Fortune and Glory (Stephanie Plum #27)(59)

“I’ll pass your suggestion on to Manny.”

“I’m being sort of stalked by a woman we only know as Gabriela. No last name. I saw you talking to her at the viewing.”

“Gabriela Rose,” Morelli said. “She carries credentials from a bank in Switzerland and supposedly she’s investigating some illegal accounts, but I’m not sure I buy it.”

I took that in for a beat. “What’s your opinion of her?”

“She’d eat her young. If she’s following you around, you want to be careful and not let her get close.”

“Jeez.”

“Are we still on for dinner?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll pick you up at six o’clock,” Morelli said.

“How’d that go?” Lula asked when I put my phone away.

“Good,” I said. “Her name is Gabriela Rose and she told Morelli she’s investigating some illegal Swiss bank accounts.”

Connie typed Gabriela Rose into her search program.

“Nothing,” Connie said. “No history for Gabriela Rose. Either it’s a new alias or it’s been scrubbed. Maybe both.”

Ranger called. “We found the chairs, and we have the clue,” he said.

“Let me guess,” I said. “Under the seat cushion.”

“Yes. Do you want the clue over the phone, or do you want the paper?”

“Over the phone is good.”

“Fifty. The number fifty. And it’s the second clue.”

“What about the other chairs? Any more clues?”

“No more clues, but we found a party favor condom and some loose change.”

“Do you have any ideas?” I asked him.

“Only that these clues are directions, like a map. The six men probably knew Jimmy well enough to be able to follow the clues when they were all put together.”

“I agree.”

“Babe,” Ranger said. And he disconnected.



* * *




“I hate to bring this up,” Connie said, “but you have Arnold Rugalowski outstanding. I ran a credit check on him today just for giggles and discovered a car loan.”

“Local?”

“Yeah. I followed through on it and it looks like he bought a food truck.”

“Maybe he’s selling fried roaches,” Lula said. “It could be a new specialty being that his chicken nuts were lacking.”

“I don’t have any more information other than his loan application,” Connie said.

“Did it say where he was buying the truck?”

“Steve’s Used and Abused,” Connie said.

“I know where that is,” Lula said. “It’s across from the pawnshop in Hamilton Township. It’s right on the highway.”

“I tried calling but I got a machine and no call back,” Connie said.

“Okay,” I said. “We’ll check it out.”

Lula and Potts got into my Honda and I drove to Steve’s. I kept one eye on the rearview mirror, and every now and then I would get a flash of a black sports car that was four or five cars behind me. I turned into Steve’s lot and lost sight of the black car.

“You can let me handle this one,” Lula said. “I’m wearing my ultra-voluptuous spandex dress today. And I got a way with used car salesmen and their sort.”

Lula got out of the Honda and sashayed off to the sales hut.

Five minutes later, Lula walked out of the sales hut, adjusting her girls on the way to the car. She slid onto the passenger seat and buckled in.

“Steve wasn’t there but his assistant Louis said Arnold is looking to cruise the area by the government buildings on the river,” Lula said.

“Did Louis say anything else about Arnold?”

“Only that he bought a beast of a truck. I don’t exactly know what he meant by that. I was on my way out by then.”

I took Nottingham to Clinton and headed for the capitol buildings. It was late afternoon and there would be end-of-workday traffic in town. I wasn’t sure how this translated into food truck sales. I reached State Street and rolled past a taco truck and a donut truck. Neither truck looked like a beast and we didn’t see Arnold in either truck.

“Holy cow,” Lula said. “I think that’s gotta be the truck up ahead, parked on the corner. That’s a seriously ugly truck. That’s a beast truck.”

“Are you sure it’s a food truck?” I asked.

“There are a couple of people standing by it and they’re eating something,” Lula said. “And in between all the graffiti on the side, I think it says chicken nuts and bull balls.”

“It looks like it used to be an EMT truck or a police truck,” Potts said. “About a hundred years ago. Or maybe it got caught in a riot.”

“Looks like a giant Hummer that got a nose job,” Lula said. “So how are we going to do this since we know he’s a dangerous armed felon?”

“We aren’t going to provoke him,” I said. “I’m going to ask him if he’s reconsidered and wants to reschedule. If he says no, we’ll leave and come back tomorrow. And we’ll continue to come back until he says yes.”

“What if he never says yes?” Lula asked.