'I don't know. Fred had an account there. I was just fishing.'
Grandma stared at my chest. 'You look different. Are you wearing one of them sports brassieres?' She looked more closely. 'Hot dog. I know what it is. You're wearing a bulletproof vest. Ellen, look at this,' she said to my mother. 'Stephanie's wearing a bulletproof vest. Isn't that something?'
My mother's face had turned white. 'Why me?' she said.
NEXT STOP WAS Mabel's house.
Mabel opened the door and smiled. 'Stephanie, how nice to see you, dear. Would you like tea?'
'I can't stay,' I said. 'I just wanted to stop around and see how you were doing.'
'Isn't that sweet of you. I'm doing peachy. I think I've decided on a trip to Bermuda.'
I picked a brochure off the coffee table. 'Singles cruises for seniors?'
'They have some very good rates.'
'Anything happen that I should know about? Like, have you heard from Fred?'
'I haven't heard a word from Fred. I suppose he's dead.'
Boy, don't get all broken up over it. 'It's only been two weeks,' I said. 'He could still turn up.'
Mabel slid a longing look at the brochures. 'I suppose that's true.'
Ten minutes later I was at the office.
'Hey, girlfriend,' Lula said. 'Did you see the paper this morning? You got a big spread. And not that I'm bummed or anything, but I didn't even get a mention. And I didn't get a cool name like Bombshell Bounty Hunter either. Hell, I could bombshell your ass off.'
'I know that,' I said. 'And that's why I was wondering if you wanted to ride along with me again today?'
'I don't know. What kind of car are you driving? You back to driving that Buick?'
'Actually, I have a Beemer.'
Lula rushed to the front window and looked out. 'Damn skippy. Way to go.'
Vinnie stuck his head out of his office doorway. 'What's going on?'
'Stephanie got a new car,' Lula said. 'That's it at the curb.'
'Anybody hear about anything funny going on at First Trenton?' I asked. 'Anybody shady work there?'
'You should ask the little guy we talked to yesterday,' Lula said. 'I can't remember his name, but he seemed like a nice guy. You don't think he's shady, do you?'
'Hard to tell who's shady,' I said to Lula. Actually, I thought shady would be a step up for Shempsky.
'Where'd you get the car?' Vinnie asked.
'It's a company car. I'm working with Ranger.'
Vinnie's face creased into a big, oily smile. 'Ranger gave you a car? Hah! What kind of work you doing? Gotta be good to get a car like that.'
'Maybe you should ask Ranger,' I said.
'Yeah, sure, when I don't want to live anymore.'
'Any new FTAs come in?' I asked Connie.
'We got two in yesterday, but they're chump change. I wasn't sure you wanted to be bothered with them. Seems like you've got a lot on your plate right now.'
'What's the profile?'
'A shoplifter and a wife beater.'
'We'll take the wife beater,' Lula said. 'We don't allow no wife beaters to just walk away. We like to give the wife beaters personal attention.'
I took the file from Connie and sifted through it. Kenyon Lally. Age twenty-eight. Unemployed. Long history of spousal abuse. Two DUI convictions. Living in the projects. No mention of Kenyon shooting any previous bounty hunters.
'Okay,' I said, 'we'll take this one.'
'Oh boy,' Lula said. 'I'm gonna squash this guy like a roach.'
'No. No, no, no, no, no roach squashing. No unnecessary force.'
'Sure,' Lula said. 'I know that. But we could use
'Necessary force won't be necessary.'
'Just don't beat the crap out of him like you did with the computer nerd,' Vinnie said. 'I keep telling you, kick them in the kidney where it don't show.'
'Must be scary being related to him,' Lula said, looking over at Vinnie.
Connie filled in my authorization to apprehend and gave the file back to me. I dropped it into my bag and hiked my bag higher on my shoulder. 'Later.'
'Later,' Connie said. 'And watch out for garbage trucks.'
