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a coincidence. I heard you were in town, too.”
    “ No coincidence. I live here. But you know that.”
    “ You’re right. I also know you didn’t come here for the food. Please, have a seat anyway. It’s been a while.”
    I scooted over enough to let Lilith slide in next to me. She smiled pretentiously, and instead slapped Carlos on the shoulder. “Move it, Fidel!” she barked, and then crowded him into the corner where the rips in the imitation leather seats jabbed at his butt. I tried not to laugh, but the look of absolute violation on his face seemed priceless. It didn’t help matters when she nudged the plate of extra meatballs in front of him with a fork like it was nuclear waste. Carlos relocated the plate to a section of table less offensive.
    “ Do you mind?” he said, wiping his fingers clean of sauce with a paper napkin. “Really. What is your problem?”
    “ My problem,” she said, and this she directed at me, “is that I’ve been trying to find a way to reach you for nearly a year.”
    “ Me?” I said, pointing at myself.
    “ Yes. Nobody in your stinking precinct would tell me where you went or what happened to you.”
    “ Really? Lilith, I’m touched. I didn’t know you cared so much.”
    She made a face as if a sour nut had just come up her throat. “Hardly. You have something I want.”
    I straightened up in my seat and pulled the kink from my tie. “Do I? Frankly, I didn’t think I was your type.”
    “ P—leeease, Detective. I’d sooner sleep with Fidel, over here.” She jabbed her thumb into Carlos’ side, hitting his holstered gun. They turned and looked at each other, equally surprised. “Yeah, you,” she said. “You can just forget about it, my little Copacabana boy. You’re already about as close to me as you’re ever going to get. So, take a deep breath and savor it.”
    “ Lilith!” I said, no longer amused. “You’re getting a little mean-spirited in your old age, aren’t you? Whatever happened to graciousness and courtesy?”
    “ They’re dead, Detective, along with my friends from the research center.”
    “ And whose fault is that?”
    “ Not mine!” she snapped, loud enough for heads in the diner to turn again. “If that’s what you’re insinuating.”
    “ Oh, no?”
    “ Certainly not.”
    “ Right, I forgot. I guess Shekina and Akasha Kayo weren’t friends of your. So, killing them doesn’t count.”
    “ You can’t prove that.”
    “ How about Doctor Lieberman?”
    “ Yeah, how `bout Doctor Lieberman? You had his killer in jail and you let him hang himself. Or maybe he had help.”
    I slammed my hand down on the table hard, causing silverware to chatter on plates and Carlos’ Coke to splash from his glass. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying I had something to do with Gordon’s suicide?”
    “ I’m saying he was yours to watch. You had a responsibility. Hadn’t enough people already died by then?”
    “ Why—you little bitch….” I lunged across the table at her. So help me, I wanted to hurt her. I don’t know why. I had already beaten myself up over Gordon Walsh’s death. To a great degree, though, Lilith was right. Gordon was mine to watch. I should have known he was suicidal after all that happened. But things were really falling apart at that point in the investigation. And that I was with Lilith when he killed himself only made matters worse. I suppose Carlos, witnessing this verbal joust, predicted my unprofessional response to her overtures. As quickly as I came at her, he somehow managed to insert himself between us, preventing my fool-hearted assault.
    When things settled down, I apologized to Lilith and to Carlos, too. I expressed my regrets and condemned my actions as conduct unbecoming an officer of the law, retired or otherwise. Carlos, of course, accepted. Lilith’s forgiveness came in a more roundabout way.
    “ That’s all right, Detective,” she said. Strange, but I noticed how not a single hair