out of the window at the parking lot that was Center Street. "There goes the summer crowd."
She was probably right, and as much as I loathed the tourist season, I would loathe being out of a job even more. So I'd better do my job while I still had one.
"When was the last time you saw Tina?" I asked.
"Yesterday. We both had late appointments. Perm for me, a color for her."
"You left together?"
"No. Tina had to do one of the Chicago ladies." Lucy lowered her voice as if imparting a state secret.
"Black roots. Platinum hair with highlights."
She shook her head, sympathy all over her face. I had no idea if she was sorry for the Chicago lady or Tina.
"I left around six. Tina said she'd lock up. This morning she had a nine a.m. cut. I ended up doing it. I ended up doing all her people today." Lucy's lip trembled. "This isn't like her. She knows if you miss an appointment, customers don't come back. There are too many other salons. People don't have much loyalty these days."
That I could agree with. "You called her house?"
"Yep. And went up there, too." She pointed at the ceiling, which I took to mean Tina lived in the apartment over the Clip and Curl. "She wasn't there.' "
"No note? No message?"
"Nothing."
"Family? Boyfriend?"
She gave me a strange look. "You know she lived with her gramma, who died last year."
I nearly said, "How would I know that?" before I remembered. Popular high school prima donnas believed everyone knew everything about them and cared.
I nodded sagely and scribbled "Blah, blah, blah" in my notebook.
"Her boyfriend is on the road," Lucy continued. "He's a trucker. Karl Baldwin, remember him? He was the quarterback."
"Uh-huh." I didn't know Karl Baldwin from Karl Marx. I hadn't had much occasion to attend football games in high school.
"Could Tina have gone with him or met him somewhere? Little vacation?" I winked.
Lucy was already shaking her head. "I called Karl on his cell. He hasn't heard from her, either."
I frowned. This was not going as well as I'd hoped.
"All right. I'll check into it. Let me know if you hear from her." I handed Lucy my card. "Do you have the key to her place?"
She nodded. "And I found hers when I was in the apartment."
"Her keys were there, but she wasn't?" Lucy nodded. "What about her car?"
"Still in the lot."
"Her purse?"
"On the kitchen table."
That wasn't good. In my experience, you have to pry a woman's purse out of her cold, dead fingers.
Women never left home without them.
I could tell from Lucy's expression she was having the same thought. She put the ring of keys into my hand and turned away blinking back tears.
I stepped outside, planning to go directly to Tina's and see what was up. But someone bumped into me, and when I turned around, all I saw was the gun.
Chapter 24
I grabbed the rifle right out of the guy's hands.
"Hey!"
He tried to get it back, but I shoved him with one firm hand on his chest. I nearly passed out from the beer fumes, but I managed to stay upright and keep him from snatching the gun.
Jerry Uber wasn't the brightest star in the sky. His shaved head only proved my point. Jerry didn't have the smoothest noggin or the best skin. Right now he looked like a lumpy egg with diaper rash.
"You can't carry a rifle without a case in the middle of town, Jerry. You know that."
"How am I gonna shoot rabid wolves if my gun's in the case?"
"Shoot?" I put my finger in my ear and jiggled it. "What?"
"Me and the other men." He puffed out his chest. His beer belly went with it. "We're gonna do what you cops haven't."
I glanced up and down the street. The tourists were gone. Only the gun-toting citizens remained.
Vigilantes. I hated these guys.
"Yeah, well you're gonna have a tough time without your gun." I headed for my car.
"Huh?"
Jerry danced around behind me as if the beer he'd already drunk today needed to be released right now. Maybe I'd get lucky and he'd relieve himself on the street. Then I could arrest him and there'd be one less drunken idiot in the woods.
"Thass my gun. You can't do that."
"Actually, I can." I unloaded the thing and pocketed the bullets, then laid it on the passenger seat of my car. "You can pick it up from Zee when you're sober. Bring along your case."
"Zelda?" He shook his head and put up