r /> “I don’t have any more information other than his loan application,” Connie said.
“Did it say where he was buying the truck?”
“Steve’s Used and Abused,” Connie said.
“I know where that is,” Lula said. “It’s across from the pawnshop in Hamilton Township. It’s right on the highway.”
“I tried calling but I got a machine and no call back,” Connie said.
“Okay,” I said. “We’ll check it out.”
Lula and Potts got into my Honda and I drove to Steve’s. I kept one eye on the rearview mirror, and every now and then I would get a flash of a black sports car that was four or five cars behind me. I turned into Steve’s lot and lost sight of the black car.
“You can let me handle this one,” Lula said. “I’m wearing my ultra-voluptuous spandex dress today. And I got a way with used car salesmen and their sort.”
Lula got out of the Honda and sashayed off to the sales hut.
Five minutes later, Lula walked out of the sales hut, adjusting her girls on the way to the car. She slid onto the passenger seat and buckled in.
“Steve wasn’t there but his assistant Louis said Arnold is looking to cruise the area by the government buildings on the river,” Lula said.
“Did Louis say anything else about Arnold?”
“Only that he bought a beast of a truck. I don’t exactly know what he meant by that. I was on my way out by then.”
I took Nottingham to Clinton and headed for the capitol buildings. It was late afternoon and there would be end-of-workday traffic in town. I wasn’t sure how this translated into food truck sales. I reached State Street and rolled past a taco truck and a donut truck. Neither truck looked like a beast and we didn’t see Arnold in either truck.
“Holy cow,” Lula said. “I think that’s gotta be the truck up ahead, parked on the corner. That’s a seriously ugly truck. That’s a beast truck.”
“Are you sure it’s a food truck?” I asked.
“There are a couple of people standing by it and they’re eating something,” Lula said. “And in between all the graffiti on the side, I think it says chicken nuts and bull balls.”
“It looks like it used to be an EMT truck or a police truck,” Potts said. “About a hundred years ago. Or maybe it got caught in a riot.”
“Looks like a giant Hummer that got a nose job,” Lula said. “So how are we going to do this since we know he’s a dangerous armed felon?”
“We aren’t going to provoke him,” I said. “I’m going to ask him if he’s reconsidered and wants to reschedule. If he says no, we’ll leave and come back tomorrow. And we’ll continue to come back until he says yes.”
“What if he never says yes?” Lula asked.
“We’ll go to plan B.”
“What’s plan B?”
“I’m working on it.”
“You don’t have a plan B,” Lula said. “We all know you don’t have a plan B. The man is out here selling bull balls to people and we don’t have a plan B.”
“Bull balls might be okay if they’re cooked properly,” Potts said. “I would be reluctant to eat them, but I could see where they might have some nutritional value.”
“I’m pretty sure they aren’t really bull’s balls,” Lula said. “Bull’s balls might be hard to come by. It’s not like they sell them in the supermarket. I never saw bull’s balls in the meat section.”
I parked behind the truck and we all got out. A window had been carved out of the side of the truck, and Arnold was handing someone a cardboard bucket of something.
Lula and Potts stood back, and I stepped up to the window. “Hey, Arnold,” I said. “How’s it going?”
“Long time no see,” Arnold said.