The Hard Bounce - страница 42

We parked behind a construction trailer on the far side of the street. Just enough of a sight line for us to see the front of Sid’s and not be obvious about it. If anyone in the neighborhood was wondering why we were sitting in our car for a couple hours smoking and bitching about the quality of canned coffee, they didn’t care enough to ask.

“‘Oh, Sheila,’” I said to Junior as I popped another jelly bean in my mouth.

“Prince. You’re slipping. That’s an easy one.” Junior was munching on a big bag of Sno-Caps, the front of his T-shirt covered in tiny white sugar granules.

“So easy you’re wrong.”

“What? That was so Prince! He wrote it about Sheila E.”

“I don’t know if he wrote it, but he didn’t sing it.”

“Morris Day?”

“Nope.”

“Shit. Who was it?” Just then, a stunning young thing in ripped jeans and a tank top came strolling by with a ferret wrapped around her neck. Only in Boston. From our angle, we could see a big tattoo of the Pisces sign on her lower back, right above her butt cleavage. “Jeeeeeesus H. Crow,” Junior said in awe.

“Yeah,” was all I could manage as I squinted in the last few seconds of her before she turned the corner and was gone. “You know, I’m starting to think we’re not the best guys for this work.”

Junior shrugged as he licked a finger and dipped it into the white sugar orbs accumulated at the bottom of his bag. “I dunno. I think we’re doing a pretty damn good job so far.”

“Yeah, but look at us. Put together, we don’t have the attention span of a squirrel. We’re supposed to be watching the store.”

“Boo?”

“Yeah?”

“If something like that ever walks by and I can’t take my eyes off Sid? Shoot me in the face.”

“Got it.”

“I mean it. In the face. Close the lid. I don’t deserve the dignity of an open casket. Sno-Cap?” He sucked the sugar off his finger as he offered the bag.

“No thanks.”

“Suit yourself.” He dipped his wet finger back in for another go.

“Ready for the World.”

“I’m ready for anything.”

“No, they sang ‘Oh, Sheila.’”

“Damn. It was them, wasn’t it? I thought it was Prince.”

“Nope.” So far, I had the lead. Sixteen to nine. Hollow victories are still victories.

“Oh, yeah. Fine, then. Gloves are off. ‘Pac-Man Fever.’”

I sang the opening riff. “I got a pocket full of quarters, and I’m headed to the arcaaaade…”

“No way. No fucking way do you know this one.”

“Way. Buckner and Garcia.”

“Goddamn it.” Junior flicked a Sno-Cap at me. I switched my jelly bean bag for my gummi worm bag.

Time crept along, and we waited. My legs started to stiffen, and my back ached. How the hell did cops do this shit? Maybe they didn’t in real life. So far, all we had for references on procedure were John D. MacDonald novels and Junior’s Miami Vice DVDs.

Then the Sid’s Vids sign went black. I checked my watch. Quarter past eight. The sun was just starting to lower itself into the horizon, turning the sky into mango.

Timing was perfect. We would have the cover of dusk to follow Sid. Unfortunately, it was too hot to wear trench coats. That would have been cool.

We waited. Another fifteen minutes passed. The lights in the store went off.

Another half-hour. Fully dark now. No Sid.

“Uh… You don’t think she went out the back, do you?” Junior asked.

“Shit. I don’t know if there is a back way.”

“Shouldn’t we have thought of that?”

“Probably.”

“Wait here. I’ll go check.”

Junior scrambled out of the car, hunched low and moving in a serpentine path from car to car like he was on recon in Baghdad. Nice and inconspicuous.

Jesus.

I kept my eyes on the front of the store. Nothing. It was half past nine. Something was fucked up in Denmark.

Junior came back behind the car, still hunched like a gorilla with Scoliosis. “Found her,” he said, grinning.

“Where?”

“Upstairs. We were watching the stupid store so tight we didn’t notice the lights in the apartment above go on. I guess it’s hers. There’s a little lot and a rear door into the apartments back there.”

“How do you know she’s up there? All the shades are drawn on this side.”

“Shadows, my man. Either Sid is up there or they’re renting the apartment out to a wheezing buffalo. Got a dog up there, too.”