“Correct. I install the app. You leave your cell phone on during your visit with Strange, and we can listen in on everything you say. It acts like a wiretap, except a thousand times better. The reception is incredible.”
Cool Bones reluctantly handed Elvira his phone. “Why can’t I just call one of you and leave the phone on while I’m in there?”
“Because the app amplifies voices, even if it’s in your pocket, making the voices crystal clear.”
“Hmm.” Cool Bones didn’t sound convinced.
“What’s your four-digit access code?”
“Give me the phone back.” Cool Bones held out his hand. “I’ll put it in.”
“You don’t trust me?” Elvira asked indignantly.
“Not on your life.”
Carlita, who was seated in the front passenger seat, laughed. “Smart man.”
He tapped the screen and handed it back to her.
Elvira worked quietly for several minutes before returning the phone to him. “Hold this.” She reached into her pocket for her cell phone and fiddled with the screen. “Say something.”
“Something,” Cool Bones repeated, his voice echoing through Elvira’s phone.
“Got it. You’re ready to rock and roll.”
They finished driving through the trailer park and turned onto the street Cool Bones had given them. Vinnie parked a couple blocks away from Strange’s trailer. “What if he wants to know how you got here?”
“The bus stop is right around the corner. I’ll tell him I took the bus since I don’t own a car.”
“Right.” Carlita gave him a thumbs up and handed him a container of the restaurant’s lasagna. “If it starts to get sketchy, get out of there.”
“Will do.”
The trio watched as Cool Bones stepped onto the sidewalk. He passed by several mobile homes, spaced evenly and in a tidy row. The postage-stamp-sized lawns were all meticulously manicured.
“This ain’t such a bad place,” Elvira studied the lawns.
“Maybe you should sell your place and move here.”
“Nah. I’m perfectly happy where I am. Besides, if I moved away, who knows what kind of neighbor you would end up with.”
“Someone better than you?” Carlita teased.
“Very funny.” Elvira’s phone picked something up, and they could hear voices.
They were muffled at first, and then they became crystal clear.
“…still not feeling too well. I must have caught a bug. You probably aren’t going to want to come in. Thank you for the food.” A man was talking, but it wasn’t Cool Bones.
“We got a couple days off now with the holidays. Do you think you’ll be better for the New Year’s Eve gig down at the Thirsty Crow?” Cool Bones asked.
“I don’t know.”
The voices became muffled, and then there was silence.
“We lost him.” Elvira tilted her phone, holding it toward the window. “It looks like he’s on his own.”
“Maybe we should circle the block,” Carlita cast a worried glance out the windshield.
“Give him a few more minutes,” Vinnie said.
Carlita nervously tapped her seatbelt. “Maybe we shoulda let the cops handle this,” she finally said. “What if Strange suspects something is up?”
“From Cool Bones?” Vinnie patted his pocket. “If there’s any hint of trouble, I’ll go in.”
Elvira’s cell phone crackled, and then Cool Bones’ voice returned. “You take it easy, man.” There were muffled sounds as if someone was on the move. Cool Bones rounded the corner. He hurried to the car and climbed in the backseat.
“Well?” Carlita asked. “Did you notice a cut on Strange?”
“No, but he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt.” Cool Bones pulled the rear door shut. “He’s packing his stuff up. Lee wouldn’t let me inside, but I could see a stack of boxes inside the door.”
“He’s getting ready to run,” Elvira predicted.
“That’s not all. There was someone else with him.” Cool Bones described Jersey Joe.
“They already got to him,” Vinnie said. “We can call the cops to let them know what we think. Something tells me Lee Strange is about to go missing and this time for good.”
“I wondered what happened to Joe. He was snooping around, and next thing you know, he’s nowhere to be found,” Carlita said.
“He was around all right. We just didn’t see him.” On the way home, Vinnie placed the call, filling Officer Thryce in on what they had discovered, vaguely describing their suspicions Roxy knew Lee Strange, how he had remembered her mentioning the name, that his mother had taken a picture of the band and Strange wasn’t in the photo.
The officer said he would follow up. After the call ended, Vinnie waved the phone in the air. “Thryce didn’t sound too interested. I’m not sure if he plans to talk to Strange.”
Cool Bones buckled his seatbelt. He reached into his pocket and handed Elvira his phone. “Take the app off.”
“You don’t want to keep it? It might come in handy again someday.”
“Will you be able to listen in on my phone?”
“Yeah, I mean, if I wanted to, but who has time for that?”
“You,” Carlita and Cool Bones said in unison.
“Fine. I’ll take it off.” Elvira grumbled under her breath as she took the phone.
Back at the apartment, the group gathered in the alley between Elvira’s apartment and Carlita’s.
“What’s this about Dernice going to get her hair done this morning?”
“She kept the hair appointment? Good.” Carlita clapped her hands.
“She said you paid for it. Why’s she getting all gussied up?” Elvira eyed Carlita suspiciously.
“Why don’t you ask her?”
“I did. She told me it was none of my beeswax.”
“Maybe she just wanted to.”
“Huh.” Elvira didn’t look convinced. She changed the subject. “I have a special surprise for the Christmas dinner tonight.”
“What kind of surprise?”
“You’ll see.”
“Vinnie has a surprise for the family too,” Carlita said. “It starts with the letter ‘c.’”
“Cash?” Elvira brightened. “If you’re handing out
