“Hi, Jack.” Alan had been waiting in the bar, and gave me a hug when I entered the German place. He looked good, in black slacks and a gray cardigan. When I pecked him on the cheek I could tell he’d just shaved.
“I’m not in the best of moods,” I said.
“It’ll be fun.” He took my coat and led me through the restaurant. “This is an old friend of yours.”
“What old friend?” Then I saw.
Harry McGlade winked at me from his seat. He wore the standard Harry outfit: a wrinkled brown suit and a stained tie.
“Hiya, Jackie. This is my new squeeze, Nora.”
“It’s Dora.” Dora was half McGlade’s age, blonde with a streak of pink in her bangs, and the blouse she wore would have been tight on a Barbie doll.
“Yeah, Dora. Sorry, honey.”
“Harry called earlier.” Alan beamed like a schoolboy after his first kiss. “He wanted to thank you for something. Since you’ve been in a funk lately, I thought it would be nice if he thanked you in person. He’s the guy who was in that made-for-TV movie with you, right? I mean, his character and your character?”
“Yeah.” I tried to sound upbeat and enthusiastic. I failed.
Harry didn’t have to fake it. “I just got my PI license in the mail this morning. The Illinois Department of Regulations takes their time, but you made good on your word, Jackie. Dinner is on me.”
“Great.” That sounded even worse.
The waitress came by, a woman in her sixties dressed in a dirndl. Her English was heavily accented with German. She made the mistake of starting with Harry.
“Something to drink, sir?”
“Got any German beer?”
“We’ve got the largest selection of imported beer in Chicagoland.”
“How about Schlitzkreig?” asked Harry.
“We don’t have that.”
“Krautweiser?”
She shook her head.
“He’ll have a Beck’s,” I told the waitress. “And so will I.”
“Make it three.” Alan held up three fingers.
“Diet cola with an orange slice, a lemon slice, a lime slice, and a cherry,” Dora said.
“Why not just order a fruit salad?” asked Harry.
Dora giggled. I shot Alan a pained look, but his nose was buried in the menu and he didn’t see it. I suppose I couldn’t blame the guy. Alan didn’t know Harry, and I’d never had any reason to mention him.
“Would you like an appetizer?”
“Swastikabobs.” This from McGlade, naturally.
“We do not have shish kebab.”
Harry shook his head. “No, I said-”
“We’ll think it over,” I interrupted. The poor waitress loped off.
Alan set the menu down. “I’m going with the wiener schnitzel.”
“What’s that?” Dora asked in a forced-cutesy way.
“It’s veal.”
“What’s that? Like pork?”
“It’s a baby cow.” Harry pinched her cheek. “You’re so adorable.”
Dora’s face bunched up. “You’re ordering a baby cow wiener?”
“Wiener is German for veal,” Alan explained.
“Wanna see my veal?” Harry winked.
Where was that beer?
It came, eventually, and I ordered a second one before taking a sip. If you’re stuck in hell, you might as well roast some marshmallows.
Conversation, if it could be called that, centered around McGlade and the various cases he’d been involved in. Dora remained glued to every word. Alan laughed politely when it was called for. I drank.
The food was wonderful, and I had to give Alan credit; he did manage to make me forget about Fuller for a few hours.
“What’s the deal with the Fuller trial, Jackie?”
So much for that.
“The deal is, he’s going to get off, unless his partner confesses or we locate a runaway prison guard.”
“You gotta find someone? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We’ve got every cop in Illinois, plus Feds, looking for him. What could you do, McGlade?”
“I happen to be a world-famous private investigator, Jackie. And what do I do, Dora?”
She giggled. “You investigate privates.”
“Indeed. And I also find people. Gimme the rundown.”
The beer had loosened my tongue a tad, so I gave Harry the scoop.
“You got the file?”
“In the car.”
“I’d be happy to assist you in this instance. And in return, I only ask a small favor.”
“I don’t think I can handle any more favors, McGlade.”
“This one is easy.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll tell you when I catch the guard.” McGlade winked at me.
Dessert was black forest cake and incredibly strong coffee. Harry made good on his word and picked up the check. Alan tried to reach for it, but I gave him a vicious pinch underneath the table to squelch that idea.
Afterward, McGlade invited us back to his place for a nightcap. Alan got another pinch as a warning, and he made up a nice excuse about having to get home early.
McGlade got the file, Dora gave me a hug good night, and we went our separate ways.
“I’m getting the impression that Harry isn’t your favorite person.” Alan grinned at me when we got into the car.
“You picked up on the subtle nonverbal clues?”
“That, and all night you kept muttering ‘idiot’ under your breath.”
“Was I right?”
Alan laughed. “You were right. He’s a character, though. Think he’ll find that guard guy?”
“He couldn’t find snow in Alaska.”
Alan put his hand on the back of my neck. Rubbed.
“You haven’t been yourself lately. You okay?”
“Everyone keeps asking me that. I’m a little tense, that’s all.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“I’m fighting with Herb. We’re losing this case. I walked in on Mom and Mr. Griffin.”
Alan laughed. “You did too? He’s spunky, for an old guy.”
“Spunky? The man’s a jackrabbit. He’s going to break Mom’s other hip.”
“Anything else bugging you?”
There was an implied, anything with us?
I told him no, but that wasn’t true. There was a problem with us. Every time I got home from work, I half-wondered if Alan would still be there. He left me once. He could do it again. So to protect myself, I was holding back.
I had to. Until I was sure.
“I’m glad.” Alan moved his hand from my neck to my leg.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish.”
“Oh, I may not be Jackrabbit Griffin, but I think I can finish okay.”
And when we got back to my place, he proved that he could.