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“You need help. ”

Benny shrugged happily. “And food, too. Are you hungry?”

I sighed. Let him be giddy. There was no sense in bringing him down. “Sure. Fine. I could eat. What are you in the mood for?”

“Jimmy’s is right there. Let’s do that. Have you ever eaten there?”

“No, but I’ve gone there for coffee. Do they have regular diner-type food?”

“Yes, and some Greek food too. Good gyros. Let’s go. ”

Together we waited for traffic to slow, then skipped across the street. Jimmy’s Diner is something of a local landmark, or at least its location is. Supposedly the chrome and 1950s nook was built to be the very first Krystal hamburger shop in the country. And since Krystal still has its corporate headquarters just a few blocks away, local legend might actually be local history. If it wasn’t the first, it was definitely one of the first.

Inside everything was early space-aged chic—with red vinyl seats, chrome-trimmed tables, and gleaming tile floors. We took a table by a window overlooking the sidewalk. Our waitress was wearing a uniform that could have been seamlessly accessorized with roller skates. She handed us menus and went back behind the bar to get us Cokes.

Right about then my cell phone began to vibrate against a tube of lipstick in my purse, making a buzzing, clanking noise. “Hang on a second,” I advised Benny. I fished the thing free and pressed the lit button.

“Hello?”

“So you went back there? And you didn’t find anything?”

“Oh, there you are…um…” I glanced up at my companion, who was eagerly scanning the plastic-coated menu. No one in my social circle knew about my continued correspondence with my half-brother, of course, so I searched for a greeting that wouldn’t require me to name the caller. “Hey there. Nice to talk to you too, so soon after last we chatted. And it is soon. Too soon for me to have addressed any of your concerns or ideas. ”

“Oh. ” The word was a two-letter study in dejection. “So you haven’t been out there yet?”

“Don’t be that way—you’ve just got to give me a little time. I promised, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. ”

“And I’ll follow through; don’t worry. But some stuff is going on out here right now, and I simply haven’t had a chance to look into it for you…but I will. Probably this coming weekend. ”

He was silent for long enough for his pause to be called “awkward. ” “You’re not just telling me what I want to hear, are you?”

“No, I am not leading you on. I’d only tell you what you wanted to hear if it happened to be the truth. It’s better than reinforcing a lie. ”

“A lot of people would disagree with you. ”

“And those people are welcome to mislead others to their hearts’ content. But I’m afraid that I don’t offer any sort of reality discount, even for family. You’re going to have to be satisfied with the facts. ”

“But I don’t have any facts to be satisfied with. I don’t even know for sure if she’s alive or dead. At least if she was still there, and if you could talk to her…that would be something. I’d know that much. But I don’t. ”

It was my turn to be quiet too long.

“I’m sorry,” I said, because I didn’t know what else to throw out to plug the conversation gap. “I wish I could help you with that one, but I can’t. Maybe it should be a project that you and Harry work on—playing detective, seeing if you can’t find out where she went and what happened to her. In fact, I officially make that your mission between now and next weekend. Go and do some research. I bet between you and Harry, you can find something. ”

Our waitress returned, whipping out her tickets and clicking the end of a pen.

“Look, I’ve got to go. We’re in a restaurant. We can talk about this later, if you want. ”

“You promise?”

“Yeah, I promise. Call me early next week if you don’t hear from me. ”

“Okay. Talk to you later. ”

“Later,” I echoed, and hung up.

Benny ordered a gyro and fries, and since I hadn’t had time to look up anything fancier, I went with a cheeseburger.