Top Secret Twenty-One: A Stephanie Plum Novel(47)

I slid a grilled cheese onto a plate and added pickles and some chips. “Do you have a lead on the shooter?”

“Nothing worth anything. Buster and Pepper are suspects only because they’re the last two men standing, but it could just as easily be someone on the outside. All these guys associated with bad people. They were all involved in human trafficking and who knows what else. They might not have been as deeply invested as Jimmy Poletti, but they all knew what was going on.”

“It sounds like Buster was boots on the ground in Mexico. And Silvio Pepper had his trucks going in and out of Mexico.”

“The feds are involved in that part of it. Not sure how much progress they’re making.”

“Speaking of feds, I drove past Rangeman today. They’ve removed the crime scene tape, but there were still a bunch of vans on the street.”

“My understanding is that the poison was pretty well contained in the one small room where Gardi was being held. If the polonium had been released directly into the ventilation system as planned, it might have done more damage, although even that’s doubtful. What I’m hearing is that because of the system Ranger uses, the poison would have had to be introduced at a more central point to actually circulate. I imagine they’ll let everyone back into the building tonight or tomorrow.”

“Ranger has a lot of sensitive technology in that building. There are probably agents at his console checking up on their girlfriends.”

Morelli finished his second sandwich and pushed back from the little kitchen table. “Not likely. Ranger’s had his guys in hazmat suits on all seven floors 24/7. And word is that he was able to lock down his system from offsite. I know he has a very elite clientele, and they’re willing to pay a premium for his services, but even at that, you have to wonder if there’s more going on in that building than local security.”

“Like what?”

Morelli shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is that his building is more secure than it needs to be, and the technology he uses is expensive, complicated, and not readily available. I used to think he was a dangerous whackjob. Now I’m not sure what he is.”

No need to tell Morelli I was still helping Ranger track Vlatko, right? Why cause him additional stress?



Grandma called at eight o’clock.

“I’m at the Rickert viewing,” she said, “and I could use a ride home. I don’t suppose you could come get me? There’s a lot of people here, and it’s going to be a big traffic mess, so you could pick me up on the side street by the driveway going to the garage area.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be right there.”

Fifteen minutes later I turned onto the side street and saw Grandma crash through a hedge that bordered the funeral home driveway and wave me down. I stopped the Buick, and she grabbed the door handle, wrenched the door open, and jumped inside.

“Go, go, go,” she said.

I took off and gave her a sideways glance. “What’s this all about?”

“I didn’t feel like talking to anybody. And the cookies weren’t so good either. By the time I got to the cookies there were only Fig Newtons left, and they get under my dentures.”

When I drove up to my parents’ house, my mother was standing on the sidewalk with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Uh-oh,” Grandma said. “I’ve never seen your mother standing there like that.”

“She looks mad.”

“Yeah, I wonder what brought that on.”

“Did you try to pry the lid open on a casket again?”

“No way,” she said. “The lid was already up.”

“Did you stick the dead guy with a pin to make sure he was dead?”

“I didn’t do that either. And I only did that once, when Mabel Sheindler looked so lifelike. And I didn’t knock over any vases or set anything on fire.”

I parked and got out of the car with Grandma.

“What’s up?” I asked my mother.

“I just got fourteen phone calls about someone hitting Joseph’s Grandma Bella in the face with a chocolate cream pie when she was walking out of the funeral home. They said she was going out the side door for some reason, and someone came out of nowhere and hit her with the pie.”

“Did they know who did it?” Grandma asked.

“Bella said it was you.”

“That’s a fib,” Grandma said. “I bet she never even saw who did it. I bet someone lured her out through the side door and then sneaked up behind her and reached around and smushed her with the pie. Those chocolate pies are a big gooey mess. She would have had pie in her eyes when that person was running away. She just thinks it was me, because I have her spooked. She don’t know for sure.”

“Were there witnesses?” I asked my mother.

“I don’t know,” my mother said. “Nobody mentioned witnesses.”

“Well, there you have it,” Grandma said. “It’s her word against mine.”

My mother narrowed her eyes at Grandma. “I know you did it.”

“No need to get your panties in a bunch,” Grandma said. “It was just a pie. And anyway maybe it was an accident. Maybe the pie slipped out of someone’s hand and landed in Bella’s face.”