--XII--

I think I looked like a kid in a candy store, walking away from the Lowdown. Partly because on the way home I bought myself a strawberry-and-chocolate-flavored popsicle for extra happiness. I called Caleb.

"Cawef!" I said. "Auw ewf eeh aef Bwimah oh uma oh."

"Chris?" said Caleb.

He sounded alarmed. I wasn't sure why.

"Where are you?" said Caleb. "Are you okay, are you safe?"

I was so confused.

"Is someone else there?" he said. "Is the person who put a gag on you there with you?"

I removed the popsicle from my mouth. "It's a popsicle," I said.

I listened to him put down the phone and walk away, breathe heavily for a while, and then come back on the line.

"Chris," he said. "Please, don't scare me like that."

"Can you please save Belinda's number onto my phone?" I said.

"Of course," said Caleb.

"Okay, call you later, I love you!" I said.

I hung up and called Belinda Klein. She picked up after three rings.

"Who is this?" said Belinda.

"Widnigh," I said.

"YOU ARE CALLING ME ON A SATURDAY EVENING," said Belinda.

"Emwf," I said. "Aa ohh."

"WHAT IS IN YOUR MOUTH?" said Belinda.

I removed the popsicle from my mouth. "Nothing," I said.

"Make this good," said Belinda. "Or you will spend the rest of YOUR life doing MY paperwork."

"I can confirm that the Manila Maniac's alleged drug dealer is still around, and is operating in the Lowdown," I said. I think Belinda could probably hear the smile in my voice. "I can confirm the location, and I possibly, maybe, might have some DNA and/or some fingerprints for everyone! Caleb and I also think that the murderer may have attempted to send me a text message from a masked number."

Belinda was silent.

"Isn't that great, Belinda?" I said. "Oh, and they sell Angel Dust there. What does that do? Is it some kind of new compound created from US experiments or something?"

Silence.

There was a raccoon on the sidewalk. It was brown and white and gray. I walked toward it.

"Belle?" I said.

More silence.

The raccoon was adorable. I once heard that raccoons used to never live here. I wished I saw more of them.

"Hi?" I said. "Belinda?"

Belinda was still silent.

I knelt down and gave the raccoon the rest of my popsicle. Hopefully it liked chocolate, because the popsicle was mostly just the chocolate half now.

"You don't like Angel Dust?" I said.

"Midnight," Belinda said.

"Yes?" I said.

The raccoon took the popsicle and scuttled away. I wished I had some bread to give it. Raccoons love bread.

"Suck a dick," Belinda said.

"Oh," I said. "Yes, I think I will."

She hung up.