TEN

I ROLLED INTO the bonds office at nine o’clock. Connie was at her desk. Lula hadn’t as yet arrived.

“Have you heard anything about the fire?” I asked Connie.

“So far, no bodies found. Word on the street is there’s a war going on between Bobby Sunflower and some under-the-radar Mob guy.”

“Did your brother get his car back?”

“He’s picking it up from impound today. The police suspect it was stolen by someone associated with the fire.”

“Only tangentially.”

“That’s a big word,” Connie said.

“I heard it on television. I’m pretty sure I used it right.”

The phone rang, and Connie answered. “Yeah,” she said to the caller. “I understand.” She hung up and looked at me. “That was a reminder that we have two days left to come up with the money. And it’s now grown to a million one.”

“At least we know Vinnie didn’t burn up in the house.”

“Looks that way. I suppose it’s a good thing, although I’m starting to think it might be easier just to look for a new job.”

Lula bustled in. “What’d I miss? Did I miss anything? I overslept. And then I couldn’t figure out what to wear. And my coffeepot’s broke, so I had to stop at Starbucks, and the line was out the door.”

“We found out Vinnie didn’t burn up in the house,” I told her.

“Hunh,” Lula said. “But then on the bright side, since he isn’t dead, we might get to use the stink bomb after all.”

“Every cloud has a silver lining,” Connie said.

“You got bags under your eyes,” Lula said to me. “You spend the night with Morelli?”

“No. We’re in the off-again phase of our on-again, off-again relationship,” I told her. “It was just one of those sleepless nights.”

I had bags under my eyes because I’d thrashed around all night in a state over bread. And then I was in a state because I had two men in my life, and I had no clue what to do with them. I loved them each in different ways, and I was too traditional and Catholic to just enjoy them. How sick is that? I wasn’t a practicing Catholic, but I had guilt. And I was stuck with all these rules about relationships. And then there was my mother, who I suspect was mortally afraid I’d end up with Ranger. And my grandmother, who probably thought I was an idiot not to be sleeping with both of them. And my father, who didn’t think there was a man alive who was worthy of me. So I’d probably gotten about an hour’s sleep last night. And then Chet had called at seven o’clock. Midmorning for Ranger’s team.

“This morning, Chet called with a list of properties Sunflower owns through his holding company,” I told Connie and Lula. “I’m going to do a drive-by on everything that’s local.”

“I’m up for that,” Lula said. “It’s a nice sunny day out. Perfect for riding around. Maybe we should put the top down on the Jeep.”