* * * * *
“I STILL DON'T LIKE THIS,” Kuntz said. “Maxine is crazy. Who knows what she'll do. I'm gonna feel like a sitting duck out there.”
Lula was standing behind me on Kuntz's porch. “Probably just another dumb-?ass note taped to the bottom of the bench. Think you should stop your whining,” she said to Kuntz, “on account of it makes you look like a wiener. And with a name like Kuntz you gotta be careful what you look like.”
Eddie cut his eyes to Lula. “Who's this?”
“I'm her partner,” Lula said. “Just like Starsky and Hutch, Cagney and Lacey, the Lone Ranger and What's-?his-?name.”
Truth is, we were more like Laurel and Hardy, but I didn't want to share that information with Kuntz.
“We'll be in place ahead of time,” I said. “Don't worry if you don't see us. We'll be there. All you have to do is show up and go sit on the bench and wait.”
“What if there's trouble?”
“Wave your arms if you need help. We won't be that far away.”
“You know which bench, right?”
“The bench next to the flagpole.”
“Yeah. That's the one.
”
Betty stuck her head out next door. “Hello, dear. Isn't it a lovely day? Are you young people planning some sort of activity? If I was your age I'd go on a picnic today.”
“We're working today,” Lula said. “We got a big lead to follow up on.”
“Betty,” Leo yelled from deep in the house, “where's my coffee cake? I thought you were bringing me a piece of coffee cake.”
Betty pulled her head in and closed the door, shutting off the flow of cold air.
“Nosy old bag,” Kuntz said. “You can't do nothing around here without her knowing it.”
“Why do you stay if you dislike it so much?”
“Cheap rent. I get a break because I'm family. Betty's my mother's sister.”
* * * * *
“YOU KNOW what we need?” Lula said, sliding behind the wheel, buckling herself in. “We need some disguises. I bet Maxine knows what you look like by now. And the way I remember that part of the park, there aren't a lot of places to hide. We're gonna have to hide out in the open. We're gonna need some disguises.”
I'd been thinking similar thoughts. Not that we needed disguises but that we were going to have a hard time making ourselves invisible.
“I know just the place to get a good disguise, too,” Lula said. “I know where we can get wigs and everything.”
Twenty minutes later we were standing outside the door to Sally's condo.
“This feels a little weird,” I said.
“You know someone else who's got wigs?”
“I don't need a wig. I can stuff my hair up under a ball cap.”
Lula rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, that's gonna fool a lot of people.”
The door opened and Sally looked out at us. His eyes were bloodshot, and his hair was standing on end.