Unsympathetic Magic - Laura Resnick [61]
“Shall we all have dinner?” Max suggested cheerfully. “My treat.”
“All right,” said Jeff, turning on a dime. “I’m in.” Actors rarely turn down a free meal.
“Oh, but first I should ask,” Max said. “Are any of you Lithuanian?”
They all looked at him blankly.
Shrewdly sensing the consternation that his question had caused, Max said, “I assure you that I have no hostility whatsoever toward Lithuanians. But it’s wisest to ask the question before we break bread or attempt to work together.”
Jeff asked me, “What is he talking about?”
“No one really knows.” I had meant to ask Max about this odd foible before, but the few times the subject had come up, we were always too busy fighting Evil to discuss it.
“Dr. Zadok,” Biko said, “do we look Lithuanian?”
“Here in the New World,” Max said, “where the admirable values of your society so often lead to replacing the walls of the Old World with sturdy bridges built between people of different backgrounds, that is not a question that I would venture to answer.”
Jeff said to me, “No, really. What is he talking about?”
“As far as you guys know, do you have any Lithuanian ancestors?” I prodded.
They all shook their heads.
“Then it doesn’t matter what he’s talking about,” I said.
“Excellent!” Max beamed at them. “Let’s get dinner!”
“But you and Esther are our guests, Dr. Zadok,” said Puma. “Biko and I will buy dinner.”
Max argued graciously, pressed his point, and won. Biko phoned in a food order to Miss Maude’s Spoon-bread Too and asked them to deliver it. Puma insisted on providing our beverages out of her little refrigerator.
While we waited for the food, Biko recounted his most recent evening of hunting the baka. “I think I found signs of them—the half-eaten remains of a couple of pigeons, and some really big claw marks nearby—but I didn’t see them.” And then he’d met a hooker who turned out to be an actress looking for her colleagues.
“You might have been a little more detailed in your warning to me,” I pointed out.
“You’d have thought I was crazy,” he said dismissively. “Or playing a twisted joke on you.”
“Fair point.”
“Anyhow, I didn’t see anything after I met Esther,” Biko said. “I guess she got all the action last night.”
I took up the story and gave them a full account of my night. Trying to get over rough ground as lightly as possible, I portrayed Lopez simply as a police officer who knew my true identity and could therefore help me in my time of need.
“Now that you’ve involved the cops,” Jeff said, “I don’t suppose there’s any chance that you’ll just let them handle this?”
Max and I were about to remonstrate, but we didn’t need to. Biko said irritably, “Are you deaf, man? Esther told everything to the cops, and they laughed at her. The only one who even took her seriously is the one who thinks she fell for a practical joke!”
“He might being taking her more seriously today,” Jeff shot back, “now that he knows Darius’ body is missing.”
“The cop thinks he’s dealing with body snatchers,” Biko argued. “Not a zombie!”
There was a sharp knock at the front door, making us all jump. Happily, it was just the delivery man from Miss Maude’s.
“Thank God,” I said. “Food!”
Biko looked at me. “We’re taking about body snatching and zombies, and you—”
“Get the door,” I said. “I’m hungry.”
Max paid for the food while Puma and I took the carry-out bags back to the stockroom and laid the food and beverages out on the table in there. Too tired and hungry to wait for anyone else, I helped myself and was already eating when the others sat down with me.
With multiple establishments each boasting they had the best friend chicken in Harlem, I had no idea if Miss Maude’s claim was any more or less true than the others, but it sure was darn good chicken in any case. I also ate mashed potatoes, string beans, collard greens, and corn-bread stuffing. I ignored the feel of Jilly C- Note’s tight skirt cutting into my waist, reminding me that I would again have to appear on camera in this revealing outfit. I had earned a hearty meal.
And despite