Read Online Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich - Free Book Online Page A

third. “So tell me,” I said to Morelli. “What’s going on with Jackie and her old man? Why don’t you want me getting involved?”
    “Like I said, it’s none of your business.” Morelli leaned forward, raised the lid on Rex’s hamster cage and chucked a chunk of pizza crust into Rex’s little ceramic food dish.
    “Tell me anyway,” I said.
    “There’s not much to tell. I just think there’s a funny climate on the streets. The dealers are pulling back, getting cautious. Rumor has it some have disappeared.”
    His attention was diverted to the television. “Watch this,” he said. “Watch the replay of this layup.”
    “The guys in vice must be ecstatic.”
    “Yeah,” Morelli said. “They’re sitting around playing cards and eating jelly doughnuts for lack of crime.”
    I was still debating the third piece of pizza. My thighs really didn’t need it, but life was so short, and physical gratification was hard to come by these days. The hell with it. Eat the damn thing and get it over with, I thought.
    I saw a smile twitch at the corners of Morelli’s mouth.
    “What?” I yelled at him.
    He held two hands in the air. “Hey, don’t yell at me just because you have no willpower.”
    “I have plenty of willpower.” Man, I hated when Morelli was right. “Why are you here anyway?”
    “Just being sociable.”
    “And you want to see if I have anything new on Mo.”
    “Yeah.”
    I’d expected him to deny it, and now I was left with nothing accusatory to say.
    “Why are you so interested in Mo?” I asked.
    Morelli shrugged. “Everyone in the burg is interested in Mo. I spent a lot of time in that store as a kid.”
     
    Morning dawned late under a tedious cloud cover that was the color and texture of cement curbing. I finished up the pizza for breakfast and was feeding Rex Cheerios and raisins when the phone rang.
    “Man, this is one ugly morning,” Lula said. “And it’s getting uglier by the minute.”
    “Are you referring to the weather?” I asked.
    “That too. Mostly I’m referring to human nature. We got a situation on our hands. Jackie’s got herself staked out in the FancyAss parking lot, looking to catch her old man doin’ the deed. I told her to go home, but she don’t listen to me. I told her he probably isn’t even there. What would he be doing with a woman could afford to live in a place like that? I told her that motherfucker got capped. I told her she be better off checking the Dumpsters, but it go on deaf ears.”
    “And?”
    “And I thought you could talk to her. She’s gonna freeze to death. She’s been sitting there all night.”
    “What makes you think she’ll listen to me?”
    “You could tell her you got some surveillance going on, and she don’t need to butt in.”
    “That would be a lie.”
    “What, you never lied before?”
    “Okay,” I said. “I’ll see what I can do.”
     
    Half an hour later, I turned the Buick into the RiverEdge Apartments parking lot. Jackie was there, all right, parked in her Chrysler. I pulled up behind her, got out and rapped on her window.
    “Yeah?” Jackie said by way of greeting, not sounding all that happy.
    “What are you doing here?”
    “I’m waiting for that shit-ass car thief to come out, and then I’m going to put a hole in him big enough to drive a truck through.”
    I don’t know a whole lot about guns, but the cannon resting on the seat next to Jackie looked like it could do the job.
    “That’s a pretty good idea,” I said, “but you look cold. Why don’t you let me take over the surveillance for a while?”
    “Thanks all the same, but you found him, and now I get to kill him.”
    “Makes perfect sense to me. I just thought it might be better to kill him when it warmsup some. After all, there isn’t any real rush. No point sitting out here, catching a cold, just to kill a guy.”
    “Yeah, but I feel like killing him now. I don’t feel like waiting. Besides, I’m not gonna do any business today