He made a “whuff” sound that was as good as anybody else’s “I hear ya.” No, better, because I knew he really did.

“Plan on dinner at the store tomorrow,” Sparks said. “Bean soup, big salad, hard-boiled eggs.”

I met her eyes, startled. She nodded just a little. You ate hard-boiled eggs after the funeral, during shivah, to remind you that life was always renewed. I felt the tears start, the ones that could still too often be surprised out of me. But I got them blinked away this time. “I’ll come,” I told her.

She and Wolfboy said their goodbyes. As they stepped out into the hall I saw them reach for each other’s hands.

Several fits of abstraction later, I heard knuckles on the doorframe and looked up to find Sunny standing there. I wished suddenly that I’d closed the front door downstairs, just so I’d have had a little warning.

“Is this a bad time?” she asked.

I thought of a possible response, rejected it, and then said it anyway. “Depends on what you want to do with it.”

“Just wanted to pass on news. It can wait.”

My God, did she want me to send her away? “No, now’s okay. Have a seat. Oh, wait a minute.” I cleared the debris off the nearest likely chair, which was the one with the dairy-cow cushions.

“Thanks.”

“Yoshi said you’d been by my place.”

“Oh, your housemate.” The corners of her mouth twitched upward. “I hope he never takes to a life of crime.”

“What’d he do?”

“Nothing terrible. I just had to convince him I wasn’t there in the line of duty before he’d say anything to me but, ‘I don’t know where he is, and I’m not telling.’ “

“Sheesh. I’d think Yoshi is exactly the kind of criminal a cop would want.”

“Nah. I’d feel sorry for him, and let him go. Oh, and when I told him that not only was I not on duty, but I was a friend of yours, he said, ‘No way!’ I’m surprised he’s still speaking to you.”

“I’m surprised he dares, the lunk.” I owed the lunk another favor. A little of the awkwardness had fallen away during that conversation. “So what’s the news?”

“They’re letting Linn go home this afternoon.”

“Already?”

“He’s still pretty limp, but they need the bed. The number of cases is still on the rise.”

“Have they figured out any kind of treatment yet?”