Connie spread cream cheese on an onion bagel. “The police responded to the alarm and caught the shooter leaving the bakery. Vinnie already bonded her out. Mary Jane Merkle.”
“We went to school with her,” I said to Connie. “She was a cheerleader. She was prom queen.”
Lula took the file from Connie and paged through it. “Here’s her booking picture,” Lula said. “She looks like she stuck her finger in an electric socket.”
I glanced at the photo. Mary Jane had fright night hair. It looked like she’d lacquered it with hair spray in the middle of a cat 4 hurricane. Her eyes were wide open and crazed. Her face was streaked with mascara. Note to self: If you’re going to go gonzo and get arrested, use waterproof mascara in case you cry.
“You never know about people,” Lula said. “One minute they’re prom queen and then next thing they’re whackadoodle.”
“We had two new FTAs come in this morning,” Connie said, handing me the paperwork. “Nothing big. A homeless guy who keeps killing and stick-roasting the ducks in the park, and an indecent exposure.”
FTA stands for Failure to Appear. If you get arrested and don’t want to hang around in jail waiting for your court date, you put up some money and you’re released. If you haven’t got the money, you can pay a bail bonds agent, like my cousin Vinnie, to essentially loan you the money. If you fail to appear for your court date or violate the rules of your release, Vinnie’s money is forfeited. This makes him unhappy, and he sends me out to find you. If I bring you back in a timely manner, Vinnie can recoup his money.
“You need to find Oswald Wednesday,” Connie said to me. “It’s a high-money bond and Vinnie’s bottom line isn’t going to look good this month if Oswald is in the wind.”
“Diesel dropped in last night,” I said. “He’s also looking for Oswald.”
“Is that going to be a problem?” Connie asked.
“Possibly.”
“That’s a problem I wouldn’t mind having,” Lula said. “Diesel’s that big, sexy, scruffy blond guy, right?”
“Right,” I said. “You left out annoying.”
“It’s just I got priorities,” Lula said. “Big, sexy, scruffy, and blond are high on my list compared to annoying.”
I stuffed the two new FTA files into my messenger bag. “Run a credit check on Oswald one more time,” I said to Connie. “It would help if a new address popped up.”
Lula followed me out and stopped at my car. “Someone spray painted ‘wash me’ on your car in pink paint,” Lula said.
“It’s been like that for a couple weeks.”
“I never noticed.”
“It partially got absorbed into the top layer of dirt, but it rained last night and washed some of the dirt off.”
“Goes to show you there could be benefits to dirt,” Lula said, wrenching the door open. “Where are we going?”
“Dugan Street. I want to see Oswald’s apartment.”
“Inside?”
“Yes.”
“I’m all about it.”
Dugan Street’s glory faded fifty years ago. At one time the large homes housed large, wealthy families, but times have changed. The grand old houses are now in disrepair and the interiors have been carved up into low-income apartments.
I took Hamilton Avenue to Chambers Street, turned at Greenwood Avenue, and after several blocks I left-turned onto Dugan. I parked across the street from Oswald’s house and Lula and I watched the house for a couple of minutes.
“Doesn’t seem like anything’s happening here,” Lula said. “There’s some cars parked on the street but nobody’s moving around.”
“Let’s look inside.”
Oswald’s apartment was one of three on the second floor of the two-story house. The front door wasn’t locked, so we let ourselves in, climbed the stairs, and I knocked on Oswald’s door. No answer. I knocked again and tried the doorknob.
“It’s unlocked,” I said to Lula.
“Seems like they don’t lock anything here,” Lula said. “It looks to me like this neighborhood might be sketchy and if it was me, I wouldn’t be so trusting.”
I opened the door, stepped inside, and yelled “bond enforcement.”
Still no answer. We were standing in a small living room with a couch, a club chair, and a television. There were no personal items lying around. We moved into the kitchen. Nothing in the fridge. Minimal pots and pans, silverware, plates, and bowls.