“Whose dumb idea was this?” Diesel asked.
“It was your dumb idea. You wanted to circle back to the office building.”
“I’ve circled enough.”
“Okay, do you have any other dumb ideas you want to try?” I asked him.
“There’s still the Use Stephanie as Bait idea.”
“I can’t get excited about that.”
“I’m starting to lean toward letting Oswald pull the plug on the grid at midnight and then he’s the feds’ problem,” Diesel said.
“What about Auntie?”
“Auntie would be unhappy.”
“Is she really your aunt?”
“Only in the broadest sense that she might be human,” Diesel said.
“And she’s your boss?”
“She’s everyone’s boss.”
We’d been walking while we were talking and now were back at the Buick.
“We need a car,” Diesel said. “I always thought it would be fun to own a muscle car, until I drove this.”
“I imagine Ana is working on it.”
I needed an Ana. More than that, I needed a fast infusion of cash so I could buy another crappy car.
Lula called. “You gotta come rescue me,” she said. “I can’t take another day being locked away up here. I’m getting claustrophobic. And I’m getting left out of stuff. I don’t know what’s going on, and somebody probably ate my doughnut.”
“It’s only been one day.”
“Yeah, but I’m a people person. I’m gregarious. Where are you? What are you doing?”
“I’m in town with Diesel and we’re not doing anything.”
“I heard your car got exploded. Are you driving around in Diesel’s cool Bronco?”
“No. That got exploded, too. I’ve got the Buick.”
“Well, I can’t be driven around in the Buick all day. It’s got no sound system. You need to get another car. Come and get me, and we can go shopping.”
“Lula is ready to solve the world’s problems,” I said to Diesel.
“I’ll hang out here,” he said. “I’m not doing any more door-to-door, but surveillance sounds manageable.”
Lula was waiting at the curb when I pulled up in front of her house. She was wearing black tights that bulged slightly where she was bandaged, black biker boots, and a bright yellow sequined tank top under a black leather jacket. Her hair was hidden under a pink Marilyn Monroe–style wig.
“Ow,” she said, getting into the Buick. “Ow, ow.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Hell, yeah. I’ll be fine. I just need a doughnut. Maybe a bucket of chicken.”
“I thought we could check in with Connie and then pick up your car.”
“Perfect. I’m ready to kick some butt. I want a piece of that Oswald creep.”
“We’re working on it.”
“Are you making any progress?”
“Diesel thinks we are, but I’m not convinced.”
Lula’s red Firebird was parked in front of the office. I pulled in behind it and Lula got out.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow,” she said, limping up to the office door.
I opened the door for her, and she limped in. “Ow, ow, ow, ow.”
Connie looked over her computer at Lula’s leg. “I guess that hurts,” Connie said.
“Only when I walk or move or breathe,” Lula said. “Where’s the doughnuts?”
“I skipped the doughnuts this morning. I didn’t think you’d be coming in,” Connie said.
“This office is going to heck,” Lula said. “One day we gotta eat bagels instead of doughnuts and then next thing you know there’s nothing. Not even a stale bagel.”
“We can get a box of doughnuts on the way to get a bucket of chicken,” I said.
“I guess that would be okay,” Lula said. “It’s not like we’re on the same schedule, anyway. This would be more like lunch doughnuts.”
“Anything new going on here?” I asked Connie. “Has anyone seen Oswald?”
“No word on Oswald. Vinnie called in and said he had a headache.”
“Lucca head-butted him in the men’s room.”
“Vinnie said you saved the day. He’s giving you credit for the capture. Do you want a check, or do you want me to deposit it in your account?”
“Deposit it. I need a car.”
“That could be first thing on our agenda,” Lula said. “We should go car shopping. There’s a new place where the farmer’s market used to be in North Trenton. I got a special relationship with the owner, Slick Eddie. He used to negotiate levels of enjoyment when customers wanted to spend time with my friend Nicole. Nicole and me worked the same corner on Stark sometimes during the rush hour.”