My cousin Boom-Boom, who’d been a high school star, already recruited by the Black Hawks when he was seventeen, used to make fun of Romeo for trailing after the jocks. I’d joined in, since I wanted my cousin and his cool friends to like me, but I had to admit that even in work boots, Czernin’s form was pretty good. He sank five balls in a row from the free throw line, then began moving around the court, trying different, flashier shots, with less success.

He saw me watching him and gave a cocky smile: all was forgiven if I was going to admire him. “Watcha been up to, Tori? Is it true what they say, that you followed your old man into the police?”

“Not really: I’m a private investigator. I do stuff that the cops aren’t interested in. You driving a rig like your dad?”

“Not really,” he mimicked me. “He worked solo, I work for By-Smart. They’re about the only company hiring down here these days.”

“They need an eighteen-wheeler down here?”

“Yeah. You know, in and out of their big distribution warehouse, and then over to the stores, not just the one on Ninety-fifth, they’ve got eleven in my territory—South Side, northwest Indiana, you know.”

I passed the giant discount store at Ninety-fifth and Commercial every time I rode the expressway down. As big as the Ford Assembly Plant farther south, the store and parking lot filled in almost half a mile of old swamp.

“I’m going over to the warehouse myself this afternoon,” I said. “You know Patrick Grobian?”

Romeo gave the knowing smirk that was starting to get on my nerves. “Oh, yeah. I do a lot with Grobian. He likes to stay on top of dispatch, even though he is the district manager.”

“So you going to show Marcena the northwest Indiana stores after you take the girls to Zambrano’s?”

“That’s the idea. On the outside she looks as stuck up as you, but that’s just her accent and her getup; she’s a real person, and she’s pretty interested in how I do my work.”

“She drove down with me. Can you take her as far as the Loop when you’re done? She shouldn’t ride the train late at night.”

He grinned salaciously. “I’ll see she gets a good ride, Tori, don’t you worry your uptight ass about that.”