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Forty minutes later, I was about to turn off Route 1 into Brenda’s neighborhood when her toaster zipped out in front of me. There were four cars between us, but I knew it was Brenda.
“You want me to call her?” Lula asked.
“No. Let’s see where she’s going.”
She took Route 1 to Route 18, and got onto the Turnpike heading north. It was clear where she was going. She was going to the airport, and Jason was in the car with her.
“Maybe she’s just taking her kid,” Lula said. “He’s still hiding, right?”
“It’s possible.”
I followed her to the short-term parking garage and watched from a distance while she took suitcases out of the Scion. They walked toward the terminal, dragging their luggage. It didn’t look to me like she even bothered to lock the car. I knew she was jumping bail.
I found a parking place, and Lula and I hustled to catch up with Brenda. A man was a short distance away, walking toward us. He was carrying a suiter, looking very tanned.
It was The Rug. Simon Ruguzzi. The skip responsible for all my problems in Hawaii. Our eyes met, and he dropped the suiter and took off.
Brenda was worth loose change to Vinnie. The Rug was worth big bucks.
I changed course in the middle of the parking garage and ran for Ruguzzi. I could hear Lula clattering in her heels behind me, and I was gaining on the guy in front of me. I got to within a couple feet of him, took a flying leap, and grabbed his pants cuffs. He went to the ground, and Lula rushed over and sat on him. I cuffed him and dragged him to his feet.
“How’d you know to run?” I asked him.
“You’re famous,” he said. “I saw you on the side of a bus, in an ad for the bonds office.”
Vinnie’s brilliant idea, and not a highlight in my life.
I loaded The Rug into the backseat and headed back to Trenton. I called Ranger from the road.
“I just captured The Rug,” I told him. “I had a feeling Brenda was going to skip, so I followed her to the airport. I ran into Ruguzzi in the parking garage, and Lula and I took him down.”
“Babe,” Ranger said.
• • •
It was late afternoon by the time I met Vinnie at the coffee shop.
“Sorry about Brenda,” I said. “I’m pretty sure she skipped.”
“I was counting on it,” Vinnie said. “She put her Ferrari up for bond. Now I can give it to DeAngelo.”
“It’s hot,” I told him. “And it doesn’t come with keys.”
“Don’t care,” Vinnie said. “That’s DeAngelo’s problem. I’ll send it to him on a flatbed.”
I got a Frappuccino and got into my truck. Magpie would wait for another day. Truth is, I was rolling in money from my Ruguzzi capture. I stopped at my parents’ house on the way home.
“Looks like you tore the knees out of your jeans,” Grandma said.
I followed her into the kitchen. “Occupational hazard.”
“Are you staying for dinner?” my mom asked.
“No. I need to go home and take a shower and change my clothes.”
I’d been pelted by rats, plus I’d skidded across about five feet of cement when I tackled The Rug. I didn’t think she wanted to know the details.
“I was hoping I could mooch some sandwich stuff from you. I need to go shopping, but I didn’t want to go into Giovichinni’s with this hair and the skinned knees, and my black eye is turning green.”
