Page 43 of Now or Never

“Did you get exercise today?”

“I took the stairs instead of the elevator and then I walked to my car.”

Morelli grinned. “That’s a start.”

“Baby steps,” I said, and I did a mental grimace at the unintentional double meaning. “I want to talk to you about Zoran Djordjevic.”

Morelli forked in some egg. “Points for pronouncing his name right.”

“I think it’s possible that he’s a serial killer.”

Morelli stopped eating and gave me his full attention. “What have you got?”

I gave him the chronological history of the four missing women, beginning with Zoran’s wife and ending with Julie Werly.

“I wasn’t the principal on any of the locals,” Morelli said, “but I’m familiar with them. All dead ends.”

“Interesting though, right?”

“Jimmy was the principal on Werly. It was a big deal. Horrible crime. Everybody was broken up about it. She was really well-liked.Her students loved her. My understanding is that her parents refuse to believe she’s dead.”

“No body.”

“Right. The body and the murder weapon were never found. I’ll talk to Jimmy about it.”

I finished my breakfast and stood. “This was great. Thanks.”

“Will I see you tonight?”

“Not tonight,” I said. “I’m doing a stakeout.”

Morelli rinsed his coffee mug and put it in the dishwasher. “Tell me it isn’t dangerous.”

“It isn’t dangerous,” I said.

Morelli wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. “Be careful.”

The next stop was the supermarket. It didn’t open until seven o’clock, so I sat in the lot and made a food list. After the food list, I reviewed what I knew about Zoran, which was very little. He was dripping blood when he ran out of the laundromat. I decided I should go back to the scene of the crime and see where the blood trail stopped. And I should ask Ranger if his tech guy could tap into any video feeds in the area. The police would also have that ability, but they wouldn’t tell me what they found.

A small clump of early shoppers had gathered in front of the store. The doors opened and the shoppers rushed in. I left my car, got a cart, and followed at a more sedate pace. I looked for things that were appropriate for someone who had no talent in the kitchen. Baby carrots, snap peas, green beans. All prewashed and sealed up in bags. And I could share them with Rex. Salad greens. Prewashed and sealed up in a plastic box. I was on a roll. I could do this. I added blueberries, strawberries, bananas, a couple apples, andcherry tomatoes. I considered buying potatoes but decided it might be beyond me first time out. I got shelled walnuts and almonds for Rex and me. Swiss, cheddar, provolone, and American cheese slices. Instant oatmeal. Pop Tarts. Lots of them. Peanut butter and almond butter. Honey. Lots of olives. Wheat bread that said it was healthy and full of seeds. Burger buns that had no real nutritional value. A variety of condiments. Milk, half-and-half, vanilla yogurt, Irish butter, orange juice, eggs. I got to the meat counter and drew a blank. I didn’t know what to do with meat but it seemed like I should buy some, so I got a large packet of ground beef. I did a left turn and went down the frozen-food aisle. I couldn’t cook but I could defrost and reheat. Frozen veggie burgers, frozen beef patties, frozen chicken nuggets. Bags of frozen vegetables. Frozen rice and pasta meals. Frozen waffles and bagels. Seemed like a good start.

I checked out, took all my groceries home, and put them away. I spent a moment staring at the inside of my fridge, thinking it looked nice with food in it. I took a shower, blasted my hair with the hair dryer, and got dressed in the usual uniform of T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

Lula and Connie were already in the office when I strolled in.

“We’ve still got some good doughnuts left,” Lula said. “Connie got extra Boston cream today.”

“I’m going to hold on the doughnut. I already had breakfast this morning. I want to take a look at the laundromat crime scene.”

“I guess I could go with you,” Lula said. “Not much going on here.”

I drove to Freemont and parked across from the laundromat. The crime scene tape was still in place. The street was empty.

“What are we looking for?” Lula asked, following me to the taped-off area.

“Blood. I want to see if there’s a blood trail.”

“There’s splotches coming out the door,” Lula said. “The splotches end but there’s footprints on account of he must have stepped in the blood. And there’s some little dribbles going down the sidewalk in the direction of the clothes store.”

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