Chapter Forty-One
Chapter
Forty-One
“The light’s green, you moron!” she yelled at the yellow Volkswagen Beetle in front of us as she leaned on the horn. “What are you waiting for? Christmas?”
The other car slowly began moving into the intersection.
Carmen stomped on the gas pedal, sending the Lincoln lurching forward and nearly giving me whiplash.
She swerved around the Volkswagen, two wheels going up on the sidewalk.
A woman laden with shopping bags dove into a recessed shop doorway for safety.
I grabbed onto the edge of my seat when Carmen removed one hand from the steering wheel to give the driver of the Beetle the finger as we zoomed past the smaller car.
“Carmen!” I said, shocked and scandalized.
“He had it coming.” She swerved around a delivery van and screeched to a halt behind a line of traffic backed up at a red light.
“Oh, this is nothing,” Agnes said over her shoulder from the front passenger seat. “You should see her when she’s late for bingo.”
If I survived to have that chance, I’d avoid it at all costs. This ride was hazardous enough for me.
I glanced over at Leona, who, like Agnes, didn’t appear at all fazed by Carmen’s crazy driving.
Before leaving the Mirage for the nearby parking garage, Leona had insisted that we stop at her apartment, where she’d grabbed her handbag and donned a gray fedora.
She still had the boa and sparkly green dress on, and I detected a slight whiff of alcohol emanating from her.
I was probably better off not knowing how many martinis she’d consumed at Bitty’s place.
Again, I questioned my sanity for going along with this plan. When Bodie warned me to take someone with me to Vinny’s Pawnshop, this bunch probably wasn’t what he had in mind.
After a few minutes—each one spent with my heart in my throat—Carmen snagged a coveted parking spot.
Stole it, really. Another vehicle was about to back into the space by the curb when Carmen darted into it nose-first. When the driver of the other vehicle shouted some choice words out his window, Carmen lowered hers and did the same.
I slid down in the back seat as she cursed like a sailor.
The other guy drove off, and Carmen parked the Lincoln crookedly, with the bumper kissing the back of the car in front of it.
I slipped out of the car and scurried a few feet away, not wanting to be associated with the poorly parked Lincoln or its driver.
By the time Carmen reached the sidewalk, she was back to her elegant-looking self.
She held her cane in one hand and a handbag in the other.
She hooked the bag over her arm, patted down her short gray hair, and led the way down the sidewalk at a lively pace.
We rounded a corner and walked for a block and a half before Carmen pointed out a tiny storefront with bars over the window.
The building next door had a For Lease sign hanging on the metal grille that covered the front door and windows.
Graffiti adorned the brick edifices, and a piece of trash tumbled along the sidewalk in the breeze.
Even without going inside Vinny’s Pawnshop, I could see why Bodie had warned me not to come here on my own. The area gave me sketchy vibes, even in broad daylight.
“So, what’s our cover story?” Agnes asked as we approached the door to the pawnshop.
“Pretend you’re shopping for a birthday gift,” I suggested. “You know, on a budget.”
“What should our code names be?” Leona asked.
I was relieved that she wasn’t slurring her words, despite the martini fest at Bitty’s apartment. She did, however, stumble slightly.
I put a hand to her arm to steady her on her high heels. “We don’t need code names.”
She and Agnes looked disappointed.
“But,” I said, hoping to raise their spirits, “if we need to make a quick getaway for any reason, one of us should say the word ‘pizza.’ ”
All three ladies nodded at that suggestion.
Leona’s and Agnes’s eyes gleamed with anticipation, and Carmen’s glinted with steely determination.
I wondered, not for the first time, if I’d made a mistake by coming with the three ladies.
Maybe I should have waited until Jemma was available.
Or pushed my pride aside and called Wyatt.
But I was here now. There was no point in having second thoughts.
Squaring my shoulders, I led the way into the store. As soon as I stepped inside, I was hit with the smells of old wood, leather, mustiness, and something else. Grease maybe?
The shop was narrow, with only two aisles.
From just inside the door, I could already see that the place was crammed with a wide array of items, from an air fryer to an old gramophone, bicycle parts to furniture.
Grimy oil paintings and musical instruments hung from one brick wall.
On the other side of the store stood a long glass display case full of jewelry.
The four of us headed in that direction, our heads swiveling to take in the sight of the incredible amount of merchandise.
A man emerged from the back, coming through a door behind the jewelry display case. He was a big, beefy guy, with bulging muscles and tattoos all over his arms. He had longish, wavy brown hair that was slicked back from his face with a generous amount of gel.
I recognized him right away.
Vincent, the man we’d come to see.
“What can I do for you today, ladies?” he asked, sounding jovial enough. He did a double take and squinted at Carmen. “Have we met before?”
Carmen gave him a regal nod, one hand resting on the silver head of her cane. “Indeed, we have. I live in the same building as your godmother.”
Vinny grinned, revealing a gold tooth. “Right. I thought so.” He gestured at the display of goods in front of him. “Are you looking for anything in particular?”
“A gift,” I said. “For my grandmother.”
“Are you thinking jewelry?”
“Oh, definitely,” Agnes said. “She loves jewelry.”
Leona pressed a hand to her chest. “A woman after my own heart.”
Agnes, Leona, and Carmen pointed out some necklaces that caught their attention, and Vinny removed them from the display case one at a time. I wandered farther along the case, waiting for the right moment to casually bring up Freddie’s murder.
“Oh, this is lovely,” Agnes said, holding a sapphire necklace up to her throat.
Carmen appraised her with critical eyes. “You’d look better with emeralds.”
“We’re shopping for my grandmother, remember?” I said, hoping the reminder would keep them on track.
“No reason we can’t look for ourselves as well,” Leona countered before addressing Vinny. “Oh, darling, I simply must get a closer look at that cuff bracelet.”
While Leona slid the bracelet onto her wrist and Vinny rattled off some details about it, I tamped down my impatience. I couldn’t exactly interrupt him with talk of the murder if I wanted to sound casual, but I also couldn’t stay here all day waiting for the right moment.
I wandered a little farther and then stopped, leaning in closer to peer through the glass at a delicate hummingbird brooch made up of tiny, colorful stones. I’d seen the brooch before. Attached to Bitty’s sweater the day after the murder. It was the brooch that Bitty thought she’d misplaced.
My jaw nearly dropped as I put two and two together.
“What’s caught your eye?” Carmen asked, coming over to join me. “Oh my stars,” she said when she spotted the brooch.
I could tell that she’d made the same connection that I had.
Agnes scooted over to get a look for herself. “What is it?”
Leona joined us as well.
Carmen fixed a steely glare on Vinny. “Why, you thieving slubberdegullion!”
“Slubberde—what?” Vinny asked, baffled.
Agnes, too, had recognized the brooch. “Villain, fiend, louse!” she seethed at Vinny.
Leona pointed an accusing finger at him. “You’re a crook!”
Vinny’s eyes grew hard. “Hold on, ladies. You don’t want to be accusing me of anything.”
“The evidence is right in front of us.” I stabbed a finger at the glass top of the display case. “That brooch belongs to Bitty. She thinks she misplaced it, but you’ve had it all along.”
Carmen had moved farther along the case and now pointed at another item. “Those are probably Bitty’s pearls!” She took two more steps and pointed again. “And her cameo necklace!”
Vinny glared at us through narrowed eyes. “You can’t prove that.”
I snapped photos of the offending items with my phone. “Bitty will identify them.”
“We’ll take the photos to the cops if we have to,” Agnes added.
Carmen stared at him with steely eyes, her hand gripping her cane. “If you don’t want to end up in the slammer, you’d better return every single thing you took from Bitty.”
“Yeah?” Vinny sneered at her. “And who’s gonna make me?”
Leona elbowed us aside as she tugged her fedora down over her forehead. She grabbed the collar of Vinny’s shirt and yanked him down to her level, so they were nose to nose over the display case. “Pipe this, noodlehead,” she said, sounding like she was trying to imitate Humphrey Bogart’s voice.
“Noodlehead?” Vinny echoed.
Leona ignored his interruption. “We didn’t make this trip for biscuits. We’re gonna brace ya, put the screws on ya, and if you don’t sing like a bird, we’re gonna fill ya with daylight. Savvy?”
Vinny yanked back out of Leona’s reach, his T-shirt rumpled and his eyes wide. “Are you batshit crazy?!”
“You bet we are!” Agnes chimed in. She put up her dukes and danced around like a boxer ready to fight. “And if you don’t do as we say, we’re going to flay you up so bad!”
“Flay me?” Vinny backed up a step. “You ladies belong in the nuthouse.”
Agnes punched at the air. Vinny flinched, and so did I. This was getting way out of hand.
“Pizza!” I yelled. “Who wants pizza?”
Everyone ignored me.
Leona planted her palms on the top of the display case. “You’ve been dealing in more than just oyster fruit.”
“Oyster what?” Vinny backed up another step.
“Pearls, you buffoon,” Carmen said, poking him in the chest with the end of her cane. “We know you iced Freddie Hanover.”
Vinny put his hands up. “Hey, whoa. No way. I didn’t kill nobody!”
“But you knew him,” I said, no longer so eager to flee now that the conversation was back on track, even if it was a crazy, out-of-control roller coaster track.
“Okay, yeah, sure,” Vinny admitted, “but that’s not a crime.”
“Being a fence is,” I said.
He shook his head, anger replacing his fear. “Nah. Don’t go throwing accusations at me. You won’t like what happens next.”
Carmen poked him in the chest with her cane again. “Don’t threaten her.”
“Yeah, buster. Pipe that.” Leona produced a pearl-handled pistol from her handbag. The kind you’d see a femme fatale wield in an old hard-boiled detective film.
Vinny’s eyes widened as Leona pointed the weapon at him. Mine did too.
“You bet I brought my beanshooter,” Leona said, still channeling Bogart. “If you don’t want to get yerself a Chicago overcoat, you’d better start singing.”
“Yeah!” Agnes bounced and punched the air again, making Vinny cringe. “Sing like a canary! Whistle like the wind! Hiss like a snake!” She herself let out a long and violent hiss.
Vinny recoiled.
“Or you’ll find yourself in cement shoes,” Carmen added, getting into the noir spirit.
“I didn’t kill Freddie!” Vinny yelled. “I’ll return Bitty’s stuff! What else do you want me to say?”
“Did you sell some old-timey whiskey for Freddie?” I asked.
“No.”
Leona aimed her pistol more precisely. “Want to taste lead, buster?”
Vinny raised his hands in surrender and plastered his back against the wall.
“Okay, okay! Freddie contacted me, wanted to meet. And we did. He wanted to know if I could find a buyer for a stash of whiskey he’d found.
Good stuff. I said I thought I knew a guy, but I’d have to get back to him. Next thing I heard, Freddie was dead.”
“Did he ever bring you the booze?” I asked.
“Just one bottle, to that first meeting. You know, like a sample of the merchandise.”
“Maybe you decided you didn’t want to be the middleman,” I said, thinking on my feet. “Maybe you thought you’d steal the stash of booze and sell it yourself.”
“I don’t even know where to find the stash,” Vinny protested. “Freddie never told me.”
Carmen reached her cane over the display case and pinned him to the wall with it. “You could have followed him.”
“But I didn’t! I swear!”
Vinny was a lowlife and a crook, but was he a killer? I wasn’t sure. Maybe he was telling the truth about Freddie. I had a hunch that he was. But I didn’t exactly have the best judgment when it came to people, especially men.
When Carmen pulled back her cane, Vinny took a step forward and reached beneath the display case.
In a flash, he whipped out a baseball bat and brandished it in the air. “Get out of my shop, you crazy old bats!”
“I’m twenty-eight!” I objected.
“And still as nutty as a fruitcake!” he shot back.
Leona held her pistol steady. “We ain’t leaving without Bitty’s jewelry.”
She and Vinny stared at each other. I could almost hear Wild West showdown music playing in the background.
Vinny broke first. “Fine!” Keeping hold of the baseball bat, he used his free hand to grab items out of the case. He slammed the brooch, pearls, necklace, and three rings onto the counter. “Take them and get the hell out of here.”
Carmen swept the jewelry into her handbag and snapped it shut. She leveled a glare at Vinny. “Your mother must be ashamed of you. Bitty certainly will be.”
Vinny raised the bat and came running out from behind the display case.
“Pizza!” I screamed, shoving Agnes and Carmen in the direction of the door. I grabbed Leona’s arm and dragged her along with me. “Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!”
We burst out the door and onto the sidewalk, stumbling into one another.
For one terrified second, I thought Vinny would follow us out onto the street with his bat. Instead, he yanked the door shut and locked it.
Emboldened by the glass door between us, Agnes stuck out her tongue at him.
Vinny glowered at us and raised the bat again.
I grabbed Agnes’s arm and ran off down the street.