“Maybe I should rig my crystal ball to do this,” Danny said, staring at it.
“Are you high?”
“No. I’m just trying to keep my mouth shut unless it’s about the bowling.”
“Why?”
“Because otherwise I’ll ask you if you’ve asked Caroline about The Blonde yet.” Simone glared, but Danny just grinned at her. “You really aren’t going to, are you? Come on! She’s your friend. Just ask her. Be like—” he cleared his throat and then began speaking in a low monotone: “Hey, I was tailing this petite and viciously attractive blonde and saw her meeting with you and I was wondering if you’d be willing to tell me her name?”
“Okay… ,” Simone said, her free hand on her hip, “then she says, ‘Why would you want to know that? Is she connected to a case?’ ”
“Why, yes she is.” Danny was doing what, Simone now realized with horror, was supposed to be an imitation of her. “But I can’t tell you much about it. Confidentiality and all.”
Simone played along, but didn’t even attempt to imitate Caroline’s voice. “But she’s my best pal, and anything that involves her must involve me. You need to tell me what this is about, or else I can’t trust you.”
“Well, it’s just that I saw a man pay her some money.”
“And she waved a gun at me,” Simone said. Danny raised his eyebrows.
“Then you should definitely ask,” he said, dropping his imitation.
“I’ll figure it out. Maybe I can ask without asking…” Simone shook her head. It was an awful idea. “Was that voice supposed to be me?”
“Too femme?”
Before Simone could give him the finger, the door swung open, and Caroline came in, dressed all in black like a coated blade. “I am so ready to kick both your asses,” Caroline told them.
“Long week?” Simone asked.
“Yeah, but that thing for my parents is nearly settled, and the other thing with the guy who sailed into town is done, so I am free and I am on a winning streak and I am going to use said streak to beat both of you into mindless bloody piles. Metaphorically speaking, of course.”
“You spend too much time around politicians,” Danny said.
“You spend too much time with their wives,” Caroline responded, turning her eyes on Danny for the first time. Danny laughed nervously.
“Business is business,” he said. “Why don’t you put on a glove?”
“I don’t mind you peddling your faux-voyance to Ms. Seward,” Caroline said, gingerly taking a glove and putting it on. “But when it becomes a news item, it lands on my desk, and then I start to get ever so annoyed. You kept me in the office, Danny. Later than I needed to be.”
“Hey, some reporter spotted her coming out of my studio. That’s not my fault.”
“You gave him a comment!” Caroline barked, choosing a bowling ball. She went for blood red. “You said your consultations are confidential, and you’d never betray the confidence of a woman just looking for some answers.”
“So?”
“So you confirmed she was seeing you.”
“Well, yeah. It’s good for business.”
“Not mine. They even have a photo of her waiting in your parlor or whatever you call it—with all the bullshit magic symbols and crap. Not great press. Can’t you invest in some Privilux or something?”
Danny glanced over at Simone. Privilux was a spray made for windows, filled with invisible nanochips that gave off a signal to blur any attempt to digitally record past them; it was the ultimate in privacy screening for a window. Of course, it was insanely expensive, and you could always get mirrored glass, so few people in New York used the stuff. Simone had sprayed every window in her apartment with it, and when Danny visited, he always complained it made the inside of his head itch. Explaining that to Caroline would be difficult, as she didn’t know about Danny’s unique relationship with the wireless world.
“Can we bowl?” Simone asked. She glanced up at the scoreboard. Caroline had entered her name as Genghis. She was clearly feeling punchy; definitely not the time to ask about The Blonde.
“Yeah,” Caroline said, “let’s bowl.”
Simone threw first, the VR ball rolling smoothly from her hand and into the wall, where it continued to travel down the lane. If she hadn’t been there when she’d turned on the room, it would have been believable bowling. A whole lane in a small room. Even the jukebox was operational, as Caroline started tapping it while Danny threw. Elvis was replaced by Peggy Lee singing “Fever.”
The first round went to Caroline, who did a victory dance when she rolled strikes.
“This would be better with beer,” Simone said.
“There’s a vending machine outside,” Danny said. “I saw it when I got lost coming here. Want me to get us something to drink?”
“Make it dark,” Simone said.
“Two each!” Caroline called as Danny left. The door closed behind him, and Simone stepped up for her next turn. The ball appeared in her hand again. “Why did you invite him?” Caroline asked. “Was it just so I could yell at him? That would be very thoughtful of you.”
“He’s a good guy,” Simone said. She bowled a strike. “And he was helping me out on this case.”
“I don’t like his line of work.”
“You don’t mind mine.” Simone threw again, only knocking down half the pins.
“It’s different. Yours is honest. He dresses things up in lies.”
“To make people happy,” Simone said, turning around.
“Screw happy. I want people honest.”
Danny came back in, holding a six-pack of beer.
“The machine sold you that?” Caroline asked.
“Modified,” Danny said with a nod. “Only distributes six-packs.”
“Smart,” Caroline said, taking a beer from Danny. “You’re up.”
Caroline popped open her beer and knocked it back. Simone did likewise as Danny stepped up to the lane. Simone saw Caroline narrowing her eyes at him, shark-like, but bit her lip. Hopefully Danny could handle Caroline’s psych-outs.
“Simone says you helped her with a case,” Caroline said just as Danny swung his arm down to release the ball. He rocked slightly from the question, and the ball went right to the gutter. Caroline snickered.
“Uh, yeah,” Danny said, throwing a questioning look at Simone. She shook her head, signaling him to stay quiet. Danny looked at Caroline, who gave him nothing but a wicked little smile. He turned back, and pulled his arm back to throw the ball again.
“What’s it about?” Caroline asked this time. The ball moved slowly and unevenly, knocking over one pin. Danny watched it the whole time before turning back around.
“I don’t think I can say,” he said. Caroline put down her beer and strode up to the alley, patting him on the head as she walked.
“That’s okay,” she said, and with one fluid movement bowled another strike. Simone took a drink from her beer and handed a fresh one to Danny, who looked confused.
“She’s just trying to psych you out,” Simone explained. Caroline wiggled her eyebrows at them and rolled the ball again, knocking down all but one of the pins. She sighed, putting her hands on her hips.
“It doesn’t work on Simone, usually,” Caroline said, walking back to her beer. “But sometimes…” She winked at Simone as Simone approached the lane. Simone raised her arm as if to swing and tensed, waiting for Caroline to say something; she didn’t, so Simone rolled the ball. “What’s the case about?” Caroline asked just as Simone was letting go of the ball. Simone ignored the question as best she could, and the ball rocketed forward, into a seven-ten split. She turned to glare at Caroline, who was just polite enough to not laugh. Simone managed to knock down one of the pins on her next roll. She turned around and walked back over to Caroline while Danny took the lane. He glanced over his shoulder nervously, as if expecting Caroline to leap at him. Simone finished what was left of her beer in one swallow.