Chapter 4

  A YOUNG MAN in his twenties with spiky¹ blond hair and a black sport coat whistled through his teeth as he left Junie Moon’s front door. Conklin and I watched from our squad² car, saw the john lope across Leavenworth, heard the tootle as he disarmed³ his late model BMW.

  As his taillights disappeared around the corner, Conklin and I walked up the path to the front door of what’s called a Painted Lady: a pastel-colored, gingerbread-decorated Victorian house, this one flaking⁴ and in need of repair. I pressed the doorbell, waited a minute, pressed it again.

  Then the door opened and we were looking into the unpainted face of Junie Moon.

  From the first moment, I saw that Junie was no ordinary hooker.

  There was a dewy freshness about her that I’d never seen before in a working girl. Her hair was damp from the shower, a cap of blond curls that trailed into a wisp of a braid that had been dyed blue. Her eyes were a deep, smoky gray, and a thin white scar cut through the top lip of her cupid’s-bow mouth.

  She was a beauty, but what grabbed me the most was Junie Moon’s disarming⁵, childlike appearance. Junie pulled the sash of her gold silk dressing⁶ gown tightly around her narrow waist as my partner showed her his shield, said our names and “Homicide. Mind if we come in?”

  “Homicide? You’re here to see me?” she asked. Her voice matched her appearance, not just young, but sweetened with innocence⁷.

  “We have some questions about a missing person,” Rich said, launching his amazing, babe-catcher smile.

  Junie Moon invited us in.

  The room smelled sweet, floral, like lavender and jasmine, and the light was soft, coming from low-watt bulbs under silk-draped lampshades. Conklin and I sat on a velvet⁸ upholstered loveseat while Junie took a seat on an ottoman, clasped her hands around her knees. She was barefoot, her nail polish the pale coral color of the inside of seashells.

  “Nice place,” Conklin said.

  “Thank you. I rent it. Furnished,” she said.

  “Have you ever seen this man?” I asked Junie Moon, showing her a photo of Michael Campion.

  “You mean for real? That’s Michael Campion, isn’t it?”

  “That’s right.”

  Junie Moon’s gray eyes grew even more huge. “I’ve never seen Michael Campion in my entire life.”

  “Okay, Ms. Moon,” I said. “We have some questions we’d like to ask you at the police station.”

1 spiky   

adj.长而尖的，大钉似的

参考例句：

• Your hairbrush is too spiky for me.你的发刷，我觉得太尖了。
• The spiky handwriting on the airmail envelope from London was obviously hers.发自伦敦的航空信封上的尖长字迹分明是她的。

2 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

3 disarmed   

v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒

参考例句：

• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。
• The swordsman disarmed his opponent and ran him through. 剑客缴了对手的械，并对其乱刺一气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 flaking   

刨成片，压成片； 盘网

参考例句：

• He received ointment for his flaking skin. 医生给他开了治疗脱皮的软膏。
• The paint was flaking off the walls. 油漆从墙上剥落下来。

5 disarming   

adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒

参考例句：

• He flashed her a disarming smile. 他朝她笑了一下，让她消消气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We will agree to disarming troops and leaving their weapons at military positions. 我们将同意解除军队的武装并把武器留在军事阵地。 来自辞典例句

6 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

7 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

8 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。