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“This is like having your own private detective agency,” Lula said. “Does Ranger keep a tally of services? Do you gotta pay up one way or another at the end of the month? I tell you, I wouldn’t mind doing that. He is heartstoppin’ hot. I had my way, I’d spread sauce on him and work him like a rib.”
The thought of working Ranger like a rib gave me a hot flash that prickled from my scalp clear down to my doodah.
“You just turned red,” Lula said. “I never seen you turn red like that before.”
“It was the rib thing.”
“Yeah,” Lula said. “I get like that about ribs, too. I think we need to go to Tony’s when we get back to town. He makes kick-ass ribs.”
We sat there for ten minutes more, waiting for the SUV, but the SUV didn’t drive by.
“I’m going to leave the car here and walk back to the house,” I told Lula.
“I’ll come with you. Good thing I dressed down to sneakers today.”
I checked Lula out. She was wearing pink wedge sneakers loaded up with rhinestones, a super-short stretch denim skirt, and a way-too-small pink T-shirt decorated with silver glitter that was flaking off on everything. It was casual Tuesday. I was in my usual outfit of jeans, sneakers, and a slightly stretchy V-neck T-shirt. No glitter. No red sauce stains.
“Here’s the plan,” I said, starting out on the dirt road. “If we hear a car coming, we jump off the road and hide in the woods.”
“Sure, I can do that,” Lula said. “Only I hope we don’t have to, ’cause I have vegetation issues. I don’t do the nature thing. Remember when we were down in the Pine Barrens? I hated that shit. I’m a city girl. I like cement. As far as I’m concerned, you could cement this whole country over.”
“Maybe you want to stay in the Jeep,” I said.
“That might be a good idea. I could stay and make sure it don’t get stolen.”
The road was hard-packed dirt and either side was forested. The sun filtered through the leaf canopy and the air smelled like the beginning of summer. I would have enjoyed the walk if only I hadn’t been terrified Bobby Sunflower would return and run me down.
I moved from the road to the woods just before I got within sight of the house. I’m not as bad as Lula when it comes to nature, but I’m not a tree nymph, either. I’ve seen Ranger move through brush and never make a sound. As hard as I try to be quiet, I’m more of a thrasher. I crept along the edge of the property, looking for movement inside the house. The SUV was still parked just past the door. Shades hadn’t been drawn. There was no way of knowing who belonged to the SUV. No way of knowing if Vinnie was here. I returned to the Jeep and pulled myself up behind the wheel.
“Well?” Lula wanted to know.
“I have no clue. I couldn’t see anything in the house. And no one came out.”
“Are you carrying the bottle?”
“Yes.”
“Hunh, you’d think the bottle would do something for you.”
I turned the key and put the Jeep into gear. “I didn’t get caught.”
“That’s true,” Lula said. “So it could be working.”
IT WAS AFTER four o’clock when we got back to the bonds office. Connie was painting her nails and looking not happy.
“So?” I said.
“I got a call from Bobby Sunflower at two o’clock. He said he was getting impatient. And then he put Vinnie on, and Vinnie begged me to get the money, and then someone started shrieking. I guess that was Vinnie. And the line went dead.”
“Bobby Sunflower was at the Pennsylvania house at two o’clock,” Lula said to me. “Now we know where they got Vinnie.”
“His car was at the house,” I said. “We never actually saw Bobby Sunflower.”
“That man isn’t gonna let nobody drive his Ferrari,” Lula said. “That’s a personal Ferrari.”
Probably true.
“They got Vinnie at this house in Pennsylvania,” Lula said to Connie. “We know exactly where it is. We just gotta rescue him now. My Visa bill is due any day. I can’t take no chances.”
