“I’ll make every effort,” Morelli said. “I swear, I’ll do what I can.”
“Just so we have everything straight…I know this isn’t a gift. You wouldn’t be telling me this if I wasn’t already in line to get the information from another source.” Like Eddie Gazarra or the local paper.
“So I guess you’re not treating for dessert.”
“What have you got?”
“Both men belonged to the Montgomery Street Freedom Church.”
My first reaction was stunned silence. My second was a hoot of laughter. I clapped my hands. “The Montgomery Street Freedom Church! That’s perfect.”
Morelli ate the rest of his sandwich. “I knew you’d like it.”
“It’s a natural alliance. Mo wants to get rid of drug dealers, so he goes to the extremist Reverend Bill, and the two of them take vigilantism to a new level. Then, for reasons we aren’t sure of, Mo decides to bail out and turn evidence against the good reverend.”
Morelli finished his coffee and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “This is all speculation.”
And I could speculate one further. I could speculate that this wasn’t just about drug dealers.
“Well,” I said, “this has been nice, but I need to run. Places to go. People to see.”
Morelli wrapped his hand around my wrist and held my palm flat to the table, bringing us nose to nose. “Are you sure there isn’t something you want to tell me?”
“I heard Biggie Zaremba had a vasectomy.”
“I’m serious, Stephanie. I don’t want you messing with this.”
“Jesus, Joe, don’t you ever stop being a cop?”
“This has nothing to do with being a cop.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
Another sigh, which sounded a lot like self-disgust. “I don’t know why I worry about you. God knows, you can take care of yourself.”
“It’s because you’re Italian. It’s chromosomal.”
“There’s no doubt in my mind,” Morelli said, releasing my wrist. “Be careful. Call me if you need help.”
“I’m going to go home and wash my hair.” I held my hand up. “I swear. Scout’s honor. Maybe I’ll go shopping.”
Morelli stood. “You’re hopeless. You were like this as a kid, too.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You were nuts. You’d do anything. You used to jump off your father’s garage, trying to fly.”
“Didn’t you ever try to fly?”
“No. Never. I knew I couldn’t fly.”
“That’s because from the day you were born, you had a one-track mind.”
Morelli grinned. “It’s true. My interests were narrow.”
“All you ever thought about was S-E-X. You tricked innocent little girls into your father’s garage, so you could look in their under-pants.”
“Life was a lot simpler back then. Now I have to get them drunk. And, let’s be truthful, you were hardly tricked. You practically knocked me over trying to get to the garage.”
“You said you were going to teach me to play choo-choo.”
The grin widened. “And I kept my word.”
The coffee shop door opened, and Vinnie cha-chaed in. Our eyes met, and Vinnie laughed his nasty little laugh and I knew he had something good for me.
CHAPTER 16
I left Morelli and pulled Vinnie outside the coffee shop, so we couldn’t be overheard.
“I got an address,” Vinnie said, still smiling, knowing his bond was close at hand, pleased to report on a fellow sexual deviant.
A rush of excitement shot from the soles of my feet clear to the roots of my hair. “Tell me!”
“I hit pay dirt with the first phone call. You were right. Moses Bedemier, everyone’s favorite uncle, makes dirty movies. Not the kind you can rent in a video store either. These are the real thing! Genuine underground, quality porn.
“He goes under the name M. Bed. And he specializes in discipline. According to my source, you want a good spanking flick, you look for an M. Bed movie.” Vinnie shook his head, grinning ear to ear. “I’m telling you the man is famous. He’s done a whole series of fraternity initiation films. He did
“Hold it down, Vinnie,” I said. “People are staring.”
