Page 20 of Now or Never

“Hah! Another good one.” He turned to Lou. “Give her one of those fruit baskets we just got in. The one with the pears.”

“Come on, cutie,” Lou said to me. “Visit’s over. Mr. Jug is a busy man.”

“Hah! Busy man,” Jug said.

I followed Lou down the stairs, he gave me a fruit basket, and I left the building.

“What’s with the fruit basket?” Lula asked when I buckled myself in.

“Jug gave it to me. It has pears.”

“Pears are good. Personally, I only eat them if they’re covered in chocolate or salted caramel. Still, he must have liked his pajamas if he gave you pears.” She pulled away from the curb and made a U-turn. “I guess he didn’t want to re-up today?”

“He’s a busy man.”

“Yeah, he’s got a lot of irons in the fire what with the human smuggling and money laundering and selling protection, not to mention selling fruit. Plus, he might not have all his marbles. That could slow you down.”

Connie called and I put her on speakerphone.

“Are you returning to the office any time soon?” she asked. “I have a new FTA and Robin Hoodie is back in the news.”

“What did he do this time?” I asked.

“He stole a food truck and drove it to the big homeless encampment by the river. By the time the police arrived, he was long gone, and everyone was stuffed full of pulled pork sliders.”

“You gotta give Robin Hoodie credit,” Lula said. “He’s got some good ideas about helping the homeless.”

“The owner of the food truck didn’t think it was a good idea,” Connie said.

“That’s the unfortunate downside to Robin Hoodie’s good deeds,” Lula said. “It’s not like he’s robbing Prince John and the sheriff of Nottingham. Those guys deserved to get robbed. They were overtaxing the peasants. And Prince John didn’t even need more money. He owned the castle free and clear. He didn’t have a mortgage or anything.”

“We’ll drive by the Fleck house,” I said to Connie. “Eugene was next up on my to-do list anyway.”

The white Toyota Corolla was parked in the Flecks’ driveway. Lula pulled in behind it, and we walked to the front door and rang the bell.

Mrs. Fleck answered. “Oh dear,” she said. “I’m afraid Eugene isn’t home.”

“Do you know where he is?” I asked.

“I don’t know exactly, but I imagine he’s with Kevin. Kevin picked him up this morning. Kevin is Eugene’s best friend. They’ve been friends since grade school. They’re both a little geeky. They’re both gamers.”

“Where does Kevin live?”

“He has an apartment over his parents’ garage. Martino Auto Body and Dog Wash. It’s on Liberty Street.”

“I know where that is,” Lula said. “It’s next to Jenny Lou’s Tattoos. I was going to get a tattoo there once, but in the end, I decided my skin was perfect as is without injecting ink into it.”

“What kind of car does Kevin drive?” I asked Mrs. Fleck.

“Goodness, I don’t know,” Mrs. Fleck said. “It’s always something different.”

“Does Eugene have a car?”

“No,” she said. “He has his driver’s license, but he never had any interest in owning a car. He rides his bicycle everywhere. He’ll probably be home for dinner if you want to try to talk to him then. We’re having tacos tonight. Taco Tuesday. Eugene never misses tacos.”

Lula and I got back into the Firebird, and Lula drove to Martino Auto Body. The body shop consisted of four bays. A couple dented cars were parked in front of the bays. Another car was on a lift in one of the bays. There was a single door on the far side of the building. There were windows above the bays.

Lula parked on a side street, and we went to the door on the end of the building. No doorbell. No window in the door.

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