“Least not so we could understand,” Grandma said. “She might of said something in horse talk.”
Valerie was looking depressed, pushing a cookie around on the kitchen table with her finger. If
“Do you want that cookie?” I asked Valerie.
“I bet those little soup noodles looked like worms,” Grandma said. “Remember when Stephanie got worms? The doctor said they came off the lettuce. He said we didn’t wash the lettuce good enough.”
I’d forgotten about the worms. Not one of my favorite childhood memories. Right up there with the day I vomited spaghetti and meatballs on Anthony Balderri. I finished my soda, ate Valerie’s cookie, and went next door and checked in with Mabel.
“Anything new?” I asked Mabel.
“I got another call from the bail bonds company. They won’t just come in here and throw me out, will they?”
“No. It’ll have to go through legal channels. And the bond company involved is reputable.”
“I haven’t heard from Evelyn since she left,” Mabel said. “I thought for sure I’d hear from her by now.”
I returned to my car, and I tapped a call in to Dotty.
“It’s Stephanie Plum,” I said. “Is everything okay?”
“That woman you told me about is still sitting in front of my house. I even took the day off because she’s creeping me out. I called the police, but they said they couldn’t do anything.”
“Do you have my card with my pager number?”
“Yes.”
“Call me if you need to see Evelyn. I’ll help you get past Jeanne Ellen.”
I disconnected and did a palms-up in the car, all by myself. What more could I do?
I jumped when my phone rang. It was Dotty calling back. “Okay, I need help. I’m not saying I know where Evelyn is staying. I’m just saying I need to go somewhere, and I can’t be followed.”
“Understood. I’m about forty minutes away.”
“Come in through the back again.”
So maybe Jeanne Ellen was doing me a favor. She’d put Dotty into a situation where she needed me. How bizarre is that?
First thing I did was stop by the office and get Lula.
“Let’s rock and roll,” Lula said. “I’ll distract the heck out of Jeanne Ellen. I’m the queen of distraction.”
“Great. Just remember, no shooting.”
“Maybe a tire,” Lula said.
“Not a tire. Nothing.
“I hope you realize this puts a big crimp in my distracting.”
Lula was wearing the new boots with a lemon yellow spandex miniskirt. I didn’t think she’d have a distraction problem.
“This is the plan,” I said when we got to South River. “I’m going to park one street over from Dotty, and we’ll go in through the back. Then you can keep Jeanne Ellen busy while I take Dotty to Evelyn.”
I took the shortest path through the yards and knocked once on Dotty’s back door. Dotty opened the door and stifled a scream. “Holy Jesus,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting…
