He was surprised, in a well-bred sort of way. “Orient! I had no idea you were up and around already. Are you certain you’re not pushing yourself?”

“No, just walking like normal.” That got me a blank look from Hawthorn and a little noise from the desk cop. “Is Rico here?”

Hawthorn looked to the desk cop, who told me, “Nope. I think she’s at home. I suppose I can give you the address…”

“Don’t worry,” I said, “I’ll find it.” Thataway.

“Is there anything I can help with?” Hawthorn asked.

Rico thought we were looking, at least in part, for a cop. “No, just checking in. Almost a social call actually. See you.”

Rico lived in a nicer neighborhood than I did. Not that mine’s a bad neighborhood, just that anyplace where you can live without paying rent won’t be the aesthetic equivalent of Boardwalk and Park Place. And it wasn’t that Rico lived on the Hill, either. Thataway said she was behind the facade of one of a block of red-brick row-houses. Their steps and mortar were in good repair, and none of the windows had blankets substituting for curtains, which told me that all of the people who lived there had done so for a while and planned to go on doing it. The row fronted on a street split down the middle by a broad median strip planted with grass and trees.

I triangulated a little and determined that hers would be the second door from the east end. Yes, four mechanical bells mounted in the doorframe, and “Rico” under the top one. Fourth floor. She probably chose it on purpose to keep in shape. I twisted the bell knob.

Just to my left I heard a distant bonging noise, like someone whacking a radiator at the far end of a pipe. It was a speaking tube, I discovered.

“Who is it?” asked the far-away voice, which was probably Rico’s.

“It’s Orient,” I shouted back.

That produced a nerve-racking silence. It hadn’t previously occurred to me that she might not want to see me, or that this might be a bad time, or that she might be annoyed that I’d found her doorstep and shown up on it. No, she’d said, next time come wake me up, but this wasn’t the next time, exactly…

“I’ll come down,” the voice said, and I felt a wave of relief big enough to surf on. Then I wondered what I’d been expecting, since being told to go away wouldn’t have done me any lasting damage.