“I put it in a locker for you.”
“Took you long enough.”
I was born a month premature, and I never did learn the value of patience. “You see these two keys? Your stuff's locked up in lockers that can only be opened with these two keys. Either you get in my car, or I'm flushing these keys.”
“That'd be a mean thing to do to a poor old lady.”
It was all I could do to keep from growling.
“Okay,” she said, heaving herself up. “I guess I may as well go. It ain't so sunny anymore anyway.”
The Trenton Police Department houses itself in a three-story redbrick block-type building. A sister block, attached at street level, provides space for the courts and related offices. On every side of the municipal complex is the ghetto. This is very convenient, as the police never have to go far to find crime.
I parked in the lot attached to the station and squired Eula through the front hall to the cop at the front desk. If it had been after business hours, or if I'd had an unruly fugitive on my hands, I'd have gotten myself buzzed through the back door directly to the docket lieutenant. None of that was necessary for Eula, so I sat her down while I tried to determine if the judge who'd originally set her bond was working cases. It turned out he wasn't, and I had no recourse but to take her to the docket lieutenant anyway and have them hold her.
I gave her the locker keys, picked up my body receipt, and left through the back door.
Morelli was waiting for me in the parking lot, leaning against my car, hands shoved into his pockets, doing his imitation of a street tough, which probably wasn't an imitation.
“What's new?” Morelli said.
“Not much. What's new with you?”
He shrugged. “Slow day.”
“Un-huh.”
“Got any leads on Kenny?” he asked.
“Nothing I'd share with you. You swiped the phone bill last night.”
“I didn't swipe it. I forgot I had it in my hand.”
“Un-huh. So why don't you tell me about the Mexican numbers?”
“Nothing to tell.”
“I don't believe that for a second. And I don't believe you're putting all this effort into finding Kenny because you're a good family person.”
“You have a reason for your doubts?”
“I have a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.”
Morelli grinned. “You can take that to the bank.”
Okay. Different approach. “I thought we were a team.”
“There's all kinds of teams. Some teams work more independent of each other.”
I felt my eyes roll back in my head. “Let me get this straight,” I said. “What this comes down to is that I share all my information, but you don't. Then when we find Kenny you spirit him off for reasons as yet unknown to me and cut me out of my recovery.”
“It's not like that. I wouldn't cut you out of your recovery.”
Give me a break. It was exactly like that, and we both knew it.
Stephanie Plum 2 - Two For The Dough
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