The 56th Man by J. Clayton Rogers

the menu.
    "See anything you like?" He glanced across at
Ari's menu, as if he didn't have an identical one already in his
hands. "Must have something veggie in there for you."
    "You seem to assume that I'm a Muslim. Also,
that Muslims don't eat meat."
    "You aren't? They don't?'
    "Beef is perfectly acceptable, and it's
well represented in this carte ."
    Carrington raised his brow. "That's
something. Your English is better than mine. Those missionaries
really know how to cram it down your throat."
    Alerted, Ari barely paused as he turned a
laminated page of his menu. "In fact, I ate before going to the
gallery. I'm not at all hungry. The tea will be fine."
    "I hate to eat in front of someone who's just
sitting." Carrington seemed genuinely put out by the prospect.
    The waitress came back with their drinks.
While Carrington tore the wrapping off his straw, Ari stared at the
cold glass in front him.
    "What is this?"
    "Why tea, sugar." Then the waitress smacked
her head with her order pad. "Why, I forgot to ask if you wanted
sweetened or unsweetened."
    "Do you perhaps have hot tea?"
    "What? You mean like in a cup?"
    "Exactly."
    "Aw, don't be so fussy," Carrington
groused. "Drink up. You know what they say. When in Rome..." The
detective barked a laugh. "Hey, you're from Rome!"
    "Sicily is far from Rome," Ari informed
him.
    "Same country. Hey, I go to Texas, I expect
iced tea there, too."
    Completely oblivious to the fact that he had
just reversed his own logic--or not caring--Carrington gave the
waitress his order. Something called a bacon cheeseburger. "And
none of your 'medium rare'. I want my burger black all the way
through. Use a flamethrower if you have to."
    Officiously noting all of this on her pad,
the waitress asked, "And for your sides, sir?"
    "Fries."
    "You get two."
    "Then more fries."
    She ticked this off and, with more than a
trace of reluctance, turned to Ari. "And you, sir?"
    "Nothing," he answered, closing his menu and
handing it to her. "But I would greatly appreciate it if you would
bring me some hot tea. And..." He gestured at the iced tea, palm
down. "You may take this away."
    As she reached for the glass, Carrington
touched her wrist. "Say Mabel, is Antonio working tonight?"
    "Sure, he's back there."
    "Can you get him to come out here?"
    She gave the detective a puzzled look, then
shrugged. "Sure."
    She left, the ice in the tea rattling with
swishy petulance.
    "You passed up free refills with that, my
friend," Carrington shook his head, despairing of Ari's poor sense
of economics. "By the way, don't mind Mabel. She's a local gal.
Never been much for PC."
    "PC?"
    "Multigarbagalism."
    Ari did not inquire further, allowing himself
to slide into a polite reticence. The way Carrington had charged
into the art gallery and blundered into Ari's conversation with the
petite blonde smacked of a perilous impatience. He looked to be in
his early forties. Old enough to have learned the benefits of
subtlety. Thwarted in any way, for any reason, he would back off to
study his intended target, waiting for his next chance. That was
how Ari sized him up, in any event. Men like Carrington always
showed their hand too soon, piling up their self-created
difficulties, but usually persevering. One look at him, and people
would be inclined to get on his good side as soon as possible, if
they couldn't avoid him altogether. Ari noted the gold wedding band
and experienced a moment of sympathy for the Mrs.
    A young man with dark curly hair came out
bearing a plate, which he sat before Carrington. "You wanted to see
me?"
    "Hey, Antonio! I got one of your fellow
countrymen here."
    Ari and Antonio exchanged glances while
Carrington inspected his hamburger. Finding it charred to his
satisfaction, he began squirting it with ketchup.
    "What, no ciaos ?" Carrington said after a moment, looking
up. "We don't get many Eye Ties around here. Thought you two would
appreciate meeting." He slid a fry into his mouth, but quickly spit
it back out.