Page 92 of Now or Never

“That’s a lot of money.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why they set the bail bond so high. They know he never gets convicted of anything,” Lula said. “Is Vinnie coming?”

“There’s a hitch.”

“Another one? You’re full of hitches these days.”

“Is that Jug yelling in the background?”

“He isn’t exactly yelling. More like talking loud. He’s explaining that he can’t get locked up because he has a massage appointment.”

“Tell him the appointment got canceled and we’re trying to get his bond straightened out.”

Ten minutes later, Lula met me outside.

“How’d that go?” I asked her.

“It could have been worse. He’s kind of a celebrity. All the cops know him. Some of them wanted a selfie with him.”

“No one wants to bond him out. He’s in a big feud with Harry and Harry won’t let Vinny write a bond for Jug. I called the other two bail bond agencies, and they aren’t interested. The bond is too high.”

“Why doesn’t Jug pay his own bond?” Lula asked.

“Good question.”

I called Lou.

“Is he ready to get picked up?” Lou asked.

“No. We have a problem. No one will write a bail bond for him.”

Silence. “You’re kidding me, right?” Lou finally said.

“Apparently Harry the Hammer and Lou aren’t talking. Something about a big dis at the Christmas party. So now Harry won’t let us bail Jug out. I called two more agencies, and no one will take it. The bond is too high.”

“This is not good.”

“Why doesn’t Bruno bail himself out? He must have millions.”

“The company has millions,” Lou said. “How much money are we talking about?”

“It’s the same as last time.”

“I don’t know how much Bruno has that’s liquid. I’ll get Bordelli working on it. You should work on it too or you could end up in a bad place.”

“The landfill?”

“No. We don’t use that anymore. We dump offshore.”

I hung up.

“I need to talk to Harry,” I said to Lula. “I’m going back to the office.”

“Nobody talks to Harry,” Lula said. “I’ve never even seen him.”

“I have good news,” Connie said when Lula and I walked into the office. “The charges have been dropped on Zachary Zell.”

“Do I get my capture fee?” I asked her.

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