WHEN WE GOT back to my apartment Ziggy Garvey and Benny Colucci were in the kitchen. They each had a mug of coffee and a piece of toast.
“Hope you don't mind,” Ziggy said. “We were curious about your new toaster.”
Benny gestured with his toast. “This is excellent toast. See how evenly brown it is. Not burned on the edges at all. And it's crisp throughout.”
“You should get some jelly,” Ziggy said. “Some strawberry jelly would be good on this toast.”
“You broke into my apartment again! I hate when you do that.”
“You weren't home,” Ziggy said. “We didn't want it to look like you had men loitering in your hall.”
“Yeah, we didn't want to sully your good name,” Benny said. “We didn't think you were that kind of girl. Although there's been a lot of rumors throughout the years about you and Joe Morelli. You should be careful of him. He has a very bad reputation.”
“Hey, look,” Ziggy said. “It's the little fruit. Where's your uniform, kid?”
“Yeah, and what's with the Band-Aid? You fall off your high heels?” Benny asked.
Ziggy and Benny elbowed each other and laughed as if this were some great inside joke.
An idea skittered through my head. “You guys wouldn't happen to know anything about the need for the Band-Aid, would you?”
“Not me,” Benny said. “Ziggy, you know anything about that?”
“I don't know nothing about it,” Ziggy said.
I leaned back against the kitchen counter and crossed my arms. “So what are you doing here?”
“We thought we should check in,” Ziggy said. “It's been a
while since we talked, and we wanted to see if anything new turned up.”
“It's been less than twenty-four hours,” I said.
“Yeah, that's what we said. It's been a while.”
“Nothing's turned up.”
“Gee, that's too bad,” Benny said. “You come so recommended. We had high hopes you could help us.”
Ziggy finished his coffee, rinsed the mug in the sink, and set it on the dish drain. “We should be going now.”
“Pig,” Mooner said.
Ziggy and Benny paused at the door.
“That's a rude thing to say,” Ziggy said. “We're gonna overlook it because you're Miss Plum's friend.” He looked to Benny for backup.
“That's right,” Benny said. “We're gonna overlook it, but you should learn some manners. It's not right to talk to old gentlemen like that.”
“You called me a fruit!” Mooner yelled.
Ziggy and Benny looked at each other, perplexed.
“Yeah?” Ziggy said. “So?”
“Next time feel free to loiter in the hall,” I said. I closed and locked the door behind Ziggy and Benny. “I want you to think,” I said to the Mooner. “Do you have any idea why someone shot at you? Are you sure about the woman's face in your window?”
“I don't know, man. I'm having a hard time thinking. My mind is like, busy.”