“Honey, you’re working at the wrong ice cream factory,” Betty said. “That would be Mo Morris across town. He’s got a cafeteria, and his wife makes the sandwiches.”
“Yeah, and everyone gets free ice cream over there,” Miranda said.
I unwrapped my crackers. “So why are you all working here?”
“It’s impossible to get a job at the Morris plant,” Betty said. “No one ever leaves.”
“There’s not much turnover here either,” Miranda said. “Of course, there’s a human resources job open.”
“I noticed they still have the crime scene tape up,” I said. “It’s a little creepy. When I came in this morning the receptionist took me to see Mr. Bogart. Didn’t the human resources guy have an assistant?”
“Nope. It was just him,” Betty said. “This isn’t such a big operation. Evelyn has the office next to HR. She does the clerical work for everyone, including Arnold. He’s the deceased. Arnold Zigler.”
“Who’s Evelyn?” I asked.
The round-faced chubby woman sitting across from me raised her hand. “I’m Evelyn.”
“Oh, wow,” I said. “I’m sorry. You must have been friends with . . . Arnold.”
“He was a nice man,” Evelyn said. “Quiet. Kept to himself. Took his job seriously. I didn’t know him beyond work.” She pressed her lips together. “He hated Bogart Bars. He was allergic to nuts. Not so bad that they bothered him in the plant, but he couldn’t eat them.”
“What happened if he ate them?” I asked.
“Hives,” Evelyn said. “I never saw them firsthand. He kept Benadryl in his desk just in case.”
I didn’t know what to say. I guess it could have been an ironic coincidence, but it seemed especially nasty that he’d been covered with something that made him sick.
“Do you have any idea who killed him?” I asked.
Evelyn shook her head. “No.”
Everyone else had the same response.
“Terrible,” I said. “I heard the nuts came from here. It had to have been done by someone who works here and knew him. Remember Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer who worked in a candy factory? Maybe there’s a serial killer at loose here.”
“So far only one person has been killed,” Betty said. “You need to kill a bunch of people to be a serial killer.”
“This could be the beginning,” I said. I looked around the table. “Do any of you know anyone who looks like a serial killer?”
“Marty,” Betty said. “He’s at the end of the line working the wrapper. He has shifty eyes. They look in different directions.”
“He told me about that once,” Evelyn said. “He has a glass eye. He poked his real eye out with a clam shucker. He said he’d been drinking.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Anybody got any weed?” Evelyn asked.
“I have some in my locker,” one of the other women said.
Evelyn perked up. “I’ll trade you for an egg salad sandwich.”
“Is it on sourdough?” the woman asked. “Do you have pickles?”
“Of course.”
“Deal.”
So now I thought I might be understanding everyone’s happiness.
My shift was over at four o’clock. I peeled the yellow jumpsuit off and dragged myself out of the ice cream factory. I got into my SUV and stared at the windshield.
Wake up! I thought. Snap out of it.
Someone knocked on my side window. It was Evelyn.
“See you tomorrow,” she said.
I nodded and forced a smile. The people were nice. The job was deadly. All those cups. The hum of the machines. The overhead fluorescent lights. And the smell of vanilla beans was stuck in my nose. Did I accomplish anything? No. I wasn’t the world’s best spy.
There was still plenty of daylight, so I pointed my car toward Stark Street. The plan was to ride past Eugene Winkle’s address and hope I didn’t see him. If I did see him I’d call Ranger and ask for help. This plan had the additional advantage of being able to pop into the 7-Eleven on State Street at the end of Stark and get some nachos. Morelli was bringing dinner, but he wouldn’t be around until six o’clock and I was starving.
I connected with Stark Street on the fifth block and turned left. Traffic was minimal. A couple weary-looking hookers had staked out a corner. An old man was curled up like a cat asleep on a stoop. Fast food drink cups and burger wrappers littered the sidewalks and banked up against the curbs. No gargantuan snub-nosed guy in sight.
I continued on down Stark, looking for Winkle, trying to stay alert for trouble. I didn’t want to get caught in gang-related crossfire. I didn’t want to accidentally run over a drugged-up homeless person. I didn’t want to look like I was trolling for dope. I recognized a hooker on the corner of block three. Her name was Sharelle Jones. Vinnie had bonded her out several times, and she was friendly with Lula. I pulled over and rolled my window down.
“Hey, girl,” Sharelle said, leaning in. “You lookin’ for a good time?”
“No,” I said. “I’m looking for Eugene Winkle. Have you seen him?”
“Haven’t seen him. Don’t want to see him. Don’t need that kind of trouble. Dude’s ugly inside and out.”
I wrapped a twenty around my business card and handed it to Sharelle. “Let me know if you hear anything.”
“Will do,” Sharelle said. “Tell Lula I was askin’ on her.”
I drove the length of Stark and pulled into the 7-Eleven. I was on my way out when I ran into Larry Virgil.
“Oh crap!” Virgil said. And he took off running.
He tried to cross State Street and ran out of luck halfway when an orange Subaru plowed into him, knocked him into the oncoming lane, and three cars ran over him before all traffic came to a screeching stop. I called 911, but I didn’t think they needed to be in a big rush.
A lot of people ran to Virgil and huddled around. I stayed on the outskirts. I didn’t think I could help in any way, and I didn’t especially want to see the carnage.
A fire truck was the first to arrive. Two cop cars were close behind. Within five minutes the road was clogged with emergency vehicles, and police were diverting traffic.
Eddie Gazarra got out of a cop car and walked over to me.
“I see they gave you a new car,” I said to him.
“They tried to put me on a bicycle, but my ass didn’t fit on the seat.” He looked at the container of nachos still in my hand. “Are you going to eat that?”
I shook my head. “My stomach isn’t feeling great. I bought these before . . . you know.”
“Looks like they gave you extra cheese glop. Be a shame to waste it.”
I handed the nachos over to Eddie. “Enjoy.”
“If I had to take a guess I’d say you bumped into Virgil on your way out of the 7-Eleven, and he ran across the road trying to get away.”
“Your guess would be right.”
“It’s not your fault,” Eddie said.
“It feels like my fault.”
“He chose to run. You didn’t make him run into the street, did you?”
I blew out a sigh. I knew Eddie was right, but I still felt bad.
“No,” I said. “I didn’t make him run into the street, but I was a catalyst. It’s like I’m always there when disaster happens.”
“I hear you,” Eddie said. “You think you’re in a lousy spot? You should have my job.”
“How do you manage?”
“I walk the dog, and I think about my retirement pension.”
I helped myself to one of the corn chips and scooped up some cheese goo. “There has to be more.”
“For as long as I could remember I wanted to be a cop. It’s not exactly the way I thought it would be, but I think I’m a good cop. And sometimes I get to help people. And it’s never boring. The ‘never boring’ is important because I have a short attention span. I’m ADD.”
As were his kids and his dog.
“I suppose I have to talk to someone,” I said.
Eddie looked back at the knot of people around Virgil. “I think Manny Rogezzi has this. You remember Manny? He was a year ahead of you in high school. He married Marilyn Fugg.” He finished the nachos and handed the empty container back to me. “Stay here and I’ll send him over.”
After what seemed like an eternity Manny made his way through the crowd to where I was standing.
“How is he?” I asked. “He was killed, wasn’t he?”