Free Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz Page B

people always have to add the word ‘friendly’?” I asked.
    “To remind people like you not to cheat,” Henry replied, sliding his bishop across the board and taking his mother’s knight.
    “You can always forfeit, Gerty, and then we can go get a drink.”
    “This won’t take long,” Gerty replied, taking Henry’s rook.
    “He hates losing his rook,” I said, taking a spectator seat.
    “I especially hate it when it’s taken by a pawn three rows down when I’m not looking.”
    “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a chess player,” I said to Gerty without bothering to hide my disappointment.
    “I’m not.”
    “And yet you seem to be decent at it,” I replied, judging purely by the mass of Henry’s material 3 by the side of the board.
    “Henry’s father taught me ages ago. I got tired of losing so I began taking lessons with a grand master. I decided that one day I was going to win, no matter what it took.”
    “How long did that take?” I asked.
    “Seven long years,” Gertrude replied. “Check.”
    While Henry stared at the board, attempting to retrace the series of moves that derailed him, Gerty got up from the table, grabbed her coat, and said, “Izzy and I are going to grab a drink. Care to join us?”
    “Again?” Henry asked. “You went out last night. I think you could use a night in, Isabel.”
    I couldn’t risk the exposure of a night alone with Henry; he had that look he gets when he wants to have an adult conversation. I was going to stick with my usual—the Avoidance Method™. 4
    “I think I could go out again,” I said.
    “Dad phoned earlier. Did you call him back?” Henry said.
    “I’ll do it tomorrow,” Gerty replied. “He’s probably asleep by now.”
    “Don’t stay out too late,” Henry said.
    “Don’t wait up,” Gerty replied.

THE FOURTH WALL
    O ne of the many benefits of Rae’s reduced workload is a reduction in the time that I must spend in her company. She surfaces only on Fridays for the summit and the occasional Sunday-night dinner, which have been less religiously enforced since the arrival of Sydney. 1 The next time Rae showed up at the office, she was once again wearing the doctored $$ JUSTICE 4 MERRI-WEATHER $$ T-shirt. D tried to ignore her by avoiding eye contact, which I’ve noticed is effective with some animals but not so many people, and definitely not Rae.
    “Have you had time to read the material I sent you?” Rae asked D.
    D, not looking up from his computer, replied, “Been busy.”
    “You should look it over, D. You’re running out of time. The statute of limitations on a malicious prosecution case is two years. You’ve got six months left. But the waiting doesn’t look good. You lose credibility.”
    “Thank you, Rae,” D firmly replied. “If I wish to discuss this matter further, I will contact Maggie. Do we understand each other?”
    “Is there a subtext I’m missing?” Rae asked.
    D finally looked her straight in the eye. “I don’t want to have this conversation with you again. If I choose to pursue this matter, which isunlikely, I will discuss it with my attorney, not a college girl who checks her stock portfolio every hour. Now, do we understand each other?”
    “What have you got against money?”
    “That will be all, Rae,” my mother said with a note of finality in her voice. On occasion Mom adds a certain edge to her tone and you just instinctually know not to cross it.
    Rae quietly returned to her desk and got back to work.
    The Sparrow got a new nickname after a week of being tailed by the Weasel.
    “The Sparrow’s a snore. I thought this case had some juice,” Rae said, sounding like an old cop from a bad TV show. An hour after the Demetrius incident, Rae submitted her first surveillance report on Vivien Blake and was clearly nonplussed by the coed’s bland freshman behavior. Apparently, Vivien went to class, the library, an occasional movie, sometimes a coffee shop, and one party, at which she imbibed