The door was opened before I had a chance to knock. Two little frown lines had etched themselves into Mo's sister's forehead. “Was there something else?” she asked.

“I'm concerned about Mo. I don't mean to alarm you, but I suppose there's the possibility that he might be sick at home and unable to get to the door.”

“I've been standing here thinking the same thing,” she said.

“Do you have a key to his apartment?”

“No, and as far as I know no one else does, either. Mo likes his privacy.”

“Do you know any of his friends? Did he have a girlfriend?”

“Sorry. We aren't real close like that. Mo is a good brother, but like I said, he's private.”

An hour later I was back in the burg. I motored down Ferris and parked behind Lula.

“How's it going?” I asked.

Lula was slouched at the wheel of her red Firebird. “Isn't going at all. Most boring bullshit job I ever had. A person could do this in a coma.”

“Anyone stop around to buy candy?”

“A momma and her baby. That's all.”

“Did they walk around back?”

“Nope. They just looked in the front door and left.”

I glanced at my watch. School would be out soon. There'd be a lot of kids coming by then, but I wasn't interested in kids. I was interested in an adult who might show up to water Mo's plants or retrieve his mail.

“Hang tight here,” I said. “I'm going to speak to more neighbors.”

“Hang tight, hunh. I'm gonna like freeze to death sitting in this car. This isn't Florida, you know.”

“I thought you wanted to be a bounty hunter. This is what bounty hunters do.”

“Wouldn't mind doing this if I thought at the end of it all I'd get to shoot someone, but there isn't even any guarantee of that. All I hear's don't do this and don't do that. Can't even stuff the sonovabitch in my trunk if I find him.”

I crossed the street and spoke to three more neighbors. Their replies were standard. They had no idea where Mo could be, and they thought I had a lot of nerve implying he was a felon.

A teenager answered in the fourth house. We were dressed almost identically. Doc Martens, jeans, flannel shirt over Tshirt, too much eye makeup, lots of brown curly hair. She was fifteen pounds slimmer and fifteen years younger. I didn't envy her youth, but I did have second thoughts about the dozen doughnuts I'd picked up on my way through the burg, which even as we spoke were calling to me from the backseat of my car.

I gave her my card, and her eyes widened.

“A bounty hunter!” she said. “Cool!”

“Do you know Uncle Mo?”

“Sure I know Uncle Mo. Everybody knows Uncle Mo.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “He do something wrong? Are you after Uncle Mo?”

“He missed a court date on a minor charge. I want to remind him to reschedule.”

“That is like amazing. When you find him are you going to rough him up and lock him in the trunk of your car?”

“No!” What was with this trunk business? “I just want to talk to him.”

“I bet he did something really terrible. I bet you want him for cannibalism.”

Cannibalism? The man sold candy. What would he want with fingers and toes? This kid had great taste in shoes, but her mind was a little scary. “Do you know anything about Mo that might be helpful? He have any close friends in the neighborhood? Have you seen him recently?”

Tags: Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum Mystery
Source: readsnovelonline.net