1
Rabelais.
Rashomon.
Rubirosa.
And I'm back.
Lisbon redoes her lipstick while I look up at her from the patch of bathroom floor I appear to be homesteading.
She closes her minaudiere with a snap and crouches down next to me.
"Thanks, Jane. This was really helpful."
Another dazzling smile and she's gone.
2
The pounding on the ladies room door is deafening.
I haul myself up, straighten myself out, and head back to the dining room.
I lay three hundreds on the table.
I grab the bottle of Riesling from the ice bucket and trek out to the parking lot.
3
I'm driving.
What the hell just happened?
Also, how do I get it to happen again?
Where is Lisbon?
Where's the worst place she could be?
Pike's house.
Is she hoping he'll be really helpful too?
I don't know Pike's address.
But construction has just been completed on a particularly ungepotchket condo development in the suburbs of Austin.
4
I drive through the gates of The Blancmange and sure enough, Lisbon's car is parked in front of one of the condos.
I park out of sight and walk toward Pike's place.
I don't have a plan.
He'll probably club me to death with one of his lava lamps or brain me with one of his Chia pets.
Why did Lisbon leave me like that and rush over here?
Was she hoping to conduct a side-by-side taste test?
5
The door to Pike's place opens.
I duck behind the hedges.
Lisbon rushes by as fast as her implausible heels can take her.
She's not walking happy.