"Mr. Fulcrum is waiting for you, Mrs. Moon. I'll show you to his office."
As she did so, I said, "I understand you're going to help me tonight?"
"You understand correctly."
"I would just like to express my gratitude. I'm sure you would rather be anywhere else but here."
"You have no idea," she said, and stopped before a door. "He's in here."
Kingsley occupied a spacious corner suite, filled with lots of dark wood shelving and legal reference books. Had the blinds not been shut he would have had a grand panoramic view of Santa Ana and Orange. Thick stacks of rubberbanded folders were piled everywhere, and in one corner was a discreet wet bar. A bottle of Jack Daniel's was sitting not-so-discreetly on the counter.
"Generally, the Jack Daniel's stays behind the bar during office hours," said Kingsley, moving around from behind his desk and shaking my hand, which he might have held a bit longer than protocol required. Then added, "You keep strange hours, Mrs. Moon."
I removed my hand from his grip. "And you heal surprisingly well."
The scar above his eye was almost gone. Indeed, it even appeared to have moved a little�Dto the left, perhaps�Dbut then again Mom always told me I had an overactive imagination. He saw me looking at it and promptly turned his head.
"Touche," he said. "A drink to the freaks?"
"This freak is working. No drinking." Drinking didn't effect me, but he didn't need to know that.
"Do you mind if I have one?"
"You mean another one?" I asked. I could it smell it on his breath.
"You are quite the detective," he said.
"Oh yeah, that was a hard one."