'Who's dead?'
'Singh.'
I'd dropped the card on the floor. Lula picked it up and read it. 'I don't get it,' she said.
'Just give me a second and I'll explain it to you.' I found my way to the bathroom and I stood there until I was sure I wasn't going to throw up. Lula was at the bathroom door, watching. I put a hand up. 'I'm getting there,' I said. 'I was just caught by surprise and it knocked the air out of me.' I left the bathroom, walked to the desk, and reread the card. The card was standard hotel stock. The flowers had been sent through the hotel.
I called the concierge and waited on hold while he traced the flowers down. He returned to tell me the order had been phoned in and placed on Carl Rosen's credit card. The hotel wasn't able to access the call origination number.
CHAPTER 10
LULA WAS STANDING over Connie. 'Do you think she's dead? She's not moving under the pillow.'
'Take the pillow off her.'
'Not me. I hate dead. If she's dead, I don't want to see.'
I walked over and took the pillow off Connie's face.
Connie opened an eye and looked up at me. 'Did you bring Singh in?'
'No. I think Singh might be dead.'
'Dead or alive,' Connie said. 'It's all the same to me.' She sat up in the bed. 'I can't get any sleep in this hotel. People keep coming in and out delivering stuff. Did you see you got flowers?'
'About the flowers,' I said. And I told them about the carnation killer.
'Holy crap,' Lula said. 'Why didn't you tell me sooner?'
'I didn't know what to say. The whole thing is so bizarre. And the police wanted the details kept from the public while they tried to match the photos to a victim.'
'Hey, I can keep a secret. Look at me. My mouth is zipped,' Lula said.
'You can't keep a secret, ever,' I said. 'You have no sense of secret.'
'That's so not true. I didn't tell you about Joe and Terry Gilman, did I?'
For a couple beats no one in the room said anything. We just stared at each other with our mouths open.
'I didn't say that,' Lula said.
I felt my eyebrows pull together. 'What about Joe and Terry Gilman?'
'You keep doing that and you're going to need Botox,' Lula said.
'Are you talking about the jumping out the window incident?'
'No. I'm talking about the coming out of the motel, looking chummy incident.'
'When?'
'I guess it must have been about two weeks ago. It was a Saturday afternoon and I was going shopping at Quaker Bridge and you know how there are a couple motels on Route One that are mostly by the hour? Well, I saw them coming out of one of those skanky motels. It was the one with the blue trim and the wishing well in the front. I almost ran off the road.'
'You're sure it was Joe and Terry?'
'I bet they were doing police business,' Lula said. 'That's why I didn't tell you. I knew you'd get that look that you got now. And you'd get all huffy and make a big thing for nothing.'
I used my fingertips to smooth away the frown line in my forehead. 'I don't get huffy. Do I look huffy?'
'Fuckin' A,' Lula said.
At least she took my mind off the flower freak. It's always nice to have a choice of things to worry about.
'Open the box from Ranger,' I said to Lula. 'I have to call Morelli and tell him about the flowers.'
MORELLI ANSWERED ON a sigh. 'Yeah?'
I meant to start out with the facts about the flowers, but the wiring between my brain and my mouth got crossed and I started with Terry Gilman. 'So,' I said to Morelli as my opening line, 'have you seen Terry Gilman lately?'
'I saw her yesterday. Why?'
'You are such a jerk.'
There was a beat of silence where I figured Morelli was staring down at his shoe and counting his lucky stars he never married me. 'That's what you called to tell me? I'm a jerk?'
'I called to tell you I just got a floral arrangement. Red roses and white carnations.' I read the card to him. 'The flowers were ordered through the hotel and placed on Carl Rosens credit card. You might want to remind the Rosen family to cancel Carl's cards. It looks like the killer lifted Rosens MasterCard.'
'He's loving this,' Morelli said. 'This is like a chess game. And he's winning. He's taking your pieces one by one.'
'This particular piece was with Susan Lu first thing this morning and hasn't been heard from since. I don't suppose you have Bart Cone in custody.'
