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“About as expected. We have twenty-four hours, more or less, to give them the keys.”
“And then?”
“Those old guys are sickos. I don’t even want to repeat what they said.”
“I can lean on them.”
“They’d probably like that. Make them feel like they were back in the game. There were six chairs in the club room. One was Jimmy’s. The other chairs were occupied by Benny the Skootch, Charlie Shine, Lou Salgusta, and Julius Roman. Who sits in the sixth chair?”
“I don’t know,” Morelli said. “It used to belong to Big Artie. He died last year, and I don’t know if the chair was ever filled. I can ask around. Did you try to apprehend Charlie Shine?”
“It never even occurred to me. I just wanted to say my piece and get out of the room.”
Grandma joined Morelli and me. “Stick a fork in me,” she said. “I’m pooped. Do you think it’s okay to go home now? There’s still a couple people left, but I can’t take any more condolences.”
I signaled to my parents that we were ready to leave, and they heaved themselves up and shuffled over to us.
“It was like an invasion of
meatball-eating zombies,” my father said, glassy eyed. “It was like one of those videogames you see advertised on television where a screaming horde storms the castle.”
My mother stared at the bar. “They ate everything. It didn’t last a half hour. Gone. All of it gone.”
“Yeah,” Grandma said. “It was a pip of a wake.”
Morelli herded everyone outside, Grandma took a selfie of herself leaving the Mole Hole, and we climbed into the limo.
“I didn’t see the Rosolli sisters at the Mole Hole,” Grandma said. “I guess they got worn out at the cemetery.”
“You almost killed Tootie,” my mother said. “I’m sure she’s home with an ice pack.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Grandma said. “I caught her on the side of the head. I probably didn’t even break her nose. And besides I could feel that I got a bruise where she ran into me.”
I was relieved that no one got pitched into the hole in the ground along with Jimmy. Between the mob and the gangs, Trenton funerals aren’t always a model of decorum.
“I had a talk with Benny La-Z-Boy,” I said to Grandma. “He claims to have a source who saw Jimmy have the heart attack. He said Jimmy grabbed hold of you and said something to you before he fell to the ground.”
“Yep,” Grandma said. “That’s the way it happened.”
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘Oh crap apples.’ And then he was dead.”
CHAPTER NINE
THE CAR DROPPED US at my parents’ house, and Morelli and I went our own way. He went home to walk Bob. I headed for my apartment because I had nothing better to do. I drove two blocks, and I got a call from Grandma.
“Someone broke into our house,” she said. “There’s stuff thrown everywhere. Your mother is in a state. I was hoping you could come back and calm her down.”
“I’m turning around,” I said. “I’ll be there in two minutes.”
Five minutes later, Morelli and I were walking through the house cataloging the damage and setting things straight.
“My apartment looked exactly like this when it got tossed,” I said. “I’m guessing the same idiots did both jobs.”
“I’ll file a report,” Morelli said. “Depending on the deductible, your parents might be able to put in an insurance claim.”
“From what I’m seeing, the damage is more emotional than physical. A couple couch cushions were slashed. A candy dish was broken in the living room. It wasn’t expensive.” I replaced a dresser drawer in my parents’ bedroom, scooped the contents up off the floor, and refolded everything. “This is the second time my parents’ house was targeted in less than a week’s time. This shouldn’t be happening. This is their home. This is their safe place.”
