'Yeah.' He raised his eyes to me. 'I have to find this stuff. It's right under my nose.'
'You think Kenny could be right about Spiro? You think Spiro could have emptied the caskets and hired me to cover his ass?'
'I don't know. Doesn't feel right. My gut instinct is that this started off with Kenny, Moogey, and Spiro, and somehow a fourth player came in and screwed everything up. I think someone snatched the stuff out from under Kenny, Moogey, and Spiro and started them fighting among themselves. And it's probably not someone from Braddock, because it's being sold piecemeal in Jersey and Philly.'
'It would have to be someone close to one of those three. A confidant . . . like a girlfriend.'
'It could be someone who found out by accident,' Morelli said. 'Someone who overheard a conversation.'
'Like Louie Moon.'
'Yeah. Like Louie Moon,' Morelli said.
'And it would have to be someone who had access to the locker key. Like Louie Moon.'
'There are probably lots of people Spiro could have talked to and who would have had access to his key. Everyone from his cleaning lady to Clara. Same with Moogey. Just because Spiro told you no one but him had a key doesn't mean it's true. Probably all three of them had keys.'
'If that's the case, then what about Moogey's key? Has that been accounted for? Was it on his key chain when he was killed?'
'His key chain was never found. It was assumed that he left his keys somewhere in the garage and sooner or later they'd turn up. It didn't seem like an important issue at the time. His parents came with an extra key and drove his car home.
'Now that the caskets have surfaced I have some cause to harass Spiro. I think I'll go back and lean on him. And I want to talk to Louie Moon. Can you keep out of trouble for a while?'
'Don't worry about me. I'm fine. I thought maybe I'd go shopping. See if I could find a dress to go with the purple shoes.'
The line of Morelli's mouth tightened. 'You're lying. You're going to do something stupid, aren't you?'
'Boy, that really hurts. I thought you'd be excited about a purple dress with the purple shoes. I was going to look for spandex, too. A short spandex dress with bugle beads and sequins.'
'I know you, and I know you're not going shopping.'
'Cross my heart and hope to die. I'm going shopping. I swear to you.' One corner of Morelli's mouth hitched up a fraction of an inch. 'You'd lie to the pope.' I caught myself halfway through the sign of the cross. 'I almost never lie.' Only when it's absolutely necessary. And on those occasions when the truth doesn't seem appropriate. I watched Morelli drive away, and then I headed over to Vinnie's office to get some addresses.
Chapter Ten
Connie and Lula were yelling at each other when I walked into the office.
'Dominick Russo makes his own sauce,' Connie shouted. 'With plum tomatoes. Fresh basil. Fresh garlic.'
'I don't know about any of that plum tomato shit. All I know is the best pizza in Trenton comes from Tiny's on First Street,' Lula shouted back. 'Ain't nobody makes pizza like Tiny. That man makes soul pizza.'
'Soul pizza? What the hel is soul pizza?' Connie wanted to know. They both turned and glared at me.
'You settle it,' Connie said. 'Tell know-it-all here about Dominic's pizza.'
'Dom makes good pizza,' I said. 'But I like the pizza at Pino's.'
'Pino's!' Connie curled her upper lip. 'They use marinara sauce that comes in five-gallon cans.'
'Yeah,' I said. 'I love that canned marinara sauce.' I dropped my pocketbook on Connie's desk. 'Glad to see you two getting along so well.'
'Hunh,' Lula said.
