked like he could hardly walk with his cane. If she resisted, which she intended to, he might use his cane on her.
He came up beside her as she sat in the driver's seat of her car, and reached in to take the ignition keys. She brought a fist down hard on his hand and he withdrew it. Then, she didn't know at first why, he let out a cry and fell to the ground.