Free Totally Fishy (A Miller Sisters Mystery) by Gale Borger Page B

and a king sized sleeping bag leaned against his leg. He'd also included beef jerky, C-rations, and freeze-dried ice cream.
    As they stood out in front of the store with bags and boxes piled high around them, Tony scratched his head and said, "Sweet Mother of Jesus, Evo! Where the hell are you going to put all this? Good thing I gave away your suitcase. We'll never fit all this in the trunk…"
    Pow . Tony flew backward as Evo punched him in the jaw. He landed on his butt and rolled onto the sidewalk. He looked up, rubbing his jaw. "Are you happy now?"
    Evo narrowed his eyes. "My day is complete. I'm very happy, you rotten little shit. You're lucky I let you live after you gave away my suitcase and screwed up the car. So don't go razzing me about how much stuff I bought."
    Tony held up his hands and scooted out of his reach. "Hey, Evo, don't kill me yet, I'm on vacation. I knew you'd buy new stuff anyway. Heck, you're going to need a truck–"
    Evo held up a hand, effectively shutting his brother up. He cocked his head, and Tony could hear a rumble in the distance. A huge black Dodge truck came slowly around the side of the store. It rolled to a stop in front of the South American "Shop-'Til-You-Drop Crew," and a tall man wearing a red polo shirt jumped out of the driver's side door. A man in a blue mechanic's uniform pulled alongside.
    Tony poked Evo in the ribs and said, " Hah . Mr. Polo shirt looks like your kind of guy."
    "Shut up or I'll hit you again." Tony shut up.
    The man in the polo shirt walked up to Evo and asked, "Mr. Castillo?" Evo nodded.
    "Let's step over here and we can take care of business." He led Evo to the tailgate, and retrieved a briefcase from the truck. After signing stacks of papers Evo shook the man's hand. The mechanic and the brothers had everything loaded in the back of the truck and were in the process of emptying the Suzuki and stuffing Evo's clothes into his new duffel bags.
    Tony's mouth hung open and Evo clipped him on the chin, snapping it shut. "Knock it off, little brother, you look like a tourist. These gentlemen even offered to return that sardine can to Milwaukee."
    Alfredo jumped in front of Evo, the fur flaps on his wolf hat flopping about his ears. "Please, Mr. Evo, could we keep the car? We can pay for it!"
    Evo looked at the brothers and Luis nodded furiously. "We would like not to be an inconvenience to you, and having our own transportation is a good start."
    "I don't mind if no one else does." Mr. Polo Shirt nodded his head.
    Evo thanked Polo Shirt who climbed into the mechanic's truck and the two drove away. Evo turned to the eager-faced Gallegos brothers. He handed them a credit card and said, "Gas only."
    They shouted, "Yes," and hugged each other, bouncing up and down. Alfredo threw his arms around Evo, and the wolf's nose hit Evo in the chest. The impact knocked the hat off his head and it fell in the street, under a tire of Evo's new truck. They all stared at the wolf, which looked a little worse for wear. Tony bent to retrieve it.
    Just then a little old lady on her way out of the store saw the wolf's head sticking out from under the tire and screamed. "You ran over that poor dog." She whacked Tony with her shopping bag. Tony stiffened then went down like a rock, landing with a splat on the sidewalk. The three pounds of wild birdseed the woman had in her bag had exploded on impact. Millet rained down on the small group like rice at a wedding.
    The old woman left heel prints on Tony's back as she walked over his prone body. She grabbed the wolf hat, saying, "Oh, poor puppy."
    When she saw what she held, she screamed and threw it on the sidewalk. " Yuck . That's no puppy. She looked over her shoulder at a bleeding Tony and bit a fingernail. "Uh, sorry. I thought you killed someone's pet."
    Evo jumped to help Tony turn over. He knelt beside him as the little old lady tiptoed around Tony's inert form and patted him on the head. "Sorry, young man."
    She laid the wolf hat on