Dawn was starting to break and the sky was turning from red to blue. Coyote sat in the limo, which was parked a block behind Calliope's orange Z, which was parked a block away from Nardonne's Harley-Davidson Shop. Lonnie's bike was parked outside.
"Call Sam," Coyote said. Nothing happened. He pounded on the car phone. "I said, call Sam." Nothing happened.
"Call Sam's room," Coyote said to the phone. Nothing happened and the trickster yipped with anger. "Call Sam's room or I'll rip your cord off." He picked up the receiver and beat it on the dashboard, then he saw a sticker with the casino's logo stuck to the receiver. "Call Camelot," he said. The phone lit up and beeped through some numbers.
The phone rang once and a woman answered. "Camelot."
"I want to talk to Sam."
"Do you have a last name, sir?"
"No, just Coyote."
"I'm sorry, sir, we have no guest listed under Coyote."
"Not me, I'm here. His name is Hunter."
"We have no Coyote Hunter. There's a Samuel Hunter."
"That's him."
"One minute while I connect you."
"I'll bet you're ugly in person."
"What?" Sam's sleepy voice came over the phone.
"Sam, I found the girl."
"Where? Where are you? What time is it? Who's ugly?"
"Morning. You have to come here. I'm at a place called Nardonne's Harley-Davidson Shop. The girl is here, and the motorcycle with her picture on it is parked outside."
"Give me directions. I'll be there in a few minutes. Keep Calliope there. I have to check out and get the car."
"Take a cab."
"You didn't take my car?"
"No, this car is better. You can talk to the phone. Your car is gone. I sold it."
"You what?"
"Take a cab. I'm in a big black car. Off."
The phone clicked, cutting Sam off in the middle of a tirade. Coyote didn't know whether the girl had a phone in her car, but he decided to try. "Call the girl," he said to the phone.
The phone beeped through the numbers. "This is Carla," a sexy woman's voice said. "Would you like this on your phone bill or your credit card?"
"Phone bill," Coyote said.
"If you like leather, press one," Carla said. "Twins, press two. For California blondes, press three. Big bottoms, press-" Coyote picked up the handset and pressed three.
Another sexy voice came on, "Hi, I'm Brandy, who are you?"
"Coyote."
"Would you like to know what I'm wearing, Coyote?"
"No, I have to tell the girl to stay here until Sam comes."
"We'll take as long as Sam needs. Is Sam getting hard?"
"No, he's pissed off about his car."
There was a pause and the sound of her lighting a cigarette. Brandy said, "Okay. Let's start over."
Minty waited for the second limo at the pay phone outside the minimart. He flipped through his address book until he found the detective's number, then dialed.
The phone rang twice, then there was the sound of the receiver rattling and falling. Finally a sleepy, hostile man's voice said, "What?"
Minty said, "Jake, this is M.F., at Camelot."
"Fuck that. This is harassment. It's… it's five thirty in the morning. You said I could have all the time I needed to pay."
"I'm not calling about that, Jake. I need a favor. One of the limos has been stolen."
"Why call me at home? You guys have Lo-Jack beacons in those limos, don't you? Call the station. They'll track it and have it back in half an hour."
"I can't call the station, Jake. This is delicate. I need to get it back without bringing the police into it."
"You're fucked. The Lo-Jack trackers are installed in the cruisers."
"Can you put one in one of our limos? Just until I find the stolen one."
"No way. The tracking system takes hours to install."
"Jake, I need a favor. Just a favor. I haven't mentioned what you owe us."
"This strong-arm shit isn't your style, M.F."
"But you can get use of a unit with the Lo-Jack tracker in it?"
"Meet me at the station in a half hour."
"What's the range on the tracker?"
"About a mile, depending on the terrain. Farther in the desert. You're not going to be able to cover much area with only one car."
"Then make it fifteen minutes. And Jake-"
"What?"
"Thank you." Minty hung up. So much for the police, he thought. Now if I can get it back before the casino finds out. If not, I guess it's time to go shopping for a red bow tie.
Calliope was sure she could do it: if Grubb was trapped under a Chrysler she could lift the car and pull him out. You heard about it all the time: Hundred-Pound Mom Lifts Two-Ton Car to Save Trapped Tot. It seemed to happen often enough that it should be part of Lamaze training. "Okay, now breathe, focus, grab the bumper… now lift!" Yep, she could do it — a Chrysler on each arm if she had to. She wasn't so sure about getting Grubb back from Lonnie. Maybe if that other woman wasn't with him, being so hostile and negative.
She was feeling a little better now that the sun was coming up. She'd been shivering since the punks had broken her back window, from nerves and the cold. And she didn't have enough gas money to leave the Z running with the heater on while she waited for Lonnie to come out of the Harley shop. She might not have enough to make it home as it was. Besides, something was wrong with the car; she'd tached it too high while running from the police and something had given way in clatter and smoke.
As she watched, Lonnie came through the front door of the shop carrying Grubb's diaper bag. Calliope swallowed hard, trying to push down her fear — fear of failure. She got out of the Z. The woman followed Lonnie holding Grubb in her arms. Calliope ran toward them, then stopped when she saw the woman's face. It was like one painful purple bruise with eyes.
"Lonnie," Calliope called.
Lonnie and the woman turned. Grubb saw his mother and reached out. Lonnie pushed down Grubb's hand. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to get Grubb. You shouldn't have taken him."
"Talk to the judge. He's mine half the time."
He was right. Calliope had gone to Social Services once before when Lonnie took Grubb on a road trip. Her caseworker told her that the law couldn't do anything to help.
"You don't want him. You just want to hurt me."
Lonnie laughed, threw his head back, and shook with laughter. For all the times he had postured and threatened and screamed and pounded, he had never really scared her. She was scared now.
"You shouldn't take him on a run like this, Lonnie. What if you get busted?"
"Run? What run? We're just on a little family camping trip, aren't we, Cheryl?" The woman tucked her face behind Grubb.
"Give him to me, please," Calliope pleaded.
Lonnie climbed onto his bike grinning and hit the starter. The bike fired up and Lonnie shouted over the engine, "Go home. I'll bring him back in a few days." Cheryl climbed on behind him and he dropped the bike into gear.
"No!" Calliope started to run after them. Lonnie gunned the bike and roared off.
She shuffled to a stop and saw Grubb reaching out over Cheryl's shoulder. Her eyes blurred with tears. She turned and ran to her car, wiped her eyes, and saw the limo parked down the street. Someone was sitting in it, just watching her. "What are you looking at?" she screamed.
Sam made the chambermaid help him search the hotel room for his wallet for fifteen minutes before giving up and leaving her with a promise of a tip on the credit card. He was thinking This is like being stuck in some Kafkaesque Roadrunner cartoon when the taxi from the Acme Cab Company pulled up, the driver wearing a fez. Animated by Hieronymus Bosch, Sam thought.