“She’s a pretty amazing woman,” said Tom.
Benny straightened. “Really?” he said with a grin.
“You can wipe that smile off your face right now, because Jessie and I are just friends. She’s one of the few people I really trust. And that is the end of that discussion. ”
Benny grinned all the way through the rest of his muffin. Thunder slammed against the house—hard enough to rattle the teacups.
Tom left the room and came back with his boots, rain slicker, and his sword. The real one, not the wooden training bokken. He set them by the back door.
“What’s that for?”
“That last one sounded like a lightning strike. There are trees near the north wall of the fence. ”
“Sure, but there’s a guard detail too. ”
“Sure, but it’s always better to be prepared. ”
As Tom sat down he spotted the object that Benny had placed in the center of the table. The Zombie Card with the picture of the wild and beautiful Lost Girl.
“Ah,” Tom said.
“Will you tell me about her?”
“Maybe. Will you answer my questions first?”
“About Charlie Matthias?”
“Yep. ”
Benny sighed. “I guess. ”
Tom stood up. “Good night, kiddo. Sleep tight. ”
“Hey!”
Tom said, “‘I guess’ doesn’t sound like a show of trust. Either you will or you won’t. ”
“You’re going to go all Zen on me again?”
“Yes,” Tom said. “I am. Now this time think it through and give me a straight answer. ”
“Yes,” said Benny. “I’ll answer any question you want to ask, as long as you tell me about Lilah. ”
“No reserves, no fake outs. Straight answers?”
“Yes. But I’m going to want the same. ”
“Fair enough,” said Tom. “So I’ll get right to it. Do you trust Charlie Pink-eye?”
“After what happened today? No, not much. ”
“How much is ‘not much’?”
“I don’t know, and that’s the truth. I like Charlie … or I used to, but today he really freaked me out. For a minute there, he looked like he was going to take that card from me. By any means necessary. ”
“Do you think he would have hurt you?”