Page 38 of Now or Never

“I don’t feel good,” Lula said. “I don’t like talk about killing. I feel dizzy. I gotta sit down.”

Lula staggered in front of me, leaned against the door, pushingit wide open, and stumbled into the house. I scrambled after her, leading her to a chair in the living room.

“Maybe some water?” I said to the woman.

“Of course,” she said, hurrying into the kitchen.

“Am I good, or what?” Lula whispered to me. “Did you see how I got us into the house with my award-winning acting?”

The woman returned with a glass of water and handed it to Lula. Lula drank some and sprinkled some on her face.

“I feel better now,” Lula said.

“It must be nice to live close to Zoran,” I said to his mom. “Do you see him a lot?”

“Not so much since we moved to Green Garden,” she said. “Zoran works long hours at the laundromat, and we have so many activities here that we don’t get to Trenton very often.”

“How long have you lived here?” I asked her.

“We’ve been at Green Garden for four years.”

“Previously you were living in Trenton?”

“When Leo retired from Boeing, we left Seattle so we could be closer to his parents in Trenton. They were aging and having medical issues. We really were full-time caregivers for a couple years, and then when they passed, we moved here.”

“Did Zoran move to Trenton with you?”

“Yes. He was also working for Boeing, but there was the tragedy with his wife, and he wanted to move away from the memories, so he came east with us. He wanted a new start and the laundromat seemed to be a good fit for him. He has an engineering degree, you know. He’s very smart, but he wanted to try something different from engineering.”

“Zoran owns the laundromat?”

“Oh no. He doesn’t have that kind of money. His uncle owns the laundromat. Zoran is the manager.”

“Do you know any of Zoran’s friends? I might be able to get in touch with him through one of them.”

“He had a friend named Goofy. He would talk about him sometimes. He said Goofy always made him laugh. I don’t know Goofy’s real name, but I think he must live close to the laundromat.”

“Any girlfriends?”

“Nothing serious. There was a girl named Rosa that he was seeing for a while. And a very pretty girl named Julie. He never brought any of his friends home to meet us, but I saw a picture of Julie on his phone.”

“This has been helpful,” I said to Pat. “If Zoran gets in touch with you, please tell him that he needs to reschedule his court date.”

Lula stood and hiked her tote bag onto her shoulder. “Was there anything unusual about Zoran?” she asked Pat. “I couldn’t help but notice the picture of him you got on your end table, and he has a couple big sharp teeth.”

“It’s a family trait,” Pat said. “The Djordjevic men are very proud of their unique teeth.” She took a second framed photo from the end table and handed it to Lula. “This is Zoran’s dad when he won the tennis tournament last year. It’s a little blurry but it’s still a good picture. It’s hard to get a picture of the Djordjevic men. They’re always on the move.”

“Holy hell,” Lula said, handing the picture back to Pat. “He’s a real good-looking man, and I can see the family resemblance with the teeth and all.” Lula clutched her tote bag to her chest and looked around. “Where is the big guy? He isn’t home, is he?”

“He ran out to the store for a few things. He should be back any minute.”

“Any minute? Jeez, that’s too bad that I’m going to have tomiss him, but I gotta go now. I got an appointment somewhere. I got something to do.”

I followed Lula out of the house and down the sidewalk. She was already buckled in by the time I got behind the wheel.

“Did you see him?” Lula said. “It’s a whole family of freaking vampires. Am I the only one noticing these things? These people got fangs. They could eat a steak while it’s still on the cow. I mean, I try not to discriminate on the way people look, and I’m all in favor of inclusivity, but I’d have to think twice about playing tennis with a vampire.”

“It’s still early,” I said. “Let’s see if we can find Goofy.”

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