She offered her hand. I shook it. 'Goodbye, Mrs. Wong,' she said to Mama.
Mama inclined her head a fraction of an inch.
Teresa went out the back, one of Mama's waiters just behind her.
95
I took the Manhattan Bridge to the BQE, heading for Queens. Shoved a cassette into my tape player. Judy Henske. Making a comeback now, playing clubs on the Coast. She wasn't back in the studio yet— the bootleg tape cost me fifty bucks. Fucking thieves. It was like she'd never been away-still had all the chops-wailing, growling, cooing at the crowd, owning the audience. Shining her torch. 'Duncan and Brady,' her own take on 'StagoLee.' Perfect. The Plymouth hit one of those lunar craters they call potholes here— I just caught the tail end of some Primo Bitch piece I hadn't heard before.
I've had just about enough of your love
It's time to take it on the road
It started out with a hug. darlin'
But now it's a stranglehold
You say you've been saving for our future
You say you got some Master Plan
Well, you can keep your Social Security, sonny
What I need now is a man
I listened to the end-tape hiss, thinking about the waiter in Mama's joint, the one following Teresa. Sword or shield?
96
I found a pay phone on Queens Boulevard. They put her through.
'This is Wolfe.'
'It's me. Could you spare a few minutes to talk to me about something?'
'You don't want to come here?'
'No.'
'Remember where we last had lunch?'
'Sure.'
'One-fifteen, more or less, okay?'
'Okay. Remember what I brought you— last time we ate there?'
'Sure.'
'Can you bring it with you?'
'Why?'
'I'll explain.'
'I'll see.'
97
They were in the same place, Wolfe and Lola. I sat down, ordered another chef's salad. It wasn't much— the restaurant's produce buyer had gotten to the market after the Koreans that day.
'You bring it?' I asked her.
'Tell me why you want it.'
'Okay with you, I talk like this…?' Eyes on Lola.
'Yes. In fact, it's the only way.'
'You looked in the bag, right?'
She nodded, not saying anything.
'And you took it apart real careful, one pin at a time, analyzed what you found inside?'
Nodded again.
'No baby?'
'Chicken parts,' Lola said. Caught a warning look from Wolfe.
'I need it back. You probably tagged it, so you'll have to put something else in its place in the evidence locker.'
Wolfe pushed her salad aside, lit a smoke. Raised her eyebrows to ask why.
'The people who it belongs to…they want it back. You opened it, you know what it is. These aren't people I can play with. It was evidence of the homicide, I wouldn't say anything.'
Wolfe pulled on her smoke, thinking. Lola scanned the room over my shoulder.
