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We went back to my Honda, and I pulled into traffic.
“He must do okay selling comics if he’s going to Hawaii,” Lula said.
I was getting a bad vibe. I thought it was a strange coincidence that Beedle and Benji both gave notice an hour ago that they were setting off on a wander.
“Where are we heading now?” Lula asked.
“We’re visiting Melvin Sparks.”
“Do you think he’ll let you in?”
My fear wasn’t that I wouldn’t get in. My fear was that he wouldn’t be home.
I parked in front of the Ivy, and we went to the fifth floor. No one answered at Sparks’s apartment.
“Maybe he’s sleeping,” Lula said. “He works nights.”
“Maybe he’s off on a wander,” I said.
“I got my equipment with me today,” Lula said. “You want me to get us in?”
“Sure.”
Lula took a screwdriver and a small hammer out of her massive purse and bumped the lock. We slipped into the apartment and closed the door behind us.
“Hello,” I yelled. “Melvin Sparks?”
Nothing.
“Looks like he had company,” Lula said from the kitchen. “There’s three coffee mugs in the sink and three dishes with crumbs. And there’s an empty Sara Lee coffee cake box on the counter.”
I went to the wall of collection cabinets where Ranger had found the coins. The coins were still there. Nothing seemed out of place. I went to the area Sparks used as an office. There was a monitor but no computer. No laptop.
My phone rang. It was the office number. No caller ID.
“Now what?” he said.
“This isn’t easy,” I told him. “I’m running down leads. I need more time.”
“I had an unpleasant experience this morning. Someone shot at my drone when it flew past your office. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“This is Jersey. We shoot at everything.”
“I’m losing patience,” he said.
And he hung up.
“So, how’d that go?” Lula asked.
“Someone shot at his drone.”
“Was it us?”
I shrugged. It could have been Ranger’s man. Or it could have been Mr. Ruffles in the house across the street. He has anger issues.
“Here’s what I think,” I said to Lula. “I think Beedle, Benji, and Sparks have the coin.”
“And they ran away with it, right? On account of it’s valuable, and we’re not talking sentimental valuable. Personally, I always thought that was a lot of bull pucky.”
