and told him to pick Oswald up in connection with the firebombings.
“I have to run,” Briggs said. “Bruce is probably already out there, and I don’t want to be late for my interview. This would be a great job. Can you lock up for me?”
“Sure. Good luck.”
I watched Briggs run down the hall and get into the elevator, and then I turned to the dogs.
“Okay,” I said, “try not to vibrate too much until Briggs gets back. You don’t want to go into a seizure or anything.”
I stepped into the hall, closed and locked the door, took five steps, and the dogs started yipping. Considering they were such small dogs, the yipping was pretty loud.
I unlocked the door and stepped inside. “You can’t make noise like that,” I said to them. “The neighbors won’t like it.”
They all settled down and calmly stared up at me with their bug eyes.
“All right, then,” I said.
I moved into the hall and closed the door, and instant yipping! I jumped back into the apartment, got the dog biscuits from the cupboard, and threw a bunch of them at the Chihuahuas.
I ran out of the apartment, got almost to the elevator, and the yipping turned into yelping.
Damn!
Five minutes later, the dogs were leashed and in the back of the Mercedes SUV. I drove to the office and brought the dogs in with me.
“What’s with the minions?” Lula asked.
“I’m babysitting.”
“Looks like you brought the little critters in a shiny new Mercedes,” Lula said. “We should take it to lunch.”
I looked at my watch. “It’s early for lunch.”
“Then we should take it to breakfast or brunch or whatever the hell. I woke up thinking about pizza. I don’t know what it is about the pizza at the pizza place in Buster’s building. I got a real craving for it.”
THIRTY-ONE
I TOOK LULA across town and parked opposite Buster’s building.
“It isn’t even eleven o’clock and already there’s a line here,” Lula said. “Ordinarily I don’t do lines, but this is different. I bet I could eat a whole pie. What kind are you going to get?”
“I’m going to skip the pizza. I just had a peanut butter sandwich. I’ll wait here with the critters.”
Lula got into line, and I relaxed in Ranger’s Mercedes. Vlatko was out of the picture. Ranger was safe. I was wearing my own underwear. Life was good.
A Camaro with tinted windows parked on the other side of the street, two doors down from Buster. The driver got out, walked to Buster’s door, unlocked the door with a key, and let himself in. The man was stocky. Black hair, dark skin. T-shirt and jeans. Hoodie over the T-shirt. Odd, since it was almost eighty degrees. My first thought was that he was hiding a gun. My second thought was that I needed a new life because lately I thought everybody was packing a gun, and I was usually right.
Lula hustled out of the pizza place with a big pizza box.
“Fresh out of the oven,” Lula said. “I had to pay extra for it because they said they were in a position where they had to pay extra for the herbs. Not that I care, because you know how important herbs are in pizza.”
She opened the lid and I looked at the pizza. It was spectacular.
“Maybe just one piece,” I said.
“Help yourself.”
I took a bite and sighed. “Yum.”
“You can say that again. This here’s my favorite pizza place of all time. It’s got something special about it. It must be those herbs.”
I looked at the pizza. Basil leaves, oregano, something else.
“You see these green things?” I asked Lula. “What are they?”
“Herbs.”
“Yes, but what kind?”
“I’m not actually up on my herbs,” Lula said.
I suspected it was weed. Anything this good had to be illegal. I picked them off my piece.
The dogs were restless in the back of the SUV.
“I’m going to walk the pack,” I said.
“You need help?”
“I’ll be fine. Briggs has been working with them, and they’re much better on the leash. Stay here and enjoy the pizza.”
I walked one block toward State Street and turned the corner. I knew there was an empty lot with some scraggly grass halfway down the block. I got to the lot and commanded the dogs to tinkle. They didn’t look immediately motivated, so I walked them around a little on the grass and got most of them emptied out. I came back to the Mercedes and found a note on Lula’s seat.
Got tired of sitting here so I took the