"It was annulled, all right?" Dennis cried. "It meant nothing. Nothing! I was only seventeen. I had a football career ahead of me. What would I want with a screwed-up pothead for a wife?"

"She did drugs?" Yosh asked.

"She sure did. Why do you think she spent so much time in trouble? She got mixed up with Fernandez and his gang. I couldn't handle it. I tried to get her off my back, but she kept coming around, and coming around..."

There was more to it. Paavo could tell he was holding something back. "She was under your skin, wasn't she?"

Dennis's lips tightened into a white line. "There was something about her. What can I say? I don't know the word, but almost...feral. Yeah, that's what you call it. Like a wild tiger. Or better, a leopard. Sleek, s.e.xy, smart. And when she set her mark on a man..." He shook his head. "I've never met anyone like her."

"Sounds like you still love her," Yosh said.

"No!" he answered too quickly, too vehemently.

"You knew what she was up to with Max Squire?" Paavo asked.

"I never imagined she could do what she did! I was the one who told her about him. How he was handling my money, and lots of other guys. Before I knew it, she'd taken him for millions." Once he started talking, he couldn't stop. "She was good that way, using men. All men."

"Who else?" Yosh asked.

"How the h.e.l.l should I know? She was in prison for three years. Ask the guards. She had all of them by the b.a.l.l.s-literally. The same with Max and his clients." His mouth twisted. "Rich clients. Lots richer than Max or me. She could have had any of them, but she wanted money and independence, and Max saw to it she went to prison.

"She knew how to use you, all of you," Paavo said, pondering Pagozzi's words, Max's reaction to her, even El Toro's admission that he "cared" about her. "And then, she double-crossed you."

Dennis nodded, then shut his eyes against his memories.

"When she got out of prison, why didn't she just leave the country?" Yosh asked. "Everyone seems to think she had millions hidden."

"How should I know?" With his elbows on the table, shoulders tight, he leaned forward, his hands clenched.

"You spoke with her," Paavo said. The strange way Butch, Earl, and Vinnie had acted, it was a good guess that Veronica Maple had spoken with all of them.

Dennis started, clearly not expecting the cops to know that. "Look, we were kids together. When she got out of jail, she came here just a couple of days. Had to put her feet on the ground, you know? I let her hang out, then she split. I don't know more than that."

"Where'd she go?" Paavo asked.

Dennis chewed his tongue. "Why don't you guys ask Max Squire? Maybe he can tell you."

Paavo and Yosh stood. The interview was over.

"Thanks for your cooperation," Yosh said.

"Don't go too far," Paavo added. "I'm sure we'll have more questions to ask you."

After their visit to Dennis's, Connie developed a migraine and needed peace, quiet, and a dark room to lie down in. In just a few hours, Veronica's death would become public knowledge.

Angie decided to go to Wings and ask if Butch had any idea where Dennis might be. Earl stood at the maitre d's stand, but no customers were at the tables. In fact, the tables weren't even set.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Butch is feeling poorly, Miss Angie," Earl said. "We ain't got no food for customers, so we're only doin' take-out, not da full menu."

"What are you talking about? You need a cook for take-out."

Earl blanched. "Well, Vinnie can-"

"No. Vinnie can't," Angie said, brows crossed. "The man has no sense of taste or smell. He'd eat cardboard. I've got to see this." She headed for the kitchen.

"No, Miss Angie. You don' wanna do that." Earl ran in front of her, his arms spread wide across the swinging doors.

She stared him in the eye. He wasn't about to budge.

She'd had it with people getting in her way, or trying to push her or Connie around. In one fast movement, she ducked under his arm, shoved the door open, and ran into the kitchen. "Hey!" Earl yelled.

On a table were four Styrofoam containers of varying sizes, each with a name written on it. No food was being prepared.

"Where's Vinnie?" she demanded.

Earl shrugged.

She headed down the stairs to the storeroom. Vinnie was surrounded by several wooden boxes stamped with Chinese characters.

He was picking items out of the boxes and putting them into a Styrofoam container.

"There you are!" Angie cried.

He raised his hands high in the air. When he saw Angie, he lowered them, wearing a sheepish expression. "Miss Angie. You scared me." He put his hand behind his back and casually stepped in front of his worktable.

"What's going on here?" Angie cried.

"You don't wanna do dis, Miss Angie," Earl said, now that he caught up with her.

"I'm afraid I do, Earl." She cast a steely eye on Vinnie. "Let me see."

Vinnie shook his head.

She stared, hard.

Vinnie and Earl exchanged glances, then Vinnie lowered his head and stepped out of the way.

She opened a box and lifted out a tube with a long fuse attached. "Fireworks?"

Vinnie and Earl showed no expression.

Suddenly, it all made sense and she slapped her forehead. "G.o.d help me. These are illegal! You three have been selling illegal fireworks from this restaurant. Are you crazy?"

"Da restaurant wasn't makin' too much money," Earl whined.

"We didn't do nothin' wrong, Miss Angie," Vinnie said. "I met a guy in Chinatown, and he needed help getting ridda some of his supplies. We're just helpin' him out, and getting a little extra money. It's not like we're doin' nothin' wrong."

"It doesn't wash, Vinnie."

"I was afraid you'd say that."

Angie looked at the six wooden crates, each about two feet across and three feet long. "Hasn't Paavo been questioning you? Walking around back here? How did he miss finding all these?"

"Remember dat night we locked up oily?" Earl asked.

"Yes..."

"We moved dis stuff. We carried it all back to Chinatown. After he questioned poor ol' Butch, we moved it all back."

"Without Butch wantin' to cook, how else was we gonna make money?" Vinnie asked. "You don't want we should lose the place, do you?"

No way could they claim they didn't know what they were doing was illegal. "Let's get these out of here, right now," Angie said. "This is our little secret, got it? You don't say a word, and you don't ever do this again!"

"But what about makin' more money?" Vinnie bellowed.

Angie could hardly contain her exasperation. "You won't be making any money at all if you're back in prison!"

"I guess you're right," Vinnie said woefully. "Maybe we can raise prices."

"Maybe you can add a few more items to the menu!" She began removing fireworks from the containers and putting them back into the correct crates. "We might have to pay a lot more attention to Dennis's sports-bar idea, although I don't know how we're going to do that and keep the ambiance."

"What's ambiance?" Earl looked at Vinnie. "Can we eat it?"

Vinnie gave him a shove. "Dummy. She wants to make sure the place stays pretty."

Earl harrumphed. "It's already purty. We can't eat purty."

"We'll figure out a way to increase foot traffic to the restaurant, but it'll be a legal way. Got it?" Angie asked, furiously sorting fireworks.

The two nodded, still just standing there.

"Pack!" she ordered.

"Can't we at least sell the ones we already promised people?" Earl asked. "Dey're comin' to pick 'em up-we don't wanna disappoint 'em."

"Get them out of here, right now!" Angie shrieked. The last thing she wanted was any more friends in City Jail.

All three of them were stuffing firecrackers back into crates when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and then Paavo's voice calling out. "h.e.l.lo. I'm looking for-"

Angie launched herself at him, kissing him and spinning him as she did, so that he no longer faced Earl and Vinnie, then she grabbed his hand and hurried up the stairs to the kitchen, where she wrapped her arms around him again.

When she finally broke the kiss, Paavo was in the dining room. He looked a little dazed-pleased, yet confused-at what had just happened.

"You need to stay out of the back," she cried, leading him to a table. "They're having trouble. Butch is upset and won't cook. Let's sit down. How did you find me?"

He glanced at the swinging doors, then sat across from her. "Connie told me. I came by to let you know-"

Just then, a customer walked in, and up to the stand where Earl usually greeted people. Angie jumped up and stuck her head between the doors. "Earl! Get out here. Quick!" she roared, then faced Paavo with a sweet smile.

Earl plunged through the doors just as the customer began to speak. "The name's Agnos. I'm here for-"

"Yeah, I know," Earl shouted, cutting him off. "We ain't got no more."

"Oh? But I was told-"

"You was tol' wrong, buster."

The customer gaped a moment. "Will you get any more-"

"No! Never. Get lost!"

He looked from Earl to Angie, then Paavo, who regarded him and Earl curiously. "Go? But I was promised-"

"Can't you hear? I said out! We lost our cook. No more nothin' here. Leave. Sayonara! Capisce?"

"Cook? But I don't need any-"

Earl ran around the stand and grabbed the customer by the lapels. "I said I want you outta here, mister. You got a problem wit' dat?"

The guy raised his hands and backed up. "No, no problem. I'm going. See?" He turned and ran out the door.

Paavo stared at Earl as if he'd just lost his mind.

Angie tugged on his jacket sleeve. "I told you, nerves are a bit frayed."

He looked at her, his brows crossed. Earl straightened out his suit and waddled over to them. "Some people really like Butch's cookin'," he said.

Vinnie, who'd been peeking out of the swinging doors the whole time, came out when Paavo and Earl sat down. "I'll lock the door," he said nervously. "We don' want no more disappointed customers. They might decide to torch the place."

Angie gazed at Paavo, all wide-eyed innocence. "You wanted to talk to me?"

Whatever was going on at Wings, Paavo wanted Angie to have no part of it. He walked her back to her car after getting a promise that she would go home and stay there. After yesterday, he'd tolerate no more ugly surprises. "I want you to keep away from Max Squire and Dennis Pagozzi, both."

"Dennis? Why?" She held his hand as they walked.

"Dennis was married to Veronica Maple." He quickly told her the story. "They were just kids at the time, but still, it means he's a lot more involved in this than he let on."

"How did you find out?"

"Maple's parole officer gave it to me. He's in the city trying to find her for a murder down in Fresno. Also, Pagozzi was involved with fake autographed sports memorabilia. A lot of it's been showing up around town. A dealer was arrested-Wallace Jones. The guy Connie met. We've got reason to think Pagozzi was involved there, as well."

They reached the car and Angie hit the unlock b.u.t.ton on her remote, then turned and faced him. "Did he know Jonesy's goods were fake?"

"Robbery's working on it. Just keep away from both those guys." He put his hands on her shoulders, wonder striking him as always at how small and delicate she was.

"What do you have on Max?" she persisted.