across from me. "What are you up to today?"
"I have a lead on Eddie DeChooch. He's been driving around in a white Cadillac, and I just got the owner's name. Mary Maggie Mason." I took the card frorn my pocket and looked at it. "Why does that name sound so familiar?"
"Everybody knows Mary Maggie Mason," Grandma said. "She's a star."
"I never heard of her," my mother said.
"That's because you never go anywhere," Grandma said. "Mary Maggie's one of them mud wrestlers at The Snake Pit. She's the best."
My mother looked up from her pot of beef and rice and tomatoes. "How do you know all this?"
"Elaine Barkolowski and me go to The Snake Pit sometimes after bingo. On Thursdays they got men wrestling and they only wear little Baggies on their privates. They're not as good as The Rock, but they're pretty good all the same."
"That's disgusting," my mother said.
"Yeah," Grandma said. "It costs five dollars to get in but it's worth it."
"I have to go to work," I said to my mother. "Is it okay if I leave Mooner here for a while?"
"He doesn't do drugs anymore, does he?"
"Nope. He's clean." For a whole twelve hours. "You might want to lock up the glue and cough syrup, though . . . just in case."
The address Ranger had given me for Mary Maggie Mason was an upscale high-rise condo building that looked out at the river. I rode through the underground parking, checking out cars. No white Cadillac, but there was a silver Porsche with MMM-YUM on the license plate.
I parked in a slot reserved for guests and rode the elevator to the seventh floor. I was wearing jeans and boots and a black leather jacket over a black knit shirt, and I didn't feel dressed right for the building. The building called for gray silk and heels and skin that had been lasered and buffed to perfection.
Mary Maggie Mason answered on the second knock. She was wearing sweats, and her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. "Yes?" she asked, peering at me from behind tortoiseshell glasses, a Nora Roberts book in her hand. Mary Maggie, the mud wrestler, reads romance. In fact, from what I could see beyond her door, Mary Maggie read everything. There were books everywhere.
I gave her my card and introduced myself. "I'm looking for Eddie DeChooch," I said. "It's been brought to my attention that he's driving your car around town."
"The white Cadillac? Yeah. Eddie needed a car, and I never drive the Caddy. I inherited it when my Uncle Ted died. I should probably sell it, but it's nostalgic."
"How do you know Eddie?"
"He's one of the owners of The Snake Pit. Eddie and Pinwheel Soba and Dave Vincent. Why are you looking for Eddie? You're not going to arrest him, are you? He's really a sweet old guy."
"He missed his court date and he needs to reschedule. Do you know where I can find him?"
"Sorry. He stopped by one day last week. I don't remember which day. He wanted to borrow the car. His car is a real lemon. Always something wrong with it. So I loan him the Cadillac a lot. He likes to drive it because it's big and white and he can find it at night in a parking lot. Eddie doesn't see all that well."
It's none of my business, but I wouldn't be loaning my car to a blind guy. "Looks like you do a lot of reading."
"I'm a book junkie. When I retire from wrestling I'm going to open a mystery bookstore."
"Can you make a living selling mysteries?"
"No. Nobody makes a living selling mysteries. The stores are all fronts for numbers operations."
We were standing in the foyer and I was looking around as best I could for evidence that DeChooch might be hiding out with Mary Maggie.
"This is a great building," I said. "I didn't realize there was this much money in mud wrestling."
"Mud wrestling doesn't pay anything. I stay alive with the endorsements. And I've got a couple corporate sponsors." Mary Maggie glanced at her watch. "Yikes, look at the time. I have to go. I'm supposed to be at the gym in a half hour."
I pulled out of the underground garage and parked on a side street so I could make a few calls. First call was to Ranger's cell phone.
"Yo," Ranger said.
"Do you know DeChooch owns a third of The Snake Pit?"
"Yeah, he won it in a crap game two years ago. I thought