Setting up, setting up, setting up!
Lunch was at Garapenna’s, since it was open again. The owner Tolva and I go way back, which unfortunately includes the time I got his greasy spoon fireballed a few times; he doesn’t hold it against me, though. I understand the Castle might have stepped in and spread around enough gold to make everybody’s memories of that day a bit hazy. Can’t have it coming out how the Dominion ambassador was throwing spells around midtown, right? Especially since the official story was he wasn’t really a mage anyway.
Tolva had reacted to that blatant attempt to trivialize his pain and suffering by embracing with two clutching hands; Garapenna’s was always a decent place to eat, but now it gleamed. He had salvaged the Formica countertops, but that was about it. I felt almost too lowly to even park myself at a table.
Almost. I was flipping through Variety, trying to guess ahead of time which arch little mini-stories would end up being dropped on my desk later, when I heard a diffident cough. Young, female. Not young like Mira had been; I mean young, like a teenager.
I groaned inside. Cases involving teenagers were either sordid, or they involved Tricky Luis being up to his old tricks and I’d have to scupper his latest confidence scheme by reminding his marks that Old American didn’t have gendered nouns. It was just after noon, so I decided to hope it was the latter and hide behind the paper until the girl went away.