Free Hardcore Twenty-Four by Janet Evanovich Page B

to be congested,” I said to Lula. “I’m thinking we change direction and look for Johnny Chucci.”
    â€œWhatever. I’m a flexible person. There’s probably zombies lurking here anyway. Now that I’m thinking about it I can feel them looking at me. You probably want to take some evasive action when you drive out of here.”
    â€œYou think zombies can drive?”
    â€œI’m thinking it’s possible.”
    â€œCan they only drive forward?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Lula said. “That would be one of them zombie mysteries.”
    I hung a U-turn and drove to the Burg. Johnny Chucci’s mother lives in the Burg. His sister lives in the Burg. His two brothers live in the Burg. His ex-wife lives in the Burg. If Johnny was back, sooner or later, he’d be in the Burg, if not to live at least to visit.
    â€œI guess you know Johnny Chucci,” Lula said.
    â€œNot personally. He’s a couple years older than me. Grandma Mazur knows his mom. She sees her at bingo and the funeral home sometimes. I know about the family from Grandma Mazur.”
    â€œYour granny knows everything,” Lula said. “When I grow up I want to be just like her.”
    I passed the Chucci file over to Lula. “The family addresses should be listed. I know where the mother lives. I can’t remember the others.”
    â€œYou gonna just drive around?”
    â€œYes. And then I’ll decide if I want to talk to anyone.”
    â€œI think you should talk to your granny. It would have the added benefit of a piece of coffee cake or some of them Italian cookies. There’s always excellent bakery products at your momma’s house.”
    I’d had the same thoughts. Grandma was tapped into the Burg gossip network. There was a good possibility she knewsomething about Johnny Chucci. And, more important, I could use a cookie.
    Johnny’s parents lived in a two-story frame house that was similar in size to my parents’ house. It had a postage stamp front yard, a small front porch, and a single-car detached garage at the rear of their property. There was a blue F-150 pickup parked in the driveway.
    â€œThis is a nice house,” Lula said. “It’s all kept up with fresh paint, and they even got a pot of flowers on the porch.”
    â€œDo we have an address for his sister?”
    â€œShe’s two houses down on the same side of the street. It’s the house that’s painted blue and has the big American flag hanging on the front porch and the kids’ toys on the sidewalk. If I had a house of my own I’d fly a flag. It’d be a big one too, on account of I’m not a halfway person. And I’m all for being patriotic.”
    â€œWhat about the ex-wife?”
    â€œThe ex-wife, Judy, is on South Street.”
    South Street was on the other side of the Burg and one block away from my parents’ house. Convenient for the cookie drop-in. I followed the familiar maze of streets to South Street and idled in front of Judy Chucci’s house.
    â€œHoly cow,” Lula said. “She’s got gnomes all over her front lawn. It’s a gnome-con. There must be forty gnomes here. They’re all painted the same, too. Red hats and blue pants. I guess that’s classic gnome colors.” Lula shifted in her seat. “You ever notice that Trenton has some strange stuff going on? Clusters of gnomes and zombies. Trenton could be like
Ghostbusters,
where all theparanormal apparitions get together in one spot, and one day
BOOM
. All hell breaks loose, and we get overrun by funky-ass gnomes.”
    I glanced over at Lula. “You realize those gnomes aren’t real, right? They’re made of plaster, and she probably got them at the flea market.”
    â€œOkay, but who knows what happens at night? They could come alive like the zombies.”
    I turned the corner and drove to my parents’ house. “You need