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“I didn’t know you could see something,” Lula said.
“Everybody could see everything,” Connie said.
“Not everything,” Lula said. “I’m wearing undies. I’m covered up as much as when I’m on the beach.”
I’d seen Lula on the beach, and it was something not easily forgotten.
An hour later, the safe was trucked away, and we put the crime scene tape back in place. The bus was parked at the curb for thenight, and we felt comfortable that there wasn’t a lot left to steal. We formed a caravan with our cars, drove to Connie’s house, and unloaded everything into her garage.
We thanked Raul and Bek and they went back to their SUV.
“Good thing we’re done,” Lula said. “I couldn’t pick up one more thing or carry any more bins anywhere. I feel like my back is broken. We should have let Bella make that stupid bomber poop himself again.”
“Opportunities missed,” I said.
“Fuckin’ A,” Lula said.
Connie’s mother was standing watch at the edge of the garage. “I heard that,” she said. “We don’t allow that kind of language in this house.”
“Sorry,” Lula said. “I wasn’t thinking it might be offensive. It seemed like an appropriate comment for what we were saying about the poop spell.”
“We don’t say that P-word either,” Mrs. Rosolli said.
“You mean ‘poop’?” Lula asked. “What do you call it?”
“We call it plops,” she said.
Lula and I looked at Connie.
Connie rolled her eyes and gave up a sigh. “Plops and pleeps,” she said.
“That’s just wrong,” Lula said. “I can see where it’s coming from, but I don’t want to admit to making a plop. Maybe men make plops. My experience is they don’t care what they do.”
I had my hand clapped over my mouth. I was trying not to laugh out loud, but squeaking sounds were escaping from between my fingers.
“For God’s sake, just go ahead and laugh before you pleep yourself,” Connie said.
Mrs. Rosolli made the sign of the cross and asked forgiveness for her daughter. “We don’t take God’s name in vain,” she said.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Idrove back to my apartment, said hello to Sir Lancelot, thanked him for guarding my life, and told him he could go home to his bride. I liked that these guys wanted to pitch in and help, but I worried about their abilities if they came up against armed kidnappers. I didn’t want them hurt.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay? I don’t mind staying,” Lancelot said.
“I’m friends with the man who owns Rangeman Security, and he has men watching out for me too. Tell Benji and Carpenter that I appreciate your help, but I think I’m safe now.”
“Cool. I’ll let them know and if anything changes you can call us.”
I went inside and ate a tablespoon of peanut butter and five olives out of the jar because I was too tired to make a sandwich.I tapped on Rex’s cage and said howdy. He stuck his head out of his soup can, gave me a once-over, and went back into his can.
I thought it would be nice if I could do that. I felt like crawling into a can and sleeping until my life improved. I shuffled into the bathroom and stood under the shower until the water turned cold. I halfway dried my hair, got dressed in my comfy jeans and a Rangers jersey, and called ahead to Pino’s for a pizza, extra-large with the works, extra cheese.
I was feeling better after the shower, and I was looking forward to the pizza. I couldn’t get overly excited about a preseason game, but I knew it would take my mind off Vinnie. I didn’t want to think about Vinnie because I had no way to help him. He was in a horrible place.
We’d called Vinnie’s father-in-law and the owner of the bail bonds business, Harry the Hammer, but Harry and Vinnie’s wife, Lucille, were in the process of leaving for Aruba with some of Harry’s business associates. I didn’t think I could go to Aruba if my husband was missing, but that’s just me. Okay, let’s be honest, I couldn’t go if my hamster, Rex, was missing.
I grabbed a sweatshirt and my messenger bag and went downstairs and got behind the wheel of my Whatever. Raul and Bek were parked nearby but I didn’t wave to them in case I was being stalked by the bad guys. No bad guys showed up, so I called Ranger.
