He picked the same deck he’d looked at previously, then watched Meg’s fumbling effort to shuffle the cards before setting the deck on the table with her hand resting on the top card. “Ask your question.”

“What should we do with the bison?” Then he added silently, Speak, prophet, and I will listen.

Meg closed her eyes, breathed in and out a couple of times, then cut the deck and turned her hand to reveal the card.

It was the same card he’d drawn—the table full of food and the big roast in the center.

Vlad laughed. “Show that to Simon.”

Meg looked at the card and made a face. “Simon was so excited about the meat Joe sent, and he and Sam liked it so much I didn’t want to spoil their pleasure, but...”

He laughed again. “You didn’t like the bison burgers.”

“No.”

If she’d told Simon, that would have settled the question of bison in the Courtyard before the damn things were put on the train, Vlad thought.

<Delivery truck is pulling in,> Nathan said.

“Time for both of us to get back to work.” He walked around the table and smiled at her as he opened the Private door. He followed her to the counter and leaned against it, noticing that Nathan was on his feet and watching the human who got out of the truck. Not a regular, then.

Meg frowned at her clipboard as she wrote down the name of the company on the side of the truck.

“Delivery.” The man set a package on the counter.

It was the way Meg shrank away from the man and package that warned Vlad and Nathan that something was very wrong. Vlad stepped up to the counter, gently nudging Meg toward the Private door while Nathan silently moved to block the front door.

“Wait,” Vlad said when the man backed away. “I haven’t agreed to accept this package.”

“You have to accept it.”

“No, I don’t.” The package was addressed to Ms. Wolflover MacDonald. The “company” address said “Dead Cops Club.”

Smiling enough to show a fang, Vlad picked up the phone on the counter and called Burke’s direct line at the Chestnut Street station. “Captain? We’ve just received a package from something called the Dead Cops Club. What would you like us to do with the man who delivered it? Yes, he’s still here. Well, you can arrest him, or we can eat him.”

The man gasped. Meg dropped her clipboard on the sorting room table and made an odd sound. Since she was safe from the stranger, Vlad ignored her, more interested in Burke’s moment of silence before saying he would send a car.

Vlad hung up.

A long minute later, Officer Debany, in uniform, entered the office at a run, almost tripping over Nathan, who still blocked the front door.

Must have been getting ready for work when Burke called.