for a few minutes, and then Morelli eased off. "Nice meeting you," he said to the other band members, who were shuffling foot to foot in awkward silence. "Talk to you later," he said to Sally.
When we left Sugar was still in the corner, his eyes small and glittery, not a part of his baby doll face.
"Jeez," I said. "What did you say to him?"
"I asked him if he was involved in the firebombings."
"And what did he tell you?"
"Not much."
"He sure makes a beautiful woman."
Morelli gave his head a small shake of amazement. "Christ, for a minute there I didn't know whether I wanted to punch him in the face or ask him for a date."
"We going to stay to watch the band?"
"No," Morelli said. "We're going out to the lot to check out the Mercedes, and then we're going to run a check on Sugar."
THE MERCEDES was clean, and so was Sugar. No priors for Gregory Stern. When we got back to Morelli's house there were two cop cars parked in front and several people milling around on the sidewalk. Morelli parked the truck and got out and walked over to the nearest uniform, who happened to be Carl Costanza.
"Been waiting for you," Carl said. "Didn't know if you wanted us to board your window."
"No. It'll be okay for tonight, and tomorrow I'll get a glass guy over here."
"You coming in, or you gonna do the report in the morning?" Carl asked.
"I'll do it in the morning."
"Congratulations," Costanza said to me. "I hear you're preggers."
"I'm not preggers!"
Costanza draped an arm around me and leaned close. "Would you like to be?"
I rolled my eyes.
"Okay, but remember me in case you change your mind," Carl said.
An old man in a bathrobe came up to Morelli and gave him the elbow. "Just like old times, huh? I can remember when Ziggy Kozak's house got machine-gunned into Swiss cheese. Boy, I tell you, those were the days."
Morelli went into the house, got the firebomb and gave it to Carl. "Have this checked for prints and put it in the lockup. Anybody canvass the neighborhood for a witness?"
"No witnesses. We did every house."
"How about the car?"
"Hasn't turned up yet."
The cops got into their cars and drove off. The people dispersed. I followed Morelli into the living room, where we both stood looking at the glass shards scattered over the floor.
"I'm really sorry," I said. "This is my fault. I shouldn't have come here."
"Don't worry about it," Morelli said. "Life was getting dull."
"I could move out."
Morelli grabbed me by the front of my shirt and pulled me to him. "You're just afraid you're going to cave and have to pay me fifty dollars."
I felt a smile come on. "Thanks."
Morelli leaned in and kissed me. He had his knee between my legs and his tongue in my mouth, and I got a hot rush that dropped my stomach about six inches.
He backed off and grinned at me. "Good night."
I blinked. "G'nite."
The grin widened. "Gotcha."
I grit my teeth. "I'm going to bed."
"I'll be down here if you get lonely. I'm going to sleep on the couch tonight just to make sure no one crawls through my window and walks off with my television."
I WAS UP early, but Joe was up earlier. He'd cleaned the glass away and was eating lasagna for breakfast when I trooped into the kitchen.
I poured coffee and gave the lasagna a wistful glance.
"Go for it," Morelli said.
If I ate the lasagna I'd have to do something physical, like jog a couple of miles. Not my favorite activity. I preferred to get my exercise by walking through a shopping mall. Okay, what the hell, I should probably go out for a run anyway. Keep in shape, and all that crap.
I sat across from him and dug in. "You back on the mystery case today."
"Surveillance."
I hated surveillance. Surveillance meant you sat in a car all by yourself until your ass fell asleep. And if you left to go to the bathroom all hell broke loose and you missed it.
Morelli pushed his empty plate away. "What are your plans?"
"Find Maxine."
"And?"
"And that's it. I have no ideas. I'm out of leads. Everyone's disappeared. Eddie Kuntz's probably dead. For all I know Mrs. Nowicki, Margie and Maxine are dead. Dead and buried."
"Boy, it's nice to see you so positive this morning."
"I like to start out right."
Morelli got up and rinsed his plate. "I have to go to work. If you were an ordinary person I'd tell you to