“So you have to save the dog.”

“He’s counting on me.”

“Stephanie to the rescue,” Connie said.

“I could call you a cab,” I said. “And you could go back to the hotel.”

“No way. I’d have to sit around the pool and get a tan and have half-naked waiters bring me cold drinks. Where’s the fun in that when I could be sitting here listening to Lula?”

SUSAN LU LEFT the house a little after two. She walked to a bus stop on the far corner. After five minutes a bus appeared and Lu got on.

“Thank God,” Connie said. “I’m at the end of the line with the snoring and the sweating.”

I gave Lula a shove. “Wake up. Susan Lu left the house. We can get the dog now.”

Lula squinted at me. “I feel like my eyes are fried. I’m not as young as I used to be. I can’t do this all-night shit anymore. And this place is hotter than snot. How can anyone live here?”

I cranked the car over and pulled into Lu’s driveway. Lula, Connie, and I got out and walked around to the back kitchen door.

“Door’s locked,” Lula said. “Too bad you have this thing about busting in.”

“This is for a good cause,” I said. “I suppose we could force the door if we did it really carefully.”

“Hunh,” Lula said. She swung her purse into the window beside the door and shattered the window. “Oops,” Lula said. “Guess I accidentally broke a window.” Then she reached in and opened the door.

“Cripes,” Connie said. “Could you make more noise? Maybe there’s someone left in the neighborhood who didn’t hear that.”

I tiptoed over the glass shards, scooped up Boo, and handed him to Lula. I quickly walked through the rest of the house. I took Singh’s laptop, but found nothing else of interest. I wiped Lula’s prints off the doorknob and we left.

“We’re like Robin Hood or something,” Lula said. “We rescued this cute little guy. I feel like singing the Robin Hood theme song.”

We stopped and thought about that for a second.

“Damn,” Lula said. “There’s no Robin Hood theme song.”

We got into the rental Taurus and hightailed it out of the neighborhood. Best not to delay, in case someone confused us with dognappers and called the police. The police might not understand about Robin Hood.

I stopped at a supermarket and bought a dog leash and collar, and a small bag of dog food for Boo. I bought popsicles for Connie and me and two pounds of sliced deli ham for Lula.

I didn’t know if dogs were allowed at the Luxor and I didn’t think it was worth the hassle to check. I wrapped the dog in my sweatshirt and smuggled him up to the room.

“Isn’t this a pisser,” Lula said, going into the room. “Look at what’s here. My luggage. Came just in time to lug it back home.”

“Hopefully they won’t lose it this time.”