Hard Eight, Page 21

  Bob rushed at me when he saw me at the door. His eyes were happy, and he pranced around and wagged his tail. Morelli was more contained.

  “What's up?” Morelli said, checking out my T-shirt.

  “Something very creepy just happened to me.”

  “Boy, that's a surprise.”

  “Creepier than normal.”

  “Do I need a drink before you tell me this?”

  I handed him the photos.

  “Nice,” he said, “but I've seen you sleep on several occasions.”

  “These were taken last night without my knowledge. A big rabbit stopped Grandma on the street today and told her to give these to me.”

  He raised his eyes to look at me. “Are you telling me someone let themselves into your parents' house and took these pictures while you were asleep?”

  “Yes.” I'd been trying to stay calm, but deep inside I was ruined. The idea that someone, Abruzzi himself, or one of his men, had stood over me and watched me sleep had me completely unnerved. I felt violated and vulnerable.

  “This guy has a lot of balls,” Morelli said. His voice was calm enough when he said it, but the line of his mouth tightened, and I knew he was struggling to control his anger. A younger Morelli would have thrown a chair through a window.

  “I don't mean to be critical of the Trenton police,” I said, “but wouldn't you think someone could catch this goddamn rabbit? He's riding around, handing out photos.”

  “Were the doors locked last night?”

  “Yes.”

  “What kind of lock?”

  “A dead bolt.”

  “It doesn't take an expert long to open a dead bolt. Can you get your parents to put a security chain on?”

  “I can try. I don't want to scare them with these photos. They love their house, and they feel safe there. I don't want to take that away from them.”

  “Yes, but you're being stalked by a crazy person.”

  We were standing in the small front hall, and Bob was pressing against me, snuffling into my leg. I looked down, and there was a big wet spot of Bob drool just above my knee. I scratched the top of his head and ruffled his ears. “I need to get out of my parents' house. Take the action away from them.”

  “You know you can stay here.”

  “And endanger you?”

  “I'm used to being endangered.”

  This was true. But this was also the basis for almost every argument we had. And it was the primary reason for our breakup. That and my inability to commit. Morelli didn't want a bounty hunter wife. He didn't want the mother of his children regularly dodging bullets. I guess I can't blame him.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I might take you up on it. I can also ask Ranger to put me in one of his safe houses. Or I can return to my apartment. If I go back to my apartment I need to have a security system installed. I don't want to come home to any more surprises.” Unfortunately, I didn't have the money for a security system. As it was, it didn't matter because I couldn't bring myself to come within fifty feet of the cootie couch.

  “What are you going to do tonight?”

  “I need to stay in my parents' house and make sure no one breaks in again. Tomorrow I'll move out. I think they'll be safe once I'm gone.”

  “You're going to stay up all night?”

  “Yep. You could come over later if you want, and we could play Monopoly.”

  Morelli grinned. “Monopoly, hunh? How could I pass that one up? What time does your grandmother go to bed?”

  “After the eleven o'clock news.”

  “I'll be over around twelve.”

  I fiddled with Bob's ear.

  “What?” Morelli asked.

  “It's about us.”

  “There's no us.”

  “It feels like there's some us.”

  “This is what I think. I think there's you and me, and sometimes we're together. But there's no us.”

  “That feels a little lonely,” I said.

  “Don't make this more difficult than it already is,” Morelli said.

  I packed myself off in the Buick and went in search of a toy store. An hour later, I was done with my shopping, back in the car, heading for home. I stopped for a light on Hamilton, and a split second later, I was rear-ended. Not a big crash. More like a bump. Enough to make the Buick sway, but not enough to push me. My first reaction was my mother's standard reply to anything that was going to make her life more complicated: Why me? I doubted there was much damage, but it was going to be a pain in the ass all the same. I yanked the emergency brake on and put the Buick in park. Probably I needed to go out and do the examine-for-dents bullshit. I blew out a sigh and looked in my rearview mirror.

  I couldn't see much in the dark, but what I could see wasn't good. I saw ears. Big rabbit ears on the guy in the driver's seat. I swiveled in my seat and squinted out the rear window. The rabbit backed his car up about ten feet and rammed me again. Harder this time. Enough to make the Buick jump forward.

  Shit.

  I released the brake, put the Buick in gear, and took off, through the red light. The rabbit was close behind. I turned at Chambers Street and ran up and down streets until I slid to a stop in front of Morelli's house. I saw no lights behind me, but that didn't guarantee that the rabbit was gone. He could have cut his lights and parked. I jumped out of the Buick, ran to Morelli's front door, and rang the bell, then I pounded on the door, and then I yelled, “Open up!”

  Morelli opened the door, and I jumped inside. “The rabbit is after me,” I said.

  Morelli stuck his head out and looked up and down the street. “I don't see any rabbits.”

  “He was in a car. He rear-ended me on Hamilton, and then he chased me here.”

  “What kind of car?”

  “I don't know. I couldn't see in the dark. I could just see his ears sticking up over the wheel.” My heart was racing, and I was having a hard time catching my breath. “I'm losing it,” I said. “This guy's really pushing my buttons. A rabbit, for crissake! What kind of a mind would think to have me stalked by a rabbit?”

  Of course, while I was ranting on about the rabbit and the diabolical mind, I was remembering that it was partially my fault. I was the one who told Abruzzi I liked bunnies.

  “We didn't advertise the fact that a rabbit was involved in the Soder murder, so chances of it being a copycat are slim,” Morelli said. “If we're going on the assumption that Abruzzi is behind this, then the mind in question is pretty sharp. Abruzzi isn't known for being stupid.”

  “Just crazy?”

  “As crazy as they come. From what I hear, he collects memorabilia and then wears it when he's war gaming. Dresses himself up like Napoleon.”

  The idea of Abruzzi dressed up like Napoleon got me smiling. He would look ridiculous, second only to the guy in the rabbit suit.

  “The rabbit must have been following me from my parents' house,” I said to Morelli.

  “Where did you go when you left here?”

  “I went to buy Monopoly. I got the old-fashioned traditional Monopoly. And I'm going to be the race car.”

  Morelli took Bob's leash off a hook in the hall and grabbed a jacket. “I'll go back with you, but you have to relinquish the race car to me if Grandma plays. It's the least you can do for me.”

  AT FOUR O'CLOCK I woke up with a start. I was on the couch with Morelli. I'd fallen asleep, sitting up with his arm around me. I'd lost two games of Monopoly, and we'd turned to television. The television was off now, and Morelli was slouched back with his gun on the coffee table next to his cell phone. Lights were off with the exception of the overhead light in the kitchen. Bob was sound asleep on the floor.

  “Someone's out there,” Morelli said. “I called for a car.”

  “Is it the rabbit?”

  “I don't know. I don't want to go to the window and frighten whoever it is away until backup gets here. They tried the door once, then walked around back and tried that door.”

  “I don't hear any sirens.�
��

  “They won't come with sirens,” he whispered. “I got Mickey Lauder. I told him to come in an unmarked car and come in on foot.”

  There was a muffled crash from the back of the house, and a lot of shouting. Morelli and I ran to the back and flipped the porch light on. Mickey Lauder and two uniforms had two people down on the ground.

  “Christ,” Morelli said, grinning. “It's your sister and Albert Kloughn.”

  Mickey Lauder was grinning, too. He'd dated Valerie in high school. “Sorry,” he said, hauling her to her feet, “I didn't recognize you at first. You've changed your hair.”

  “Are you married?” Valerie asked.

  “Yeah. Big time. I've got four kids.”

  “Just curious,” Valerie said on a sigh.

  Kloughn was still on the ground. “I'm pretty sure she didn't do anything illegal,” he said. “She couldn't get in. The doors were locked, and she didn't want to wake anybody. It wouldn't have been breaking and entering, right? You can break into your own house, right? I mean, that's what you have to do if you forget your key, right?”

  “I saw you go to bed with the kids,” I said to Valerie. “How'd you get out here?”

  “The same way you used to sneak out when you were in high school,” Morelli said, the grin getting wider. “Out the bathroom window to the back porch roof and then down to the garbage can.”

  “You must be really hot stuff, Kloughn,” Lauder said, still enjoying it. “I could never get her to sneak out for me.”

  “I don't like to brag or anything,” Kloughn said, “but I know what I'm doing.”

  Grandma came up behind me in her bathrobe. “What's going on?”

  “Valerie got busted.”

  “No kidding?” Grandma said. “Good for her.”

  Morelli shoved his gun under the waistband of his jeans. “I'm going to get my jacket and have Lauder drop me off at home. You'll be okay now. Grandma can stay up with you. Sorry about Monopoly, but you're a really lousy player.”

  “I let you win because you were doing me a favor.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “I HATE TO interrupt your breakfast,” Grandma said to me, “but there's a great big, scary-looking guy at the door, and he wants to talk to you. He said he's delivering a car.”

  That would be Tank.

  I went to the door, and Tank handed me a set of keys. I looked beyond him, to the curb. Ranger had given me a new black CR-V. Very much like the car that had gotten blown up. I knew from past experience it would be upgraded in every way possible. And probably it had a tracking device stuck in a place I'd never think to look. Ranger liked to keep tabs on his cars and his people. A new black Land Rover with a driver waited behind the CR-V.

  “This is for you, too,” Tank said, giving me a cell phone. “It's programmed with your number.”

  And he was gone.

  Grandma looked after him. “Was he from the rental car company?”

  “Sort of.”

  I returned to the kitchen and drank my coffee while I checked the answering machine in my apartment. I had two calls from my insurance company. The first told me I would be receiving forms by priority mail. The second told me I was canceled. There were three calls of nothing but breathing. I assumed this was the rabbit. The last message was from Evelyn's neighbor, Carol Nadich.

  “Hey, Steph,” she said. “I haven't seen Evelyn or Annie, but something funny is going on here. Give me a call when you get a chance.”

  “I'm going out,” I said to my mother and grandmother. “And I'm taking my stuff. I'm going to stay with a friend for a couple days. I'm leaving Rex here.”

  My mother looked up from cutting soup vegetables. “You aren't moving in with Joe Morelli again, are you?” she asked. “I don't know what to tell people. What do I say?”

  “I'm not staying with Morelli. Don't tell people anything. There's nothing to tell. If you need to talk to me, you can reach me on my cell phone.” I stopped at the door. “Morelli says you should have a security chain put on the doors. He said they're not safe this way.”

  “What would happen?” my mother said. “We have nothing to steal. This is a respectable neighborhood. Nothing ever happens here.”

  I carted my bag out to the car, tossed it onto the backseat, and climbed behind the wheel. Better to talk to Carol in person. It took less than two minutes to get to her house. I parked and did a survey of the street. Everything looked normal. I knocked once, and she answered her door.

  “Quiet street,” I said. “Where is everybody?”

  “Soccer games. Every dad and every kid on this street goes to soccer on Saturday.”

  “So what's weird?”

  “Do you know the Pagarellis?”

  I shook my head, no.

  “They live next door to Betty Lando. Moved in about six months ago. Old Mr. Pagarelli sits out on the porch all the time. He's a widow, living with his son and daughter-in-law. And the daughter-in-law won't let the old guy smoke in the house, so he's always out on the porch. Anyway, Betty said she was talking to him the other day, and he was bragging about how he was working for Eddie Abruzzi. He told Betty that Abruzzi pays him to watch my house. Is that creepy, or what? I mean, what's it to him that Evelyn took off? I don't see what the problem is as long as she makes her rent payment.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Evelyn's car is parked in the driveway. It showed up this morning.”

  That took some of the wind out of my sails. Stephanie Plum, master detective. I'd driven past Evelyn's car and never noticed. “Did you hear it drive up? Did you see anyone?”

  “Nope. Lenny discovered it. He went out for the paper, and he noticed Evelyn's car was here.”

  “Do you ever hear anyone next door?”

  “Only you.”

  I did a grimace.

  “In the beginning there were lots of people looking for Evelyn,” Carol said. “Soder and his friends. And Abruzzi. Soder would just walk into the house. I guess he had a key. Abruzzi, too.”

  I looked over at Evelyn's front door. “You don't suppose Evelyn's in there now?”

  “I knocked on the door, and I looked in the back window, and I didn't see anyone.”

  I moved from Carol's porch to Evelyn's porch, and Carol tagged along behind me. I knocked on the door, hard. I put my ear to the front window. I shrugged my shoulders.

  “Nothing going on in there,” Carol said. “Right?”

  We walked to the back of the house and looked in the kitchen window. As far as I could tell, nothing had been touched. I tried the knob. Still locked. Too bad the window was repaired, I would have liked to get inside. I did another shrug.

  Carol and I walked over to the car. We stood four feet away.

  “I didn't look in the car,” Carol said.

  “We should do that,” I told her.

  “You first,” she said.

  I sucked in some air and took two giant steps forward. I looked in the car and blew out a sigh of relief. No dead people. No body parts. No rabbits. Although, now that I was closer, the car didn't smell all that terrific.

  “Maybe we should call the police,” I said.

  There have been times in my life when curiosity has pushed aside common sense. This wasn't one of them. The car was sitting in the driveway, unlocked, with the keys dangling in the ignition. It would have been easy for me to pop the trunk and peek inside, but I had no desire to do this. I was pretty sure I knew the reason for the odor. Finding Soder on my couch had been traumatic enough. I didn't want to be the one to find Evelyn or Annie in the trunk of Evelyn's car.

  Carol and I sat huddled together on her porch while we waited for the blue-and-white. Neither of us was willing to articulate our thoughts. It was too awful to speculate aloud.

  I stood when the police arrived, but I didn't leave the porch. There were two patrol cars. Costanza was in one of them.

  “You're looking white,” Costanza said to me. “Do you feel okay?”

  I nodded my
head. I was afraid to trust my voice.

  Big Dog was at the trunk. He had it open, and he was standing hands on hips. “You gotta see this,” he said to Costanza.