“I'd be panting, too, if I was in Morelli's truck,” Carol said.
Benny came over with his pad in his hand. He was in his early forties and probably thinking about retirement in the next couple years. Probably a case like this made retirement even more appealing. I didn't know Benny personally, but I'd heard Morelli talk about him from time to time. From what I heard, he was a good steady cop.
“I need to ask you some questions,” Benny said.
I was getting to know these questions by heart.
I sat on the porch with my back to the car. I didn't want to see them haul the guy out of the trunk. Benny sat across from me. I could look beyond Benny and see old Mr. Pagarelli watching us. I wondered if Abruzzi was watching, too.
“You know what?” I said to Benny. “This is getting old.”
He looked apologetic. “I'm almost done.”
“Not you. This. The bear, the rabbit, the couch, everything.”
“Have you ever thought about getting a different job?”
“Every minute of every day.” But then, sometimes the job had its moments. “I have to go,” I said. “Things to do.”
Benny closed his little cop notebook. “Be careful.”
That's exactly what I wasn't going to do. I hopped into the CR-V and eased around the emergency vehicles blocking the road. It wasn't quite noon. Lula should still be in the office. I needed to talk to Abruzzi, and I was too chicken to do it all by myself.
I parked at the curb and barreled through the office door. “I want to talk to Eddie Abruzzi,” I said to Connie. “Do you have any idea where I might find him?”
“He has an office downtown. I don't know if he'll be there on a Saturday.”
“I know where you can find him,” Vinnie yelled from his inner sanctum. “He'll be at the track. He goes to the track every Saturday, rain or shine, as long as the horses are running.”
“Monmouth?” I asked.
“Yeah, Monmouth. He'll be on the rail.”
I looked over at Lula. “Do you feel like going to the track?”
“Hell, yeah. I feel lucky. I might do some betting. My horoscope said I was gonna make good decisions today. Only thing, you want to be careful. Your horoscope sucked.”
This didn't surprise me.
“I see you're driving a new car already,” Lula said. “Rental?”
I pressed my lips together.
Lula and Connie exchanged knowing glances.
“Girl, you're gonna pay for that car,” Lula said. “And I want to know all the details. You better take notes.”
“I want measurements,” Connie said.
IT WAS A nice day and the traffic was steady. We were going in the general direction of the shore, and lucky for us, it wasn't July because in July the road would be a parking lot.
“Your horoscope didn't say anything about making good decisions,” Lula said. “So I think I'm the one who should be deciding things today. And I'm deciding we should play the ponies and stay far away from Abruzzi. What do you want to talk to him about anyway? What are you going to say to the man?”
“I don't have it totally worked out, but it'll be along the lines of 'fuck off.' ”
“Uh-oh,” Lula said. “That don't sound like a good decision to me.”
“Benito Ramirez fed off fear. I have a feeling Abruzzi is like that, too. I want him to know it's not working.” And I want to know what he's after. I want to know why Evelyn and Annie are important to him.