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“I hate this,” I said. “It’s ugly and horrible and sad. And I’m in the middle of it. And I can’t even eat a Bogart Bar and feel happy.”
“Babe,” Ranger said.
I blew out a sigh. “Criminy.”
Ranger wrapped his arms around me and held me close. “It’s what we do. We wade in and try to make things a little more safe.”
“I know, but I’m having a shortage of happy.”
“I could fix that.”
“Your fix would create a whole other set of problems for me.” I stepped away. “So how do I fit in across town?”
“Bogart wants you back. He’s scared. This is the second employee death. And it looks like another murder.”
“I don’t see where I’m doing anything helpful. I’m not good at the spy thing. I hardly get to talk to anyone.”
“Keep your eyes open. You’re getting jobs that don’t require a lot of concentration. Look around. Look for things that don’t make sense. An employee with too much money. Someone who’s out of place. Someone who has all the right access to the trucks, the freezer, the storeroom.”
“That would be everyone. Bogart runs a very loosey-goosey operation. Everyone has access to everything.”
“I have the list of new hires,” Ranger said. “There are only three in the appropriate time period.”
I looked at the list. Gina Slater was hired and placed on the line six months ago. Maureen Gooley joined the housekeeping crew at about the same time. William (“Butchy”) Boone was placed on the loading dock a little over a year ago.
“I’d like to see more on Boone,” I said to Ranger.
“I’ll have a full report sent to you. Tomorrow Bogart’s plant production line is closed. CSI will be crawling all over it. The only one working will be the Jolly Bogart clown. You can ride along with him.”
I slid a glance at the door to the plant. “It’s sort of a mess in there. One of the machines malfunctioned.”
“That would explain the ice cream all over your orangeness.”
I looked down at myself. “There was no big red button.”
“Babe.”
• • •
I ditched the orange suit and explained to Vicky that I’d been reassigned. She gave me a pint of ice cream and said everyone would miss me and they were sorry I couldn’t stay longer. She made an admirable effort, but underneath it all I knew she was relieved to see me go. I mean, really, who wouldn’t be?
I took my ice cream to my car, chugged out of the Mo Morris Ice Cream parking lot, and drove to the office.
“I thought you were at Mo Morris today,” Lula said when I walked through the door.
“It didn’t work out, but I got some ice cream.”
“That’s my kind of job,” Lula said. “Work a couple hours and get some ice cream. What flavor?”
“Vanilla.”
“I like vanilla,” Lula said.
I got spoons for Lula, Connie, and me, and we finished off the ice cream.
“How’d it go last night?” I asked Lula.
“It went pretty good. There were a couple things that didn’t go exactly right…like when we were supposed to find shelter for the night and we picked a abandoned building and Randy got bit by a rat.”
