I scarfed down my cheeseburger and fries and worked at the milk shake. There was no activity in the lot or on the street, and the silence in the truck was deafening. I listened to myself breathe for a while. I snooped in the glove compartment and map pockets. I found nothing interesting. According to Morelli's dashboard clock he'd been gone for ten minutes. I finished the milk shake and crammed all the wrappers back in the bag. Now what?
It was almost seven. Visiting hours for Spiro. The perfect time to tell him about Loosey's dick. Unfortunately, I was stuck twiddling my thumbs in Morelli's truck. The glint of keys dangling from the ignition caught my eye. Maybe I should borrow the truck and slip over to the funeral parlor. Take care of business. After all, who knows how long it would take Morelli to do the paperwork? I could be stuck here for hours! Morelli would probably be grateful to me for getting the job done. On the other hand, if he came out and found his truck missing it could get ugly.
I dug around in my pocketbook and came up with a black Magic Marker. I couldn't find paper, so I wrote a note on the side of the food bag. I backed the truck up a few feet, deposited the bag in the empty space, jumped back in the truck, and took off.
Lights were blazing from Stiva's, and a crowd of people milled about on the front porch. Stiva always got a big draw on Saturdays. The lot was full and there were no parking places for two blocks down on the street, so I zoomed into the driveway reserved for “funeral cars only.” I would only be a few minutes, and besides, nobody was going to tow away a truck with a PBA shield in the back window.
Spiro did a double take when he saw me. The first reaction was relief; the second was reserved for my dress.
“Nice outfit,” he said. “You look like you just got off the bus from Appalachia.”
“I've got news for you.”
“Yeah, well, I've got news for you, too.” He jerked his head in the direction of the office. “In here.”
He hotfooted it across the lobby, wrenched the door to the office open, and closed it behind us with a slam.
“You're not going to believe this,” he said. “That asshole Kenny is such a prick. You know what he did now? He broke into my apartment.”
My eyes rounded in surprise. “No!”
“Yeah. Can you believe it? Broke a goddamn window.”
“Why would he break into your apartment?”
“Because he's fucking crazy.”
“Are you sure it was Kenny? Was anything missing?”
“Of course it was Kenny. Who the hell else could it be? Nothing was stolen. The VCR is still there. My camera, my money, my jewelry weren't touched. It was Kenny, all right. The dumb crazy fucker.”
“Did you report this to the police?”
“What's between me and Kenny is private. No police.”
“You might have to change that game plan.”
Spiro's eyes contracted and dulled and focused on mine. “Oh?”
“You remember the little incident yesterday concerning Mr. Loosey's penis?”
“Yeah?”
“Kenny mailed it to me.”
“No shit?”
“It came Express Mail.”
“Where is it now?”
“The police have it. Morelli was there when I opened the package.”
“Fuck!” He kicked his wastebasket across the room. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“I don't know why you're so upset about all this,” I cooed. “Seems to me this is crazy Kenny's problem. I mean, after all, you didn't do anything wrong.” Humor the jerk, I thought. See where he runs with it.
Spiro stopped raving and looked at me, and I imagined I heard the sound of little bitty gears meshing in his head. “That's true,” he said. “I didn't do anything wrong. I'm the victim here. Does Morelli know the package came from Kenny? Was there a note? A return address?”