Chuy began drizzling on a honey-based dressing. “All right, sweetie. By the way, have you been over to the hotel yet?”

“Not since you and I took the tour with Ms. Whatever.”

“There are three old people in there, and two geek-type people doing contract work with Magic Portal. There’s one man whose purpose I can’t discern.”

They sat down at the table and Joe served himself from the bowl. “This looks great, Chuy. Do you think we need to do anything about this one man?”

“I think we need to find out what he’s up to. We have to protect the boy.”

“We do,” Joe agreed. “Okay, I’ll see what’s up at the hotel.”

“Good. I have an appointment this afternoon, Myra Shellenbarger.”

“She’s fun,” Joe said, smiling. “She knows everything going on in a twenty-mile radius.”

“Or farther. And she’s not afraid to name names.” Chuy smiled back. “I like her. What you see is what you get.”

“It can be tiring knowing so many people with hidden depths,” Joe said. “Some days, shallow is good. This salad is great, by the way.”

“Got it out of Southwest Cooking,” Chuy said. “I left out the roasted corn.”

After that, the talk turned to cooking, and whether the U.S. Postal Service would stop delivering on Saturdays, and where Lemuel might be in his research project to discover more about the magic books he’d finally found, the ones that Bobo had hidden without meaning to.

There was not a reporter in sight when they strolled down to Manfred’s house just after dark. They glanced over at the newly rechristened Midnight Hotel.

“It’s still strange to see it lit up,” Chuy said. He was holding Joe’s hand. This was one of the good things about living in Midnight.

“But kind of nice. Sometimes when I look into the past, I can see all the stores here, busy and bustling. People all around.”

“Horses in the streets.” Chuy chuckled. “And the smell of them. And people who don’t bathe.”

“Do you ever wish we could see the future?” Joe asked. “There’s so much of the past that lives with us still.”

“No,” Chuy said instantly. He stopped walking and faced Joe, taking Joe’s free hand. “I would go mad,” he said, meaning every word.

Joe’s eyes met Chuy’s. “Then that won’t ever happen,” he said quietly. “The past is burden enough.” After a second, they began walking again. “I saw Mildred today,” Joe said, clearly changing the subject. “She was letting Hattie Barnes in the back door.”

“Mildred,” Chuy said, a wealth of rueful comments in the one word. “What a woman, so mistaken in some ways and so ahead of her time in others.”