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Five minutes later, the dogs were leashed and in the back of the Mercedes SUV. I drove to the office and brought the dogs in with me.
“What’s with the minions?” Lula asked.
“I’m babysitting.”
“Looks like you brought the little critters in a shiny new Mercedes,” Lula said. “We should take it to lunch.”
I looked at my watch. “It’s early for lunch.”
“Then we should take it to breakfast or brunch or whatever the hell. I woke up thinking about pizza. I don’t know what it is about the pizza at the pizza place in Buster’s building. I got a real craving for it.”
THIRTY-ONE
I TOOK LULA across town and parked opposite Buster’s building.
“It isn’t even eleven o’clock and already there’s a line here,” Lula said. “Ordinarily I don’t do lines, but this is different. I bet I could eat a whole pie. What kind are you going to get?”
“I’m going to skip the pizza. I just had a peanut butter sandwich. I’ll wait here with the critters.”
Lula got into line, and I relaxed in Ranger’s Mercedes. Vlatko was out of the picture. Ranger was safe. I was wearing my own underwear. Life was good.
A Camaro with tinted windows parked on the other side of the street, two doors down from Buster. The driver got out, walked to Buster’s door, unlocked the door with a key, and let himself in. The man was stocky. Black hair, dark skin. T-shirt and jeans. Hoodie over the T-shirt. Odd, since it was almost eighty degrees. My first thought was that he was hiding a gun. My second thought was that I needed a new life because lately I thought everybody was packing a gun, and I was usually right.
Lula hustled out of the pizza place with a big pizza box.
“Fresh out of the oven,” Lula said. “I had to pay extra for it because they said they were in a position where they had to pay extra for the herbs. Not that I care, because you know how important herbs are in pizza.”
She opened the lid and I looked at the pizza. It was spectacular.
“Maybe just one piece,” I said.
“Help yourself.”
I took a bite and sighed. “Yum.”
“You can say that again. This here’s my favorite pizza place of all time. It’s got something special about it. It must be those herbs.”
I looked at the pizza. Basil leaves, oregano, something else.
“You see these green things?” I asked Lula. “What are they?”
“Herbs.”
“Yes, but what kind?”
“I’m not actually up on my herbs,” Lula said.
I suspected it was weed. Anything this good had to be illegal. I picked them off my piece.
The dogs were restless in the back of the SUV.
“I’m going to walk the pack,” I said.
“You need help?”
“I’ll be fine. Briggs has been working with them, and they’re much better on the leash. Stay here and enjoy the pizza.”
I walked one block toward State Street and turned the corner. I knew there was an empty lot with some scraggly grass halfway down the block. I got to the lot and commanded the dogs to tinkle. They didn’t look immediately motivated, so I walked them around a little on the grass and got most of them emptied out. I came back to the Mercedes and found a note on Lula’s seat.
