“You have to worry about your own sanity when Lula’s rantings start to make sense,” Connie said.
I didn’t think clown terrorists had blown up the Corolla. I thought the bombing was related to Nutsy and the robberies. A logical assumption would be that Duncan Dugan and Nutsy were friends. It was an unlikely alliance, but opposites are supposed to attract, right? And the next logical assumption would be that the two robberies were connected. That Duncan Dugan took the merchandise out of the cases and Nutsy went back and took the uncut stones. And somehow this resulted in someone getting pissed off enough to blow up Nutsy’s parents’ Corolla. It was a lot of assuming but it was all I had. Problem is, while my brain was telling me this reasoning was logical, my gut was telling me that it felt wrong.
I hiked my messenger bag up on my shoulder. “I’m going to visit Mrs. Manley.”
“Gee, I’d like to go with you,” Lula said, “but I’ve got something to do. I’ve got plans.”
“What kind of plans?” I asked.
“I’ve got plans to stay here where there are no cats,” Lula said.
“Good thinking,” I said. “I’ll leave Bob with you.”
* * *
I parked across the street from the Manleys’ house and checked out the crime scene. The Corolla had been taken away, but the driveway was smudged with black soot and the grass on either side of the driveway was scorched. The small front yard was dotted with chunks of tire. It brought back memories of some of my own traumatic events. My apartment’s been firebombed. I’ve had multiple cars destroyed. I’ve been kidnapped and stalked, and I’ve survived three days of having Lula as a roommate. All horrible at the time. Scary and confusing. Now just a part of my history. As it turns out, I’m resilient. Go figure.
My mom wishes I had a more boring history. She’s been given the role of Family Adult in Charge of Worrying. It’s not a job I’d want, but my mom is pretty good at it. When the job is overwhelming, she goes to Jim Beam for help.
I crossed the street and rang the bell. Mrs. Manley opened the door and immediately looked to see if I was alone.
“Bob is back at the office with Lula,” I said.
“It’s just that the cats are a little on edge after last night.”
“Understandable. How about you? Are you okay?”
“It doesn’t seem real,” Mrs. Manley said. “These things happen to other people and in the movies.”
“Have you heard from Andy?”
“He showed up right after the fire trucks. He said he heard about it on the police band. He was here for just a few minutes and then he left. I think he might have a girlfriend.”
“I imagine he was worried about you.”
“He was very upset. He wanted us to leave. To take a vacation until the bomber was found. I can’t do that of course, but it was sweet of him to be concerned.”
“He must be in the neighborhood if he got here right after the fire trucks.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think to ask. I was having a hard time getting a grip with everything going on. I tried calling him this afternoon, but he didn’t pick up. He’s terrible about answering his phone.”
“I just thought I should stop in to see if there was anything I could do, but it looks like you have everything under control here,” I said.
“I couldn’t help noticing you have a nice big SUV,” Mrs. Manley said. “I could really use a ride to the vet clinic tomorrow afternoon. Iris, Snuggles, Red Cat, and Mr. Meow Meow are supposed to get shots, and our only car got blown up.”
When she got to the part about the car getting blown up, her eyes filled with tears. She blinked them away and pulled herself together.
Getting sucker punched in the face had been less painful than the prospect of taking a car full of cats to the vet. I’d made the offer of help because that’s the sort of thing you’re supposed to say, but it had been completely insincere.
“Sure,” I said. “No problem. What time do you want me to pick you up?”
“One o’clock.”
I called Ranger on my way back to the office. “Have you learned any more about the Manley car bombing?” I asked him.
“The house across the street has a Ring doorbell and it captured someone dressed in black. Black hoodie, black COVID mask. Black slacks. The doorbell angle wasn’t great, but it shows the figure approach the Manleys’ Corolla at the appropriate time. Appears to be a man. If he came in a car, it’s out of the frame, and it doesn’t drive past the Ring camera before or after the man shows up. He disappears behind the Corolla and then reappears and leaves.”
“Does this man look like one of the people who snatched Dugan out of the hospital?”
“It’s possible but there’s no point of reference on size. My gut tells me no.”
Ranger’s instincts were flawless. If his gut said no, then I was on board with no.
“Where do we go from here?” I asked.
“I have a dinner meeting tonight with a new client. Are you free to have dinner with us?”
“Omigod, are you asking me out on a date?”
“I’m asking you to join us for dinner. What we do after dinner will be up to you.”
“Can I bring Bob?”
“Babe,” Ranger said. And he disconnected.
A beat later I got a text message. I’ll pick you up at six thirty. No Bob.
* * *
Morelli called at six o’clock. “Just checking in,” he said. “I’m going out for burgers with Ed Mallow in a couple minutes. He got sent down here with me.”
“Do I know him?”
“He’s FBI. Trenton office. Short bald guy. I think you ran into him when you went after the truckers who were doing human trafficking.”
“Have you testified yet?”
“No. This thing is going to drag out. How are you doing? Did you find Nutsy?”
“Not yet.”
“Are you working with Ranger?”
“Maybe a little.”
“What’s a little? What does that involve?”
“He wanted to snoop around Duncan Dugan’s row house, and I had a legal reason to enter.”
“Did he find anything?”
“Nope.”
“You know the deal with the bag of jewelry, right?”
“Just that it wasn’t in the car with Dugan when they arrested him.”
“He said he panicked when he ran out of the store. Changed his mind about wanting to rob it and dropped the bag of jewelry on the sidewalk. So far as I know, the bag still hasn’t been found.”
“Do you think Nutsy took it?”
“It’s possible. He was there, but so were a lot of other people. My understanding is that a small crowd had gathered in front of the store when the alarm went off and the police arrived.”
“The plot thickens.”
“Yeah, that’s only the half of it. I have to go. You and Bob are okay, right? No disasters?”
“Why? Did you hear something?”
“Should I have heard something?”
“No. Definitely not. Nothing to hear. We’re great. Bob hasn’t even eaten my couch.”