“Jeez,” Benny said, looking up from his eggs, gaping at Lula in full leather. “Where do you find these people?”
“We stopped by your house,” I said to Benny. “No one was home.”
“Yeah. That's because I'm here.”
“What about Estelle? Estelle wasn't home, either.”
“We had a death in the family,” Benny said. “Estelle is out of town for a couple days.”
“I guess you're talking about Louie D,” I said. “And the screw-up.”
I had Benny and Ziggy's attention now.
“You know about the screw-up?” Benny asked.
“I know about the heart.”
“Jesus H. Christ,” Benny said. “I thought you were bluffing.”
“Where's Mooner?”
“I'm telling you, I don't know where he is, but my wife is driving me fucking nuts over this heart thing. You gotta give me the heart. That's all I hear about . . . how I gotta get the heart. I'm only human, you know what I mean? I can't take it anymore.”
“Benny isn't well himself,” Ziggy said. “He has conditions, too. You should give him the heart so he can have some peace. It's the right thing to do.”
“And just think about Louie D laying there without his heart,” Benny said. “That's not nice. You should have your heart when they put you in the ground.”
“When did Estelle leave for Richmond?”
“Monday.”
“That's the day Mooner disappeared,” I said.
Benny leaned forward. “What are you suggesting?”
“That Estelle snatched Mooner.”
Benny and Ziggy looked at each other. They hadn't considered this possibility.
“Estelle doesn't do stuff like that,” Benny said.
“How did she get to Richmond? Did she take a limo?”
“No. She drove. She was going to Richmond to visit Louie D's wife, Sophia, and then she was going to Norfolk. We got a daughter there.”
“I don't suppose you have a picture of Estelle with you?”
Benny pulled his wallet out and showed me a picture of Estelle. She was a pleasant-looking woman with a round face and short gray hair.
“Well, I've got the heart, and now it's up to you to find out who has Mooner,” I said to Benny.
And Lula and I left.
“Holy shit,” Lula said when we were on the bike. “You were so freaking cool in there. You actually had me thinking you knew what you were doing. Like, I was almost thinking you had the heart.”
Lula and I went back to the office, and my cell phone buzzed just as I walked through the door.
“Is your grandmother with you?” my mother wanted to know. “She walked to the bakery early this morning to get some rolls and she hasn't come back.”