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“We need one of those Kojak flashy red lights to put on the top of this car,” Lula said. “Then you could pull the van over and commandeer it and drive everyone to Jersey while I followed in this SUV. Easy peasy.”
“I’m going to wait until Duncan is settled in his brother’shouse before I approach him,” I said. “He didn’t look all that great in the wheelchair. This travel has to be hard for him.”
“Yeah, but it would be fun to pull someone over with our light flashing. I always wanted to do that. I even thought about being a cop, but I got discouraged with the uniform and the cop shoes. All my voluptuous beautifulness would be wasted in a cop uniform.”
I gave them lots of distance on the way home. I knew where they were going. No need to spook them by riding on their bumper. They parked the van in the driveway, and Nutsy and the brother helped Duncan get into the house. After a half hour the brother left.
“All your moons are still in a row,” Lula said to me. “Now there’s no brother to complicate the process.”
“Exactly. I was hoping he would leave to go to work or something.”
I drove up to the house and parked behind the van.
“I counted the tooth marks on the gearshift,” I said to Bob. “If there are any new ones when I get back there will be no treats for the rest of the day.”
“You’d be a good mama,” Lula said. “You’re excellent at making a threat. That’s one of the essential skills you need as a mother. Have you ever thought about having kids?”
“I can barely take care of a hamster.”
“That’s not true. I see the way you take care of Rex. He’s got the good life. You keep his cage clean, and he always has fresh water and food. You don’t even yell at him for running on that squeaky wheel all night. And you share all the best food with him. Pop-Tarts and such.”
“Probably I should get a husband before I have a kid.”
“It’s not necessary. I know a bunch of women with kids and most of them don’t have husbands. Not that I’m saying a husband isn’t a handy thing to have in a family.”
I grabbed my messenger bag and got out of the car. I still had the sick feeling in my stomach, and talking about husbands wasn’t helping. Sometimes I thought I might want one, but there were scary things attached to marriage. For instance, there were two men in my life, and I wasn’t prepared to choose one over the other. Not that it mattered, because neither of them wanted to marry me.
We walked to the door and rang the bell. Nutsy answered and sucked in air when he saw me.
“Oh crap,” he said.
“Long time no see,” I said, moving past him, into the living room.
“How did you find me?”
“It wasn’t hard. How’s Duncan doing?”
“He’s managing. It’s amazing that he didn’t die when he fell off the ledge.”
“I need to talk to both of you.”
“Duncan’s not real coherent right now. They gave him a sedative at the doctor’s office to get him through the ride back here.”
“He’s in a lot of pain?”
“When he moves around,” Nutsy said. “If he’s in his recliner and watching television, he feels pretty good.”
“Why did you take him out of Trenton? Surely the medical care he was getting there was as good as what he’s getting here.”
“It’s complicated,” Nutsy said. “It wasn’t safe for him to stay in the hospital.”
“You mean because he’s a felon?”
“No. That’s not it. I can’t talk about it. I especially can’t talk to you. You’re working for Plover. My mom told me. She heard it at bingo.”
“He thinks you stole his diamonds.”
“He knows I didn’t steal them.”
