Stolen Prey

actually sounded more like deep Minnesota country hick:
    Mary Sue, Brenda Sue, and Linda Sue were sitting on their front porch in Tifton, Georgia, on a hot afternoon, drinking lemon drops with a little extra vodka. After a while, Mary Sue said, “When I had my first baby, myhusband gave me a brand-new Cadillac ragtop automobile.”
    Brenda Sue said, “What a marvelous, generous man he is,” and Linda Sue said, “Well, ain’t that nice?”
    And they drank some more lemon drops, with a little extra vodka, and then Brenda Sue said, “When I had my first baby, my husband gave me a brand-new split-level house, with central air.” Mary Sue said, “That’s such a magnificent gesture. You must’ve been so proud.” And Linda Sue said, “Well, ain’t that nice?”
    And they had a few more lemon drops, with a little extra vodka, and Mary Sue asked Linda Sue, “What’d you get when you had your first baby, Linda Sue?” And Linda Sue said, “When I had my first baby, my husband sent me off to Switzerland, to go to charm school.”
    Mary Sue said, “Charm school? Well, did you find that helpful, Linda Sue?”
    Linda Sue said, “Oh, ever so much. I used to just say, ‘Fuck you.’ Now I say, ‘Well, ain’t that nice?’”
    L UCAS FAKED a fake laugh—he actually thought the joke was kinda funny, and that she told it well—and ICE said, “Well, ain’t you nice,” and then, “Listen, I’m taking the deal. I told Shaffer that it was only as a favor for you, because you used to be my employer. Which means, you owe me.”
    “Not much, if you get two hundred bucks an hour. I might buy you a cheeseburger someday,” Lucas said.
    “It’ll be more than that, I promise you,” ICE said. “Anyway, I’m in. I need somebody to meet me at Sunnie and get me online.”
    “I’ll have somebody do that,” Lucas said. “When do you want to hook up?”
    “I’m gonna buy a bag of sliders and then I’m on my way,” she said. “An hour.”
    “Somebody will be waiting,” Lucas said.
    L UCAS CALLED S HAFFER to tell him that ICE was on the way, went to the murder book, but only briefly. Then he tossed it on his desk and kicked back, and considered the problem.
    He’d had a thought when he was talking to Rivera, and Rivera and Martínez were going through all the papers, and not finding any more than he had.
    The torture of the Brookses had continued until they were all dead: the last of them had apparently died as the torture was continuing. Which probably meant that the torturers hadn’t gotten what they wanted.
    What nobody had considered was the possibility that the Brookses had no idea what they were talking about. That they hadn’t given anything up because there was nothing to give up. That Sunnie was not involved with the narcos.
    He thought about that for a moment, but couldn’t twist a story around so that it made sense. The narcos had to know who they were dealing with … didn’t they?
    But why had the Brookses taken it down to the bitter end?
    Why?
    V IRGIL F LOWERS CALLED . “I’ve been talking to victims, and we have one more report of horse shit odor. Wasn’t mentioned in the police report because the victim didn’t think to do it. The pattern is what you said it was—I think they’re out of a triangle with the bottom line from Mankato to Owatonna to Rochester, with the point up in the Twin Cities. Or a big circle aroundFaribault. Somewhere in there. But there’s something else going on, too.”
    “Yeah?”
    “A guy who runs a stable out by Waterville came home a year ago, after a weekend up in the Cities, and found out somebody had stolen a big pile of horse shit.”
    “You’re joking,” Lucas said.
    “I’m not joking. There’s rumors that somebody else is missing a pile of horse shit, too, but I haven’t run that down, yet,” Flowers said. “Anyway, a couple that sounds like the pair who jumped you were in Waterville just before this shit was stolen. They were driving a big old beat-up Ford flatbed with side panels, the sort of thing you’d want if you were stealing horse shit. People say they were sort of at loose ends.”
    “Virgil, if you’re fucking with me…”
    “I knew you’d think that, but I’m not,” Flowers said.
    “All right. But if you
are
fuckin’ with me…”
    “Lucas … listen, this isn’t going to take long. These aren’t big-time crooks. I’ll get something in the next few days.”
    “Keep me up,” Lucas said.
    He hung up with the feeling