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school?”
    He kept his eyes glued to his bloated cereal. “You'll think it's
dopey.”
    “And?”
    “I want to be an engineer and design roller
coasters.”
    I was dumbstruck. “Wow. That's fantastic.”
    “Yeah, except I'll never get into college because my grades
suck, and we have no money.”
    “So fix your grades and go to a state school. That's what I did.
You could even try for a scholarship.” Morelli called on my cell
phone.
    “Tell Zook, or whoever the hell he is today, that his mom says
hello. She isn't happy, but she's managing.”
    “Thanks. I'll pass it on. Any information on last night?” “You
mean the break-in? No. No other disturbances in the
neighborhood.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    Connie was at her desk when I walked into the office. I dumped
my shoulder bag on the couch and cut my eyes to Vinnie's inner
sanctum. The door was closed.
    “He's not here,” Connie said. “He's at a bail bonds conference
in Shreveport.”
    “What's happening with Loretta Rizzi?”
    “Not a damn thing. It's pathetic,” Connie said. “No one wants to
take a chance on her.”
    “You could bond her out on her own recognizance.”
    “Vinnie would kill me.”
    “He wouldn't have to know.”
    “Vinnie knows everything. He has this office
bugged.”
    “I thought you debugged it.”
    “He keeps hiding new ones.”
    “I have to get Loretta out. Morelli and I aren't ready for
parenthood. If I was going to target one of her relatives, who
would be my top choice?”
    “Her brother. He's got a stash somewhere. He stole nine million
dollars, and it was never recovered.”
    “Do you have an address?”
    “He's staying at his mother's house on Conway
Street.”
    “I know the house.”
    “You might want to take Lula. Word is he's
unstable.”
    “Where is Lula?”
    “Late. Like always.”
    I caught a flash of red in my peripheral vision and Lula swept
through the front door. Her hair was still fire-engine red, and her
sweater, skirt, and shoes matched her hair.
    “Speak of the devil,” Connie said.
    “I ain't no devil,” Lula said. “I'm respectable, mostly. I'm an
engaged woman. I got a ring and everything. I told you I had a
feeling.”
    She held her hand out, and we looked at her ring.
    “Wow, that's a big diamond,” Connie said. “Is it
real?”
    “Sure it's real,” Lula said. “I got it in the diamond district
on Eighth and Remington.”
    “That's the projects,” Connie said.
    “Yeah. Scootch Brown runs that corner. He said this was a real
good ring. He gave me a good price on it.”
    “So it was okay with Tank that you bought the
ring?”
    “Tank got a real important job,” Lula said. “He don't
necessarily have time to go shopping for shit like
this.”
    “Does he know he's engaged?”
    “Of course he knows,” Lula said. “It was real romantic, too. He
came over, and we always get right to it, if you know what I mean.
So anyway, we got that out of the way, and then Tank fell asleep
and I put the ring on. And then when Tank woke up, I told him how
happy I was, and how he was such a sweetie. And then I celebrated
by making him feel real good, and after that he fell asleep
again.”
    “Congratulations,” I said to Lula. “When's the
wedding?”
    “I haven't decided that. June might be nice.”
    “That's next month.”
    “Yeah,” Lula said. “You think it's too far away? I don't like
long engagements.”
    “You can't go wrong with June,” Connie said. “Everyone wants to
get married in June.”
    “That's what I figure,” Lula said. “I always wanted to be a June
bride, but I don't want one of them schmaltzy weddings with the big
white gown and all. I just want to get married real quiet.” She
looked at me. “What about you? Did you have a big schmaltzy
wedding?”
    “Yeah. And then I had an even bigger divorce.”
    “I remember the divorce,” Connie said. “It was spectacular. It
was a real accomplishment, since you'd only been married about
fifteen minutes.” She handed a file