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“They do.”

“Tell me something. Are you married?”

He looks at me funny, says, “No.”

“Got some kind of significant other?”

“Of course.”

“It gets complicated. Doesn’t it?”

“Sometimes. But if you’re honest with each other, it simplifies things.”

I get out my lighter.

“Yeah. Honesty. Like you and me now. Right?”

“Right.”

“Okay. I’ll call you when I know something.”

“I’ll do the same.”

“Oh. And tell Willem not to threaten me again,” I tell him as I walk to the deck. “You I’d have to think about hurting. But him?”

I snap my fingers.

“I’ll have a word,” says Abbot.

“Thanks.”

Willem and his boys are still on the dock when I get off the boat.

I give them a little salute as I go by.

“I’ll see you shrimp at the fish fry.”

“What does that mean?” Willem says.

“Your boss wants to see you.”

I walk away and get on the bike.

Sometimes it’s fun taking names when the teacher is out of the room. Willem will complain to Ishii that I ratted him out. Ishii will laugh in his face. Sometimes it’s the little things that keep you going.

WHEN I GET back to Max Overdrive, I call Vidocq. The phone rings a few times and goes to voice mail. I’m not in the mood to talk to a device, so I dial Allegra.

“Hi. Sorry to bug you. I’m trying to get ahold of Vidocq. Do you know where he is?”

“Is it about the black milk? Eugène is right here in the clinic working on it with Madame Bovary.”

“She’s there?”

“In her best little black dress,” says Allegra. Her voice is quiet and tense.

“If you don’t want her there, throw her out.”

“I can’t,” she says. “Eugène wasn’t getting anywhere with his equipment at home, so they’re here using some of Kinski’s old things.”