Stopping off at their place first, Lila determined to do some research before they left.

“It looks like LACMA is running an exhibit on the Golem legend.” Lila paused. “This makes me think about our trip to Krakow. I really loved those bread circles covered in poppy or sesame seeds. Mmm…” She fell silent with a blissful look on her face.

Ian waved his hand near her face. “Earth to Lila. Time for another trip to Europe.”

“Yes!” Lila’s eyes brightened. “Let’s go in July. Don’t you have some time off coming up?”

“Okay, back to the subject,” Ian said gently. “Golems. What do we know about ‘em?”

Lila turned determinedly back to the computer. “Let’s turn to our favorite source, Wikipedia.” She pulled up the site and read silently for a moment. “Okay, so it’s a lump of clay that is essentially magically made alive. A relative of the rabbi who originally made a golem way back in the 1500s said that when the rabbi saw the golem growing too huge, he ended up getting injured while trying to put the kibosh on it. Sounds like at first the golem was pretty useful, but after awhile it got out of control.”

“What does a golem have to do with a drone?” Ian asked quizzically

“Maybe,” Lila said slowly, “it has something to do with this larger legend about Rabbi Loew making a golem to protect the Jewish community in Prague during the late 1500s. There’s even a World War II era legend about a Nazi going up to the attic where this original golem is supposedly stored to try to stick a knife in it, but then the Nazi operative mysteriously ends up dead.”

Lila took a breath. “Wasn’t the company that produced the drone called Magen?” She quickly typed in the word and searched. “That means protector in Hebrew. The company has an office here in Los Angeles that we should probably visit.” She tapped her fingers on the table, thinking. “Todd Regelmeister, the defense guy who was killed, he could have been a threat to someone. We need to find out more about him.”