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'What do you want first?' she asked. 'You want a sandwich or a
Tastykake?
'The sandwich.' We had about forty Tastykakes. We couldn't choose which land we wanted, so we got a bunch of everything. I have a cousin who works at the Tastykake factory in Philadelphia, and she said they make 439,000 Butterscotch Krimpets a day. I intended to eat three of them when I was done with the sub. And maybe I'd follow them up with a coconut layer cake. It's important to keep your strength up on a manhunt.
By the time we got to Newark, Lula and I had almost emptied the food bag. My jeans were feeling unusually tight and my stomach felt seasick. I suspected the queasy stomach was more fear of death than overeating. Still, it would have been good if I'd stopped after the third Tastykake.
Panceks mother had posted the bond. I had her address plus the address of Panceks former apartment. I knew Pancek drove a dark blue Honda Civic, and I had his plate number. It would be nice to find the Civic parked in front of one of the addresses.
Lula was reading a map, directing me through Newark. 'Turn left at the next corner,' she said. 'His mommas house is on the first block, two houses in on the right side.' nine
Lula and I were in a neighborhood that looked a lot like parts of the Burg. The homes were modest redbrick row houses, their front stoops set into sidewalk. Cars were parked on both sides, narrowing the street to barely two lanes. It was early afternoon and not much was happening. We drove past Pancek's mother's house, looking for the Civic. We did a four-block grid but came up empty.
By late afternoon we'd talked to Pancek's mother, two former neighbors, his former girlfriend, and his best buddy fro
m high school. No one was giving Pancek up, and we hadn't run across his car.
'We're all out of Tastykakes,' Lula said. It's either time to go home or time to go shopping.'
'Time to go home,' I said.
Pancek's best buddy was married, and I couldn't see the wife putting up with Pancek. The girlfriend thought Pancek should rot in hell. That was a direct quote. His neighbors barely knew him.
That left his mother. I had a feeling Mrs Pancek knew more than she was telling us, but from todays performance it was obvious she wasn't ready to rat on her son.
We'd run down all our leads, and there wasn't anything left to do short of staking out the mother's house. I was all in favor of a job well done, but Pancek wasn't worth a stakeout. A stakeout was a major bummer.
Morelli called on my cell phone. He didn't waste time with hello or how are you. Morelli got right to the heart of it. 'Where are you?'
I'm in Newark, looking for a slap.'
1 don't suppose you'd consider staying there. Maybe getting a room.'
'What's up?'
'We have a dead guy here. Gunned down on the street, and then had his nuts surgically removed.'
'Gang member?'
'Big time. Cut. Had a J freshly carved into his forehead.'
'Would that be J for Junkman?'
'That would be my guess,' Morelli said. 'Are you scared yet?'
`I'm always scared.'
'Good. I'm drinking Pepto-Bismol by the case. I hate this. Every time my pager goes off I get an eye twitch, terrified that someone found your body.'
'At least we don't have to worry about me getting my nuts surgically removed.'
There was a moment of silence. That's sick,' Morelli finally said.
'I was shooting for levity.'
'You failed.' And he disconnected.
I told Lula about the killing, and we went in search of the turnpike.
