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LIVING IN TRENTON in July is like living inside a big pizza oven Hot, airless, aromatic

Because I didn't want to miss any of the summer experience I had the sunroof open on my Honda CRX My brown hair was pulled up into a windsnarled, curls-?gone-?to-?frizz ponytail The sun baked the top of my head, and sweat trickled underspandex shorts and a sleeveless oversized Trenton Thunders baseball jersey It was an excellent outfit except it gaveto have to borrow a gun to shoot my cousin Vinnie

I parked the CRX in front of Vinnie's storefront bail bonds office, lunged out of the car, stalked across the sidewalk, and yanked the office door open “Where is he? Where is that ?”

“Uh oh,” Lula said from behind the file cabinet “Rhino alert”

Lula is a retired hooker who helps clean up the filing and soitive apprehension thing If people were cars, Lula would be a big, black '53 Packard with a high-?gloss chrorowl like a junkyard dog Lots of muscle Never fit in a compact space

Connie Rosolli, the office er, pushed back at her desk when I entered Connie's domain was this one front roo money And to the rear, in an inner office, my cousin Vinnie slapped Mr Johnson around and conversed with his bookie

“Hey,” Connie said, “I knohat you're bummed about, and this wasn't my decision Personally, if I were you, I'd kick your cousin's pervert ass around the block”

I pushed a clump of hair that had strayed froh I think I'll shoot him”

“Go for it!” Lula said

“Yeah,” Connie agreed “Shoot him”

Lula checked out es in that spandex” She hiked up her T-?shirt and pulled a Chief's Special out of her cut-?off denih”

“You don't want a little peashooter like that,” Connie said, opening her desk drawer “I've got a forty-?five You canhole with a forty-?five”