I was getting annoyed. He was just a notch below yelling at me. 'How was I to know? This isn't Trenton. You're not driving your crappy cop car. And a couple weeks ago Lula saw you coming out of this motel with Terry Gilman.'
Morelli's eyes narrowed. 'You went around back to spy on me and Gilman?'
'Actually, Lula was going to do the spying. I didn't want to look.'
The guy in the suit was getting dragged away in bracelets.
'Isn't that Tommy Galucci?' I asked Morelli.
Tommy Galucci was famous in the Burg. Everyone knew he was a Mob boss, but the police had never been able to get anything to stick on him. Maybe because in the past the police never really cared all that much. Being a Mob boss in Trenton didn't get you on America's Most Wanted. Trenton was just a midsize pothole in the organized crime highway. And Galucci was a good citizen. He gave to the church. He kept his yard nice. He went out of town to cheat on his wife. But lately it was rumored Galucci was having a midlife crisis, wanting to make more of a name for himself, pushing his associates around.
'Yes, it's Tommy Galucci. Some of his business partners aren't happy with him and want to see him removed some way other than a one-way ticket to the landfill. They decided it would be a good thing for everyone if Tommy got to spend a couple years relaxing on a farm.'
'Like a federal-run farm surrounded by razor wire?'
'Yeah, something like that. The business partners decided they wanted me to run the operation. Probably that was Uncle Spud's suggestion. And Gilman was acting as the go-between. People see me and Gilman together and the first thought isn't sting.'
'It wasn't my first thought. Why this motel?'
'It's owned by Galucci's brother-in-law. Galucci did a lot of business here. Felt safe to him.'
'Guess I screwed things up.'
'I don't know what it is with you. You fall into a hole filled with shit and you come up smelling like a rose. Galucci wasn't cooperating. I wasn't getting anywhere with him. When he heard the phone he freaked, thinking he was set up. He shot the fed who was in the room with me and then he tried to escape by going out the window. The fed in the room with me just got a superficial flesh wound, but now we have Galucci on assault with a deadly weapon.'
I looked beyond Morelli and saw two suits grilling Lula.
'You better rescue Lula,' I said. 'Probably it's not a good idea to let those guys look in her purse.'
Morelli did some negotiating with the feds involved in the bust and it was suggested that Lula and I should leave the scene immediately and never return. Lula and I were happy to comply with the suggestion.
Cal and Junior had backtracked and found me and were parked two cars down in the motel lot. Their faces were red and they had deodorant failure. Ranger wouldn't have been happy if they'd lost me.
'See that,' Lula said when we were all heading south on Route 1. 'I told you Morelli was there on account of work. You should be more trusting of Morelli.'
'If you'd been in my shoes, would you have trusted him?'
'Hell no,' Lula said.
Truth is, I did trust Morelli. But there's a limit to trust. Even the most trusting woman who saw her boyfriend's truck at a motel in the middle of the day, twice, would have doubts. There's a difference between being trusting and being stupid.
***
TRAFFIC WAS HEAVY and slow going in and out of Trenton. It was coming up on rush hour. Drivers looked sweaty and impatient. Men drummed their fingers. Women chewed on their cheeks.
I was still feeling the pull from TriBro. I turned off Route 1 and found my place in the TriBro lot.
'I don't get it,' Lula said. 'What's with this parking thing? What are you waiting for?'
I didn't know. Instinct kept dragging me here today. I half expected to see ominous dark clouds boiling over the building. Ghostbuster clouds. Portents of danger.
We sat there for a while and employees started to leave. The lot was almost empty and my phone rang.
It was Clyde. 'Hey, Stephanie Plum,' he said. 'Is that you out in the lot? I see a yellow car and it looks like you inside. I'm watching you with binoculars. Wave to me.'
I waved to Clyde.
'What are you doing in the lot?' he wanted to know.
'Just sitting,' I said. 'Watching.'
'Is that your partner with you?'
'Yeah. That's Lula.'
'It's quitting time,' he said. 'Do you and Lula want to go to dinner? We could all get a burger someplace.'
'I don't think so.'
'Okay,' Clyde said. 'Call me if you change your mind.'
'Pretty soon we're gonna be in this lot all by ourselves,' Lula said. 'You and me and the two big dummies over there. You aren't planning on breaking in, are you? Maybe see if Bart Cone left his computer on?'
