Twelve Sharp

  'Yeah,' I said. 'They got that right.'

  Ranger crooked an arm around my neck and kissed me at my hairline.

  'I talked to Rachel this afternoon,' Ranger said. 'She's falling apart. She had to be sedated after they showed her the hair scrunchie. I know this isn't my fault, but I feel responsible. I wish I could do more.'

  'It looks to me like you have every resource available to you working to find Julie. I don't know what more anyone could do.'

  'I feel guilty sitting here.'

  'Make the most of it. In a half hour you'll be following me around again. I'm determined to get Caroline Scarzolli. I'm going to jump her when she closes the store tonight.'

  'I think you should go shopping first. I like when you bring all that kinky stuff home.'

  I walked out the back door alone, but I knew Ranger was watching. He'd gotten a ten-minute head start on me and was waiting to follow me to Elm and Twelfth where I'd hook up with Lula. Tank was there too. And God knows who else. Bad enough I was going to look like a moron running down Caroline Scarzolli… now I was going to do it in front of Ranger and his men.

  I didn't get any warning phone calls, so I assumed the only people following me were good guys. I saw Lula's red Firebird parked on Elm. I pulled up behind her and got out of the Mini. I had cuffs tucked into the waistband on my jeans, and a stun gun and pepper spray stuffed into my two back pockets.

  'Looks like you're loaded for bear,' Lula said.

  'I just want to get this over and done.'

  'I hope you know this is probably gonna ruin it for me to go shopping here. And I was starting to like this store.'

  'Are you ready?'

  'Sure I'm ready,' Lula said. And she hauled a Glock out of her handbag.

  'Caroline Scarzolli is a first-time shoplifter,' I said. 'You can't shoot her.'

  'Every time we see her she pulls a gun on us.'

  'I don't care. You can't shoot her. That's the rule.'

  'Boy, who died and made you boss?'

  'I've always been the boss.'

  'Hunh,' Lula said. 'I was just gonna scare her anyway.'

  'From what I've seen so far, it's going to take more than you and me and that gun to scare her. This time we're going to try surprising her.'

  We walked to where we could look into the store from the opposite side of the street. We were partially hidden behind a panel van, and we could see Scarzolli moving around, doing nothing. At five of eight she started to go through the closing ritual, and Lula and I crossed the street and hid in the narrow alley separating the store from the neighboring business.

  The front lights went out, and we heard the door open and close and the dead bolt get thrown. I peeked around the corner and saw that Scarzolli was walking in the wrong direction. She was walking away from us. I popped out from the alley and tiptoed after her, closing the gap. She sensed I was there, turned and uttered an oath, and took off at a fast shuffle. I was almost within arm's reach of her when Tank stepped out of a shadow, blocking her way.

  'Excuse me, m'am,' Tank said.

  Scarzolli backed up a step and kicked Tank in the nuts. Hard to believe anyone that old could get her leg up that high, but Scarzolli scored a direct hit. Tank turned white and went down to his knees, hands at his crotch. Ranger was behind him, doubled over laughing.

  I tackled Scarzolli and wrestled her to the ground. 'Someone friggin' cuff her!' I yelled.

  'I'm trying,' Lula said. 'You gotta hold her still. She's like a octopus, waving her arms and legs around.'

  I had at least ten pounds on Scarzolli, and I used my weight to pin her. I saw Ranger's denim-clad legs straddle us both, saw his hands reach over and attach a cuff to Scarzolli's one wrist, and then the other. He was still smiling wide when he lifted me off Scarzolli and got me up on my feet.

  'I can always count on you to brighten my day,' Ranger said.

  'You just liked seeing Tank get kicked in the nuts.'

  'Yeah,' Ranger said on a whisper of laughter. 'That was worth the ticket.'

  Tank was up, trying to walk it off.

  'Hope you didn't permanently damage anything,' Lula said to him. 'I always had an attraction to you.'

  'Most women don't like me,' Tank said. 'On account of I'm too big.'

  'I'm not most women,' Lula said. 'I could handle a big man. I like them big. The bigger, the better, is what I say.'

  Scarzolli was still on the ground. She was making angry cat sounds, and she kicked out with her feet when anyone came near her.

  'It's just a crappy first-time shoplifting charge,' I said to her. 'Get a grip.'

  Ranger got her under the armpits, dragged her to the green SUV, and eased her into the back seat.

  'Take her to the station,' he said to Tank. 'Bring her around to the back door. Stephanie will follow you in.'

  'I'll leave my car here and go with you,' Lula said to Tank. 'The crazy old lady might get out of control, and you might need some help. And after we drop her off, we could go get a burger or something.'

  'I'm supposed to watch Stephanie,' Tank said.

  'Don't worry about it,' Ranger said. 'I'll take care of Stephanie.'

  Stephanie Plum 12 - Twelve Sharp

  Fourteen

  It was a little after ten when I finally walked into my apartment. No sign of Ranger, so I called Morelli while I waited.

  'Long time no see,' Morelli said.

  'Miss me?'

  'No. Joyce Barnhardt is here with her trained dogs.'

  'You're not going to get me going on that one. You hate Joyce Barnhardt.'

  'Yeah, but Bob might like the dog part,' Morelli said.

  'I just took down the old lady who runs the porn shop on Twelfth. Tank tried to help me, and she kicked him in the nuts.'

  'I'm sorry I missed it. I'm not being sarcastic either. I'm really sorry I missed it. I assume you've got a full contingent of Ranger's Merry Men watching your back.'

  'Yep. Mostly I pick up vigilantes, but we think Scrog followed me for a while this afternoon.'

  'Ranger called it in to me, and we determined the car was stolen. I reached the parking garage shortly after Ranger. Scrog slipped through my fingers too.'

  'Will you be at Carmen's viewing tomorrow?'

  'Yeah. We've called in the National Guard to help with crowd control.'

  'You haven't!'

  'No, but we probably should. I was getting ready to go to bed,' Morelli said. 'I don't suppose you want to join me?'

  'That would be nice, but I have to stay here and hope there's an attempt made to kidnap me.'

  'Other men have girlfriends with safe normal jobs,' Morelli said. 'Like swallowing swords and getting shot out of a cannon.' And he hung up.

  Ranger walked in and caught me with my head in the refrigerator.

  'The food fairy left sandwiches, salad, fresh fruit, bagels and cream cheese and lox from Nova Scotia. But no dessert,' I told Ranger.

  'I don't eat dessert.'

  'Yes, but it's my refrigerator.'

  Ranger removed the gun he'd been wearing and placed it on the kitchen counter beside his car keys. 'I'll pass the word to Ella.'

  I nuked a bag of microwave popcorn and dumped it into a bowl. 'I talked to Morelli. He said you brought him in to help tail Scrog this afternoon. That was very classy.'

  'Yeah, I'm a classy guy.' Ranger scooped up a handful of popcorn. 'A little girl's life is at stake. That doesn't leave much room for ego and turf wars.'

  I brought the popcorn into the living room and turned the television on. 'Has anyone talked to Scrog's parents?'

  'They're being watched, but no contact has been made. The feds are running that show, and they're playing it very quiet. My understanding is that Scrog was estranged from his parents. He wanted to be a cop, and they wanted him to go into a monastery.'

  'Any news from the underground that he's trying to buy drugs or guns?'

  'No. Nothing.'

  'Sightings?'

  'Constantly. They go to the
hotline. So far they aren't seeing a pattern. There was a rash of sightings in South Beach yesterday, but it turned out to be Ricky Martin.'

  I was working my way through my 472 worthless cable stations, and Ranger's cell phone rang. He answered and in a moment was on his feet, yanking me to mine.

  'One of my men just got shot,' Ranger said.

  He had his hand wrapped around my wrist, moving me through the apartment. He grabbed his keys and his gun off the kitchen counter without breaking stride. He was out the door and down the hall, his legs longer than mine, forcing me to run to keep up.

  It's pretty much a straight shot down Hamilton to St Francis Hospital from my apartment building. If there's no traffic and you hit the lights right, it can be done in less than ten minutes. We were in the silver BMW with Ranger behind the wheel, his cell phone on drive mode.

  Hal was on the line, fielding calls through Ranger's central dispatch. 'Manuel and Zero responded to a break-in at the bonds office,' Hal said. 'Manuel approached the office and was shot three times, through the plate glass window. The perp left through the back door. Do you want me to patch you through to Zero? He just arrived at the hospital with Manuel.'

  'No,' Ranger said. 'I'll take it from here.'

  We were a block from the bonds office and traffic was stopped in front of us. Police strobes pulsed beyond the traffic. Ranger turned off Hamilton and wove his way through side streets. Five minutes later, Ranger turned onto the street leading to the emergency entrance at the hospital.

  'I can't go in,' he said. 'I'm going to drop you off, and then I'm going to loop around and park on Mifflin. Send Zero out to see me. Remind him to check that he isn't followed. You're wearing the panic button, and you have a secure phone. Call me when you know something about Manuel.'

  I hopped out of the BMW and hurried to the emergency room entrance. I saw Ranger wait until I was inside, and then he took off. Zero was sitting in the waiting room. Easy to find him in his Range Man uniform.

  'How's Manuel?' I asked.

  'He's in the back. He was hit three times, but he was wearing a vest, so the two he took in the chest just knocked him back. The third got him in the arm. He's waiting for a doctor. It's a zoo in here tonight.'

  Zero was right about the zoo. The waiting room was packed with the walking wounded and their relatives. I sent Zero out to talk to Ranger, and I looked around to see who was on duty. Growing up in the Burg meant you almost always knew someone working emergency. Not that it mattered. There was always so much traffic in the ER area, if you knew the drill you could just walk through to the treatment area.

  I got two cups of coffee from the machine and walked past the ER desk.

  'Excuse me,' the woman on duty said.

  'Just taking coffee to my husband,' I told her. 'I'll be right out.'

  I went bed to bed, peeking around curtains, until I found Manuel. He was on his back, hooked up to an IV. His shirt was off and his bicep was wrapped in a bloody towel. Gail Mangianni was with him. I went to high school with Gail. Her sister is married to my cousin Marty. Gail is an ER nurse and almost always works a night shift.

  'Hey girlfriend,' Gail said. 'What's up?'

  'Came to see my husband Manuel Whatshisname.'

  'Lucky for you we allow wives back here,' Gail said. 'Otherwise you'd have to leave.'

  'How's he doing?'

  'He's going to be flying in a couple minutes. I just gave him a shot.'

  'I need to talk to him before he takes off,' I said.

  'You better talk fast. He's starting to drool.'

  'Do you know who shot you?' I asked Manuel.

  'It was weird. I looked into the glass and this guy looked back out at me, and it was like looking at Ranger. I sort of freaked, you know, like I was confused. And then he raised his gun and the whole time I swear he never blinked, he just kept staring into my eyes while he was shooting me.'

  I felt the skin crawl along the nape of my neck. Edward Scrog had executed his wife and gunned down Ranger's man in cold blood. He'd looked Manuel in the eye and shot him without hesitation. And now, I imagined, Edward Scrog was returning to his hiding place and his ten-year-old hostage. Julie Martine was locked away somewhere, waiting for the monster to return. The horror of it all pressed against the backs of my eyes and clogged my throat. I was gripping the metal bed rail, and I looked down and saw that my knuckles were white. I made an effort to relax and focused on Manuel.

  'You could see in the dark office?'

  'I had a flashlight on him. I was right up to the glass, trying to see in.'

  'What happens next?' I asked Gail.

  'I'm waiting on a doctor. Probably we'll take him into the OR to remove the bullet, but I don't think it's major surgery. He's going to have some bruising on his chest from where the bullet impacted the vest. I imagine we'll monitor him and keep him overnight.'

  'Can I see him when he comes out of surgery?'

  'Sure,' Gail said. 'You're his wife.' She looked over at his chart. 'You're Mrs Manuel Ramos.'

  I returned to the waiting room and called Connie. Since Vinnie was still out of town, Connie would get called in to check out the office.

  I heard the connection open and there was a lot of background noise and police band squawk.

  'Hello,' Connie yelled over the noise.

  'I imagine you're at the office.'

  'Yeah, and you would be where?'

  'At the hospital checking on the guy who got shot.'

  'How is he?'

  'He'll be okay. What are you finding at the office?'

  'Guns and ammo missing. That's about it. He left the petty cash. Probably didn't have time to look. It was locked away. Didn't want a George Foreman grill.'

  'The police having any luck finding him?'

  'No. He was long gone by the time they got there. My understanding is that he set off the alarm when he entered, and Rangeman responded fast because they already had men in the area. I guess he shot the one guy and then took off out the back door.'

  'Is Morelli there?'

  'No. We got a bunch of uniforms and two suits. A guy from out of state named Rhodenbarr. I don't know any of them. They tell me a lot of the men are at an awards banquet for Joe Juniak who was just appointed Emperor of the Universe.'

  'Do you need help?'

  'No. I'm fine. And Meri is here. She was on her way to pick up a pizza and she saw all the cop cars so she stopped.'

  I called Ranger next and told him everything I knew. I'm going to wait until Manuel is out of surgery,' I said.

  'Stay inside the hospital. Call me when you're ready to leave.'

  'Is Tank back on the job?'

  'Yeah. And he's smiling but completely wasted. I saw him run a half marathon once and look better than this.'

  'He's had a tough day. First he got his clock cleaned by an old lady, and then he had to buy Lula a burger.'

  'Must have been some burger.'

  I thought Ranger sounded a little wistful.

  I was in my knit tank top and cotton boxers. My teeth were brushed, and my face was washed and moisturized. I was exhausted. I wanted to go to sleep. Problem was… there was a man in my bed. And I didn't exactly know what to do with him. I knew what I wanted to do with him. And I knew what I should do with him. Unfortunately, what I wanted to do and what I should do were two very different things. Even without Morelli I'd have a dilemma deciding on a path of action with Ranger. I blew out a sigh. Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie, I said to myself. That's a big fib. You know exactly what you'd do about Ranger if Morelli wasn't in the picture. You'd ride him like Zorro.

  Ranger was watching me. 'Are you coming to bed?'

  'I'm thinking about it,' I told him.

  'Come closer, and I'll help you decide.'

  'Omigod,' I said on a sudden flash of sleep-deprived insight. 'You're the big bad wolf.'

  'There are some similarities.'

  I grabbed my pillow and took the extra blanket draped over the chair. 'I'm too tired
to wrestle with this tonight. Since you can't sleep on the couch, I'll sleep on the couch.'

  I stomped off to the living room with my pillow and blanket, flipped the lights off, and flopped onto the couch. Turns out the couch is too short. No matter, just curl up a little, I told myself. Turns out the couch is too narrow. And the cushions were sliding around. And there was a ridge of something sticking up into my back. I threw the pillow and blanket onto the floor and tried sleeping on the floor. Too hard. Too flat.