TWENTY
WE DROPPED BRIGGS and his groceries at my apartment building, and Ranger drove me to the bail bonds office, where the Buick was still parked.
“Have you heard from Vlatko?” I asked Ranger.
“No. With any luck, he’s busy working on his primary assignment and I have time to find him before he goes on the attack after us. I had a contact comb through recently issued visas, and no one named Vlatko was on the list, so we can assume he’s using a different name.”
“We know he’s working out of the Russian consulate in New York,” I said. “Suppose I go back there and try to get a name.”
“Do you have an angle?”
“I can go back with my lawyer and my slashed shirt and accuse Vlatko of viciously attacking me at the party.”
“Who’s your lawyer?”
“Briggs. When all else fails, he’s good at playing the short card.”
“I like it, but if something goes wrong, you’re on foreign soil and a rescue will be more difficult.”
“But not impossible?”
“Not impossible,” Ranger said. “When do you want to do this?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
I watched Ranger drive away, and I called Briggs.
“Do you have a suit?” I asked him.
“Did you say ‘fruit’?”
“I said ‘suit.’ ”
“Sorry, my ears are ringing from the explosion. I had a suit, but it went up in flames with everything else I owned.”
“I need you to pretend to be a lawyer tomorrow morning, and you need to look the part.”
“My friend Nick is my size. I might be able to borrow some clothes from him. What kind of lawyer am I?”
“Litigator.”
“Oh man, I’m going to be a kick-ass litigator. Who are we suing? I can do this. I’ll scare the crap out of the sonsabitches. I even thought about being a lawyer when I was in college.”
“I’m not suing anyone. This is sort of a con.”
“A what?”
“A con. A scam.”
“Say again.”
“A con,” I yelled into the phone.
“A con. Even better!”
“Call me if you need a ride to pick up the clothes. Otherwise I’ll come get you tomorrow at eight A.M.”
Lula was on the couch, reading email on her smartphone, when I walked into the office.
“This here’s from my cousin Joleen,” she said. “She’s gonna get married as soon as her boyfriend gets a parole. He’s got a hearing coming up in a couple weeks, and they’re thinking about a December wedding if everything goes right.”
“Gee, that’s great,” I said. “What’s he in for?”
“Armed robbery with intent to kill, but it wasn’t his fault. He was on a lot of drugs.”
“And he’s off them now?”
“Yeah. Drugs are expensive in prison, and he don’t have a good source of income there.”
“I need to have another conversation with Buster,” I said. “Do you want to ride along?”
“Sure,” Lula said. “As long as we get back by five o’clock. I got a big date tonight, and it might take me some time to get beautiful.”
I drove past Rangeman on the way across town. The crime scene tape had been taken down, but several vans from a variety of government agencies were still in place.
“This whole thing gives me the creeps,” Lula said. “I don’t like no radioactive shit leaking out in my neighborhood. Excuse my language, but there’s no other way to say it. It’s scary as snot.”
I cut back to State Street, turned up Stark, and parked across the street from Buster. It was late in the day, and people were lining up for pizza.
We crossed the street, I pushed the intercom buzzer, and Buster answered.
“It’s me again,” I said.
“Is the chick with the big tits with you?”
“Yeah.”
“Come on up.”
“That’s sweet,” Lula said. “He remembered me.”
Buster was standing at the top of the stairs, wearing a red chef’s apron and holding a spoon.
“What’s up?” he said. “I’m in the middle of making dinner.”
“What are you making?” Lula asked him.
“Red sauce. I’m having spaghetti. I got some nice parmesan and some fresh basil.”
“We need to talk,” I said. “Someone just shot a rocket into a very expensive Porsche because Briggs was in it. Was that you?”
“No shit,” Buster said. “Did Briggs get blown up?”