“Jeez,” I said. “What a relief.”
“Tell me about Dickie.”
I drank half the Coke. “Is this the price?”
He nodded. “I’ve seen Orr in court. Don’t know him personally.”
“And what’s your opinion?”
“Gets a good haircut. Has lousy taste in ties. Big ego. Little dick.”
“You’re wrong about the dick.”
This earned me another smile.
“He cheats on everything from his taxes to his clients to his girlfriends,” I told Morelli.
“Anything else?”
“Probably doesn’t pay his parking tickets. Used to do some recreational coke. Not sure if he’s still into that. Did the deed with Mallory’s wife.”
Mallory was a uniform who was known for having a higher-than-normal incidence of accidental injuries on his arrest sheets. Uncooperative arrests had a habit of falling down entire flights of stairs while in Mallory’s care.
“You sure about Mallory’s wife?” Morelli asked.
“Heard it from Mary Lou, who heard it at the beauty parlor.”
“Then it must be true.”
“I suppose that’s the sort of stuff you were looking for?”
“It’ll do.”
Morelli finished his cheeseburger and Coke and threw a ten onto the table. “Order yourself a piece of pie. I’ll come back when I’m done with Dickie.”
I jumped from my seat. “You said you’d take me with you!”
“I lied.”
“Creep.”
“Sticks and stones…”
CHAPTER 14
My indignation at being left behind had been mostly show. I hadn’t really expected to drag after Morelli when he talked to Dickie. Dickie wouldn’t have said anything in front of me.
I ordered coconut cake and decaf coffee. The room was emptying out from the lunch trade. I nursed the cake and the coffee for twenty minutes and paid the bill. There was no sign of Morelli, and I couldn’t imagine the confrontation with Dickie as being lengthy, so I thought Morelli might have left me hanging. Wouldn’t be the first time. I shrugged into my jacket, hitched my shoulder bag onto my shoulder and was going out the door to the coffee shop when Morelli rounded the corner.
“Thought maybe I got stood up,” I said to Morelli.
“Had to wait for Dickie to get off a conference call.”
Wind gusted down the street, and we both ducked our heads against it.
“Learn anything?”
“Not much. No address or phone number for Mo. Says Mo calls him.”
“You find out what Mo has to trade?”
“Information.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“That’s all I can tell you,” Morelli said.
Morelli was screwing me over again. “Thanks for nothing.”
“It’s the best I can do.”
“Your best isn’t very good, is it?”
“Depends.” His eyes darkened. Bedroom eyes. “You thought I was pretty hot last night.”
“I was drunk.”
Morelli curled his fingers into my jacket collar and dragged me closer. “You wanted me bad.”
“It was a low point in my life.”
His lips skimmed mine. “How about now? Are you at a low point now?”
“I will never again be that low,” I said haughtily.
Morelli kissed me like he meant it and released my collar. “Got to get back to work,” he said. He crossed the street, angled into his 4x4 and drove off without looking back.
