Page 26 of Now or Never

I rang the doorbell and Mrs. Fleck answered it.

“Stephanie and Lula,” she said. “What a nice surprise. We were just sitting down to dinner. It’s Taco Tuesday. Would you like to join us? I always make extra.”

“Hell yeah,” Lula said. “I love tacos.”

“Actually, we’re here to reschedule Eugene,” I said.

“Of course,” Mrs. Fleck said. “He’s at the table. His friend Kevin is here as well. Take a seat and I’ll add two more place settings.”

Mrs. Fleck went to get plates and I grabbed Lula by the back of her shirt.

“We didn’t come here for dinner,” I said. “We came to arrest Eugene.”

“Yeah, but he hasn’t eaten his dinner yet. You said we were gonna be classy and seems to me it would be rude not to let everyone eat dinner before you drag Eugene’s skinny ass out of here. Especially after Mrs. F. went to so much trouble. She’s got sour cream and shredded cheese and lettuce and hot sauce and all kinds of stuff on the table. I can see it from here.”

I cut my eyes to the dining room. Everyone was watching us. Eugene did a little wave.

“That must be the Mr. at the head of the table,” Lula said. “He looks like he could eat a lot of tacos.”

Go with it, I told myself. Take a seat and wait for the moment. These are nice people. No reason to cause any more stress than is necessary.

I went to the table and sat in the seat next to Eugene. “I’m sure you know why we’re here,” I said to him.

“Not a problem,” he said. “I was going to get in touch with you anyway. I got swept away by the Merry Men. They were so happy to see me that I didn’t have the heart to tell them I wasn’t Robin.”

“Are you sure you aren’t Robin?” Lula asked from across the table. “I’ve been watching Robin on YouTube, and you look like you could be Robin.” She turned to Kevin, sitting next to her. “You look like you could be Robin, too. Put a hood on you and be hard to tell the two of you apart. Without the hood it’s easier on account of you have all that curly red hair. I’ve got a wig with hair just like yours.”

Kevin rolled his eyes up, as if he could see his hair. “This is mine,” he said.

Kevin’s build was slim. His skin was pale and freckled. His voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. He looked like a red-haired ghost sitting next to Lula.

Mrs. Fleck returned with plates and silverware. “Everyone help yourselves. There’s more in the kitchen.”

Lula filled her taco shell and did a taste test. “This is real good chicken,” Lula said to Mrs. Fleck. “I bet you marinated it to get it this tasty.”

“I have a secret recipe,” Mrs. Fleck said. “I have a special sauce for my beef tacos too.”

“I’m impressed that you take your tacos seriously,” Lula said. “That’s an admirable quality.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Fleck said. “It’s nice to have young ladies at the table. Eugene has never had a girl visit him before this.”

“Jeez, Mom,” Eugene said. “That’s embarrassing. And anyway, they came to arrest me. They’re from the bail bonds agency. You’re going to have to bail me out again.”

“You should have remembered your court date,” Eugene’s father said. “This is going to cost us more money. And it’s irresponsible.”

“I had reasons,” Eugene said.

“How does this rescheduling work?” Mrs. Fleck asked. “Is it done online? Do we sign more papers and give you a check?”

“I have to go to the police station with them,” Eugene said. “It’s after court hours, so I’ll have to spend the night in jail, and then in the morning I’ll go before a judge, and he’ll give me a new trial date and set a bail bond amount.”

“That’s terrible,” Mrs. Fleck said, her voice raised, clearly upset. “I had no idea. You didn’t have to stay in jail last time.”

“Court was in session when he was brought in last time,” I said. “We were able to write an immediate bail bond.”

“This is terrible,” Mrs. Fleck said. “He’s been accused of a crime he didn’t commit. He can’t even go out in public without people pointing him out and wanting to take a selfie with him. And now he has to get locked up in jail!”

Oh boy. This was going south fast. I pushed back in my chair and stood, reaching for my cuffs. “It’s just overnight.”

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