'Ranger's out of town, and Tank's in charge of my safety.'
'I though I was in charge of your safety.'
I rapped on 3A. 'I'll tell him next time he calls.'
A tall black guy with red dreads answered the door.
'Holy cow,' Lula said. 'It's Uncle Mickey.'
'Your uncle?'
'No. Uncle Mickey's Gently Used Cars! He's famous. He does those commercials on television. 'Come to Uncle Mickey's Gently Used Cars and we'll treat you right.' Everybody knows Uncle Mickey.'
'What can I do for you girls?' Uncle Mickey asked. 'Are you looking for a deal on a car?'
'No, we're the Fix-It Sisters,' Lula said. 'We're going around fixing things.'
I did a mental eye roll. We were more like the Break-It Sisters.
'What are you doing in a dump like this?' Lula asked Uncle Mickey.
'Not as much profit margin as you'd expect in used cars,' Mickey said. 'Uncle Mickey's fallen on some hard times. Got a lot of overhead. Had a bad run with the ponies.' He peeked out into the hall. 'You aren't going to tell anyone Uncle Mickey lives here, are you?'
'You living here by yourself?'
'Yeah, just Uncle Mickey all by himself in the penthouse. I don't suppose you girls would like to come in and entertain Uncle Mickey?'
'We got work to do,' Lula said. 'You're gonna have to entertain yourself.'
Uncle Mickey disappeared behind his door, and we moved to 3B.
'That was sort of depressing,' Lula said. 'He looks so sincere in those commercials. You just want to rush out and buy one of his cars.'
A voluptuous, dark-haired, dark-eyed woman answered my knock at 3B. She was wearing a red sweater and jeans and had an expensive watch on her wrist and a diamond cocktail ring that went knuckle to knuckle. I put her age at forty with very good genes.
'Yes?' she said.
'We're working our way through college fixing things,' Lula said. 'You got anything broken?'
'I know who you are,' the woman said to me. 'I saw your picture in the paper. You're the woman who murdered Dickie Orr.'
'I didn't murder him,' I said. 'I have an alibi.'
'Yeah, right. Everyone's always got an alibi. You're in big trouble. Orr embezzled a shitload of money from the firm, and you killed the little worm before anybody could figure out where he put it.'
'How do you know that?'
'The guy I'm living with is a partner. Peter Smullen. He tells me everything. We're getting married as soon as he gets a divorce from his bitch wife. Then we can buy a house and get out of this dump.'
'Peter Smullen lives here?'
'Usually. When he's not traveling. Or screwing around. He didn't come home last night, and it's going to cost him big. I've had-my eye on a bracelet at Tiffany's. I've been waiting for him too pull something like this.'
'A woman's gotta plan ahead,' Lula said. 'Gotta take advantage of those opportunities.'
'Fuckin' A,' Smullen's girlfriend said.
'Okay then,' I said. 'Have a nice day. We'll be moving along.'
Lula and I stopped on the second-floor landing to regroup.
'That was interesting,' Lula said. 'Do you want to try the other tenants? We missed a bunch on the first and second floors.'
'I don't think Dickie is here, but we might as well finish the job we started. And for God's sake, don't offer to fix anything.'
Joyce followed me to my apartment building and parked two rows back. I could be a good person and tell her I was done for the night, or I could be mean and let her sit there for a while before she figured it out. I decided to go with mean. She wouldn't believe me anyway. I took the elevator to the second floor and found a guy in Range Man black waiting in front of my door.
'I'm supposed to make sure your apartment is safe before you go in,' he said.
Good grief. I guess I appreciated the concern, but this was feeling a little over the top.
I unlocked the door and waited while he did his thing, looking under beds and checking out closets.
'Sorry,' he said when he was done. 'Tank made me do it. If something happens to you while Ranger's away, we're all out of a job.'
'Ranger should get a grip.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
I closed the door and looked at him through the peephole. He was still standing there. I opened the door.
'Now what?' I said.
'I'm not allowed to leave until I hear you lock and bolt the door.'
I closed the door, locked and bolted it. I looked through the peephole again. No RangeMan. I hung my coat and bag on the hook in the hall and gave Rex a cracker.
'I have a very strange life,' I said to Rex.
I got a beer out of the fridge and called Morelli's cell phone.
'What?' Morelli said.
'I just wanted to say hello.'
'I can't talk now. I'll call you later.'
'Sure.'
'He won't call,' I said to Rex. 'Men are like that.'
I tried Ranger's cell and got his answering service. 'You're a nut,' I told him.
I took the envelope filled with reports into the living room and began reading through the material. There was nothing in any of the reports to link Smullen, Gorvich, and Petiak together, other than their previous addresses. And that connection was vague. They were all from different neighborhoods in Sheepshead. Ranger had checked not just Smullen, Gorvich, and Petiak, but their parents as well. All families seemed to be hardworking and clean. No criminal records anywhere. No indication of mob connections. Gorvich was Russian-born but immigrated with his parents when he was twelve. There was also nothing to link Smullen, Gorvich, and Petiak to Dickie prior to their entering into business together.
TEN
I woke up on the couch with Petiaks credit report clutched in my hand and sun streaming in through the two living room windows. The bad part was I had a crick in my neck from sleeping on the couch all night. The good part was I was already dressed.
I went to the kitchen and started brewing coffee. I poured out a bowl of cereal and added milk, saying a silent thank-you to Morelli. It had been thoughtful of him to bring food, and I was sure he would have called back last night if it had been at all possible. I felt my eyes narrow and my blood pressure rise a little thinking about the phone call I never got and made an effort at composure. He was busy. He was working. He was Italian. Yada yada yada.
I finished the cereal, poured myself a cup of coffee, and took it to the living room window. I looked down into the parking lot. No white Taurus.
Mr. Warnick walked out of the building and got into his vintage Cadillac. He was wearing a sports jacket and tie. All dressed up for church. He didn't look cold. The sky was blue. The sun was shining. Birds were chirping. Spring had sneaked in while I was asleep on the couch.
My head was filled with miscellaneous facts about Smullen, Gorvich, and Petiak. They were all mediocre students in high school. Petiak went to a state college on a military scholarship. Smullen and Gorvich went to colleges that were unfamiliar to me. None of the men had been involved in varsity sports. Smullen had a sweet tooth. Gorvich collected wives but didn't keep them. Smullen had a wife in South America and a girlfriend in a slum
