Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum #25)(5)

There are two men in my life. Joe Morelli is a Trenton cop who works plainclothes in crimes against persons. Morelli and I have a long history together that includes being engaged and not being engaged and several times almost being engaged. He has a nice little house on Slater Street that he inherited from his Aunt Rose. He has a big orange dog, two brothers, two sisters, and a crazy grandmother named Bella. He’s also totally sexy in an Italian movie star, homicide detective kind of way. The other guy is Ricardo Carlos Manoso, better known as Ranger. He’s Latino. He’s former Special Forces. He’s hot. He owns Rangeman, a high-end security business operating out of a high-tech, low-profile building in downtown Trenton. And he’s dedicated to keeping me alive and in sight. His motives aren’t entirely altruistic.

“Are you calling the cops?” Lula asked.

“No. I’m calling Ranger. It’s the fastest way to find my car.”





CHAPTER THREE


RANGER ATTACHES TRACKING devices to my cars. It was initially annoying, but I’ve gotten used to it, and in all honesty, it’s come in handy on occasions like this.

“Babe,” Ranger said.

Depending on the inflection, Babe could mean many things. Irritation, affection, desire, curiosity. Today it was without inflection. Today it was simply hello.

“My car is missing,” I said. “I parked it in front of Red River Deli, and now it’s gone.”

There was silence while he pulled my car up on his computer. “It’s on lower Stark Street,” Ranger said. “Probably headed for the chop shop on the fourth block. I’ll send someone out to retrieve it.”

“It might have an elderly woman in the back seat.”

“Anyone I know?”

“Doubtful. I was returning her to the court.”

“Babe,” Ranger said. And he disconnected.

“Now what?” Lula asked.

“We wait,” I said.

Ranger keeps several mobile units constantly patrolling accounts throughout the city. He was going to send one of them to Stark to intercept my car, and I was hoping he’d send another to rescue me.

Five minutes passed and a shiny black SUV rolled down the street and stopped at the curb. A guy who looked like a Marine recruit got out and motioned us into the back seat. He was wearing black Nikes, black cargo pants, and a form-fitting black T-shirt. The T-shirt had a Rangeman logo on the short sleeve that spanned his bulging biceps.

“Hal has your car,” he said. “Did you know there’s a woman in the back seat?”

“Yes. Is she okay?”

“Hal said she was asleep.”

My car was parked one block off Stark. A black Rangeman SUV was parked behind it, and Hal was standing between the two cars. Hal is an over-muscled giant who faints at the sight of blood. A couple of skinny teens were sitting on the curb. Their hands were cuffed behind their backs, and one looked like he’d smashed his face into Hal’s massive fist.

“Are you feeling all right?” I asked Hal.

“Yeah,” Hal said. “He’s only bleeding a little. It was an accident.”

“I bet. What are you going to do with them?”

“Turn them loose. They’re under the age limit.” Hal grinned. “They freaked out when I told them they kidnapped an old lady. They hadn’t noticed her in the back seat.”

I glanced in at Annie. She was still sleeping.

I thanked Hal, and I called Connie to tell her we would be turning Annie Gurky over to the court in about fifteen minutes, and she would want to get rebonded. Lula and I weren’t certified to write bond, so Connie or Vinnie would have to make a trip downtown.

Lula and I got into my Nova, and I drove to the police station. I pulled into the lot across from the municipal building, and Annie woke up.

“Are we here already?” she asked.

I walked her through the front door and left her with the desk lieutenant. I told him someone would be in shortly to bond her out so he shouldn’t misplace her.

“We gotta get back to the deli,” Lula said. “It’s almost noon and I want my free lunch.”

I wasn’t anxious to get back to the deli. Truth is, I was thinking about bailing on the deal. I was freaked by the manager disappearances and the fact that my car had been stolen the instant I stepped away from it.

“I think I might quit,” I told Lula. “Vinnie can find someone else to be manager.”

“You can’t quit,” Lula said. “You’ve only just got the job. How do you know you don’t like it? And we’ve never even had any of our free lunches. I already memorized the menu. I’m gonna have a number twelve and a number sixteen and a number twenty-two today.”

“Three sandwiches?”

“Number twenty-two is a dessert.”

I gave up a sigh, returned to my Nova, and headed for the deli. I would quit after lunch.

“I’m always excited about new beginnings,” Lula said. “This could turn into something big for us. I got a good feeling about this.”

“I have a horrible feeling about this. What about the disappearing managers?”

“It could be a big hoax. Like a joke. Or fake news. There’s a lot of that fake news going around these days. Heck, we could be in the middle of a reality show. It’s not like they found mutilated dead bodies. They just found a shoe, so how bad could it be?”