Free Plainclothes Naked by Jerry Stahl

Looking for clues.
    “May I come in?” Ms. Walker finally asked. “This won’t take more than a mo, I promise.”
    An hour later, having duly recorded the details of Marvin’s tragic suicide, Tina’s heartbreak, and the difficulty of being left with baby Marvin due in a matter of months, Dee-Dee Walker seemed to expect the sudden mood swing.
    “I can’t talk about this anymore!” Tina cried. She let her grief metamorphose into rage, just as Manny had advised. “How can you barge into somebody’s home and talk to them like this, when they’ve just lost someone they loved? And I’m not talking about a fucking dog! ”
    Dee-Dee chose this moment to request a picture, and snapped three
    quick ones with her point-and-shoot before Tina could think about it. With luck, the photo would show a pretty woman crazed by grief. Either that, Tina thought, or I’ll look like some heartless bim who pan-fries kittens ....
    The whole thing made her so indignant, by the time she showed her uninvited guest the door, she wasn’t sure she was acting.

NINE
    The Pawnee Lodge was pretty much empty this time of the week, and nobody seemed to notice the trio unload ing themselves from Carmella’s Gremlin. The motel con sisted of a dozen “cottages,” each more or less a cinder-block hut with an Indian headdress mounted over the door. Why the Pawnee people had decided to open up on a strip of auto upholstery shops and parts outlets was anybody’s guess. But Zank said he’d used the place before and the owner kept his mouth shut. ‌
    “Nice place for a honeymoon,” McCardle teased, holding the door for Carmella as Zank pushed her through to Number Three.
    “Which is exactly what this ain’t,” Zank said.

    The big lady sat on the bed without saying a word. She fixed her gaze on McCardle, who winked at her. Her
    peach capri pants, he noted happily, matched the bedspread. The walls were the color of ball park mustard. If his plan went the way it did in his head, he’d have her under the blankets and ready to tussle in not too long. That, or she’d be dead. Either way.
    “Tony,” Mac said to his partner, “we need to talk. Private-ito.” But Zank was in no mood. “Can’t it wait?”
    McCardle sulked. Tony grabbed him by the arm and moved him to a corner of the room, beside a battered color TV chained to the wall. “What is it? We got business here.”
    “You got beez -iness,” Carmella chimed in, “at least let me watch the goddamn television.”
    Tony tossed her the remote, and she clicked on Jerry Springer as the kidnappers huddled. Today’s topic was “Women Who Love Men Who Call Them Mommy.” McCardle caught a glimpse of a Chinese man in a diaper and had to look away.
    “So spill,” Zank hissed, giving Mac’s shoulder a serious whack to let him know it better be good.
    McCardle licked his lips and looked at Carmella. She was so sexy!
    And there was so much of her.... Yum!
    His plan, he knew, could go two ways. That was the genius part. He’d worked it out in the Gremlin while holding Zank’s piece on Carmella. The idea was to tell Zank about the money between Carmella’s tits, then finagle Tony into going for it himself. Tony didn’t know what their hostage was capable of, but McCardle did. All she’d done to Tony was comb his nostrils. What was that? McCardle knew better. And not just because his foot still throbbed where she’d spiked him. Twice. No, he’d seen something in her eyes. He knew how to spot a thrill-killer from his stint at Lewisburg. You had to, or you’d end up somebody’s thrill.
    If Tony tried anything, Carmella would definitely fuck him up. But Tony was his own kind of monster. As soon as Carmella made her move, whatever it was,Tony would go berserk. He couldn’t help him self. One time, at a Pirates game, when a blind teenager accidentally bumped him at the water fountain, Tony spun around and punched him in the mouth. Then he pushed the terrified youngster to the ground and