hadn't been in the car at the time.
'What are you doing here?' I finally asked.
'Same as you. Looking for Kenny.'
'I didn't think you were in the bond enforcement business.'
'Mancuso's mother was a Morelli, and the family asked if I'd look for Kenny and talk to him before he got himself into any more trouble.'
'Jesus. Are you telling me you're related to Kenny Mancuso?'
'I'm related to everyone.'
'You're not related to me.'
'You have any leads besides Julia?'
'Nothing exciting.'
He gave that some thought. 'We could work together on this.' I raised an eyebrow. Last time I worked with Morelli I'd gotten shot in the ass. 'What would you contribute to the cause?'
'Family.'
Kenny might be dumb enough to turn to family. 'How do I know you won't cut me out at the end?' As he was sometimes prone to do.
His face was all hard planes. The sort of face that started off handsome and gained character as it aged. A paper- thin scar sliced through his left eyebrow. Mute testimony to a life lived outside the normal range of caution. He was thirty-two. Two years older than me. He was single. And he was a good cop. The jury was still out on its assessment of him as a human being.
'Guess you'll just have to trust me,' he said, grinning, rocking back on his heels.
'Oh boy.'
He opened the door to the Toyota and new-car aroma washed over us. He hitched himself up behind the wheel and cranked the engine over. 'Don't suppose Kenny will show up this late,' he said.
'Not likely. Julia lives with her mother. Her mother's a nurse on the night shift at St. Francis. She'll be home in half an hour, and I can't picture Kenny waltzing in when Momma's here.'
Morelli nodded agreement and drove off. When his taillights disappeared in the distance I walked to the far corner of the block where I'd parked my Jeep Wrangler. I'd gotten the Wrangler secondhand from Skoogie Krienski. Skoogie had used it to deliver pizza from Pino's Pizzeria, and when the car got warm it smelled like baking bread and marinara sauce. It was the Sahara model, painted camouflage beige. Very handy in case I wanted to join an army convoy.
Probably I was right about it being too late for Kenny to show, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to hang out a little longer and make sure. I snapped the top on the Jeep so I wouldn't be so visible, and slouched back to wait. It wasn't nearly as good a vantage point as the hydrangea bush, but it was okay for my purposes. If Kenny appeared, I'd call Ranger on my cellular phone. I wasn't anxious to do a single-handed capture of a guy going down for grievous wounding.
After ten minutes a small hatchback passed by the Cenetta house. I slunk down in my seat and the car continued on. A few minutes later, it reappeared. It stopped in front of the Cape Cod. The driver beeped the horn. Julia Cenetta ran out and jumped into the passenger seat.
I rolled my engine over when they were half a block away, but waited for them to turn the corner before I hit the lights. We were on the edge of the burg, in a residential pocket of moderately priced single-family houses. There was no traffic, making it easier to spot a tail, so I stayed far behind. The hatchback connected with Hamilton and headed east. I hung tight, closing the gap now that the road was more traveled. I held this position until Julia and friend pulled into a mall lot and parked on the dark fringe. The lot was empty at this time of night. No place for a nosy bounty hunter to hide. I cut my lights and eased into a parking place at the opposite end. I retrieved binoculars from the backseat and trained them on the car.
I almost jumped out of my shoes when someone rapped on my driver-side door. It was Joe Morelli, enjoying the fact that he'd been able to catch me by surprise and scare the heck out of me.
'You need a night scope,' he said affably. 'You're not going to see anything at this distance in the dark.'
'I haven't got a night scope, and what are you doing here anyway?'
