When they got to the docks, they saw a group of French clowns loading crates onto a ship.
“How many of them are there?” the capo asked Spotty.
“A couple dozen,” Spotty said, with his ear against his pet cockroaches.
“Any sign of my wife?” Earl asked.
“The ship is too big for my scouts,” Spotty said, allowing the roaches to crawl back into his coat. “We’ll have to search it ourselves.”
A clown in a brown trench coat was ordering around the men loading the ship. He had black-and-white swirly patterns on his skin and long yellow hair.
“There he is,” Vinnie said. “Coco de Merde.”
“That guy’s a clown?” Spotty asked. “He looks more like a goddamn juggalo.”
“Well, there’s no way we’re going to be able to fight our way through,” said Vinnie Blue Nose. “We need to find a way to sneak on board.”
“Should we take a small boat and come at it from the other side?” Spotty asked.
“Where are we going to find a boat?” Jackie asked.
Rizzo stepped forward. “Allow me.”
He took off his orange polka-dot hat to reveal a smaller hat beneath. This one was red and white, striped like a candy cane. Resting on top of the hat was a chocolate cream pie. He set it on the ground and grabbed a string dangling from the tin. When he pulled the string, the pie exploded. In an instant, it inflated to the size of a boat big enough for four.
“It’s my life raft pie,” Hats said. “You know, just in case I ever get lost at sea.”
The clowns looked at Hats. Then they looked at the inflated boat. Then they looked at Hats again. The mook wouldn’t take the dumb smile off his face.
“Good job, knucklehead,” said Spotty. “Now how are we going to get it to the water without being noticed?”
The dumb smile faded from Hats’s face. “How am I supposed to know? I don’t even know if it floats.”
They looked at the boat and saw that it was slowly deflating.
“Follow me,” Vinnie said. “I’ll get us a boat.”