I rode the elevator to the small lobby, exited from the front entrance and walked one block down St. James. I hung a left at the corner, continued on for two blocks, turned and came up behind the Cherokee. The windows were tinted, but I could see a shadowy form at the wheel. I crept closer and knocked on the driver's-side window. The window rolled down and Joyce Barnhardt smiled out at me.

"Ciao," Joyce said.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm staking you out. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"I suppose there's a reason?"

Joyce shrugged. "We're both after the same person. I thought it wouldn't hurt to see what pathetic attempts you've made to find her . . . before I take over and get the job done."

"We aren't after the same person. That simply isn't done. Vinnie would never give the same case to two different agents."

"A lot you know."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Vinnie didn't think you were making any progress, so he gave Maxine Nowicki to me."

"I don't believe you."

Joyce held her contract up for me to see. "Authorized by the Vincent Plum Agency to apprehend Maxine Nowicki . . ." she read.

"We'll see about this!"

Joyce made a pouty kissy face.

"And stop following me!"

"It's a free country," Joyce said. "I can follow you if I want to."

I huffed off, back to my building. I stomped upstairs, got my keys and my shoulder bag, stomped back downstairs and gunned the CRX out of the lot . . . with Joyce close on my back bumper.

I didn't bother to lose her. I turned onto Hamilton and in less than five minutes was at the office. Joyce parked half a block back and stayed in her car while I stormed through the front door.

"Where is he? Where is that miserable little worm?"

"Uh oh," Lula said. "Been there, done that."

"Now what?" Connie said.

"Joyce Barnhardt, that's what. She showed me a contract authorizing her to bring in Maxine Nowicki."

"That's impossible," Connie said. "I issue all the contracts, and I don't know anything about it. And besides, Vinnie never gives out an FTA to two different agents."

"Yeah, but remember that Joyce person came in real early on Tuesday morning," Lula said. "And she and Vinnie were locked in his office together for almost an hour, and they were making those weird barnyard sounds."

"I forgot my gun again," I said.

"I got a gun," Connie said, "but it isn't going to do you any good. Vinnie went to North Carolina yesterday to pick up a jumper. He should be back the end of the week."

"I can't work like this," I said. "She's in my way. She's following me around."

"I can fix that," Lula said. "Where is she? I'll go talk to her."

"She's in the black Cherokee, but I don't think that's a good idea."