Page 88 of A River Red With Blood
“Sure, after Paulie and I packed up his stuff and put it in his car.It was that or watch it burn.”
“And does Paulie like Faith?”
I’d never known either of the Fulcis to date anyone before.Until now, their loyalties were solely to their mother and each other.
“He thinks she’s nice,” said Tony, beaming.
“And your mother?”
The beam died.
“Faith hasn’t met our mother yet.”
“Saving it for Thanksgiving?”
“Thanksgiving some year,” said Tony, who could be droll when the mood struck.
I showed him the two trackers, which were encased in heat-shrink dark covers to blend with the underside of a car, and provided him with a printout of the home and work addresses of Roger Teal and Edward Kenney, as well as the license plate numbers and makes of their vehicles.
“I’d like this done today,” I said.“It’ll take two people, one to tag the cars and the other to keep watch and run interference if required.I don’t want to spoil your date, but if you pass this on to Paulie, Angel might have to go along with him for the ride.”
Paulie was solid, but his capacity for lateral thinking was less well developed than his brother’s.
“We’re taking Faith to Otto’s on the River,” said Tony.“We can swing by Teal on the way and afterward drive north to do Kenney.”
Otto’s was an upscale waterside joint in Augusta.
“That’ll work,” I said.“Wait, who’s ‘we’?”
“Paulie and me,” said Tony.
“Paulie’s going with you on your date with Faith?”
“I never said it was a date.I said it was lunch.You said it was a date.”
“But it is a date.”I paused.“Isn’t it?”
“I want to take it slow,” said Tony.“I don’t want to, you know, scare her off by coming on too strong.”
Tony had dislocated her ex’s finger before railroading him out of town, and soon both Tony and Paulie would be sitting down to lunch with this woman between bouts of illegally tagging cars with tracking devices.If that didn’t scare her off, nothing would, and we’d all be choosing hats for the wedding before the year was out.
“Make sure you and Paulie bill me for your hours,” I said.“And add the lunch at Otto’s to the tab.Alcock’s good for it.If not, Moxie will pay.”
Moxie would cover lunch just for the pleasure of hearing the story.
“These two guys,” said Tony, as he prepared to leave, “what did they do?”
“I don’t know.I’ve only met one of them, but I didn’t like him.”
“Then I don’t like him either,” said Tony.
Which was about as solid a definition of loyalty as one could get.
Chapter 85
Sabine Drew returned to the Bingham Motor Inn.Sadlier joined her there, and together they drove out to his home, but they did nothing more energetic than drink take-out coffee and share a pastry while Sabine told him of the imminent arrival of the private investigator to The Plains.
“Will you help him?”she asked.
