When Sandor went into assisted living, he gave my Grandma Mazur his car. Since Grandma has had her license revoked, the behemoth ’53 powder blue and white Buick Roadmaster is mine to use in emergency situations. It’s not my favorite car, but it’s free.
Diesel dropped me off, and I ran inside to get the keys from my mother.
“What happened to your car?” my mother wanted to know.
I didn’t know where to begin. Was she talking about the car that was destroyed by raccoons or the car that was filled with monkeys?
“It’s getting ser viced,” I said. “Oil change, spark plugs, the works.”
I gra
bbed a couple chocolate chip cookies from the cookie jar and ran to the garage. I backed the Buick out and hoped no one was green in the neighborhood. The V-8 engine could be heard a block away, and the trip down the driveway alone sucked up a quarter tank of gas.
Lu Kim Rule lived less than a half mile away. It was a solid working-?class neighborhood with mom-?and-?pop businesses mixed with two-?story, residential row houses. A kid answered the door and yelled “Mom” when I asked for Lu Kim.
Lu Kim was slim and of mixed cultures, with almond eyes and straight black hair. I introduced myself and asked if I could talk to her about Eugene Scanlon. Lu Kim stepped onto her porch and closed the door behind her.
“What do you want to know?”
“I’m looking for Martin Munch,” I told her. “I think he might be with Eugene’s sister, and I think they might be in the Pine Barrens. Did either Eugene or Martin ever mention property in the Barrens?”
“No. They never mentioned property anywhere.”
“Tell me about Martin Munch.”
Lu Kim rolled her eyes. “Martin Munch. A brilliant guy but creepy weird. I never had a conversation with him that his eyes ever went above my breasts. And in the two years we worked together, he never said anything that wasn’t work related. It was as if he’d gotten dropped from another planet.”
“And Scanlon?”
“My job for the group was more clerical than scientific. Eugene gave me professional papers to file, expense reports, equipment requisitions, that sort of thing, but he never talked to me. I worked for him for a year before I found out he wasn’t married. Mostly, Eugene talked to Martin. He thought Martin was the reincarnation of Einstein. He had his eye on everything Martin did.”
“Do you know why Munch stole the magnetometer?”
“I figured he just grabbed something and ran out of the building. He wasn’t exactly with the program all the time. I’d find his coffee mug in the file cabinet. And once he lost his car keys, and a week later I found them in the freezer.”
“What about the research the group was doing?”
“I wasn’t involved in that end of things, but it seemed like it was routine. We were subcontractors for a much larger project. It always looked to me like we were working with minutia, but I guess that’s the way it is in the scientific community.”
I left my card with Lu Kim and chugged home in the Buick. I pulled into my lot and looked for the Subaru. I wasn’t surprised to find it missing. Even with Diesel rigging the traffic lights, he had a longer drive than I did. I parked and debated waiting in the lot for him. I checked my watch and thought about Carl. We’d left him alone in the apartment. It wasn’t a big deal. We’d left him alone before. Still, I felt uneasy. I took the elevator to my floor. I plugged my key in, opened the door, and stepped inside.
I looked left and saw Carl on the kitchen counter, his back pressed against the hamster cage. Carl’s eyes were huge, and his monkey fur was standing on end. I looked right and saw Wulf.
“It looks like my cousin has found a playmate,” Wulf said. “Too bad I’m going to have to ruin his fun.”
I turned and put my hand on the doorknob, but the door was locked and wouldn’t open.
“Martin is very depressed,” Wulf said. “He was looking forward to spending time with you, but you managed to escape, and he’s been moping ever since. As it turns out, when Martin is depressed, he’s not productive. And I need Martin to be productive. So you’re going to have to come with me.”
“I’m sure there are lots of women who would be overjoyed to spend time with Martin.”
“Unfortunately, he wants you. And since I can’t count on your cooperation, I’m going to have to scramble a few neurons.”
“Is that the touchy, painful thing? I hate that.”
Wulf reached out for me, and I jumped off into the kitchen, grabbed the still-?unwashed fry pan off the stove, and threw it at him. He batted it away, and I whacked him with the spatula. Still no expression on his face. He ripped the spatula out of my hand, grabbed my wrist, and it was good night. The last thing I heard was Carl.
“Eep!”