Chapter 10: Three Questions

Lydia asked three questions over dinner, and each one was a trap with a nice tablecloth on it.

She had rented a narrow brick house in Canton, with a yellow kitchen and a table that sat four.

Cain sat across from me. He had brought a bottle of wine and a closed expression.

Lydia set the lasagna down between us and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"First question," she said, "for Cain. What does Mara eat for breakfast?"

"Is this a game?" Cain said.

"Dinner party," said Lydia. "Answer."

He looked at me.

"Black coffee," he said. "And whatever Gus doesn't finish."

"Wrong," I said.

"What do you eat?"

"Toast. With peanut butter. I eat it standing over the sink, and June steals the crusts."

Cain frowned at his plate.

"I didn't know that."

"You didn't ask."

Lydia raised her fork.

"Point to Mara," she said. "Second question, for Mara. What does Cain eat?"

"Black coffee," I said. "And the first half of whatever Gus doesn't finish."

Cain's head came up.

"That's... correct," he said.

"I've watched Gus hand you a bagel for fourteen months."

"The first half is the good half," Cain said.

"Then why not take the whole bagel?"

"Because Gus offers the second half to the pigeons."

Lydia laughed so hard she had to put down her glass.

I felt myself grinning. Under the table, Cain's foot touched mine by accident, and he moved it away.

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