Free The Red Witch (Amber Lee Mysteries Book 6) by Katerina Martinez Page B

think my country has had more problems letting aliens in than out.”
    Collette went for her purse, pulled out her passport, and showed it to me. I hadn’t seen her passport photo yet so I suspected I was on the verge of breaking out into a fit of laughter because, well, no one takes a good passport photo and I was sure Collette wasn’t the exception to the rule; no matter how beautiful she was. But when I flicked through it I was surprised to find the passport empty.
    Completely empty.
    Out of my mouth a kind of “eh?” sound escaped. “It’s blank,” I said. “You left the country with this?”
    “And entered.”
    “Okay, now I’m interested,” I said, handing the passport back. “What does it do?”
    “Ze passport was my mother’s,” she started to say, but then she trailed off and shook her head. “Non, zis is a conversation for another time. I will check my emails and we will go, yes?”
    “Alright,” I said, eyeing her suspiciously, “But I get to pick the places we go to tonight. And you finish telling me what you were about to say.”
    “You can pick ze places, and perhaps I will tell you what I was about to say.”
    “Fine, but just so you know, I plan on having fun tonight. The serious stuff doesn’t start until tomorrow, understood?”
    Collette nodded, retrieved her tablet from her bag, and sat down at the desk to, presumably, start the process of hooking on to the hotel wireless network and check her emails. Emails, I thought. Who is she emailing? That guy we’re supposed to meet? I thought he was a hermit.
    It didn’t matter. I was hungry and in desperate need of a shower, so I went ahead and fixed the latter problem all the while mulling over possible places to eat at—TV Tower, the Chicken Place by the train station, or maybe somewhere in the mall across the way — and musing about my plan to get Collette drunk tonight. She never drank anything besides wine, never lived in any way excessively, “everything in moderation” she would say in her sultry French accent. But tonight that would change.
    Tonight, after dinner, we were drinking Absinthe.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 9
     
     
    In the end we decided to simply head down to the hotel restaurant and grab a quick bite before going out. After, we made our way out of the Holiday Inn and walked across that grand plaza standing between our hotel and the train station. At the station we decided, after much deliberation, to pick up an S-Bahn train, S-Bahn being short hand German for “city rapid railway”, and head to a nearby district where there was, I had learned the last time I was here, a real Absinthe bar. Of course, I couldn’t speak German and Collette’s was pretty rusty, so we had to figure out the maps on our own because, well, I couldn’t entirely remember where it was.
    “It’s this one,” I said, pointing at an escalator. “We literally just take the train from Alexanderplatz, ride it a couple of stops down to…” I checked the map on the wall and tapped it, “Here, Berlin Nordbahnhof, and then it’s a short walk to the bar.”
    “For an American,” she said, offering a pretext I was sure was bracing me for offence, “Your pronunciation of German words, despite not knowing ze language, is quite remarkable.”
    “I am sure I can imitate your accent as well, ma cherie,” I said, putting on my best Collette impression.
    “How long did you spend in Europe?” she asked as she followed me up the escalator.
    “A while. Long enough to pick up what I could. I can understand most Latin languages well enough if they’re spoken slowly. Maybe not German, though; this language sounds like typewriters being thrown down stairs.”
    “I actually find German to be quite charming.”
    “I disagree. French, that’s charming. Even Spanish, maybe. And let’s not get started on the British accent; that drives us nuts over in the US.”
    Collette giggled and made her way up the escalator.
    Getting