Vincent stood and came over to us. He smiled when he saw my eye up close. “You must be Stephanie Plum.”
“I could have taken her out,” I said. “She caught me by surprise. It was an accident.”
“We're looking for Eddie DeChooch,” Ranger said to Vincent.
“Everyone is looking for DeChooch,” Vincent said. “The guy's nutty.”
“We thought he might be keeping in touch with his business partners.”
Dave Vincent shrugged. “I haven't seen him.”
“He's driving Mary Maggie's car.”
Vincent showed some annoyance. “I don't get involved with my employees' private lives. If Mary Maggie wants to loan Chooch a car that's her business.”
“If she's hiding him it becomes my business,” Ranger said.
And we turned and left.
“So,” I said when we got to the car. “That seemed to go well.”
Ranger grinned at me. “We'll see.”
“Now what?”
“Benny and Ziggy. They'll be at the club.”
“OH JEEZ,” BENNY said when he came to the door. “Now what?”
Ziggy was a step behind him. “We didn't do it.”
“Do what?” I asked.
“Anything,” Ziggy said. “We didn't do anything.”
Ranger and I exchanged glances.
“Where is he?” I asked Ziggy.
“Where's who?”
“Mooner.”
“Is this a trick question?”
“No,” I said. “It's a real question. Mooner is missing.”
“Are you sure?”
Ranger and I gave them the silent stare-down.
“Crap,” Ziggy finally said.
WE LEFT BENNY and Ziggy with as much information as we had when we arrived. Which meant we had nothing. Not to mention that I felt as if I'd just participated in an Abbott and Costello routine.
“So that seemed to go almost as well as the interview with Vincent,” I said to Ranger.
This got me another smile. “Get in the car. We're visiting Mary Maggie next.”