“All right, all right, already, I’m going!” The broom turned around

and shuffled into the other room. “I can see I’m only in the way

here. I don’t even know why you bother keeping me around. I only

seem to get on everybody’s nerves. Lord knows, you work your

bristles to the nubs, you’d think maybe somebody would show some

appreciation, but nooooo…”

Wyrdrune rolled his eyes and slammed the connecting room door

shut. “God, what a yenta.”

“I heard that!”

Fugisawa shook his head in disbelief. “Astonishing. That broom

reminds me of my ex-wife’s mother.”

“Your ex-wife was Jewish?” Wyrdrune said.

“No, Cantonese.”

“Must’ve been a yachna in the woodpile somewhere, ” Wyrdrune

said.

“A what?” asked Fugisawa, frowning.

“This conversation is becoming surreal, ” said Modred.

“Can we get back to the matter at hand, Lieutenant? You went to

considerable trouble to find me. And you did not come here with a

squad of backup officers. You do not strike me as a stupid man,

which leads me to believe that an arrest was not what you had on

your mind. So what exactly did you want from me?”

“I wanted to check you out and see if you were who I thought you

were.”

“And then?”

“Then I was going to have you watched.”

“In the hope that I would lead you to the killer?”

“Essentially.”

“And then you’d get to make not one, but two very glamorous

arrests?”

“Would you believe me if I said no?”

“I don’t know. Try me.”