“He said you were on the scene when that Laurel Canyon homicide went down.”“I’m lucky that way,” I said.“So are you two square again?”I halted, mid-ripping open the cookies, and stared at him. “Well, he’s pretty square,” I said. “I’m just a rectangular guy.” With latent triangular tendencies.”

“Unless the hole is MEANT to be square,' I said with a sudden erudition that surprised me, 'in which case, all the round pegs are the ones that are wrong, and if the ROUND hole is one that is not meant to be square, then the square ones will, no, hang on--''Shame,' said the historian, 'and you were doing so well.”

“William stared at him, coffee forgotten. “Oh, Jesus.” “I’m pretty sure he’s not listening, but you can call him if it makes you feel better,” said Chris.”

“So how’s it going?”“Okay. Glad to be home, I guess. Gus told me you were in the ICU?”“Yeah,” I said.“Sucks,” he said.“I’m a lot better now,” I said. “I’m going to Amsterdam tomorrow with Gus.”“I know. I’m pretty well up-to-date on your life, because Gus never. Talks. About. Anything. Else.”

“Do you think you could persuade that horse of yours to stay with the other horses for a minute or two?” he said with a mock severity. “Otherwise he’ll wind up believing he’s one of us.”He’s been driving Halt crazy since we found your tracks,” Horace put in. “He must have picked up your scent and known it was you we were following, although Halt didn’t realize it.”At that, Halt raised an eyebrow. “Halt didn’t realize it?” he repeated. “And I suppose you did?”Horace shrugged. “I’m just a warrior,” he replied. “I’m not supposed to be the thinker. I leave that to you Rangers.”

“Snake eyes again. Damn dice,” Straggler said. He lifted the cup to reveal two ones on the table.Hyde smirked. “Strag, I didn’t think it was possible to be as unlucky as you are.”“He’s so unlucky it’s almost lucky,” Gren said. “It’s like he has reverse luck.”“He’s reverse good-looking, too,” said Hyde.“I’m going to reverse punch you,” Strag said to his brother.“That was reverse smart, man. It means you’re going to punch yourself.”