I finally broke out of the crowd and was able to scan the area. I saw Benji a good distance in front of me, making his way to an exit that led to more exhibits. There was a commotion going on behind me. Raised voices, a couple shrieks, and a woman yelled, “Crazy horned bitch.”

  Benji turned to see what was going on and spotted me. For a beat he froze, deer in headlights, and then he was off and running. I ran after him, dodging people carrying drinks and burgers, skirting tables. I reached the exit and heard more noise behind me. I took a quick glance back and cringed when I saw Lula on the floor with another woman. In an instant Lula was on her feet and running.

  “I’m coming,” Lula yelled. “I got your back.”

  Grandma was a short distance behind Lula. “Me too,” she yelled. “Don’t let the little bugger get away!”

  I left the food court and lost Benji. He’d been swallowed up by the crowd. I stopped to catch my breath and Lula and Grandma caught up to me. Lula had what looked like a chocolate milkshake down the front of her and some French fries stuck in her cleavage.

  “These people don’t know enough to get out of the way,” Lula said. “Anybody could see I was on the chase. There’s a bunch of dumb people here.”

  “She might have gored someone,” Grandma said. “We should watch the news tonight.”

  I hurried Grandma and Lula through the main hall, to the building’s entrance. “We can hang here and watch the doors,” I said. “Maybe we can catch him leaving.”

  “Is this the only way out?” Lula asked.

  “I’m sure there are lots of other ways out,” I said. “Vendors and employees would use other doors, but this is the one available to fans. You watch for Benji. I’m going to canvass hotels to see if he’s staying around here.”

  I called my mom and told her we were still in Atlantic City and wouldn’t be home for dinner. I called Morelli next. We have a standing date for Friday night. Usually, he eats dinner with me at my parents’ house and then we spend the night together.

  “I’m in Atlantic City,” I said. “I’m going to miss dinner, but I’ll see you later.”

  “That’s the best part anyway,” he said. “If you’re not here by eleven o’clock I’m going to start without you.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  I tried the Sheraton first since it was the convention center hotel. No luck there. I tried some other budget hotels. Nothing. I sat down on a bench, looked at a map, and called some of the classics. Caesars, Showboat, Bally’s, Tropicana, Harrah’s. I tried Hard Rock last. No Benjamin Crup.

  I left my bench and walked over to Lula and Grandma, standing watch a short distance away. “I’ve tried the most obvious hotels, and no one has Benji registered,” I said.

  “Maybe he’s not using his real name,” Grandma said.

  “Yeah, or maybe he’s with somebody,” Lula said. “Maybe Sparks is here parading around like Sir Lancelot and the room is under his name. You said the Sir Lancelot costume was missing from his closet, right? We didn’t see him but maybe that’s on account of we weren’t looking for him. Maybe the Sir Lancelot people were hanging out in a different part of the building.”

  I went back to my bench and started calling my way through the hotels asking for Sparks. Halfway through I stopped to think about the three men. If they were working together, who would most likely be in charge? Carpenter Beedle. He had the most education, and more important, he was an accountant before becoming a panhandler. He was a detail guy. I continued calling hotels but now I was asking for Beedle. I got a positive hit on the Hard Rock. Mental head slap. I should have gone to the Hard Rock first. It was the right fit for a guy who’d just reinvented himself with new clothes and an expensive car.

  “They’re staying at the Hard Rock,” I said to Grandma and Lula.

  “Good choice of hotel,” Lula said. “What’s the plan?”

  “Benji ran when he saw me,” I said. “He had no reason to do that. It’s not as if he’s one of Vinnie’s skips. He ran because he didn’t want to talk to me. I’m sure he knows we’re onto him about the coin.”

  “He thinks we know something,” Grandma said, “but what he doesn’t know is that we really don’t know anything. So we have the advantage.”

  “All true,” I said.

  “We gotta be sneaky about this,” Lula said. “You can’t go busting down the door at the Hard Rock. And ordinarily we could be pizza delivery people or offer our services as erectile engineers, but since Benji saw Stephanie, they’re going to be suspicious.”

  “I can legally apprehend Beedle,” I said. “We can wait in the lobby and get him on the way to the elevators. It will be easier to catch him in the more confined space.”

  “I like that idea,” Lula said. “It’ll be comfy in the Hard Rock lobby. And the café is right there.”

  * * *

  I drove out of the parking garage and got onto Virginia Avenue, and it took us straight to the Hard Rock. I parked in a nearby lot, and we marched into the hotel lobby. We stopped after a couple feet and looked around.

  “I haven’t been here in a while,” Grandma said. “I’d forgotten how big it is.”

  I was having the same thought. The lobby was larger than I’d remembered, and at this time of the day there were a lot of people passing through. And a lot of them were from GoComic. They were carrying GoComic bags, and they were in various stages of GoComic dress. If Benji, Beedle, and Sparks came through the lobby as stormtroopers or Wookiees, I wouldn’t recognize them.

  “We’d be better off waiting for them in their room,” Lula said. “We could easily miss them here.”

  “Two problems with that,” I said. “We need to get their room number and we need to get into the room.”

  “I can get us into the room if you can get the number,” Lula said. “I got to be real good at getting into men’s hotel rooms when I was a ho.”

  I called Ranger and asked if he could hack into the hotel system to get Carpenter Beedle’s room number. Ten minutes later I got a text with the number.

  “You all wait here,” Lula said. “I’ll text you when I’m in and you come up and do the secret knock.”

  “What’s the secret knock?” Grandma asked.

  “Knock, knock, knock. And then you wait a beat and do another knock.”

  Grandma and I hung out in the lobby, scanning the crowd. She was still wearing her red cape, and oddly enough, it made us less conspicuous. We fit right in with the geeks and freaks and uber-fans who were filing in after a long day at the convention center.

  “This is just like being on another planet,” Grandma said. “It’s like in the Star Wars movies when Han Solo goes into a cantina and all the people have two heads or it looks like their faces got melted. Maybe we want to blow off finding Benji and go to the casino.”

  “That would be fun, but we’re supposed to be rescuing Connie.”

  “I forgot about that for a minute.”

  Lula called and said she was in Beedle’s room.

  “It’s a long elevator ride,” she said, “but the view is good. When you get up here don’t let anybody see you.”

  We took the south tower elevator to the thirty-eighth floor and Grandma gave the secret knock on Beedle’s door. Lula opened the door and hurried us in. “I told one of the housekeeping ladies I was here with Sir Lancelot and when I stepped out to get some horns, I forgot to take my key.”

  “That worked?” Grandma asked.

  “I can be real believable when I want to be,” Lula said. “And then I gave her a generous tip from petty cash.”

  Beedle had taken one of the nicer suites. It had an ocean view, a small kitchen area with a dining table and six chairs, a separate bedroom, and a living room with a large flat-screen TV. There was a day pack that I thought belonged to Benji, a cheap, dented suitcase that I assigned to Sparks, and a small Tumi suitcase that I was guessing belonged to Beedle. A bunch of plastic bags from GoComic were stashed in a corner. I bolted the door, and we went to work searching for the coin.

  “It’s not here,” Lula said. “Someone must have it on him. Or maybe they sold it.”

  “We need a plan,” Grandma said. “What are we going to do when the three guys come back?”

  “You two hide in the bedroom, and I’ll hide behind the door,” I said. “When they get inside, I’ll slam the door shut and tell them we want some answers.”

  “What if they don’t want to give us answers?”

  “I guess we’ll threaten them.”

  “With what? We had to leave our guns in the car.”

  “We’ll threaten to expose them. We’ll tell the kidnappers that Beedle, Benji, and Sparks have the coin. And we’ll remind them that Paul Mori is dead.”

  “That’s good,” Grandma said. “That would scare me.”

  We heard men talking in the hall and I ran to the door and flattened myself against the wall. Grandma and Lula ran into the bedroom. The door opened. Sir Lancelot, Beedle, and Benji walked in, and I slammed the door shut behind them.

  “What the heck?” Benji said. “How did you get in here?”

  “I have ways,” I said.

  Grandma and Lula came out of the bedroom.

  “Damn right she got ways,” Lula said. “We all got ways.”

  “What do you want?” Beedle asked. “I haven’t skipped on my new court date.”

  “I want the coin,” I told him.

  “I gave it to Benji,” Beedle said.

  “I gave it to Sparks,” Benji said.

  “You had my six coins,” Sparks said. “You had all of them.”

  “I want the seventh coin,” I said.

  Sparks fidgeted with his fake sword. “There’s no seventh coin.”

  “Liar liar pants on fire,” Lula said.

  “Where did you get the money for the car and the clothes and this suite?” I asked Beedle.

  “I got lucky panhandling.”

  “I thought you liked the simple life,” I said to Beedle. “Remember how you were happy not having any encumbrances? What about all that?”

  “I still don’t have any encumbrances,” he said. “I paid cash for the car and this suite. My life is still simple. It’s just simple in an expanded universe of luxury.”

  “How about you?” I asked Benji. “Has your universe of luxury expanded?”

  “I got a cool bike,” he said. “And I’m going to Hawaii to live in a yurt next to a waterfall.”

  “Do you got a bathroom in that yurt?” Lula asked. “I wouldn’t want to live in a yurt without a bathroom.”

  I looked at Sir Lancelot.

  “I bought a Saxon helmet yesterday,” he said. “And I got a lap dance from a wench.”

  “This is all terrific,” I said, “but I’m pretty sure this fun stuff has been bought with money you made off the Knights Templar coin. And here’s the problem. There are some very bad guys who want that coin. They kidnapped our office manager and they’re holding her for ransom. I’m ninety-nine percent sure that they killed Paul Mori. All this for the coin. So, what I’m going to do is tell them that you three guys have what they want. I’m taking myself out of it. You’re on your own. You can deal with the kidnappers.”

  “And don’t forget they’re killers, too,” Grandma said.

  “For real?” Benji asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  Benji looked at Beedle. “This isn’t good.”

  “I hadn’t planned on this development,” Beedle said.

  “You’ve got an impulsive nature,” Grandma said to him. “This is like when you decided to rob the armored truck.”

  “Not true,” Beedle said. “I’m really very methodical. I think things through. I make decisions based on logical thought. The armored truck was a fluke. My sudden windfall is the result of my knowledge of finance. And I admit that luck played a part. I was in the right place at the right time. My stars were all in alignment.”

  “And now?” I asked. “How are your stars now?”

  “They’d still be in alignment if you weren’t such a meanie,” Beedle said. “You’re ruining our good time.”

  “Do you understand that there’s a woman being held hostage somewhere?” I said. “That we have no idea what sort of condition she’s in? That she’s got to be terrified?”

  “I didn’t know that,” Beedle said.

  “Me either,” Sparks said.

  “Me either,” Benji said.

  “Does it make a difference?” I asked them.

  “Sure,” Beedle said. “You can have the coin, but we already spent the money.”

  Oh boy. “What money?” I asked him.

  “When Melvin got the coin he examined it under magnification,” Beedle said.

  “It’s standard procedure for us collectors,” Sparks said. “It helps to determine the value of the coin. In this case there was a small visible smudge on the knight side. When I looked at it magnified, I could see that it was numbers and alphabet letters. I figured it meant something, so I asked Benji where he got the coin.”

  “And Benji came to me,” Beedle said. “I knew right away that the letters and numbers were a cryptocurrency password. It took me a while to finagle my way into the right account but eventually I got in.”

  “And?” I asked.

  “And there was money in the account. We figured it was finders keepers and that we’d divide it up between us.”

  “How much money?” I asked.

  “When it got changed to dollars it came to eleven million,” Beedle said.

  “Damn,” Lula said. “Losers weepers.”

  “It’s stealing,” I said.

  “We didn’t see it that way,” Beedle said. “It’s one of those chances you take with cryptocurrency. People lose their passwords all the time. Especially if it’s an older account without backup systems. Once you lose your password the money is gone. You can’t access it and it stays in the account forever. Not doing anybody any good. So, we figured the way everything progressed from me relieving Vinnie of what was assumed to be a nearly worthless coin, to it eventually going to a collector who was smart enough to examine it—it was like providence. Divine intervention. Like God wanted us to have the money. And we didn’t see anybody getting hurt by it.”

  “Somebody lost eleven million dollars,” I said. “You didn’t see that as being painful?”

  “It was an old account, started back when mostly criminals were using crypto,” Beedle said. “Besides, we didn’t see how it could get traced back to us, and we didn’t know about the kidnapping.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Grandma said. “I’d have kept the money.”

  “Me too,” Lula said. “I’m not in favor of rewarding killers with good deeds.”

  “Okay, so where’s the money now?” I asked Beedle. “How much is left?”

  “Nothing’s left. I cleaned out the account,” Beedle said. “Usually, you have to remove your currency in relatively small increments, but I knew how to move it into other investments that I could trade and sell. Everything we took out of the account has been washed and dispersed.”

  Oh boy, again.

  “That’s a wonderful story,” Grandma said. “It’s like you got a second chance at having a life.”

  “Yeah,” Lula said. “You were three losers and now you’re rich. It’s one of them life-affirming stories you hear about on the news. Makes me believe in the American dream all over again.” She dabbed at her eye. “Gets me all choked up.”

  Beedle took the coin out of his pocket and gave it to me.

  “I was carrying it for luck, but you can have it,” he said. “Are you going to rat us out?”

  “No,” I said. “I can’t see any good coming from that.”

  “Dilly dilly,” Sir Lancelot said.

  “Dilly dilly,” we all repeated.

  * * *

  “You didn’t sound like you had your heart in the dilly dilly,” Lula said to me when we were back in the lobby.

  “I’m getting worn down,” I said. “It’s like I’m always taking one step forward and two steps backward. I finally have the coin but I’m not sure it’s going to get Connie released. And even if she does get released, they’re going to come after me when they realize their money is gone.”

  “You’re in deep doody,” Lula said. “I’m glad I’m not you.”

  * * *

  We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and by the time we got home it was nine o’clock. I dropped Grandma off and called Morelli.

  “Where are you?” I asked him.

  “I’m in your apartment. Rex was lonely.”

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Do you want me to pick anything up? Did you have dinner?”

  “I already ate. My mom brought me meatballs in red sauce. I have enough for two weeks.”

  Morelli’s mom is a good cook. It’s a requirement for living in the Burg. Every woman in the Burg is a good cook. Except me. If I hadn’t moved out of the Burg I would have been kicked out. I have a pot, a fry pan, and a glass casserole dish. I buy food magazines and I watch the food channel. I eat food all the time. That’s as far as it goes.

  I pulled into my parking lot and found a place close to the back door. I had Ranger’s gun in my messenger bag. I didn’t see anyone hanging out. I had Morelli in my apartment, and he’d hear me screaming unless he had the TV too loud. I left my car, hurried into the building, and took the stairs two at a time.

  Morelli met me at my door.

  “I was watching you from the window,” he said. “You sat in your car for a while and then you ran into the building. The cop part of me is curious.”

  “Two men attempted to stun gun me after the viewing last night. Grandma fired off a couple shots and scared them away.”

  “Was this a random attack?”

  “Might have been,” I said, “but more likely it was the kidnappers getting impatient.”

  I hung my messenger bag on a hook in what served as a foyer and went into the kitchen. I said hello to Rex and looked in the fridge. Jackpot. Morelli’d brought me a six-pack of beer and saved me some of his mom’s meatballs in sauce.

  “If I’d known this was in my fridge I would have run faster,” I said.

 

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