All of which was a roundabout way of explaining that Tony Fulci was neither as intellectually or as emotionally limited as some believed him to be. And like a lot of men and women who think slowly, he had a habit of coming to the right decision at the end of his deliberations. He had now spent ninety minutes sitting in the cab of the monster truck he shared with his brother, eating a box of Crown Fried Chicken and watching the two men parked over by Coastal Trading & Pawn. Earlier, by coincidence, he and Paulie had been five vehicles behind Parker as he drove along Forest Avenue to the Bear, where his car currently sat in the parking lot. Four cars behind Parker, and therefore immediately in front of the Fulcis, had been a blue Chevy Avalanche with New York plates and what looked like two male occupants. When Tony had stepped out of the Bear to call his mother – he didn’t like forcing others to listen to his cell phone conversations, especially not with his mom – the Chevy had been parked outside Skillful Home Recreation, still with two guys sitting in the front. It had since relocated twice while always keeping the parking lot of the Bear in view.

It hadn’t taken Tony long to figure out that the two men were watching and waiting for someone in the Bear and the available evidence, given the vehicles that had already entered and exited during the time that Tony had spent observing it, suggested it could well be Mr Parker. On the other hand, Tony knew, he might just be jumping at shadows where none existed. He could call Mr Parker and tell him what he was seeing, but then what? The investigator might confront the two men – because a certain rashness was part of his nature – but he was currently alone, Angel and Louis being elsewhere, and if the men in the car meant him some ill will, he would be walking straight into their sights. If the cops were called, they could only question them before moving them along, unless something offered probable cause for further action. Again, if the watchers meant Mr Parker harm, they’d either vanish only to materialize again later, or pass the job on to someone else.

Tony really wished Angel and Louis were around.