'Now what?' I asked Connie and Lula.
'He's pretty tough,' Lula said.
'He's not tough at all,' I said. 'He's a jerk. We're a bunch of wimps.'
'How about if we lock him up here and don't give him any food,'
Lula said. 'I bet he'll talk when he gets hungry.'
'That could take days.'
Connie looked at her watch. It's getting late. I should be heading for home.'
The, too,' Lula said. 'I gotta get home to feed the cat.'
I looked over at Lula. `I didn't know you adopted a cat.'
It's more like I'm thinking about it,' Lula said. 'I'm thinking of stopping at the pet store on the way home and getting a cat, and then I'm going to have to feed him.'
'So what are we going to do with this idiot?' Connie asked.
We swung our attention back to Ward.
'I guess we leave him here for now,' I said. 'Maybe we can think of something overnight.'
We cut the ropes away, stood Ward up, shoved him into the bathroom, and cuffed him to the main pipe of the pedestal sink. He had one hand free, and he was within reach of the toilet. We removed everything from the medicine chest. We left the ankle bracelets in place and attached an extra length of chain to the shackle and wrapped the extra chain around the base of the toilet.
Then we closed the door on him.
'This feels a little like kidnapping,' I said.
'No way,' Lula said. 'We're just detaining him. We're allowed to do that.'
`I'm thinking about changing careers,' Connie said. 'Something more sane... like being the detonator on the bomb squad.'
We turned the lights out and locked up. We piled into Lula's car and left Point Pleasant.
'I never even got to play the claw machine,' Lula said.
Ranger's truck was still parked in front of the bond office. It wasn't covered with graffiti or riddled with bullet holes. I thought that was a good sign. I got out of the Firebird and unlocked the truck with the remote. Then I stood back, held my breath, and started the truck with the remote. I blew out a sigh of relief when the truck didn't explode.
'You're in business,' Lula said. 'See you tomorrow. Be careful.'
I got into the truck and locked the doors. I sat there for a moment in the dark, enjoying the silence, not sure what to think of the day. I was tired. I was depressed. I was appalled.
I jumped when someone rapped on the driver-side window. I sucked in some air when I saw the guy. He was big. Over six feet.
Hard to tell his build in the dark. But I was guessing he was heavily muscled. He was wearing an oversize black hooded sweatshirt, and his face was lost in shadow inside the hood. His skin in the dark looked as black as the sweatshirt. His eyes were hidden behind dark glasses. He could be one of Ranger's men. Or he could be a messenger from the dead. Either way, he was freaking scary. I released the emergency brake and put the truck in gear in case I needed to lay rubber.
I cracked the window an inch. 'What?' I asked.
'Nice truck.'
'Un hunh.'
Tours?'
'For now.'