“I didn’t kill Grandma.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” He rolled his eyes.“Since you’re not a terrorist,want to tell me what happened?”
He gave her everything, pausing to massage her toes.
“I thought I was in trouble, but this is really the worst thing you’ve ever gotten yourself into.”
He stared at another photo of his father, this time in a blue wig. Puppy found a stash of Omaha cabernet behind pots in the kitchen. He plopped back onto the couch, feet stretched over Annette’s knees.
“Thanks for hiding me,” he finally said.
“Did you think I’d just abandon you?” she asked angrily. “Shallow selfish Annette?”
He didn’t hesitate. “No. So what about your day?”
Annette filled him in. “I’m sure I face some charges.”
“For what? Escaping terrorists?” He frowned at the vidnews. “They haven’t mentioned Mooshie.”
“She wasn’t human.”
He thought a moment. “No one knew that. Why not throw her in? Or say she was killed. Or a co-assassin.”
“I think you have other things to worry about besides robots, Puppy.”
They shared a moment of total bewilderment, finishing the bottle.
“You can only hide here for so long until they come looking.”
“I know,” he said.
“I mean, I can’t stay here, either.” She smiled at the sounds of the video game. “They’ll take the demon child.”
Puppy tilted his head, grinning. “You’re protecting Clary?”
She reddened. “Get that look off your face. Zelda made me promise. I keep my promises, Puppy. You know how ethical I am. I never cheated on you or lied. You always knew what you had.”
“What we had.”
“For a while,” she said, picking a photograph of them on the roller coaster at Rye Playland off the shelf. “Zelda has a lot of pictures of us.”
“We’re her friends,” he said softly.
Annette nodded and returned with a blanket and pillow; she made up the couch and kissed him on the head.
“Are you going to watch yourself on the news all night?’
“Well yeah.”
In a few minutes, Clary marched into the room and sat on the chair, staring disapprovingly. The vidnews reported the uncontrollable mourning sweeping the country with Cheng in the foreground of every report, shouting that the Allahs were now believed behind this assassination and urging all good Americans to come together.
“I’m issuing an immediate amnesty to all baseball fans and soldiers.” Cheng sneered into the camera.
Of course you are, Puppy thought.
“Go sleep.” Clary pointed at the bedroom door.
“I’m staying out here.”
“Annette esposa.” Clary made thrusting gestures with her hips.
Puppy blushed. “No esposa. I sleep here. You and Annette in there.”
Clary sighed in disappointment. “Donde Grampa Ty and Grampa Mickey?”
He swallowed hard. If Mooshie were a ‘bot, so were they. Cheng would come after them, too.
The girls’s mouth curled in hatred as a vid of Grandma returned to the screen. “Bravo, Puppy.” She made a gun out of his hand. “Muerta, Grandma.”
He moved Clary onto the couch, struggling a moment on how to phrase the question. “Why does Clary hate Grandma?”
Clary’s eyes welled. “Grandma say Crusaders…say Crusaders matar Allahs.” She swung her thick hair around angrily. “But Allahs matar Crusaders. Grandma lie. Mama and Papa…”
Puppy held her tightly, but just for a moment until Clary, embarrassed, wiggled free. She slammed the bedroom door. In a moment, Annette popped her head out.
“What’d you do to her?”
“I lost the war.”
He turned up the volume as a breaking news report showed an Allah warship sinking off the coast of Iceland.
• • • •
PUPPY FINISHED THE last of the food for their breakfast, frying up Edison Crackers with a pitiful onion. At least the vidnews only flashed his face every fifteen minutes now. HELP US FIND HIM. Simmering riots in Dallas and ceasefires in the Midwest took priority. He was already old news, Puppy thought grimly.
“Got everything?” he asked, waiting for Annette to clean up the dishes and sweep the floor before they slipped out of the apartment down back alleys and over conjoined roof tops above the deadened Bronx. Annette added a few shortcuts of her own, delighted by his surprise. As they paused around the corner of the stout and stately building, his ex silently gestured for him to adjust the hoodie further over his face.
“Well hello Adam.” Annette gave the A31 doorman a quick kiss on the cheeks.
“Ma’am.” The ‘bot tipped its cap. “We missed you.”
“I’ve been busy building a shoe empire.” Annette nudged Clary in front. “This is my niece Clary.”
The girl curtsied, eyes widening as the ‘bot patted her head.
“Cute.” It frowned toward Puppy, calculating. “And you, sir?”
“My brother Pierre.” She arched an eyebrow at Puppy, who sunk behind the sunglasses. “It’s his first time in the big city.”
“Shame you’ve come under such tragic circumstances.”
“Lovely to see you again, Adam,” Annette said in a gush. “I’ll wait for my fiancé upstairs.”
“He’s already there,” the ‘bot called as they hurried across the marble lobby and into the elevator to the twentieth floor.
While Puppy hid in an alcove down the hall, Kenuda hugged Annette, tossing Clary a puzzled look.
“See, I’m not dead at all,” Annette said brightly, frantically waving Puppy into the apartment. He slipped off the hoodie and tossed the sunglasses, feeling strangely defiant.
Kenuda stared, shocked.
“Now Elias,” Annette started. “We need to explain…”
With a wild cry, Kenuda drove his thick forearm into Puppy’s throat and slammed him into the wall.
“Stop it,” Annette screamed and jumped on Kenuda’s back while Clary chomped into his thigh.
“I didn’t do it,” Puppy wheezed, feet off the ground.
“Liar,” Kenuda snarled.
“He’s not lying.” Annette clawed at Kenuda’s eyes; he flung her against the couch and shook Clary across the room. Kenuda balled his fists and charged Puppy.
“It was Cheng.” Puppy coughed. “He killed her.”
Kenuda froze. “What?”
On the vidnews, Albert thundered about vengeance against their real enemies to hysterical applause and the chant of “Kill Allahs, Kill Allahs.”
“Cheng,” Puppy repeated. “He shot Grandma.”
Kenuda’s face clouded as he stared at Cheng, now invoking the memory of Grandma by telling the wild crowd that their beloved Lenora
