“Good luck. Half the time Morelli's captain doesn't know what Morelli's working on.”
“I know, but you hear things.”
Heavy sigh. “I'll see what I can dig up.”
Morelli was vice, which meant he was in a different building, in a different part of Trenton than Eddie. Vice did a lot of work with DEA and Customs and kept pretty closemouthed about their projects. Still, there was bar talk and clerical gossip and talk among spouses.
I shucked my Levi's and did the panty hose-business suit bit. I slid my feet into heels, fluffed my hair up with some gel and hairspray, and swiped at my lashes with mascara. I stepped back and took a look. Not bad, but I didn't think Sharon Stone would drive off a bridge in a jealous rage.
“Look at that skirt,” my mother said when she opened the door to me. “It's no wonder we have so much crime today what with these short skirts. How can you sit in a skirt like that? Everyone can see everything.”
“It's two inches above my knee. It's not that short.”
“I haven't got all day to stand here talking about skirts,” Grandma Mazur said. “I got to get to the funeral parlor. I gotta see how they laid this guy out. I hope they didn't smooth over those bullet holes too good.”
“Don't get your hopes up,” I told Grandma Mazur. “I think this will be closed coffin.” Not only was Moogey shot, but he was also autopsied. I figured it would take all the king's horses and all the king's men to put Moogey Bues back together again.
“Closed coffin! Well, that would be darn disappointing. Word gets out that Stiva is having closed coffins and his attendance'll drop like a rock.” She buttoned a cardigan sweater over her dress and tucked her pocketbook under her arm. “Didn't say anything in the paper about closed coffins.”
“Come back after,” my mother said. “I made chocolate pudding.”
“You sure you don't want to go?” Grandma Mazur asked my mother.
“I didn't know Moogey Bues,” my mother told her. “I've got better things to do than to go to a viewing of some perfect stranger.”
“I wouldn't go either,” Grandma Mazur said, “but I'm helping Stephanie with this here manhunt. Maybe Kenny Mancuso will show up, and Stephanie will need some extra muscle. I was watching television, and I saw how you stick your fingers in a person's eyes to slow them down.”
“She's your responsibility,” my mother said to me. “She sticks her finger in anybody's eye I'm holding you accountable.”
The double-wide viewing room door was propped open to better accommodate the crush of people who'd come to see Moogey Bues. Grandma Mazur immediately began elbowing her way to the front with me in tow.
“Well, don't that beat all,” she said when she reached the end of the chairs. “You were right. They got the lid down.” Her eyes narrowed. “How are we supposed to know if Moogey's really in there?”
“I'm sure someone has checked.”
“But we don't know for certain.”
I gave her the silent stare.
“Maybe we should peek inside and see for ourselves,” she said.
“NO!”
Conversation paused as heads swiveled in our direction. I smiled apologetically and put a restraining arm around Grandma.
I lowered my voice and added some stern to my whisper. “It's not polite to peek into a closed casket. And besides, it's none of our business, and it doesn't really matter to us if Moogey Bues is here or there. If Moogey Bues is missing, it's police business.”
“It could be important to the case,” she said. “It could have to do with Kenny Mancuso.”
“You're just nosy. You want to see the bullet holes.”
“There's that,” she said.
I noticed Ranger had also come to the viewing. As far as I knew, Ranger wore only two colors: army green and bad-ass black. Tonight he was bad-ass black, the monotony broken only by double-stud earrings, sparkling under the lights. As always, his hair was pulled back into a ponytail. As always, he wore a jacket. This time the jacket was black leather. One could only guess what was hidden under the jacket. Probably enough firepower to wipe out a small European country. He'd positioned himself against a back wall, standing with arms crossed, body relaxed, eyes watchful.
Joe Morelli stood opposite him in a similar pose.
I watched a man slide past a knot of people congregated at the door. The man took a fast survey of the room, then acknowledged Ranger with a nod.