“I’ll have to cast my net wider,” he said dramatically. “Maybe I’ll haul in a mermaid.”

“If anyone could find a mermaid, you’d be the one,” I said.

“Speaking of mermaids, are you checking the mirrors for tails? Or are you just scared of my driving?”

“I’m hoping I can tell if someone’s following us. That’s happened here, and for the life of me, I can’t spot anyone. It’s good I don’t want to be a detective.” Manfred tried to watch, too, but he didn’t notice a car that was doing everything we did. In Dallas traffic, that wasn’t decisive, but at least I felt a little better.

When we reached the hotel, I collected my stuff and checked out, after first calling another chain hotel down the block to see if they had a suite-type room available. They did, and I booked it under Tolliver’s name. The anonymous caller had known I was in this hotel, and though it wouldn’t be hard to find me again, I might as well not make it completely easy. I reserved the suite for six nights, figuring I could always check out earlier if Tolliver was doing well enough to leave town. I also called Mark, to tell him where we’d be. Then Manfred drove me to the new hotel and helped me carry in Tolliver’s bags as well as mine.

We went out to eat after that, to a family-style restaurant with a long salad bar. It was about time I ate something that wasn’t actively bad for me, and I loaded up my plate with salad and fruit. A little to my surprise, Manfred did, too.

My companion was a great believer in conversation. Or at least, he enjoyed talking while I listened. I wondered how well Manfred fitted in with his peers, because he needed to say a lot of things out loud that he maybe hadn’t had a chance to say, mostly about Xylda and how much he missed her, the things she’d taught him, the odd items he’d found stored away in her house.

“Thanks for showing up today,” I said when there was a lull in the chatter.

He shrugged. He looked half proud, half uncomfortable. “I knew you needed me,” he said and found something else to look at.

“I’d like you to meet some of these people and tell me what you get from them,” I said. “If I can think of a way to make it look natural.”

He looked all too happy about the prospect of doing me a favor.

“Of course, if you need to go home, I’ll understand,” I said.