It gave Archie an idea. He deleted the partial number he’d entered, and called a different telephone number instead.

Susan Ward picked up right away.

“Hey,” she said. “You never call me. Have you noticed that? I am always calling you. But you never call me. Is that weird?”

“Is Leo with you?” Archie asked.

“Seriously?” Susan said. “You’re calling my phone and it’s not even to talk to me? Do you know how strange that is?”

“Is he with you?” Archie asked again. He glanced over at Henry, who was sitting in the passenger seat, watching him. It was chilly. The car was dark. The windows were fogging up.

“Yeah,” Susan said. “Why?”

Archie could hear her reporter’s instincts kicking in and knew he had to get off the phone before she got too interested. The last thing he wanted was Susan getting involved in this.

“I need you to tell him that I have to cancel lunch, okay?” Archie said. “Tell him that exactly. Archie needs to cancel lunch.”

“He has a phone,” Susan said. “Call him and tell him yourself.”

“Susan,” Archie said. “Please.”

He needed Susan to do this for him, and he needed her not to ask questions.

Susan groaned. “Fine,” she said.

“Thank you,” Archie said, trying not to let her hear the relief in his voice. He ended the call and started the car.

Henry had found the piece of birthday cake on the dash and had unwrapped the tinfoil and was eating it with his fingers. “Tell me that’s code,” Henry said, his mouth full, “and that you really didn’t just call to cancel lunch.”

Archie wiped some condensation off the windshield with his forearm. “We need to go celebrate my birthday,” he said.

“Your birthday isn’t until tomorrow,” Henry said.

“Do you have cash?” Archie asked, eyes on the rearview mirror as he put the car in reverse. “Small bills?”

“For what?”

Archie allowed himself a smile as he pulled away from the curb. “The strippers,” he said.

Chapter 3

CHAPTER

3

Why Leo suddenly wanted to go to the Dancin’ Bare, Susan didn’t know, but she wasn’t happy about it.

She was dressed for the opera.