pulled me to him and kissed me with a lot of tongue. “I really need to celebrate,” he said. And he was gone, off to file a report on my shootout.
Lula was finishing her half gallon of soda when I returned to the table. “How'd that go?” she wanted to know.
“Average.” I looked in the chicken bucket. One wing left.
“I'm in a real mean mood after that whole cleaning incident,” Lula said. “I figure I might as well make the most of it and go after my DV. When I was a file clerk I didn't usually work on Sunday, unless I was helping you. But now that I'm a bounty hunter I'm on the job twentyfour/seven. You see what I'm saying? And I know how you're missing being a bounty hunter and all, so I'm gonna let you ride with me again.”
“I don't miss being a bounty hunter. And I don't want to ride with you.”
“Please?” Lula said. “Pretty please with sugar on it? I'm your friend, right? And we do things together, right? Like, look at how we just shared lunch together.”
“You ate all the chicken.”
“Not all the chicken. I left you a wing. 'Course, it's true I don't particularly like wings, but that's not the point. Anyways, I kept you from putting a lot of ugly fat on your skinny ass. You aren't gonna be getting any from Officer Hottie if you get all fat and dimply. And I know you need to be getting some on a regular basis because I remember when you weren't getting any and you were a real cranky pants.”
Unknown
“Stop!” I said. “I'll go with you.”
FIVE
It took us a half hour to get to the public housing projects and work our way through the grid of streets that led to Emanuel Lowe, also known as the DV.
Lula had the Firebird parked across the street from Lowe's apartment, and we were both watching the apartment door, and we were both wishing we were at Macy's shopping for shoes.
“We need a better plan this time,” Lula said. “Last time, I did the direct approach and that didn't work out. We gotta be sneaky this time. And we can't use me on account of everybody here knows me now. So I'm thinking it's going to have to be you to go snatch the DV.”
“Not in a million years.”
“Yeah, but they don't know you. And there's hardly anybody sneakier than you. I'd even cut you in. I'd give you ten bucks if you collected him for me.”
I did raised eyebrows at Lula. “Ten dollars? I used to pay you fifty and up.”
“I figure it goes by the pound and a little bitty thing like you isn't worth as much as a full-figured woman like me.” Lula took a couple beats. “Well okay, I guess that don't fly. It was worth a try though, right?”
“Maybe you should just sit here and wait for him to come out and then you can run over him with your Firebird.”
“That's sarcasm, isn't it? I know sarcasm when I hear it. And it's not attractive on you. You don't usually do sarcasm. You got some Jersey attitude going, don't you?”
I slumped lower in my seat. “I'm depressed.”
“You know what would get you out of that depression? An apprehension. You need to kick some butt. You need to get yourself empowered. I bet you'd feel real good if you snagged yourself an Emanuel Lowe.”
“Fine. Okay. I'll get Lowe for you. The day's already in the toilet. Might as well finish it off right.” I unbuckled my seat belt. “Give me your gun and your cuffs.”
“You haven't got your own gun?”
“I didn't think I needed to carry a gun because I didn't think I was going to be doing this anymore. When I left the house this morning I thought I was going to be working at the dry cleaners.”
Lula handed me her gun and a pair of cuffs. “You always gotta have a gun. It's like wearing undies. You wouldn't go out of the house without undies, would you? Same thing with a gun. Boy, for being a bounty hunter all that time you sure don't know much.”
I grabbed the gun from Lula and marched up to Lowe's front door. I knocked twice, Lowe opened the door, and I pointed the gun at him. “On the ground,” I