woman no more. I swear to it.” She licked at the sore on her lip. “Is there more?” she asked.
“No,” Ranger told her. “Sorry we had to bother you so early in the morning.”
Gail nodded once and closed the door very quietly. Click. She was gone.
Ranger thanked Vanessa. Told her how he appreciated her help. Anytime, Vanessa said. And if he ever needed a room, or for that matter, if he ever needed anything at all…
“Boy,” I said when we were out on the street. “Mr. Charm.”
“In sweats, too,” he said. “You should see me work my magic in leather.”
“Where is he?” Lula wanted to know when we were all settled in Ranger’s Bronco. “Where’s Old Penis Nose?”
“Don’t know,” I said. “He came here looking for Elliot Harp, but Elliot wasn’t at home.”
“Elliot Harp’s bad news,” Lula said. “Mean. Middle management. Must have at least ten kids running for him.”
“About that badge you flash,” I said to Ranger.
He pulled away from the curb, flicked me a sideways glance. “You want one?”
“Might come in handy.”
Ranger shot Lula a look in the rearview mirror. “You know where Elliot lives?”
“So far as I know he lives on Stark. Has a woman there. Junkie ho.”
“Gail?”
“Yep. Gail.”
“We just talked to Gail. She said Harp split. Says she doesn’t know where he is.”
“That could be,” Lula said. “Lot of that going around.”
“If Mo really wants to find Elliot, where will he look next?” I asked.
Ranger turned at Gainsborough and headed back toward the burg. “He’ll go to the street. He’ll look for Elliot on the corner. Elliot’s running scared, but he still needs to do business.”
“Elliot won’t be on the street now,” Lula said. “Maybe around eleven. The corners are always busy after church. After church is time to pick up a ho and get high.”
I returned to my apartment for breakfast and a change of clothes. Lula went shopping for something to settle her stomach. And Ranger went home to the Batcave to eat tofu and tree bark. The plan was to rendezvous again at eleven.
The phone was ringing when I walked in the door, and my message light was blinking. Four new messages.
“Where have you been so early in the morning?” my mother wanted to know when I snatched up the phone. “I called an hour ago and nobody was home.”
“I went out to run.”
“Have you seen the paper?”
“No.”
“They found bodies in Mo’s basement! Four bodies. Can you imagine?”
“I have to go,” I said. “I have to get a paper. I’ll call back later.”
“You left your pocketbook here.”
“I know. Don’t let Grandma play with my gun.”
“Your grandmother is out to church. Says she needs more of a social life. Says she’s going to find herself a man.”
I disconnected and played back my messages. My mother, Mary Lou, Connie, Sue Ann Grebek. They were all reporting on the newspaper article. I called next door to Mrs. Karwatt and asked if she had a paper. Yes, she did, she said. And did I hear about the bodies in Mo’s basement.
Three minutes later I was back in my kitchen with Mrs. Karwatt’s paper, and my phone was ringing again. Lula this time.
“Did you see it?” she shouted. “Old Penis Nose made the paper! Said how he was picked up for carrying and then disappeared, and how he was under suspicion. Newspaper said a source told them the bodies in Mo’s cellar could be drug related. Hah!” she said. “You bet your ass.”
I read the article, started coffee brewing, took a shower and unplugged my phone after three more calls. This was the biggest thing to hit the burg since Tony the Vig was found dead in his attic, hanging from a cross-beam with his pants down and his hand wrapped around a record-breaking hard-on. Hell, maybe Mo was even bigger than Tony V’s wanger.
And the best part of all of this was that I was finally the good guy. No more bullshit about how Uncle Mo would never do anything wrong. The man had a maggot farm in his cellar.
“Looking good,” I said to Rex.
I laced up my boots, wrapped a scarf around my neck and went with the black leather jacket. I hopped into the Buick and drove over to my parents’ house. Grandma Mazur was taking her coat off in the foyer when I arrived.
