“It's Bunchy,” I said. “I'm sort of working with him.”
“No kidding? I didn't realize this had turned into such a big investigation. We've got a whole team here.”
I stopped at the house Grandma had described, and we all got out and collected together on the sidewalk. It had stopped raining, and the temperature had risen to pleasant.
“My granddaughter tells me you're working together,” Grandma said to Bunchy, looking him over. “Are you a bounty hunter, too?”
“No, ma'am,” he said. “I'm a bookie.”
“A bookie!” Grandma said. “Isn't that something. I always wanted to meet a bookie.”
I knocked on Margaret Burger's door, and before I could introduce myself Grandma stepped forward.
“Hope we aren't disturbing you,” Grandma said. “But we're conducting an important investigation. Stephanie and me and Mr. Bunchy.”
> Bunchy elbowed me. “Mr. Bunchy,” he said.
“Not at all,” Margaret Burger said. “I guess this is about poor Fred.”
“We can't find him no-?how,” Grandma said. “And my granddaughter thought your problem with that cable company sounded real similar. Except, of course, they gave Sol a heart attack instead of making him disappear.”
“They were awful people,” Margaret said. “We paid our bills on time. We never missed a payment. And then when we had trouble with the cable box, they said they never heard of us. Can you imagine?”
“Just like Fred,” Grandma said. “Isn't that right, Stephanie?”
“Uh, yeah, it sounds—”
“So then what?” Bunchy said. “Did Sol complain?”
“He went down there in person and raised a big fuss. And that's when he had his heart attack.”
“What a shame,” Grandma said. “Sol was only in his seventies, too.”
“Do you have any canceled checks from the cable company?” Bunchy asked Margaret. “Something from before you had the problem?”
“I could look in my file,” Margaret said. “I keep all my checks for a couple years. But I don't think I have any of the cable checks. After Sol died, that awful cable person, John Curly, came and tried to look like he was being helpful about solving the mix-?up. I didn't buy that for a minute. He was just trying to cover his tracks because he messed up the computer records. He even said as much, but it was too late for Sol. He'd already been given the heart attack.”
Bunchy looked resigned to what he was hearing. “John Curly took the canceled checks,” Bunchy said, more statement than question.
“He said he needed them for his records.”
“And he never brought them back?”
“Never. And next thing I know I get a statement from them welcoming me like I was a brand-?new customer. I'm telling you, that cable company is a mess.”
“Anything else you want to know?” I asked Bunchy.
“No. That's about it.”
“How about you, Grandma?”
“I can't think of anything more.”
“Well then,” I said to Margaret, “I guess there isn't anything else. Thanks for talking to us.”
“I hope Fred turns up,” Margaret said. “Mabel must be beside herself.”
“She's holding up pretty good,” Grandma said. “I guess Fred wasn't one of those husbands you really mind losing.”