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The next few hours were a little blurry. At one point, Mason became aware someone was taking her clothes off, which gave her a brief drinking flashback to evenings she’d rather not remember. But then she realized they were redressing her in a hospital gown, and although that was also a drinking memory, she calmed down and stopped swearing and swinging. They also gave her something for the pain, which made her sleepy and emotional.

After being wheeled to a room, she realized Jade Solomon was still there and told her very earnestly they were BFFs for life. Then she told the doctor, who was slightly bemused, that he and Jade should maybe date.

“She’s very nice, really,” mumbled Mason, tugging at his sleeve. “She is very, very, very nice.” She sighed heavily. “She doesn’t have very good taste in movies, though. Would that be a problem?” Her lip trembled. “Nobody’s perfect, you know.” She looked over at Jade, through a haze of medication. “You’re pretty close.”

Jade nodded, looking up from her phone. “I know. A guy once told me my face was ninety-six percent symmetrical.” She shrugged and looked back down.

Everyone gazed at her for a second, then the doctor shook himself like a wet dog and showed Mason some X-rays on his tablet. “Your jaw was dislocated but not broken, which is amazing, and you have a slight cheekbone fracture that should heal unnoticeably.” He looked at her. “I’m married, but thanks for trying to fix me up with People magazine’s Most Beautiful Woman. My wife would probably give me a pass, but you know, I’m good.” He patted her arm. “Are you an actress, too?”

Mason shook her head, and then regretted it. “No, I’m a ne’er-do-well, a loser, a tough guy who isn’t so tough.” A tear ran down her cheek. “And I’ll never get to the Olympics.”

The doctor looked up at the IV hanging next to her bed, and then to the nurse waiting patiently. “Maybe turn down her meds a little?” he murmured, then spoke again to Mason. “We’re keeping you in overnight for observation, but you can go home tomorrow. Is there someone there who can help you? You’re going to find it hard to eat for a few days.”

“I’ll take care of that. I do a mean chicken soup.” Claudia appeared behind the doctor’s shoulder and grinned at Mason. “Glad to see you’re not dead, lovely. Julia would have been so annoyed.”

Mason’s eyes filled with tears again; everyone was being so kind . “How are you even here ?” She frowned, suddenly. “Did Julia put a tracker under my skin?”

Claudia hesitated, clearly deciding what to do with that lobbed setup, but then looked over her shoulder at Jade, who waved. “Your friend called Julia and I drew the short straw.”

Mason’s chin wobbled. “Jade’s the best ,” she said, “and I love you, Claudia. You’re so, so, so, so nice. And you make such lovely baked goods, and gravy…” She continued in this vein for several minutes.

Claudia turned to the nurse. “How long until the meds wear off?”

“A while, because if she wasn’t high as a kite she’d be in considerable pain.”

“Oh good,” said Claudia, pulling out her phone. “I want to make sure I get all this. It’s YouTube gold.”

“I love you so much, Claudia,” Mason said, the tears rolling down her cheeks. “I love your croissants. I love your mashed potatoes. I even love Julia a very little bit.” She held up her hand, not very well, and made a tiny space between finger and thumb. “A teeny, tiny, itty-bitty, weeny little bit…” Then she fell asleep again.

Jade Solomon laughed, and introduced herself to Claudia. “I saved her life, you know,” she said. “Or at least, I stopped the guy from hitting her more. Maybe Julia Mann will talk to me now?”

Claudia nodded, and smoothed her palm across Mason’s forehead. “She will,” she said softly. “She’s very fond of this girl, you know.” She sat down and pulled a novel from her bag. “Come to the house in a day or two.”

Jade nodded happily and left. Claudia sighed and settled into War and Peace for the twentieth time. She was still there when Mason woke up the next day.

When Mason walked carefully into the office wing later that day, Will winced at the sight of her face. He and Archie were sitting on either side of a young man Mason had never seen before, who had his head down, his giant oversized sweatshirt and baggy jeans making him look more like a pile of laundry than a guy. He also had a baseball cap pulled way down and a pair of sunglasses, making him look like a pile of laundry who was here to play poker.

On the big screen was the front page of TMZ: Julia Mann’s Assistant Attacked—The Codex Curse Strikes Again.

“I made the papers,” said Mason, tiredly. “My mom will be thrilled.”

“Holy crap,” said Will, raising his eyebrows at her face. “That is going to look even worse tomorrow.”

“Did you at least get in a few knocks yourself?” asked Archie.

Mason shook her head and sat down carefully. Her whole body ached from fighting and hitting the ground, and she was starting to wonder if it had been smart to leave the hospital. The young man didn’t even look up at her.

“No, that’s the worst part. I landed jack shit.” She settled back into the cushions. “I feel like crap.”

Julia hadn’t said anything, but now she came over and bent down in front of Mason. She reached out a hand and gently touched the bruised side of her face, where the first tints of blue were appearing. “I thought you had a black belt?”

“I do. His was blacker.”

“Maybe next time you’ll look behind you.”

Mason just shrugged and regretted it. Julia’s tone was still neutral. “You’ll stay here for a few days, to recover and avoid trouble if you can. Archie went to get your cat. He’s already in your room.”

Mason turned to Archie. “You broke into my apartment? What if I had booby-trapped it?”

He made a face at her. “You? You apparently can’t even fight. No, your neighbor let me in. She said to tell you she’d have taken the cat, but…”

“She has a dog, I know.” She looked at Julia and nodded. “I guess I don’t have any choice.” There was a pause. “Thanks.” Mason felt like it was more an order than an offer, but nonetheless, she really couldn’t face going home. Julia walked toward the big screen, and when she turned back, it was business as usual.

“So, what did the shithead say to you before he beat you up? I assume it wasn’t a random act of violence? Did our friends from the Detective Division come by to see you?”

Mason nodded. Claudia came in with a steaming mug with a glass straw in it. “Chicken bouillon, drink up, you’ll feel better.” She handed her two white tablets. “And two Vicodin.”

Mason shook her head. “No, Advil is fine.” She went back to Julia. “I’ll tell you what I told them, which is he said the Codex Curse was going to get us, just like the guy that attacked you, and to stop digging around, then we tried to hurt each other for a bit, which didn’t work out so well for me, and then Jade Solomon saved my life.”

Julia sighed. “Yes, I heard. And now I owe her.”

Mason frowned. “No, I owe her.”

Julia waved her hand. “Whatever, a debt is owed, and she’s apparently coming over to talk to me about The Codex .” She shrugged. “I haven’t chewed up a young actress in weeks.”

“Be nice, Julia. She bravely stepped in and filmed in my defense. Which reminds me, what happened to the film?”

“The cops have it,” Will answered, “but the guy was wearing a mask, so they can’t get that much. He left the knife, too, but it’s just a generic box cutter, and he wore gloves of course.” He cleared his throat. “There’s blood on the knife, and on the street, but so far it’s all yours.”

“What did the cops say?” Julia asked.

“Not much, just that I should be more careful, and let them know if anything else happens. They also suggested you back the fuck off, although not in such colorful terms.”

Julia said, “Was it definitely a guy?”

Mason thought about it. “I think so, but not sure why. He or she was strong and fast, and knew what they were doing; that’s about all I can say for sure. They didn’t even really land a punch. I did this against the curb.” She looked around. “Where are Becky and Ben? Still here, presumably?”

“Of course. Becky can’t leave Los Angeles. I think they went to Disneyland.”

“Really?” Mason almost laughed. “She’s about to stand trial for murder and she wanted to go to Disneyland?”

“What better time?” Julia shuddered. “Prison would be such a relief.”

“Not a Mouse fan?”

“I’d rather be boiled in oil. Before you got walloped, you were talking to Jade. What did she tell you?”

Mason reported the conversation, and added, “I think we should talk to Jason Reed, the director. He seems to have come out of the whole thing better off. And he has a temper.”

“Tomorrow. Today you rest.” Julia waved her hand. “Starting right after we hear from Larissa.” She turned to the pile of laundry. “We appreciate you coming to talk to us.”

“Mason, this is Larissa,” Will said, and the young man removed his sunglasses, revealing that he was, in fact, a young woman.

“Wow,” said Mason, “that’s some disguise. I totally thought you were a guy.”

There was a pause, but Larissa wasn’t fazed.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. But hey, who doesn’t want to challenge the patriarchal assumptions of our highly discriminatory oligarchy?” Her voice was deep, but clearly feminine.

“Larissa responded to our gentle inquiries about information surrounding the club murder, and she was kind enough to come tell us about it.”

“Plus you paid me,” said Larissa, “in food.” She turned to Will. “What was that stuff at lunch called again?”

“Boeuf en cro?te. Potatoes Dauphinoise. Lava cake.”

Larissa nodded and looked wistful. “So worth it.” She rubbed her hands on her thighs. “So, I didn’t realize at the time that I’d seen anything important or of course I would have gone to the police.” She waited a beat, and then she, Julia and Will burst out laughing. “So on the night in question, I happened to be on the roof of the club.”

Will nodded. “In the course of business.”

“Taking in the view,” added the young woman.

“Larissa is a cat burglar,” said Julia, then raised her eyebrow at Larissa’s murmured disagreement. “Well, how would you characterize climbing up buildings, leaping from fire escapes, dangling from ropes and entering windows sideways, intending to remove things?”

Larissa replied, “A parkour-influenced exercise and life-improvement regime?”

Julia shrugged. “Continue.”

“So,” began Larissa, “I was hanging out on the club roof, which at that time of night is usually deserted.”

“What time was that?” Mason could feel the bouillon working, or maybe it was the Advil. She thought about the potatoes Dauphinoise and wondered if there was any left and if she’d be able to eat it. “The official time of death is around four a.m.”

“It was a little after two. The club closes at eleven on weeknights. Before that, you sometimes run into girls and customers on the roof, and it’s irritating.” She turned to look at Julia. “On the one hand, I abhor the perpetuation of the consumer/product relationship inherent in the client/hooker paradigm, but on the other hand, a girl has to make a living, am I right?”

Julia’s face was serious. “Big-time.”

Larissa continued. “Not to mention the risibility of a moral and legal code that declares only the female half of that paradigm a criminal.”

Julia nodded. “Let’s agree that it’s exploitative and unfair and move on.”

Larissa pulled her legs up onto the sofa, appearing smaller still. “I was looking down into the street, just, you know, absorbing the scene, when I saw a guy approach the door of the club and try to open it.” She shrugged. “He was walking pretty steadily, but clearly he’d lost the ability to tell time; the club had been closed for hours. He stood there for a bit, and I guess he pressed a bell or called someone or something, because I suddenly heard music for a moment and he stepped into the club.”

“Music?” Mason pulled out her phone to take notes. “I thought the club was closed?”

Larissa pondered, then nodded. “Yeah, but I guess there were still people there, because someone let him in. Maybe there was a private party. Who knows? To be honest, I was watching the apartment across the street to make sure it was empty, and I didn’t even think about it until I heard you guys were interested in information about that night.” She turned to Julia. “How do you know Carrie the Fish?”

Julia shook her head. “I don’t, but I presume she knows someone who knows someone who knows someone I know. That’s how it works, right?”

“Communication and shared knowledge is a wonderful thing,” agreed the tiny cat burglar.

Mason looked over at Julia, who was frowning. “So now we have a new person entering the club around the time of the murder, someone who wasn’t there when the police arrived. When did he leave?”

“I actually know that, too, although funnily enough, I was already in the apartment across the street.” There was a pause. “Visiting.”

Mason laughed. “Visiting an empty apartment?”

“It was a brief visit. Anyway, I was checking the street and saw the guy come out. Two forty-five. Totally different angle, obviously, but definitely the same guy.”

“Face?” Mason asked.

Larissa shrugged. “Presumably, but I didn’t see it. Blond, I think, but I couldn’t even swear to that. It was just a glimpse; there were several big cars parked in front of the club.”

Archie asked, “Did he get into one of the cars or walk?”

Larissa shook her head. “No clue. I literally just saw him step away from the club and the door swinging shut behind him, and that was that. For all I know he stepped into a portal to another realm.”

“Was the music still loud?” Will was clearly worried about noise pollution.

“Sorry, couldn’t tell you. My…friends…have excellent soundproofing, as befits an apartment overlooking the street.”

“I’ll ask my client if she remembers this person,” said Julia.

Archie frowned. “Maybe the crime was already committed at that point and Becky was on the club floor, unconscious?”

Julia shook her head, but said, “Maybe, but then why didn’t our mystery guy call the cops himself?”

Claudia came in with a tray, and Mason looked up hopefully. She put it down on the coffee table. “For Mason, and anyone else who still has room.” Tiny potato latkes (literally, bite-sized), sour cream and caviar. Chocolate mousse, whipped cream. “All small and soft enough that you should be able to eat it without too much pain.” She was unsmiling as she looked at Mason’s darkening bruises, but all the love was on the plate.

Mason’s aching mouth watered. She helped herself, then offered the plate to Larissa.

“Oh, I’m not hungry,” replied the small burglar. “Plus, I’m in training for an endurance event.”

“Oh, you’re a runner?” Mason couldn’t help herself. “I’m a runner, too. Cross-country scholarship, 1500 meters track, marathons of course…”

Larissa raised her eyebrows. “That’s very…interesting. I’m not a runner. I’m planning to visit four different friends who live in the same building, and I want to be in shape.” She turned to Will. “Get this: luxury fourplex, tenants all work tight schedules, and there is a one-hour window where all four are out at once.” She grinned and raised her hands in prayer. “And if that isn’t an invitation from God to exert myself, I don’t know what is.”

Will nodded. “A magical thing. It would be a crime not to.”

“Actually…” said Archie, then tailed off. Mason realized the lawyer wasn’t super comfortable with this conversation, and smiled to herself.

Larissa ignored Archie, and answered Will. “Right? The universe giveth.”

Mason frowned. “Uh, and the universe also taketh away.”

Larissa shrugged. “Much less frequently, though, have you noticed?”

There was a pause as the three addicts in the room thought about that. Then they all shook their heads.

“No,” said Julia, “I don’t think that’s true for any of us. But I wish you all the best in your chosen challenge. May they all get stuck in traffic on their way home.”

Larissa grinned.

“May the locks be well oiled and the hinges silent,” added Will.

Larissa nodded.

“And may your blood sugar be well-balanced so you don’t get a headache.” Mason smiled.

Larissa frowned, then turned to Julia and Will. “Not a thief, then?”

They shook their heads sadly.