The tables at the Lucky Dragon were full of elegant food and elegant people. Jessica would fit right in, but Alex felt a little under-dressed as he saw several men in formal attire. More worrying was the crowd of people standing outside, apparently waiting for a table.
“Do you have a reservation?” the hostess asked when Alex approached her. She looked him up and down, obviously taking his measure, and if her expression was to be believed, finding him wanting.
Without answering, Alex handed over the ornate, handwritten card. The hostess read it and looked uncertain.
“Just a moment,” she said.
She went inside and disappeared. Alex looked at Jessica and she looked suitably impressed.
After a minute the hostess came back, all smiles this time.
“Right this way, Mr. Lockerby,” she said. “Unfortunately we are booked solid tonight, but the owner said to put you at his private table.”
She led the way through the dining room to the back, past an enormous tank filled with colorful fish, and pulled aside a silk curtain. Beyond was a small room with an intimate table inside and a sideboard along the wall.
“Someone will be with you in a moment,” the hostess said. Alex thanked her, and she withdrew.
“Okay,” Jessica said with sly grin. “I’m impressed.”
Alex held out her chair and she sat. Alex sat across from her and pulled a silver lighter out of his pocket, putting it on the table.
“What’s that for?” Jessica asked.
Before Alex could answer, a Chinese man in an oriental robe came in with a teapot on a tray and two handle-less cups.
“Good evening,” he said in accented English. “Mr. Chow has arranged for your meal; it will be along shortly. Right now, I will perform for you the tea ceremony, an ancient custom of my people.”
After the tea, more men brought in trays and bowls of all different kinds of food, including a plate loaded with the restaurant’s famous dumplings. Then they departed, leaving Alex and Jessica alone.
“I don’t even know what this is,” Jessica said a few minutes later, “but it’s wonderful.”
Despite living with Iggy, Alex wasn’t much for fancy food, and with his budget, he was used to eating at dog wagons and in greasy spoons. Still, he had to admit, the dumplings were excellent.
He picked up the lighter next to his plate and lit it, setting it back on the table next to a salt shaker to keep it from falling over.
“Okay,” Jessica said, giving him an annoyed look. “What’s with the mood lighting?”
Alex laughed at that. It felt good.
“It has to do with work,” he said, “and we’re not talking about that.”
That earned him a raised eyebrow.
“You’re deliberately being obtuse,” she said. “Spill.”
“Well,” Alex said, not wanting to ruin the pleasant mood at the table. “Let’s just say that the police are angry with me right now and, if they were to try to find me with magic, this lighter prevents that.”
Her expression darkened.
“You’re not in trouble, are you?”
Alex smiled at that. She wasn’t worried at all that he might have done something worthy of being sought by the police. She was worried that they might catch him.
“It’s just a misunderstanding, but I’d rather deal with it on Monday.”
“So what does the lighter do?”
Alex picked it up and extinguished it before passing it over.
“There’s an obfuscation rune scraped into the side,” he said. “Iggy, that is Dr. Bell, wanted to try it.”
“You call Dr. Bell, Iggy?” she asked with a smirk.
“We have an understanding,” Alex said, dodging the question. “Anyway, there are better runes but they’re more complicated. This is the quick and dirty solution. As long as it’s lit, runes that link to other things, like finding runes, won’t work.”
“Well you need to get this thing with you and the police sorted out soon,” Jessica said, returning to her meal. “I might be able to free up some more time, and I think we should go out again.”
Alex couldn’t help smiling at that.
“Maybe take in a picture?” he wondered.
“I was thinking we could go to a museum.”
Alex scoffed at that.
“We could do that tonight,” he said. “It’s right there at the end of the new crawler line, and it’s open till ten. We could stop in on the way back to your place.”
“But I want to see the Almiranta exhibit,” Jessica explained. “The curator said on the radio that they won’t have it put back until Tuesday.”
Alex wracked his brain until he remembered the story he’d read in the paper. The Spanish government had sued Phillip Leland, the explorer who found the wreck of the Almiranta, claiming the ship and its treasure were their property. The museum had to take the treasure exhibit off display during the trial.
“Spain lost their case then?” he asked.
Jessica nodded, spearing a dumpling with her fork.
“It got thrown out of court,” she said. “It was on the radio.”
“I guess we can go next week then,” he said, trying not to sound too disappointed. He wasn’t much for walking around and looking at things. That was pretty much what his job was, and museums were nothing but that. Still, Jessica would be there the whole time, so it wasn’t exactly time wasted.
It was a bit of a busman’s holiday, though.
It took Alex a full five minutes for his brain to start working, though whether his mental torpor was caused by the food or his company, he couldn’t be sure. When at last his synapses finally did start firing, he stood up so fast he sent his chair tumbling across the private room.
Jessica just stared at him with wide eyes.
“What’s the matter?”
He didn’t answer, just stepped around the table, leaned down, and kissed her square on the mouth. If he hadn’t been numb he imagined she would have tasted sweet.
“Thank you,” he said. “I’ve got to find a phone.”
Before Jessica could object or protest, he raced out through the curtain into the dining room.
“Is everything all right, Mr. Lockerby?” the robed man who had been serving them asked. Alex intended to ignore him but something in the man’s face made him stop. He remembered who this man’s boss really was, and while he doubted Danny’s father cared one whit about whether or not Alex enjoyed his meal, this man didn’t know that. For all this waiter knew, Alex was an important guest, and the consequences for failing to make him happy could be dire.
“I’m sorry,” Alex said, stopping to put a reassuring hand on the man’s arm. “I’ve just been called away to work. My companion and I will be leaving as soon as I make a telephone call.”
The man’s face blanched, confirming Alex’s suspicions.
“Please tell Mr. Chow that the food was wonderful, the service was superb, and the dumplings were exquisite.”
The man’s smile bloomed back to his face and he nodded.
“Thank you,” he said with a bow.
“Now, where can I find a telephone?”
Alex made two phone calls, using up most of the change left in his pocket. The first was to Gary Bickman. Alex had to use every bit of leverage he had with the little Brit, but he finally convinced him to have Andrew Barton meet Alex at the Central Office.
His second call was to Iggy, delivering pretty much the same message. Alex did spend an extra few minutes explaining his reasoning to the doctor just to make sure he wasn’t crazy.
“You’re crazy,” Iggy said. “Call in a tip to the cops and go back to that beautiful woman.”
Iggy always could see the right of things.
“You know I can’t do that,” Alex said. “Just meet me there as soon as you can.”
Iggy said that he would, and Alex hung up.