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“Here’s the deal,” he said. “I need that coin and you need to find it for me. That’s what you do, right? You find people. So now you can find a lousy coin. Personally, I think you know where it is. And if you don’t know where it is, I’m sure Vinnie knows where it is.”
“Why is this coin so important? Is it worth a lot of money?”
“It’s junk. It’s a trinket. It’s worth nothing.”
“Then why all this trouble to get it back?”
“It’s got sentimental value, okay? It don’t matter why I want it. What matters is that I’m not a nice guy. I can inflict pain and death and still sleep at night. And as you’ve probably guessed by now, I have something from your office. I thought it would give incentive if I had something to trade.”
“Is it a box of doughnuts? We were short a box of doughnuts yesterday.”
“Yeah, very funny. You want to hear a doughnut scream?”
“No,” I said. “Not at all.”
“Then find the coin. Twenty-four hours.”
“What does it look like?”
“It looks old, but it isn’t old. It’s got a symbol on it. Knights Templar. When you have the coin, hang a sign in your office window. If you don’t have it in twenty-four hours, there’s gonna be more pain and death. And if you go to the police there’s gonna bea lotmore pain and death.”
He disconnected.
“Do you think Vinnie has the coin?” Lula asked.
“No,” I said. “But I might know someone else who has it. Carpenter Beedle. He’s a panhandler and a pickpocket and he was with Vinnie when Vinnie lost the coin. An alternative theory would be that Vinnie dropped the coin in the parking lot and didn’t notice.”
“I like the pickpocket version,” Grandma said. “Where do we find Carpenter Beedle?”
“In jail,” I said. “His mother won’t bond him out again, and even if she wanted to bond him out there’s no one here who’s authorized to write a bond.”
“Hunh,” Lula said. “I could write his bond. I’m the official replacement office manager. I got rights and duties. I’ve seen Connie bond out lots of assholes. I got it down.”
Grandma and I exchanged glances.
“Worth a try,” Grandma said. “I’ll stay here and babysit the phone.”
Lula took a bond application form out of Connie’s desk file and filled it in, using Beedle’s previous application. “Easy peasy,”she said. “Now I just have to use this stamp that says I’m allowed to do this.” Bam. Lula stamped the form. “Now we take this downtown and have Beedle sign it and he’s all ours.”
I knew it wasn’t this simple. Beedle had a high bond. We’d just bought him an expensive get-out-of-jail card that was now guaranteed by Vinnie’s surety company. If this got screwed up, Vinnie could lose his license.
I checked my watch. Ten o’clock. I had twenty-four hours to find the coin.
CHAPTER FIVE
Carpenter Beedle looked like the walking dead when we bonded him out.
“It was horrible in there,” he said, shuffling to my car. “There was snoring and groaning all night long. And the lights were on. And I had to sleep on a thin mattress on a slab. And the blanket was itchy. And there wasn’t a seat on the toilet.”
“Yeah, but I bet they gave you a Big Mac and fries for dinner last night,” Lula said. “And what’d you get this morning? Did you get a breakfast sandwich?”
“The food was okay,” he said. “I just couldn’t sleep with the snoring. I thought jail would be better. I didn’t think there’d be snoring. Are you taking me home now?”
“We need to talk first,” I said. “I’m looking for a coin. PaulMori gave it to Vinnie as security just before Vinnie bailed you out. Somehow, Vinnie immediately lost it.”
“Gee, bummer,” Beedle said.
I did my best impression of Morelli interrogating a suspect. Steely eyes. Calm demeanor with just a hint ofdon’t try to shit me. “Where’s the coin?”
