Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight (Stephanie Plum #28)(45)

“She has a point,” Connie said.

“I’ve got to get to the bottom of this,” Lula said. “I made an appointment to have my stars read. There’s some kind of voodoo bull-dookie going on.”

“I have my own problems,” I said. “I want to find Charlotte Huck.”

“Why is she important?” Lula asked.

“I think she’s connected to Melvin and Clark. And since I have no clue where to look for Oswald beyond downtown, I’m going to search for Charlotte Huck.”

“Did you try her home address?” Connie asked.

“Yes. I went through the house, and it looked deserted.”

“We could take another look,” Lula said. “You never know when people decide to go home. I’m meeting my astrologer this afternoon, but I haven’t got anything better to do this morning.”

I drove into the downtown area, turned onto Spruce Street, and found #108. I recognized a plainclothes cop car parked next door. I could see motion beyond the sheers on the downstairs front windows.

“Hunh,” Lula said. “Somebody must have a problem. Or else Officer Woody is doing an early nooner.”

I parked across the street, and we sat in the car and watched both houses. Nothing was happening. Lula checked her email on her phone, and I kept watching.

“How long are we going to wait here?” Lula asked. “Are we going to bust into her house or what?”

“I’m reluctant to bust into her house when I think there’s a cop next door.”

“Here we go,” Lula said. “The front door just opened.”

A man stepped out with a dog on a leash. He closed the door, and the man and the dog went to the sidewalk and turned left.

“That’s a cop if I ever saw one,” Lula said. “And he’s taking his dog for a walk.”

“Oh boy,” I said. “Hold on.”

I snatched Oswald’s file out of my bag and thumbed through it. I found the police report and my heart did a little jump when I read that Oswald Wednesday had been apprehended by an officer in residence at 106 Spruce Street. I felt like my whole body was smiling.

“Oswald got caught breaking into 106 Spruce Street,” I said to Lula. “He had the wrong house. He was looking for Charlotte Huck next door. He even said he was in the wrong house.”

“How could he do that if he’s supposed to be so smart?”

“All these houses look alike. And in the dark, it would be easy to misread 108 for 106. I think it’s possible that Charlotte Huck is Charley Q, the fourth Trenton Baked Potato.”

“I could see that,” Lula said. “She looks like the lady version of Melvin. Can we bust into her house now?”

“It’s not necessary. I know she’s not there. I want to go back to my parents’ house and talk to Melvin.”

“Yeah, but it’s too early for lunch.”

“I’m sure there will be leftover pastries from breakfast.”

“I guess I could settle for that,” Lula said.



* * *




Melvin was gaming on his computer when we walked in.

“Whoa,” Lula said. “Is that Fortnite you’re playing? Dude, you’ve got a setup. What kind of keyboard is that?”

Melvin shut down and took his headset off. “It’s a Corsair K95 RGB Platinum. And I go with a Hyper X Cloud Alpha headset. The headset is a little old school, but in my opinion it’s still the best.”

“Not having any luck getting back into Oswald’s network?” I asked him.

“I need to reset my head,” Melvin said. “I switched to Fortnite to energize.”

I moved to the kitchen, where my mom was still knitting and Grandma was at the table, watching her.

“Melvin’s playing Fortnite,” I said to Grandma. “I’m surprised you aren’t in there with him.”

“I can’t keep up with him,” Grandma said. “I got a ladies’ group I play with when there’s no bingo. We’re ruthless but some of us have a touch of arthritis, so our fingers don’t move so fast.”

Lula peeked into the bakery box on the counter. “Looks like you got a bunch of leftovers in here,” she said.

“Help yourself,” my mom said. “Would you like coffee or tea?”

“One or two of these pastries will be enough, thanks,” Lula said.

“What are you girls up to?” Grandma asked. “Anything exciting going on?”

“I couldn’t stop thinking about Charlotte Huck,” I said, “so Lula and I went to check out her house. It turns out she lives next door to the house Oswald broke into. We saw the cop leave to walk his dog and I figured it out. At the time, Oswald said it was all a mistake, that he was in the wrong house. No one believed him and he was charged with breaking and entering and assaulting a police officer. I think he was telling the truth. I think Oswald was looking for Charlotte Huck. It’s possible that Charlotte Huck is Charley Q.”

Grandma sucked in some air. “You think Charley Q is a girl?”

I pulled her credit report and photo out of my bag. “I don’t have much on her,” I said. “She probably wipes her profile.”

Grandma looked over at the photo. “That’s Jean Barkolowski’s girl.”