Fortune and Glory (Stephanie Plum #27)(52)

“Okay,” she said, “but don’t get kidnapped or anything.”

I inched my way through the crowd, scanning the room. I reached the far side of the lobby and someone wrapped an arm around me and pulled me aside. It was Morelli.

“I almost didn’t recognize you,” he said. “No ponytail.”

“It’s job related. Uncooperative FTA.”

“Did you make the capture?”

“Yes.”

That got a full-on smile. “You look pretty. How’s the treasure hunt going?”

“It’s going slow.”

“I never thanked you for walking Bob. Maybe I could thank you over dinner tomorrow,” Morelli said.

“Bob looked like a sissy dog.”

“He rolled in something disgusting. I put him under the hose, but it didn’t help, so I had to take him to a groomer.”

Duh. I should have thought of that instead of jumping to conclusions. Not sure Morelli being all smiley and chatty with Gabriela would be so easy to explain away.

“I imagine you and forty other cops will be at the funeral tomorrow,” I said.

“You got that right. We’re hoping Shine will be dumb enough to show. And Benny still has a few enemies. Most of them have cataracts, but Benny is a big, slow-moving target.”

“He has his wise guys with him.”

“Dumb and Dumber,” Morelli said.

“Shine has some of his own.”

“They aren’t as dumb. Two of them are seasoned soldiers.”

He still had his arm around me, and I was having conflicting feelings. The contact felt warm and comforting and delicious, but at the same time there was the knowledge that it wasn’t especially healthy.

“I should be getting back to Grandma,” I said.

“About dinner?”

“I was under the impression that you had other dinner partners.”

Morelli looked at me for a long moment. “Do you really want to have a dinner partner discussion right now?”

I looked over his shoulder and saw Ranger watching from a distance. “No,” I said. “You make a good point. I’d like a rain check on the dinner. I have a lot going on.”

What went unsaid was that we had a conflict of interest on several fronts… romantic, professional, and personal.

I stopped at the cookie table, filled a to-go cardboard coffee cup with cookies, and made my way back to the front row. I gave the cup of cookies to Benny, and he looked like he was going to burst into tears.

“You’re an angel,” he said, shoving the cookies into his mouth. “God bless you.”

“You missed Gabriela,” Lula said when I sat down. “She was wearing a black Akris two-piece with Mikimoto pearls on her ears. She gave Benny her condolences and kissed him on his cheek.”

“How’d the kiss go over?” I asked.

“Not nearly as well as your cookies.”

I turned toward the back of the room and caught a glimpse of Morelli looking cozy with Gabriela. They were standing too close together for my comfort. Not touching. Not exchanging spit. Just too close. She was too pretty. Too slick. Too at ease.

“My life is such a mess,” I said to Lula.

“Maybe,” she said, “but your hair looks good.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO


I was counting down the minutes to the end of the viewing. Benny was still accepting condolences, but the end of the line was in sight. Lula left at eight thirty. Grandma and Connie and her mom were hanging with me until we all got kicked out at nine o’clock.

I had my head down, checking my text messages, and Grandma nudged me.

“It’s them!” she said. “It’s the men who shot at us. They’re standing in line behind Ruth Kuleski.”

Ruth moved up to the casket and Charlie Shine’s goons held back. Waiting their turn. Appropriately solemn. No eye contact made with me or Grandma. Ruth moved on and Ed Gruman and Chick Rizer stepped up to Benny and told him they were sorry for his loss, and Mr. Shine regrets not being able to attend but sends his sincere condolences.

“Communicate to him my appreciation of his sympathies,” Benny said.

The men moved on and Benny looked at me and mouthed fuck him.

When the last person in line passed by Benny and headed for the lobby, the four of us went forward and paid our respects to Carla. Benny leaned in when I walked past.

“Partners,” Benny said.

“Partners,” I replied.

Benny had a moral flexibility that I didn’t share, and being partners with him, even at a limited capacity, made my stomach knot. I was appalled at his chosen profession, and if I thought too hard about the details of his skills, I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

“That was a real successful viewing for Carla,” Grandma said as we inched our way to the door. “She had a good showing of people.”

“They ran out of Italian cookies,” Connie’s mother said. “They should buy more from the bakery and not so many of those cookies that come in a bag.”

We reached the lobby and I saw Ranger watching from across the room. He nodded at me and I nodded back. Obviously, no one snagged Shine tonight. I moved out of the building with the mass of humanity, onto the porch and down the stairs. I searched the area for Potts but didn’t see him.