He stood at the couch with his hands in his pockets. “You want to tell me about the color copies on your table?”
Damn. I hadn't put the prints away. “They're nothing special.”
“Body parts in a garbage bag?”
“Do you find them interesting?”
“I don't know who it is, if that's what you're getting at.” He moved to the table. “Twenty-?four pictures. The whole roll. Two with the bag tied up. That's got me thinking. And they're recent, too.”
“How do you know that?”
“There are newspapers stuck in the bag along with the body. I looked at them with your magnifying glass, and you see this one here with the color? I'm pretty sure this is a supplement from Kmart advertising the Mega Monster. I know because my kid made me go get him one the second he saw the ad.”
“You have a kid?”
“Why is that such a big shock? He lives with my ex-?wife.”
“When was the first time the ad ran?”
“I called and checked. It was a week ago Thursday.”
The day before Fred disappeared.
“Where'd you get these pictures?” Bunchy asked.
“Fred's desk.”
Bunchy shook his head. “Fred was involved in some very bad shit.”
I locked and bolted the door after Bunchy left. I showered and dressed in Levi's and a black turtleneck. I tucked the turtleneck in and added a belt. I stuffed Uncle Fred's picture into my shoulder bag and took off to do my pseudo-?private investigator thing.
My first stop was at the off
ice to collect my pittance on Briggs.
Lula looked up from the filing when I walked in. “Girl, we've been waiting for you. We heard how you beat the crap out of that Briggs guy. Not that he didn't deserve it, but I think if you was gonna beat the crap out of someone, you could let me in on it. You know how bad I wanted to beat the crap out of that little wiener.”
“Yeah,” Connie said to me, “you've got some nerve hogging all the brutality.”
“I didn't do anything,” I said. “He fell down the stairs.”
Vinnie opened his office door and stuck his head out. “Jesus Christ,” he said. “How many times have I told you not to hit people in the face? You hit them in the body where it doesn't show. Kick them in the nuts. Sucker-?punch them in the kidney.”
“He fell down the stairs!” I said again.
“Yeah, but you pushed him, right?”
“No!”
“See, that's good,” Vinnie said. “Lying is good. Stick with that story. I like it.” He stepped back into his office and slammed the door shut.
I gave Connie the body receipt, and Connie wrote me a check.
“I'm off to find a witness,” I said.
Lula had her purse in her hand. “I'll go with you. Just in case that Bunchy guy decides to follow you some more. I'll take care of his ass.”
I smiled. This should be interesting.