Page 108 of Now or Never

I had my arms wrapped around the basket, holding it against my chest.

“Harry likes big ones,” the assistant said. “Follow me.”

We were ushered into Harry’s inner sanctum office, and Harry looked up when we entered.

“These ladies have a fruit basket for you,” the assistant said.

I went to place the basket on Harry’s desk and a pear slipped out from the cellophane wrapping and rolled on the floor. Lula bent to pick it up and gave Harry a full moon with her red thong buried deep inside her vast lunar canyon.

Harry stood at his desk to get a better view.

Lula stood, tugged her skirt down, and handed the pear to Harry. “Looks like you’ve got a lot of pears in this basket,” Lula said.

“Do you want some?” Harry asked.

“No thanks,” Lula said. “I don’t eat pears.”

“We’re good now,” I said to Harry. “The thank-you note is in the fruit basket.”

Harry took the note out and read it. “This doesn’t look like Harry’s writing.”

“He dictated it to me,” I said. “And I might have paraphrased. He was very sincere about his message.”

“Who’s your friend here?”

“I’m Lula,” Lula said. “I work for you.”

“Lucky me,” Harry said. “Can I touch your tit?”

“No, but you could take a look at it if you want,” Lula said. “I got prizewinning titties. Everybody says so. And my nipples are world-record nipples.”

Lula pulled one of the girls out of the V-neck and Harry almost fell on the floor. His face got red, and he started to sweat.

“Wow,” Harry said. “Holy crap. Can I see the other one?”

“No,” Lula said, stuffing her boob back into her dress. “You only get to see one. Anyways they’re both the same.”

“We have to go now,” I said. “Things to do. Felons to catch. Sorry about the pears.”

“Do you want some?” Harry asked me.

“No!” I said. “But thanks for the offer.”

I hurried out of Harry’s office and Lula followed.

“That went well,” Lula said. “And he has a real nice office. It’s not Oval Office caliber, but it’s still pretty nice.”

We got into my SUV, and I sat there for a moment, thinking about my next move.

“We’re missing something with Zoran,” I said. “He can find me, but I can’t find him.”

“That’s on account of he already knows where you are. Everybody knows where you are. You’re at the office or your apartment or your parents’ house. He isn’t in any of the places where he should be—like his house, his laundromat, or his parents’ house.”

“He has transportation. He’s out buying drugs. He’s stalking me.”

“So, it’s simple. We know where Zoran’s going to be,” Lula said. “He’s going to be wherever you are.”

That was like getting hit by a lightning bolt. I don’t have to find Zoran. I can let him come to me. I can set a trap with me as the bait. I just have to make sure he doesn’t get too close. He likes to come out at night, so I have today to find a location where he’ll be trapped and I’ll be protected. I’ll do some scouting around and then I’ll bring Ranger in. And since I have some time, it wouldn’t hurt to enlarge the search area. Ranger and I only searched Stark and Freemont.

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