Page 104 of Fire and Bones

“I’m sure—”

“Tell me this. How would I dial if I’m lying flat on my ass?”

“Ms. Pope, I’m wondering if you’ve had repairs or renovations done on your property in the recent past.”

“You do ask the damndest questions.”

“I noticed construction debris in your yard. And, well, your home looks so lovely, I was curious who did the work.”

“Yeah? You think so?”

“I do.”

“Was a pain in the patooty but it needed doing. Had water seeping down my bedroom wall.”

“Do you recall the name of the company?”

“What am I, a walking encyclopedia? Hold on.”

I heard the clunk of a handset hitting a hard surface. The receding double tap of Pope’s feet and walker. I pictured the old woman. The terrible wig. The kimono. The black gloves.

My hindbrain cleared its throat. Ahem!

What?

Try as I might, I hadn’t a clue what my subconscious was telling me.

An eternity later Pope was back.

“You must live under a lucky star, buttercup. The contractor, or whatever he was, left a business card. I kept it in case there were problems. I’m careful like that.”

“A good quality.”

There was a pause during which I heard a tsunami of wheezing. I could picture Pope squinting to make out the lettering on the card.

“?‘Safe and Sound Home Repairs and Renovations.’ The print is so small it may as well be on an aspirin bottle.”

There followed another lengthy round of wheezing.

I pondered buttercups. Patooties. My favorite brand of aspirin.

“I think it says ‘licensed general contractor, insured and bonded.’ Yeah. That’s it. I vaguely remember the guy. Did a nice job but never smelled too good.”

“Do you recall his name?”

“Not sure I ever knew it.”

“Do you see contact information?”

“There’s a phone number.” She read off the digits. “No address, but the area code is out in Maryland, I think.”

“Did you have to pay for a parking permit for your contractor’s car?”

“Don’t recall that. But I don’t recall much these days. Mostly it’s a blessing.”

“Thank you so much, Ms. Pope.”

“My advice, never pay a penny up front. Wait until all the banging and sawing and hammering’s done.”