Seven Up - By Janet Evanovich Page 0,15

didn't like being left alone. And he knew I was fibbing about the minute.

"Boy, that Bob sure can bark loud," Lula said. "He's giving me a headache already."

Angela stuck her head out the door. "What's making all that noise?"

"It's Bob," Lula said. "He don't like being left in the car."

Angela's face lit. "A dog! Isn't he cute. I love dogs."

Lula opened the car door and Bob bounded out. He rushed up to Angela, put his paws on her chest, and knocked her on her ass.

"You didn't break nothing, did you?" Lula asked, picking Angela up.

"I don't think so," Angela said. "I got a pacemaker to keep me going, and I got stainless steel and Teflon hips and knees. Only thing I have to watch out for is getting hit by lightning or getting shoved in a microwave."

Thinking about Angela going into a microwave got me to thinking about Hansel and Gretel, who faced a similar horror. This got me to thinking about the unreliability of bread crumbs as trail markers. And that led to the depressing admission that I was in worse shape than Hansel and Gretel because Eddie DeChooch hadn't even left bread crumbs.

"I don't suppose you've seen Eddie," I asked Angela. "He hasn't returned home, has he? Or called and asked you to take care of his houseplants?"

"Nope. I haven't heard from Eddie. He's probably the only one in the whole Burg I haven't heard from. My phone's been ringing off the hook. Everybody wanting to know about poor Loretta."

"Did Eddie have many visitors?"

"He had some men friends. Ziggy Garvey and Benny Colucci. And a couple others."

"Anyone who drove a white Cadillac?"

"Eddie's been driving a white Cadillac. His car's been on the fritz and he borrowed a Cadillac from someone. I don't know who. He kept it parked in the alley behind the garage."

"Did Loretta Ricci visit often?"

"So far as I know that was the first time she visited Eddie. Loretta was a volunteer with that Meals-on-Wheels program for seniors. I saw her go in with a box about suppertime. I figure someone told her Eddie was depressed and not eating right. Or maybe Eddie signed up. Although I can't see Eddie doing something like that."

"Did you see Loretta leave?"

"I didn't exactly see her leave, but I noticed the car was gone. She must have been in there for about an hour."

"How about gunshots?" Lula asked. "Did you hear her get whacked? Did you hear screaming?"

"I didn't hear any screaming," Angela said. "Mom's deaf as a post. Once Mom puts the television on you can't hear anything in here. And the television is on from six to eleven. Would you like some coffee cake? I got a nice almond ring from the bakery."

I thanked Angela for the coffee cake offer but told her Lula and Bob and I had to keep on the job.

We exited the Marguchi house and stepped next door to the DeChooch half. The DeChooch half was off limits, of course, ringed with crime-scene tape, still part of an ongoing investigation. There were no cops guarding the integrity of the house or shed, so I assumed they'd worked hard yesterday to finish the collection of evidence.

"We probably shouldn't go in here, being that the tape's still up," Lula said.

I agreed. "The police wouldn't like it."

"Of course, we were in there yesterday. We probably got prints all over the place."

"So you're thinking it wouldn't matter if we went in today?"

"Well, it wouldn't matter if nobody found out about it," Lula said.

"And I have a key so it isn't actually breaking and entering." Problem is, I sort of stole the key.

As a bond enforcement officer I also have the right to enter the fugitive's house if I have good reason to suspect he's there. And if push came to shove, I'm sure I could come up with a good reason. I might be lacking a bunch of bounty hunter skills, but I can fib with the best of them.

"Maybe you should see if that's really Eddie's house key," Lula said. "You know, test it out."

I inserted the key into the lock and the door swung open. "Damn," Lula said. "Look at what happened now. The door's open."

We scooted into the dark foyer and I closed and locked the door behind us.

"You take lookout," I said to Lula. "I don't want to be surprised by the police or by Eddie."

"You can count on me," Lula said. "Lookout's my middle name."

I started in the kitchen, going through the cabinets