to the end.'
Be still my heart.
2
I TOOK MY PLACE at the table, next to Eddie Kuntz. 'You were trying to get in touch with me?'
'Yeah. I lost your card. I put it down somewhere and couldn't find it. So I looked you up in the phone book . . . only I got your parents. Good thing, too. Granny told me you're hard up for a man, and it turns out I'm between women right now, and I don't mind older chicks. So I guess this is your lucky day.'
The chick made a valiant effort not to stab her fork into Eddie Kuntz's eyeball. 'What did you want to talk to me about?'
'I got a call from Maxine. She said she had a message for me and it was coming by airmail tomorrow. I said tomorrow was Sunday, and there was no airmail on Sunday, so why doesn't she just tell me the message. Then she called me some names.' He gave me a face like Maxine had hurt his feelings for no good reason. 'Real abusive,' he said.
'Was that it?'
'That was it. Except she said she was going to make me squirm. And then she hung up.'
* * * * *
BY THE TIME we got to the banana cream pie I was feeling antsy. Nowicki had called Kuntz, so Nowicki was alive, and that was good. Unfortunately, she was sending him airmail. Airmail meant distance. And distance was bad. Even more bothersome was the fact that Eddie Kuntz's napkin was moving on his lap without benefit of hands. My first inclination was to shout 'Snake!' and shoot, but probably that wouldn't hold up in court. Besides, as much as I disliked Eddie Kuntz, I could sort of identify with a man who got a stiffie over banana cream pie.
I scarfed down a piece of pie and cracked my knuckles. I glanced at my watch. 'Gee, look at the time!'
My mother gave me her resigned mother look. The one that said, So go . . . at least I got you to stay through desert and now I know you had one good meal this week. And why can't you be more like your sister, Valerie, who's married and has two kids and knows how to cook a chicken.
'Sorry, I have to run,' I said, pushing back from the table.
Kuntz paused with his fork midway to his mouth. 'What? We leaving?'
I retrieved my shoulder bag from the kitchen. 'I'm leaving.'
'He's leaving too,' my father said, head bent over his pie.
'Well, this was nice,' Grandma said. 'This didn't go so bad.'
* * * * *
KUNTZ DANCED behind me when I opened my car door. Up on the balls of his feet. Lots of energy. Tony Testosterone. 'How about we go somewhere for a drink?'
'Can't. I've got work to do. I need to finish up a lead.'
'Is this about Maxine? I could go with you.'
I slid behind the wheel and cranked the engine over. 'Not a good idea. But I'll give you a call if anything turns up.'
Look out world. Bounty hunter in action.
The diner was less than half filled when I arrived. Most of the people were lingering over coffee. In another hour a younger crowd would straggle in for desert or fries after the movies let out.
The shift had changed, and I didn't recognize the woman working the register. I introduced myself and asked for Margie.
'Sorry,' the woman said. 'Margie didn't come in today. Called in sick. Said she might not be here tomorrow, either.'
I retreated to my car and rummaged through my bag, searching for the list of family and friends I'd gotten from Kuntz. I ran down the list in the fading light. There was one Margie. No last name, no phone, and for address Kuntz had written 'yellow house on Barnet Street.' He'd also added that Margie drove a red Isuzu.
The sun was a thin scarlet smudge on the horizon when I got to Barnet, but I was able to spot the yellow bungalow and red car. A woman with a heavily bandaged hand stepped out of the yellow house to fetch her cat just as I crept to a stop at the curb. She grabbed the gray cat when she saw me and disappeared behind her door. Even from the curb I could hear the bolt being thrown.
At least she was home. My secret fear had been that she'd disappeared and was sharing rent with Maxine in Cancun.
I hitched my bag onto my shoulder, plastered a friendly smile on my face, marched up the short cement walk and knocked on her door.
The door opened with the security chain in place. 'Yes?'
I passed my card through to her. 'Stephanie Plum. I'd like to talk to you about Maxine Nowicki.'
'Sorry,' she said. 'I have nothing to say about Maxine. And I'm not feeling good.'
I peeked through the crack in the door and saw she held her bandaged hand to her chest. 'What happened?'
She looked at me slack faced and dead eyed, obviously medicated. 'It was an accident. A kitchen accident.'
