“The bonds office,” I told him. “We need to regroup.”
“HOW’D IT GO?” Connie asked. “Did you catch anyone?”
“Nope,” Lula said. “But we trashed Ranger’s Jeep. And we did some other stuff, but I might not want to talk about it.”
Connie gave me raised eyebrows.
“Lula opened a gate at the packing plant and set a whole bunch of cows loose,” I said. “They’re probably in Bordentown by now.”
“They were like Born Free cows,” Lula said.
“We aren’t doing so good in the money-raising department,” Connie said.
I slouched in the orange chair in front of her desk. “Maybe we should call the police.”
“Or we could ship Vinnie off to Brazil,” Lula said. “We could put him in nitwit protection.”
My phone rang, and I groaned when I saw the number. It was my mother.
“When are you picking him up?” my mother wanted to know.
“Who?”
“You know who! He’s in your father’s chair, watching television, drinking coffee.”
“Lucille kicked him out.”
“Good for her,” my mother said. “I’d kick him out, too, but I can’t get him out of the chair. When are you coming to get him?”
“Here’s the thing,” I said to my mother. “He doesn’t have anyplace to stay.”
“He can’t stay here. And I swear I’ll never make you another pineapple upside-down cake if you don’t get him out of here.”
“I’ll be right there.” I grabbed my tote bag and stood. “We have to get Vinnie,” I said to Lula. “My mother’s done with him.”
“You can’t bring him back here,” Connie said.
“Can I put him in your house?”
“Not even for a moment.”
I looked at Lula.
“Nuh-uh,” Lula said. “I don’t even like him. And soon as he’s left alone, he’ll be tryin’ all my special dresses on.” Lula’s attention moved to the plateglass window in the front of the office. “It’s the Moon Man,” she said.
Mooner pushed the door open and gave us the peace sign. “Ladies,” he said. “How goes it?”
“It goes okay,” I said. “How goes it with you?”
“I don’t know. I think they might have put some wacky mushrooms on my pizza last night. I was driving down Broad Street just now, and I swear I thought a cow was walking down the street.”
“Hunh,” Lula said. “That’s crazy, all right.”
“Some cows got loose at the packing plant this morning,” I told Mooner.
Mooner clapped a hand to his heart. “That’s a mega relief. Last time I saw cows walking down the street, I had to go into rehab.”
“What were you doing on Broad?” I asked him.