“Smart boy,” said Giselle. “Not every crook is so good at taking care of his things.”

“Is that a shot at me? Can you at least wait for my pizza to get here? I don’t like to be insulted on an empty stomach.”

“Ooo, pizza. What kind? Can I have some?”

Coop paused Forbidden Planet. An invisible creature was busy stomping the spaceship crew to death. “You’re staying that long? I thought you’d be off with your DOPS pals stealing the Scarecrow’s brain.”

She sat on the couch and shook her head. “No, we don’t invade Oz until next week. The Munchkins are going on strike and we want to hit ’em while they’re down.”

Coop sat on the other end of the couch. “So, why are you really here?” he said.

“When you handed in your DOPS gear, you forgot the American Express card I gave you.”

“Oh, right,” he said. He went to his room, looked through his keys and wallet, found the card, and brought it back to her. “There you go.”

“Did you end up getting any new clothes?” she said.

He shook his head. “No. I didn’t like anything they had, but I charged a cab ride back here. Think Nelson is going get me for larceny?”

“I’m good at fiddling expenses,” Giselle said. “He won’t know a thing.”

“Great,” said Coop. “I guess now that you got what you came for you’ll be disappearing again. So . . . have a nice time saving the world. Say hi to Bayliss for me. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a movie to watch.”

“What’s the movie?”

“Forbidden Planet.”

She looked around him at the screen. “We watched that together once. You liked Anne Francis. I liked Robby the Robot.”

“Yeah? I don’t remember,” he lied. He remembered practically everything they’d done together. He went back to the beanbag chair and sat down. “Be sure to close the door on your way out. I hear there’s mosquitoes.”

Giselle stayed on the couch. “Goddammit, Coop. You don’t make anything easy, do you?”

He swiveled around awkwardly in the chair. “Easy? You know what’s easy? You disappearing. If you count this morning, it will make two times. Add tonight and it’ll be three. It’s like you get a star every time you walk out on me and if you do it enough times you’ll get a free sandwich.”

She played with a bit of frayed fabric on a sofa cushion. “I didn’t walk out on you today. I just went back to my office. I was right there if you wanted to find me.”