Chapter Eight
CHAPTER EIGHT
It was a little after two o’clock when my furniture arrived. I made my bed, plugged my nightstand lamp in, and put my living room lamp on the new end table that was placed next to the couch. I told myself that it was cozy, and it was home, but the truth is, it didn’t feel like home. Home had been firebombed one too many times. I went into the dining room and packed up my messenger bag, and Ranger called.
“What’s the status report?” he said.
“I’m in my apartment and I’m about to go out looking for fugitives.”
“Anyone interesting?”
“Robin Hoodie, Bruno Jug, and a vampire.”
“Nice. Do you need help?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Babe,” Ranger said. And he hung up.
I called him back. “Are you in Trenton?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent.” And I hung up.
Ranger doesn’t usually need to say a lot because I get all the information I need from babe . It can be loving, sexy, questioning, cautionary, or simply hello. And in this instance, the less said the better, because I wasn’t forced to fib or explain my absence. Unfortunately, this get-out-of-jail card wouldn’t last long. When my number came up on Ranger’s list of priorities, he’d want answers.
I grabbed my messenger bag and a sweatshirt, and I left my apartment. It was still early enough in the day that court would be in session. So, there was a chance that I could get Eugene bonded out without an overnight stay, if I could find him fast enough. I got all green lights on my way to the office. A sign that maybe my luck was changing and there wouldn’t be any more bloody bodies in my immediate future. I parked in front of the office and Morelli called.
“Just checking in,” he said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good. I’m at the office. I need to find Eugene and get him rebonded.”
“And tonight?”
“It’s Wednesday,” I said. “It’s your poker night. We don’t usually get together on poker night.”
“Yeah, but it’s at Marty’s house. His wife kicks us out at ten o’clock.”
“And you want me to take up the slack time after that?”
“Think of the poker game as the opening act.”
“And then I’m the main act? The big event?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m flattered but I’m going to pass. I’m not up to the big event. I’m going to bed early. I need my beauty sleep. Anything new on the vampire?”
“The ME lists cause of death as head trauma and loss of blood. It looks like you walked in on a fresh kill. Time of death was placed at about the time you were parking your car.”
My stomach turned at the memory. Morelli faced this sort of thing every day and had learned how to deal with it. I was barely holding it together. Truth is, I didn’t want to learn how to deal with it. I didn’t want that kind of horror to be a regular part of my life.
“I ran into Jimmy earlier,” I said. “Did he turn anything up on Exeter Street?”
“Nothing useful. The neighbors all agreed that Zoran is a wack job, but he keeps his lawn cut and doesn’t play loud music, so there’s never been a problem.”
“Did his neighbors mention to Jimmy that Zoran is a vampire?”
“Yeah, but Jimmy said they were just glad he didn’t think he was the Easter Bunny and hopped around leaving chocolate eggs on their front lawn.”
“Or he could think he was Robin Hood and swipe their Amazon packages off their porch.”
“Exactly,” Morelli said. “I have to go back to work. Let me know if you change your mind about tonight.”
Lula was on the couch, surfing on her phone, when I walked into the office. I nodded at her and took a seat in front of Connie’s desk.
“Lula told me about the scene at the laundromat,” Connie said. “She told me she fainted.”
“It was terrifying and disgusting and beyond description,” I said.
“Are you okay?”
“No,” I said. “I can’t stop seeing it.”
“Did you get your furniture?”
“Yes. I made my bed and plugged my lamp in and it’s starting to look more homey.”
I heard the front door open, and I turned to see Eugene push his bike into the office.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said. “I had stuff to do this morning.” He shrugged out of his backpack and removed a round tin. “My mom baked some cookies for the office. They’re chocolate chip. They’re her specialty.”
Lula was on her feet, examining the cookies. “They look homemade.” She took a cookie and tasted it. “It’s homemade all right. I thought it might have come off a truck, but I was wrong. This is a real nice gesture. You’ve got a good mom.”
“I know,” Eugene said. “I’m lucky like that. Is it too late to get rebonded?”
I looked at Connie. “What do you think?”
“Is your mom putting up the bond again?” Connie asked Eugene.
Eugene tipped his head down a little. “My dad wouldn’t let her. He said I had to learn a lesson.”
“You need something to secure the bond,” Connie said.
Eugene had a grip on his bike. “I was hoping I could use this. It’s a good bike and I keep it in top shape.”
We all looked at the bike. Eugene was going to be short about a thousand dollars. Maybe more.
“It’s a pretty nice bike,” Lula said.
“Doesn’t look like it has any dents or scrapes,” I said.
Connie rolled her eyes. “Don’t anyone tell Vinnie I did this.” She cut her eyes to Eugene. “It’s a deal.”
“I’ll take him,” I said. “With a little luck we should get him to court in time.”
“No,” Connie said. “It’ll save time if I take Eugene.”
This made sense. I can make apprehensions, but I’m not qualified to write a bond. Only Connie and Vinnie can write a bond. If I got Eugene to court, Connie would have to come downtown anyway to do the paperwork.
“I’ll watch the office while you’re gone,” I said.
Connie and Eugene left, and I took Connie’s place behind the desk.
“You look serious over there,” Lula said. “What are you doing with Connie’s computer?”
“I’m searching for information on Zoran.”
“Why?”
“I’m going after him.”
“Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Bad idea. Double-doody idea. And not necessary. The police will find him. They’ll lock him up in a nice, padded cell and shoot him full of Thorazine. And here’s the good news. He’ll get free dental. He can get his fangs filed down so he fits into the prison population better.”
I sent a file to Connie’s printer. “This is a sick person. He needs to be found before he kills someone else. And it’s what we do, right? We find people.”
“Yeah, but we aren’t all that good at it,” Lula said. “And I’m not sure he’s a people.”
“When Connie returns, I’ll have her run a more complete search. Right now, I’m printing out his credit report, his work history, and an article from the Trenton paper. The headline is Love Bite Lands Vampire in Jail .”
“I’m not in favor of this,” Lula said. “I’m gonna be real unhappy if I get killed by a vampire.”
“You have to at least be curious about this guy. You’re the one who always has to slow up to look at a car crash. This is like a car crash.”
“Nuh-uh. That’s you. I’m the one with my eyes closed. You’re the one who rushed out to see some idiot jump off a fourth-floor ledge.”
“That was official business. He was FTA. And he didn’t jump. He slipped.” I took the pages from the printer. “Zoran’s credit history is clean. No litigation or derogatory comments. He has an AmEx card and a Costco Visa. No investment history. His house is mortgaged. Looks like he pays on time. No mention of him owning a laundromat. Drives a Chevy Colorado pickup. It’s on a lease.”
“That makes sense,” Lula said. “He probably needs a truck to cart his victims off to the landfill.”
“The article is interesting. They interviewed Zoran’s parents. Leo and Pat. His father worked for Boeing in Seattle for twenty-three years. He retired four years ago, and they moved to Jamesburg to be closer to Pat’s family. Zoran’s mother works part-time as office help for the Methodist church. Zoran is an only child. Blah, blah, blah. He got good grades in school. Always had an interesting imagination.”
“Maybe he didn’t have an imagination,” Lula said. “Maybe his parents thought he was imagining being a vampire except he wasn’t imagining.”
“I’m at a dead end until Connie returns and I can go to Jamesburg. I don’t have any other leads.”
Lula dragged one of the plastic chairs over next to me. “Connie won’t be back for at least an hour. Pull up the Robin Hoodie videos. I want to see the new one about the cookies again. And there’s another good one where he opens the back of the truck and it’s full of toilet paper. That’s the fun thing about hijacking. You don’t always know what you’re gonna find inside.”
It was almost four thirty when Connie returned.
“I had to do some fast talking, but I managed to get him rescheduled and bonded,” Connie said. “I dropped him off at his parents’ house. His new court date is in two weeks and we’re going to track him down the day before and lock him in his room until it’s time to escort him to the courthouse.”
“He hasn’t got any wheels,” Lula said. “He’s going to have to loot a bike store. That’s going to be a good video, watching all those homeless guys who are probably still jacked up on cookies, riding around on a bike.”
“Jeez,” Connie said. “Maybe I should give him his bike back.”
“No way,” Lula said. “Bikes for the homeless is an excellent idea. It’s a way for them to get exercise instead of nodding off on the sidewalk at all hours or sitting around in their tent all day. I don’t know why people didn’t think of this sooner. It’ll let them get to a variety of soup kitchens and detox clinics, and it’ll enlarge their panhandling ability.”
I narrowed my eyes at Lula. “And the real reason you want to give bikes to the homeless?”
“Okay, so I want to see the video, but you can’t blame me for that. Admit it, you’d want to see the video. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see that video. It would be an award winner if there was an award for YouTube videos.” Lula’s eyes almost popped out of her head. “OMG! That’s my best idea yet. A YouTube award show!”
“They might have one,” Connie said. “Sort of.”
I hiked my messenger bag onto my shoulder. “I’m out of here. I’m going to Jamesburg to talk to Zoran’s parents.” I turned to Connie. “I got a credit report, a work history that didn’t say much, and a newspaper article off the net. I could use more info on Zoran.”
“I’ll see what I can dig up,” Connie said.
I looked at Lula. “Are you on board?”
“I guess,” Lula said. “One of us has to carry the garlic.”
I took Route 1 north to County Road 522 and followed the directions given by the GPS lady. We rolled into Jamesburg in thirty-five minutes start to finish.
“This is kind of nice,” Lula said. “Lots of grass and trees and white houses with black shutters and front porches. And there’s a sign for a country club. I wouldn’t mind joining a country club. I would fit right in. I could learn how to play golf and tennis. I could see myself in one of those little tennis outfits. I’d be looking good, whacking the ball in my little white skirt and thong.”
“They probably wouldn’t let you wear a thong.”
“What do you mean? Everyone wears a thong.”
“Not on a tennis court.”
“How about in France?”
“I don’t know about France.”
“They probably got naked tennis in France,” Lula said. “And Denmark.”
The GPS lady told me to turn left into Green Garden Estates. A sign said that it was a community for active senior living.
“What’s active senior living?” Lula said. “How active do you gotta be to live here? Do they give you a test? Like, could you get in if you could only do two or three jumping jacks? Suppose you’re in a coma? You probably couldn’t live here.”
I turned onto Whippoorwill Lane and stopped in front of number 25. “This is it.”
“These are all one-story ranch houses on this street. I’m guessing this is the street for people who have low activity expectations and can’t climb stairs,” Lula said. “So, when they say active seniors, I’m thinking the bar might be set pretty low.”
“Here are the rules,” I said to Lula. “When we go in to talk to Zoran’s parents, you will let me do the talking. You will not take your garlic out of your bag. You will not ask them if someone in a coma can live here.”
“Hunh, there you go with the rules, again. It’s like you don’t trust me to say the right thing.”
“Exactly. And I also would appreciate it if you didn’t shoot anyone or threaten to shoot someone.”
“Okay, I guess I could see that.”
We went to the door, and I rang the bell. A woman opened the door a crack and peeked out. She looked to be very fit and in her sixties with a short brown bob and minimal makeup.
“Yes?” she asked.
“I’m looking for Zoran,” I said. “Is he here?”
“No,” she said. “What is this about?”
I gave her one of my business cards. “I work for his bail bond agent. Zoran missed his scheduled court date, and I would like to help him reschedule. Are you Pat? Are you his mom?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m Pat. I don’t know where Zoran is right now.”
“If he doesn’t reschedule, he’ll be considered a felon,” I told her. “Do you have any idea where I might find him? I’ve already tried his house and the laundromat.”
“You’ve been to the laundromat?”
“Yes.”
“The police were just here. They said there was an accident at the laundromat.”
I nodded. “A woman was killed.”
“Terrible,” Zoran’s mom said. “Just terrible.”
“I don’t feel good,” Lula said. “I don’t like talk about killing. I feel dizzy. I gotta sit down.”
Lula staggered in front of me, leaned against the door, pushing it wide open, and stumbled into the house. I scrambled after her, leading her to a chair in the living room.
“Maybe some water?” I said to the woman.
“Of course,” she said, hurrying into the kitchen.
“Am I good, or what?” Lula whispered to me. “Did you see how I got us into the house with my award-winning acting?”
The woman returned with a glass of water and handed it to Lula. Lula drank some and sprinkled some on her face.
“I feel better now,” Lula said.
“It must be nice to live close to Zoran,” I said to his mom. “Do you see him a lot?”
“Not so much since we moved to Green Garden,” she said. “Zoran works long hours at the laundromat, and we have so many activities here that we don’t get to Trenton very often.”
“How long have you lived here?” I asked her.
“We’ve been at Green Garden for four years.”
“Previously you were living in Trenton?”
“When Leo retired from Boeing, we left Seattle so we could be closer to his parents in Trenton. They were aging and having medical issues. We really were full-time caregivers for a couple years, and then when they passed, we moved here.”
“Did Zoran move to Trenton with you?”
“Yes. He was also working for Boeing, but there was the tragedy with his wife, and he wanted to move away from the memories, so he came east with us. He wanted a new start and the laundromat seemed to be a good fit for him. He has an engineering degree, you know. He’s very smart, but he wanted to try something different from engineering.”
“Zoran owns the laundromat?”
“Oh no. He doesn’t have that kind of money. His uncle owns the laundromat. Zoran is the manager.”
“Do you know any of Zoran’s friends? I might be able to get in touch with him through one of them.”
“He had a friend named Goofy. He would talk about him sometimes. He said Goofy always made him laugh. I don’t know Goofy’s real name, but I think he must live close to the laundromat.”
“Any girlfriends?”
“Nothing serious. There was a girl named Rosa that he was seeing for a while. And a very pretty girl named Julie. He never brought any of his friends home to meet us, but I saw a picture of Julie on his phone.”
“This has been helpful,” I said to Pat. “If Zoran gets in touch with you, please tell him that he needs to reschedule his court date.”
Lula stood and hiked her tote bag onto her shoulder. “Was there anything unusual about Zoran?” she asked Pat. “I couldn’t help but notice the picture of him you got on your end table, and he has a couple big sharp teeth.”
“It’s a family trait,” Pat said. “The Djordjevic men are very proud of their unique teeth.” She took a second framed photo from the end table and handed it to Lula. “This is Zoran’s dad when he won the tennis tournament last year. It’s a little blurry but it’s still a good picture. It’s hard to get a picture of the Djordjevic men. They’re always on the move.”
“Holy hell,” Lula said, handing the picture back to Pat. “He’s a real good-looking man, and I can see the family resemblance with the teeth and all.” Lula clutched her tote bag to her chest and looked around. “Where is the big guy? He isn’t home, is he?”
“He ran out to the store for a few things. He should be back any minute.”
“Any minute? Jeez, that’s too bad that I’m going to have to miss him, but I gotta go now. I got an appointment somewhere. I got something to do.”
I followed Lula out of the house and down the sidewalk. She was already buckled in by the time I got behind the wheel.
“Did you see him?” Lula said. “It’s a whole family of freaking vampires. Am I the only one noticing these things? These people got fangs. They could eat a steak while it’s still on the cow. I mean, I try not to discriminate on the way people look, and I’m all in favor of inclusivity, but I’d have to think twice about playing tennis with a vampire.”
“It’s still early,” I said. “Let’s see if we can find Goofy.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“I’m going to drop you off at the laundromat and you’re going to walk up and down the street and ask about Goofy.”
“You want me to use my natural charms.”
I drove out of Green Garden Estates. “Yeah. I’d do it, but your charms are bigger than mine.”
Lula walked the length of Freemont Street. She briefly stepped into a bar. She spoke to an old man who was sitting on a stoop and a group of guys hanging on a corner. She went into a deli and came out with a soda. She did all this on the opposite side of the street from the laundromat because the area around the laundromat was cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape. She sashayed up to the Trailblazer, and I popped the locks so she could get in.
“Goofy is a bartender at Lucky Linda’s. It’s on the third block on Stark,” Lula said. “No one knows his real name. No one knows where he lives. Everyone likes him.”
“I don’t suppose he works the day shift?”
“Lucky Linda’s don’t have a day shift. Goofy comes on at nine o’clock.”
Great. Nothing I wanted to do less than visit a bar on the third block of Stark Street after dark.