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Morelli didn't look happy. “Will I see you later?”
“Probably. Besides paying off on my debt, I need to talk to you about Cynthia Lotte.”
“I knew you'd get around to that.”
LULA WAS WAITING outside when I got to her house. “I got the papers,” she said, “and it don't sound too bad. His name's Elwood Steiger, and he's up on a drug charge. He was trying to make meth in his mother's garage, but the whole neighborhood reeked of the P2P. Guess one of the neighbors called the police. Anyway, his mother put her house up as bond, and now she's afraid ol' Elwood's gonna take a trip to Mexico. He missed his court date on Friday, and Mom found plane tickets in his sock drawer. So she ratted on him to Vinnie.”
“Where do we find him?”
“According to his mama, he's one of them Star Trek fanatics. And there's some kind of Star Trek gig going on tonight. She gave me an address.”
I looked at the address and groaned. It was Dougie's house. “I know the guy who lives here,” I said. “Dougie Kruper.”
Lula slapped her head. “I knew that sounded familiar.”
“I don't want anyone to get hurt when we make this apprehension,” I said.
“Uh-huh.”
“We're not going in there like gangbusters with guns drawn.”
“Uh-huh.”
“In fact, we're not going to use guns at all.”
“I hear you.”
I looked at the purse in her lap. “You have a gun in there?”
“Hell, yes.”
“You have a gun on your hip?”
“Glock.”
“Ankle holster?”
“Only sissies use ankle holsters,” Lula said.
“I want you to leave the guns in the car.”
“These are Trekkies we're dealing with. They could put the Vulcan death grip on us.”
“In the car!” I yelled.
“Boy, no need to get PMS over it.” Lula looked out the window. “Looks like a party going on at Dougie's.”
There were several cars parked in front, and the house lights were blazing. The front door was open and the Mooner was on the stoop. I parked several houses away, and Lula and I walked back to the Mooner.
“Hey, dude,” Moon said when he saw me, “welcome to the Trekarama.”
“What's going on?”
“This is the Dougster's new business. Trekarama. We thought of it all ourselves. And the Dougster's the Trekmaster. Is that awesome, dude? This is the business of the new millennium. It's gonna be big, you know? We're gonna like, franchise.”
“What the hell's a Trekarama?” Lula asked.
