"You know what I'm talking about. And if you have any sense in that big bimbo head of yours you'll get out of town. You'll go far away. Because if you don't I'm gonna find you and turn you into a pile of ashes . . . just like your apartment."
"You set fire to my apartment!"
"Hell no, not me. Do I look crazy enough to do something like that?"
"Yes."
She laughed very softly, but her eyes were small and hard with emotions that had nothing to do with joy. "Believe what you want. Just stay away from my boyfriend." She gave me a rough shove backward and stalked off toward the door, disappearing in the crowd.
I started after her, but the guy next to me moved in. "So," he said, "you want a boyfriend all your own?"
"Jesus," I said. "Get a life."
"Hey," he said, "just asking. No reason to get all huffy."
I shoved my way around him, but the woman was gone. I worked through the room to the door. I looked outside. I went back inside and looked some more. No luck.
I found Sally and Lula at the bar.
"This is impossible," Lula said. "There's wall-to-wall people here. You can't hardly even get a drink, much less find someone."
I told them Morelli saw Kuntz take off in the Blazer, but I didn't tell them about the angry woman. The angry woman was a separate issue. Probably.
"If there's not gonna be any more action here, Sally and me are taking off for this place he knows has good music," Lula said. "You want to come with?"
"No thanks, I'm calling it a night."
Sally and Lula gave each other the elbows.
"SO WHAT HAPPENED?" Morelli asked when I got back to the truck.
"Nothing."
"Just like always?"
"Yeah, except this was more nothing than usual." I rummaged through my shoulder bag, found my cell phone and dialed Kuntz. No answer. "This is too weird. Why would he leave the bar like that?"
"Were you with him the whole time? Maybe someone gave him another clue, and he went off on his own."
We were still parked at the curb, and I was thinking I should go back to the bar and ask some questions. "Wait here," I told Morelli.
"Again?"
"This will only take a few minutes."
I went to the bartender who'd been tending bar near us when Joyce went down.
"Do you remember the dark-haired guy I was with?" I asked. "The one dressed in black."
"Yeah. Eddie Kuntz."
"You know him?"
"No. Some woman came in around seven, right after I came on. She gave me a picture of Kuntz and ten dollars to pass him a note."
"Do you know what the note said?"
"Nope. It was in a sealed envelope. Must have been good, though. He left as soon as he read it."
Well, duh.
I returned to Morelli, slouched down in the seat and closed my eyes. "Stick a fork in me, I'm done."
Morelli turned the key in the ignition. "You sound bummed."
"Bummed at myself. I was stupid tonight. I let myself get distracted." Even more embarrassing, I hadn't immediately thought to question the bartender. And that wasn't all that had me bummed. Morelli had me bummed. He didn't understand about cookie jars. He gave his mother the wrong answer at the table. And I hated to admit it, but that eye thing had me worried. My God, what if Bella was right and I was pregnant?
I looked over at Morelli. His features were softened by shadow, but even in the dark I could see the paper-thin scar that sliced through his right eyebrow. A few years ago, Morelli had walked into a knife. And he'd probably walk into another. Maybe a bullet. Not a comforting thought. Nor was his love life comforting. In the past, Morelli'd had a short attention span when it came to romance. From time to time, he'd shown flashes of protective tenderness for me, but I wasn't always a priority. I was a friend, like Terry Gilman and the pissed-off woman, whoever the hell she was.
So I was thinking maybe Morelli wasn't prime husband material. Not even counting the fact that he didn't want to get married. Okay, now for the big one. Was I in love with Morelli? Hell, yes. I'd been in love with him since I was six years old.
I smacked myself in the forehead with the heel of my hand. "Unh."
Morelli gave me a sideways glance.
"Just thinking," I said.
"Must have been some thought. You almost knocked yourself out."