CHAPTER EIGHT

“Babe, ” Ranger said, “I’m heading out. What’s your plan for the day? ”

I propped myself up on one elbow and squinted at him in the dark. “Plan? What time is it? Am I awake? ”

“It’s five o’clock and I’m late, ” Ranger said. “The morning briefing and roll call is five thirty. Text me when you’re up and can talk. ”

I gave him a thumbs-up and pulled the quilt over my head. I didn’t have a plan for anything, much less for my day. And as for talking, if he wanted to discuss what just happened between us my comments would be Wow, Holy Cow, Damn Skippy, and Omigod. I had other thoughts, but I’d keep them to myself. In fact, I intended to work at pushing the other thoughts out of my head. The other thoughts had to do with love and commitment and who the heck was this guy, anyway? And why wasn’t he tired?

I dragged myself out of bed when the sun came up. I showered, dressed in my usual uniform of jeans and T-shirt, gave Rex his breakfast, and made coffee for myself. I put the coffee in a to-go cup and headed for the office.

I called Grandma on the way and told her about the two clues. “Do they mean anything to you? ” I asked her.

“Not a thing, ” Grandma said. “I don’t think Jimmy was crazy about Philadelphia. And he was more of a slots guy than a card guy. ”

“Keep thinking about it, ” I said. “Hopefully we can get a couple more clues. ”

“Better sooner than later. My list of things to do with the money is growing. ”

Connie was unlocking the door when I arrived. “Whoa, ” she said. “This isn’t something I see every day. Are you up early for a reason? Or have you not been to bed yet? ”

“I need to find Shine and Salgusta, and I need to be the one on the hunt, not the other way around. Problem is, I don’t know where to begin. ”

Connie handed me a box of donuts, opened the door, and we stepped inside.

“Begin by having a donut, ” Connie said. “Start with the good stuff. ”

I put the box on her desk and took a donut. “Any other ideas? ”

“If it’s the treasure you’re actually interested in, ask yourself, what would Indy do? ” Connie said.

“Indy always comes through. Me not so much. ”

“Indy has what you have, perseverance, ” Connie said. “Most of the time you don’t know what the heck you’re doing, but you stick with it, and eventually you get lucky. ”

“I haven’t got a lot of time to get lucky on this. Salgusta and Shine are also after the treasure, and they have two extra clues that I don’t have. ”

“Shine has been like the invisible man, ” Connie said. “Everyone knows he’s here, but no one has seen him. And with good reason, he’s being invisible. There’s an outstanding warrant on him for tax evasion, among other things. Plus, he’s now a murder suspect. Salgusta keeps circling back to the Mole Hole. Never stays long. No pattern to his visits. Have either of them made a move on Grandma? ”

“You mean since they kidnapped us a while back, and we escaped? No. ”

“That kidnapping had to have been horrible. ”

I nodded.

Horrible didn’t begin to describe it. It was terrifying, and I still had an occasional nightmare about it.

“Any ideas about where these guys are staying? ” I asked Connie.

“No, but Shine likes the ladies. Last time he was hooked up with a pro. Lula might be some help there. Salgusta pretty much creeps out everyone. I don’t know who would harbor him. Especially since he’s also a suspect for the murder you witnessed. ”

“Can you get me information on recent credit card use? It might lead me to a neighborhood. ”

“You want me to hack into his accounts? ”

“Yeah. ”

“Okay, ” Connie said. “Not a lot going on here. I have some extra time. You’ll visit me in jail, right? ”

“I’ll bring you lasagna on visiting day. ”

The front door banged open and Lula swung in. “What’s going on here? ” she said. “Did I miss something? Did Stephanie eat the Boston creme donut? ”

“No, ” I said. “I ate a maple glazed and a jelly donut. I left the Boston creme for you. ”

“I appreciate it, ” Lula said, “but that’s worrisome. First one here always gets the Boston creme. What’s up? ”

“I wasn’t in a Boston creme mood, ” I said. “I have a lot on my mind. ”

Lula took the Boston creme. “Like what? ”

“I need to find Lou Salgusta and Charlie Shine. ”

“Good luck with that one, ” Lula said. “Last time we tried to catch Salgusta we almost got roasted. I’m not going after him no more. And I’m not going into that tunnel again, either. ”

“Okay, ” I said, “but we could look for Charlie Shine. Connie thinks he might be shopping around for a new girlfriend. Do you still have friends on the street? ”

“I know a couple of the older girls, but it’s been a while since I was a professional satisfier, ” Lula said. “Still, I guess we could ask around tonight. ”

I looked at Connie. “Do you have anything else? ”

“He’s not with his wife in the Burg, ” Connie said. “That’s definite. I’m thinking he’s hanging somewhere close, but not in Trenton. ”

“Unless he’s with a new honey, ” Lula said.

Connie and I nodded agreement.

“So, what are we gonna do now? ” Lula asked

“We can look in on Rugalowski and Trotter, ” I said.

“I’m not excited about that, ” Lula said. “I don’t like them. I especially don’t like Arnold Rugalowski and his stupid nuts. ”

“We’re going to try Rugalowski at home this time, ” I said. “I’m hoping he’ll be more receptive to getting re-bonded. ”

“He don’t look like he even got a home, ” Lula said. “He looks like he lives in his ten-year-old Chevy Nova. I’m guessing the ex-wife got the home. ”

I pulled his file out of my bag. “He gives a home address of 43 South Clinton Street. ”

Lula tapped it into her phone. “That’s a weird address, ” she said. “It don’t look like there’s any houses. It’s only got a cemetery on one side and some government offices on the other. ”

I looked over at Connie.

“I didn’t write the bond, ” Connie said. “Vinnie wrote the bond. ”

“Is Vinnie coming in today? ” I asked.

“Vinnie is in Vegas, ” Connie said. “Poker tournament. ”

I hiked my messenger bag higher onto my shoulder. “Let’s see if there’s a ten-year-old Chevy Nova parked on South Clinton. ”

“I guess I could go along with that, ” Lula said.

I drove a short distance down Hamilton Avenue, turned onto South Clinton, crossed over the railroad tracks, and followed Clinton to the cemetery. There were some cars parked at the curb alongside the cemetery, but none of them looked like they were home to a fry cook.

“He could be camped out inside, ” Lula said. “This is a cozy cemetery. It’s got lots of trees, and I can see from here that they keep the grounds nice. ”

I parked behind one of the cars.

“Hold on here, ” Lula said. “What are you doing? ”

“I’m going to walk around and see if he’s camped out behind a tombstone. ”

“I’d just as leave stay here, thank you. Cemeteries bring me down. And on top of that I’m not looking forward to seeing the roach cooker. I got a bad feeling about him. ”

“Okay, ” I said. “You stay here and guard the car while I prowl around the cemetery. Make sure the roach cooker doesn’t car-jack us. ”

“You didn’t believe in my nipple radar, either, and look where that got us, ” Lula said.

I left Lula in the car, found the entrance gate, and meandered around, following paths, listening for activity. I walked up a small hill and saw a solitary figure on the other side. It was a slim woman dressed in black. She was very still, staring at a headstone on a relatively new grave. It was Gabriela. She turned as I crested the hill and glanced my way. She did a small nod of acknowledgment and returned her attention to the simple granite marker.

I walked downhill and joined her. The name on the headstone was Julius Roman. He’d been one of the six La-Z-Boys. He’d recently been killed execution-style and one of the clues in the Mole Hole safe had been his.

“A relative? ” I asked Gabriela.

“No, ” she said. “And you? ”

“No. ”

“But you knew him. ”

“We met shortly before he died, ” I said.

“I understand he was killed. Gunshot. Deliberate. ”

I nodded. “Yes. Was he a close friend? ”

“No, ” she said.

“Are you here looking for someone who knew Julius or are you looking for something else? ”

“Just looking. ”

She turned and walked away, following a path that led in the opposite direction from where my car was parked.

After ten more minutes of wandering around, looking for Rugalowski, I was back behind the wheel.

“How did that go? ” Lula asked.

“I didn’t find Rugalowski, but I ran into Gabriela. ”

“Who? ”

“The woman in black with the Fendi bag. More and more I’m thinking she’s after the treasure. She was at Julius Roman’s grave. ”

“What was she doing there? ”

“Nothing. Looking at the gravestone. ”

“Did she have a shovel? ”

“No, ” I said. “This time she had a Hermè s purse. ”

“I always wanted a Hermè s purse. They’re real classy. ”

“I didn’t know you were into classy. ”

“You bet your ass, ” Lula said. “I’m all about it. ”

I backtracked down Clinton to Hamilton and drove past Cluck-in-a-Bucket. An aging Chevy Nova was parked in the lot.

“Looks like he’s got the breakfast shift, ” Lula said. “Probably people coming in for their morning nuts. ”

I made a U-turn, swung into the lot, and idled next to the Nova.

“Now what? ” Lula asked.

“Now you’re going to look in his car to see if he’s asleep in there. ”

Lula got out and looked in the car.

“Nobody here, ” she said, “but this car is a mess. It’s full of crumpled-up beer cans and dirty clothes. And there’s a bunch of ratty magazines. ”

“Porno? ”

“Mostly Guns and Ammo and Food Network. ” Lula got back into my CR-V. “You aren’t planning on another takedown attempt while he’s working the fry station, are you? I couldn’t come up with a lot of enthusiasm for that. ”

“No. I want to get him after hours. I’ll have Connie do some research on his schedule and maybe she can find an address that isn’t a cemetery. ”

“That leaves the butt guy, ” Lula said. “It used to be that we went after carjackers and armed robbery guys, and now we got a bunch of creepers. ”

I was with Lula. I couldn’t get excited about another face-to-face with Rodney Trotter. I had treasure on my mind.

“I say we go back to the office and see if anything good came in this morning, ” Lula said. “A killer or a serial rapist. Something normal. ”

“Sorry, ” Connie said, “I haven’t got any new skips, but I made a couple phone calls while you were gone, and it looks like Charlie Shine is definitely in town. Marge Russo saw him yesterday. She said she was crossing the street and he drove past her. He was wearing a hat pulled down low and dark sunglasses but she was sure it was him. And Loretta Bettman saw him over the weekend. She said he was behind her at the Dunkin’ drive-thru. Both times he was alone and driving a white Kia. ”

“Has anyone seen Salgusta? ” I asked Connie.

“My mom and my aunt Cookie think he’s hanging out in the tunnel, ” Connie said. “They said there are a bunch of exits, and one of the exits is at the Hotel Margo. ”

“I know that hotel, ” Lula said. “It’s got good hourly rates. When I was in the customer happiness business I frequented that hotel. It gave a special discount if the customer was mob. ”

“Anything else? ” I asked Connie.

“No, ” Connie said. “That’s all of it. ”

“Good enough, ” I said. “I’m going to take a look at the Margo. ”

“I guess I’ll tag along, ” Lula said. “It’ll be like one of them nostalgia trips. ”

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