16

16

MARY SUE PAYS me a brief visit before she heads out for her date shortly before 6:00. As she had promised, she is sporting a blue sweater and casual, but nice, jeans. She looks perfect for the role of young woman headed out for coffee with a blind date.

“Good luck with your date tonight, girlfriend,” she chirps. “I’d tell ya to be careful, but I know you, so I won’t bother.”

“Yeah, you too,” I say, rolling my eyes, but smiling.

“Don’t jump the kid’s bones right away. Make him work for it.”

“Ummm . . . shouldn’t it be you getting that advice?”

“Normally, yes. But with this dipshit, I don’t think it will require much restraint on my part to make him wait . . . ”

“True that.”

“Meet back here when we’re done and compare notes?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

If we were just comparing work notes about the case, I wouldn’t have any hesitation about meeting up afterward. However, I know Mary Sue well enough to know this comparison of notes is going to be more focu