“I'm not sure of anything. In the beginning I suspected Bart Cone, but the police are keeping a close watch on him. If Cone's still in Trenton and Singh turns up dead, that eliminates Cone from the suspect list.”
When we got back to the car, Lula was still snoring and there were two dogs patiently sitting on the curb by the passenger side door.
“I don't know what's more creepy,” Connie said. “You getting stalked by a killer or Lula walking around with a purse filled with pork chops. I'm feeling like I'm in Stephen King land.”
It was two o'clock so I called Califonte and asked if Singh was there. Califonte said no, sorry. I gave Califonte my cell number and asked him to call me if Singh showed up.
Connie and I got back into the car and put our fingers in our ears. After five minutes my shirt was soaked and sweat was running down the side of my face. This was the glorious life of a bounty hunter.
“Tell me again why we're sitting here, melting,” Connie said.
“The dog.”
“I need a better reason.”
“There's something about that dog that gives me an estrogen attack. He's small and helpless looking. And those little button eyes! The eyes are so trusting. And he's going to the pound. How awful is that? I can't let that happen.”
“So you have to save the dog.”
“He's counting on me.”
“Stephanie to the rescue,” Connie said.
“I could call you a cab,” I said. “And you could go back to the hotel.”
“No way. I'd have to sit around the pool and get a tan and have half-?naked waiters bring me cold drinks. Where's the fun in that when I could be sitting here listening to Lula?”
Susan Lu left the house a little after two. She walked to a bus stop on the far corner. After five minutes a bus appeared and Lu got on.
“Thank God,” Connie said. “I'm at the end of the line with the snoring and the sweating.”
I gave Lula a shove. “Wake up. Susan Lu left the house. We can get the dog now.”
Lula squinted at me. “I feel like my eyes are fried. I'm not as young as I used to be. I can't do this all-?night shit anymore. And this place is hotter than snot. How can anyone live here?”
I cranked the car over and pulled into Lu's driveway. Lula, Connie, and I got out and walked around to the back kitchen door.
“Door's locked,” Lula said. “Too bad you have this thing about busting in.”
“This is for a good cause,” I said. “I suppose we could force the door if we did it really carefully.”
“Hunh,” Lula said. She swung her purse into the window beside the door and shattered the window. “Oops,” Lula said. “Guess I accidentally broke a window.” Then she reached in and opened the door.
“Gripes,” Connie said. “Could you make more noise? Maybe there's someone left in the neighborhood who didn't hear that.”
I tiptoed over the glass shards, scooped up Boo, and handed him to Lula. I quickly walked through the rest of the house. I took Singh's laptop, but found nothing else of interest. I wiped Lula's prints off the doorknob and we left.
“We're like Robin Hood or something,” Lula said. “We rescued this cute little guy. I feel like singing the Robin Hood theme song.”
We stopped and thought about that for a second.
“Damn,” Lula said. “There's no Robin Hood theme song.”
We got into the rental Taurus and hightailed it out of the neighborhood. Best not to delay, in case someone confused us with dognappers and called the police. The police might not understand about Robin Hood.
I stopped at a supermarket and bought a dog leash and collar, and a small bag of dog food for Boo. I bought popsicles for Connie and me and two pounds of sliced deli ham for Lula.
I didn't know if dogs were allowed at the Luxor and I didn't think it was worth the hassle to check. I wrapped the dog in my sweatshirt and smuggled him up to the room.