“Has Bob been out?”
“Bob’s done everything he needs to do. Francine Lukach will be here at noon as usual to walk him.”
I finished my breakfast, retrieved my tote bag, and grabbed Tiki. “I’d leave you here,” I said to Tiki, “but I’m afraid his Grandma Bella will return and perform a ritual sacrifice, turning you into a pile of ash.”
Probably it was my imagination but I swear I felt a shiver run through Tiki. I went to the door, looked out, and realized I didn’t have a car. My car was parked in my lot. The sun was barely up. Lula would still be asleep. It would be awkward to ask my father to come get me after a night of gorilla sex with Morelli. Too far to walk, especially lugging a three-foot tiki. I could call Ranger but that was even more awkward.
My phone rang and I grimaced at the number. Ranger.
“I need to talk to you,” he said. “Where are you? Your car is in your lot, but your bag is at Morelli’s.”
“You have my bag bugged?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No!”
“Now you know. Where are you?”
“I’m at Morelli’s house. I’m stranded.”
Disconnect.
I looked at Tiki. “He’s coming,” I said.
TWELVE
TIKI AND I sat on the front stoop of Morelli’s house and waited for Ranger. Lights were on in the house across the street. Morelli wasn’t the only one up in his neighborhood. This was a neighborhood of hardworking people. Sleepy-eyed kids were eating breakfast, and stuffing their backpacks with favorite things to take to daycare or Grandma’s house. Adults were organizing and watching the clock. Morelli’s neighbors were nurses, clerks at the DMV, line operators at the button factory, plumbers, mechanics, and dental assistants. The houses were modest. Cars were economy models. And like the Burg this was an emerging immigrant neighborhood of multigenerational families. Lots of Italian and Eastern European cultures. A smattering of Russian. Some Portuguese. And, lately, Hispanic.
Ranger’s low-slung Porsche 911 eased around the corner and glided to a curbside stop. I scooped Tiki up and wedged him into the small cargo area behind the seats.
“Garage sale?” Ranger asked, looking at Tiki.
I buckled myself in. “It’s a Hawaiian wood carving put up for bond. I’m carrying it around because Vinnie thinks it encourages bad behavior and doesn’t want it in the office.”
Ranger’s attention turned to me. “How about you? Is it encouraging bad behavior in you?”
“It might be.”
Ranger’s mouth tipped into a smile.
“That’s an evil smile,” I said to him.
“You’re at your best when you’re a little bad, babe.”
I felt a rush of heat remembering times spent with Ranger. “A distant memory,” I said, trying to sound aloof but pretty sure I wasn’t pulling it off. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Kinsey’s warehouse was firebombed last night.”
“I read about it in the paper. The article said one of your men was burned.”
“He was inside, checking on an alarm. Whoever fired off the rocket knew he was in there. The Rangeman SUV was parked at the door.”
“Is your man going to be okay?”
“Yes. It could have been worse. Second-degree burns on his arms. The other burns were superficial.”
“Do you have any idea yet who’s doing this?”
“No. The code was secret but it’s been years since the unit was disbanded. Someone might have had too much to drink and talked too much. Someone might have shared his life story with a woman and not thought anything of it. My instincts tell me one of the men is involved, but it’s not a given fact.”
“It’s someone clever,” I said. “This person knew you were going to be at the dinner. And they knew when your man would be inside the warehouse. Could it be someone inside Rangeman?”
“It’s possible. More likely it’s someone who knows how to listen or hack into a system. Everyone in my unit had access to that technology.”
“Could someone hack into your system?”
“Not easily.” Ranger swung into my apartment building lot and parked next to the Buick. “Rehearsal and dinner is seven o’clock on Friday. The wedding is at four on Saturday. You need to be careful. It’s hard for anyone to get past my security, so there’s a possibility this person will go after people close to me who are more vulnerable.”
I wrestled Tiki out of the Porsche. “Understood. Thanks for the ride.”
Ranger leaned across the seat and snagged my wrist. “I’m giving you another opportunity to walk away from this.”