"ANYTHING?" I asked Mama when I called her from the street late that afternoon.
"Come in, okay?"
Max was in the kitchen when I walked in through the back door. He followed me out to my table. Mama sat down next to him, facing me.
"Man call. Black man, sunny voice. Call him at home, seven o'clock tonight."
"That's it?"
Mama's smooth face never changed expression. "Dead man called. Said call him. Hangs up."
I waited.
"Man say his name is Julio. You know him. You call him at his club, okay?"
Julio. Fuck!
"Girl call too. Same girl. Say to call her too. Very important."
"Okay."
"Not okay. Take Max with you."
"To make phone calls?"
"Meetings, yes? All these people?"
"Maybe. Maybe not."
"Take Max."