Kenny sat in the passenger side of the truck with a plastic baggy full of ice pressed to the left side of his nose. He sported purple bruises under each eye, and tissue was shoved up both nostrils. “Am I wrong or did Boss go somewhere he just didn’t need to go?”
“You ain’t wrong,” Step said, peering out the windshield and watching Laura Farrow’s tiny house.
“I mean, I know I can touch a nerve with all my questions, but I just found it strange that Billy went from almost jumping onto our closeout list to settling up with Boss in less than a day. That is strange, ain’t it?”
“It is.” Someone walked past the living room window.
Kenny removed the ice pack and turned to Step. “You think my nose is broke?”
Step looked at the crooked, red swollen knob in the middle of Kenny’s face and said, “Yep, it’s broke.”
“Goddamn! It ain’t like I don’t got enough strikes against me. Now I got a busted-up nose to work around with the ladies.”
“What happened to ‘it’s a man’s world’?” Step asked.
“There’s only so far I can take that, Step. I had a lot to overcome before, but now it’s just plain ridiculous.”
Step grabbed the folder off the seat and examined its contents again. “I don’t feel good about this closeout, Kenny.”
“Why?” Kenny asked, reapplying the ice bag to his nose.
“I can’t shake the notion that I know her.”
“That ain’t unusual. If she runs in the same circles as Boss and Harley and the like, you probably run into her a time or two.”
“That ain’t it.”
Kenny turned his attention to the house. “Whoever she is, she likes to throw day parties. You think that’s some sort of makeup party?”
“What the hell’s a makeup party?”
“One of them parties, you know? A lady comes in with lipstick and face paint and the like, and she takes orders there on the spot.”
Step stared at the picture. “Oh, that kind of makeup party. I don’t know if they do that sort of thing anymore.”
Kenny snapped his fingers. “I bet it’s one of them sex toy parties.”
Step laughed. “What?”
“They do that sort of thing. I read about it on a computer site. Ladies get together and test out sex toys.”
Step angled the picture toward Kenny. “This ain’t the face of a woman that holds sex toy parties.”
Kenny retrieved a pair of binoculars from the glove compartment. “You can’t go by faces no more, Step.”
“It’s probably just a tea party or book club or something.”
Kenny focused the binoculars. The ladies were sitting in a half circle. They were all facing something just beyond the window frame. “They got cups they’re drinking from. You might be right about that tea business—” He stopped when a woman in a yellow dress walked into the center of the window. “Hold on.”
“What?” Step asked.
Kenny twisted the focus ring. “I can’t say for sure…”
“Can’t say what?”
Kenny let out a restrained rebel yell. “That lady cop, Step, she’s in there having tea with them gals.”
Step furrowed his brow and then ripped the binoculars out of Kenny’s hand. “Your busted nose has clouded your vision…” He took a look and his mouth dropped open when he realized his partner wasn’t seeing things. “Holy shit. What the hell is going on?”
The two closeout kings were startled by the sudden appearance of three police cars coming at them from the other side of the street. Their lights weren’t going and the sirens weren’t blaring, but they were clearly in a hurry to get somewhere.
“We best get,” Kenny said.
Step cranked the motor and stopped short of putting the truck in drive when he saw the first cop car pull down the short street to Laura Farrow’s house. The other two followed.
“What are you doing? Go,” Kenny said.
Step shook his head. “I want to see this thing play out.”
Kenny’s phone signaled that he had a text. He pulled it from his pocket, read the message, and then showed it to his partner. DC. Delay Closeout.