“It’s not really true. You won’t be hungry an hour later if you eat properly. I see you broughtpijinto go with it.”
“I did?”
“Chinese beer,” she said, as she led the way in. “Chinese villagers brewed beer as far back as 7,000 B.C.”
“I don’t think the Zhujiang I picked up is that old.”
“That’s a joke. It was used—not the beer you bought—in rituals. It wasn’t until the seventeenth century that modern beer brewing was introduced to China.”
“Good to know.”
“You sound tired, too. You should sit, have one of the beers. I slept another two hours, and had an hour’s walk. I feel rested. I’ll take care of the food.”
“I just told them to load me up. I didn’t know what you wanted, especially.”
“I’m not fussy.” She opened cartons. “I’m sorry you had a difficult day. You can tell me about it if you like.”
“Lawyers, arguments, accusations, threats.” He opened a beer, sat at her counter. “Paperwork, meetings. You don’t have to put all that in bowls. The beauty of Chinese is you can eat right out of the carton.”
“Which is rushed and less soothing.” She believed he required soothing. “I can fix your plate if you tell me what you’d like.”
“Whatever. I’m not fussy, either.”
“We should take a walk after dinner, then you should try a warm bath and try to sleep. You seem very tense, and you rarely are.”
“I guess I’m just annoyed at having lawyers in my face, who try to push and intimidate me and my deputies.”
“Yes, he’s a very annoying man.” She scooped rice out of the bowl, ladled sweet-and-sour pork over it, added a dumpling, some noodles, some butterfly shrimp. “I had to walk off my own mood after he left this afternoon.”
“Left? Here? Blake came here?”
“This afternoon, with his assistant. Ostensibly to apologize for his son’s ‘inadvertent’ trespassing. But that was justa ruse, not well disguised. He was displeased when I wouldn’t let him come in to discuss the situation.”
“I bet he was. He doesn’t like being refused. It’s good you didn’t open the door.”
“I did open the door, but wouldn’t invite him in.” She decided she’d try the beer straight out of the bottle, as Brooks did. “Are you aware his assistant carries a gun?”
“Yeah. Are you telling me he pulled a weapon on you?”
“Oh, no. No, don’t be upset.” She’d meant to soothe and had accomplished the opposite. “Of course he didn’t. I just noticed the line of his suit, and then his body language when Bert growled.”
Brooks took a long pull of beer. “Why don’t you tell me what was said and done?”
“You are upset,” she murmured. “I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”
“Yes, you should have.”
“It wasn’t anything important, really. He said he’d come to apologize, then was clearly put out when I refused to invite them in. He termed what happened a misunderstanding, and indicated it was of your doing. I disabused him of that, as I was a witness. He implied I didn’t understand his position in the community, and that my relationship with you made my standing as witness suspicious. Not in those words, but that was the meaning. Do you want me to relay the exact conversation?”
“Not just yet. The gist is fine.”
“The gist. All right. He was displeased and angry as I told him to leave—and warned him and his assistant that if the assistant drew his weapon on Bert, I would release Bert, who would disarm the assistant handily. And reminded them I was also armed.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“I was—clearly. It seemed best to point out the obvious. Mr.Blake reiterated he’d come to apologize, and added he’d come to offer compensation. In the amount of ten thousand dollars if I accepted it and agreed that what had happened was a misunderstanding. It annoyed me.”
“How many times did you ask them to leave?”
