Chapter 4 – The Fun in Funerals

Funerals have an important place in the Burg. Other communities have country clubs and fraternal orders. The Burg has funeral parlors. If people stopped dying, the social life of the Burg would come to a grinding halt.

Stiva's was on Hamilton, not far from Saint Francis Hospital. The building was a converted Victorian that was painted white with black shutters. Inside were two viewing rooms but only one was in use tonight for the Bravo funeral. As Grandma Mazur predicted, it was a full house. The murder had been front page news and a lot of people were curious.

Tim Gutterson was waiting outside and he grinned when he saw me. "Junior Marshal Plum. I told you I'd come for a visit." He turned to Grandma. "Who's this lovely lady?"

"Aren't you the one?" Grandma said. "I'm Stephanie's grandmother. Are you carrying a Glock, too?"

"I am. What are you carrying?" Tim asked.

"I'm carrying a forty-five," Grandma told him. "She's a real beaut. Wanna see?"

"No! No guns! Keep it in your purse," I said to Grandma.

She slid her dentures around in her mouth. "What if there's trouble? What if someone else starts shooting? Those Bravos have a bad reputation."

The two marshals exchanged looks in a silent debate over who was going to pump my grandmother for information about the Bravos and it was Tim who took Grandma's arm. "Really? Why don't we go pay our respects and you can tell me all about it?"

"Can we peek inside the casket?" Grandma asked him. "Closed casket funerals are such a cheat."

Tim grinned. "I think the family wouldn't like that. Besides, he's been cut up for the autopsy and then they covered everything with funeral makeup. How about if I show you the crime scene photos? They have close-ups of the wounds."

My left eye started to twitch.

Givens took my arm and steered me towards the back of the room. "They make a cute couple, don't they?"

I rolled my eyes and then I saw Mary Lou Stankovic come in. Mary Lou was my best friend since childhood and she was married with three children. I was surprised to see her out of the house by herself on a week night, especially since she worked part time during the week.

She gawked at Givens as we approached. "Who's this?"

"Raylan Givens, Mary Lou Stankovic." This introduction thing was getting old.

Mary Lou looked Givens up and down and then at me. "You didn't break up with Joe Morelli again, did you?"

"I work with Givens," I told her. "Did you know James Bravo?"

"Jimmy worked at the GM dealership with me," Mary Lou said. "He was a junior mechanic."

"Did you know him well?" Givens asked.

Mary Lou shrugged. "I worked in the office, he was in the back with his head in engines all day."

I grew up with Mary Lou and I could tell she was holding back. Judging by the way her eyes were lit up, it was juicy. "Spill. Givens loves gossip."

He flashed Mary Lou a flirty little grin.

She sucked in a breath and crossed herself. Then she motioned for us to come in close. "Jimmy used to work for Bucky Seidler at the Toyota dealership. Bucky said Jimmy was doing it with the owner's wife and one of the girls from the office, too. Plus he had a girlfriend."

"Didn't Bobby Barroni own that dealership?" I asked. "His wife is my mother's age and she's one of my mother's friends."

Mary Lou nodded. "Carla Barroni. I heard she's a regular Mrs. Robinson."

"Yuck!"

"What's this Bobby Barroni doin' now?" Givens asked.

"Time," I told him. "Before the dealership shut down, he siphoned off a bunch of money but he got caught." I turned back to Mary Lou. "Anyone besides Bobby have a grudge against Jimmy Bravo?"

"I don't know," Mary Lou admitted. "But if you ask that little blonde over there standing next to Terry Gilman, I bet she could tell you. I saw her hanging around a lot."

Terry Gilman, formerly Terry Grizzoli, was slim and blonde and she dated Morelli during high school. Rumor had it that she was moving up the corporate ladder in organized crime. Rumor also had it that she had her sights set on Morelli again, too. None of this particularly endeared her to me, especially when she was speaking into Morelli's ear and he had his hand on her arm.

I felt an arm drop around my shoulders and Givens pulled me close, bending his head to murmur in my ear. "Terry's mob?"

"Uh-huh."

Mary Lou cut her eyes to Morelli and then back at Givens. "I like this guy, Stephanie. A lot." She gave me a little wave and went off to join the other mourners.

"Terry looks awfully chummy with Morelli," Givens whispered, his lips brushing my ear.

I was pretty sure Givens looked awfully chummy with me and people were noticing, including Terry and Morelli. "She gives him information."

"Like who that little blonde is?"

We both looked over at her. The blonde hair was straight out of a bottle and she had almost an inch of roots. Her skirt was too short and her heels were inappropriately high for a funeral. I was sure this would be the hot topic of discussion throughout the Burg tomorrow. She was in her early twenties, which made her about the same age as Jimmy Bravo.

"Probably," I said.

Morelli broke away from Terry and came over to me, pointedly ignoring Givens, whose arm was still around me. "Your grandmother and some guy are sneaking around in the embalming room."

"That'd be Deputy Gutterson," Givens said. "I believe he deputized Stephanie's granny under Section 39(b) of the Marshals Act. She's probably helpin' him investigate."

"Great. Just great." Morelli blew out a sigh. "Save me a slice of that cake. I'll be over later."

"Stephanie's gonna be out late. We have a shoppin' list of fugitives needin' to be picked up." It was amazing how matter-of-fact Givens was when he said it. "Figure we're gonna need all that leftover cake for surveillance."

Morelli stared at him, a full-on cop stare.

Givens returned the look with one of his own feral stares.

Apparently this was some kind of silent conversation because Morelli said, "I know about you, Givens. You have a reputation. Just remember, this is Jersey, not Miami." He pulled me from Givens' embrace and kissed me on the forehead. "Be careful. If there's any shooting, run like hell in the other direction."

"I'll keep her safe," Givens promised. "Just like I did when she was in Kentucky."

"I expect nothing less." Morelli chucked me under the chin. "I'll drive your grandmother home."

"Thanks," I told him. Then, for the hell of it, I asked, "Who's the floozy with Terry?"

"Floozy?" Morelli echoed with a grin.

"What else would you call her?"

"Terry's cousin. Her uncle Vito's granddaughter." Morelli eyed Givens. "She'll explain that to you later. You think you can go now, Givens? I'm not going to be able to get a thing out of Terry when the guy who took out Tommy Bucks is in the room."

Givens looked down at me. "Your call, Junior Marshal Plum."

We could stay and they could continue to try to one-up each other or we could go try to bring in dangerous FTAs. The dangerous FTAs sounded a lot safer.