One for the Money (Stephanie Plum 1)

“Yeah. Sal. You got Sal real upset today. Bad timing, the way you walked in just when Louis got there, but I guess in the end it's gonna work out okay.”

“I didn't realize Sal knew me.”

“Honey, you're not hard to recognize. You don't got no eyebrows.”

“Sal was worried that I spotted Louis.”

"Yeah. So, he called me, and I said we should all meet at the marina. Louis was going to the marina anyway. There's a drop coming in tomorrow, and I'm thinking maybe I'm going to have to do Louis because he's such a fuck-up. The guy can't do anything right. He lets people see him at Carmen's, then he has to take care of them. He only gets two out of three. He can't score Morelli. The dumb shit found Morelli's car in your parking lot and didn't stop to think maybe Morelli wasn't driving it, so he ends up roasting Morty Beyers. Now you've got Louis fingered. I figure his time is up.

“So I borrow Benito's car, and I go to the marina, and on the way I see you at the gas station, and I get a brilliant idea. Jimmy, I say to myself, this is your way out.”

I was having a hard time following. I still didn't completely understand Jimmy's involvement. “Out of what?” I asked.

"Out of the whole fucking mess. See, there's something you got to understand about me. I gave up a lot for the fight game. I never got around to getting married or to having a family. All my life I never had anything but boxing. When you're young, you don't mind. You keep thinking there's time. But then one day you wake up, and yo

u find out there's no more time.

"I've got a fighter who likes to hurt people. It's a sickness. There's something messed up in his head, and I can't make it better. I know he's not gonna go the count on his career, so I take the money we make, and I buy a couple properties. Next thing I know I meet this Jamaican guy says he's got a better way to make money. Drugs. I make the buy, his organization does the distribution, I wash the money through my businesses and Ramirez. We do this for a while and it works real good. All we have to do is keep Ramirez out of jail so we can launder.

“Problem is, I've got a lot of money now, and I can't get out. The organization's got me by my gonads, you know what I mean?”

“Striker.”

"Yeah. Big motherfucking Jamaican posse. Greedy, nasty beggars.

“So I'm going down the road to whack Louis, I see you sitting there, and I get a plan. The plan is that I execute Sal and Louis Striker style. Then I leave some high-quality H spilled in the boat and on the barrel so the cops figure out the operation and shut it down. Now no one's left to talk about me behind my back, and I'm too risky for Striker to use for a while. And the beauty of it is that Sal and Louis get pinned on Ramirez, thanks to you. I'm sure when you made your statement to the cops you told them all about Ramirez buzzing by you at the gas station.”

“I still don't understand why you're here, holding me at gunpoint.”

“I can't take a chance on Ramirez talking to the cops and maybe they come to the conclusion he's really as dumb as he looks. Or maybe he tells them I borrowed his car, and they believe him. So I'm going to have you put a bullet in him. Then there's no Benito, no Sal, no Louis.”

“What about Stephanie?”

“There's not going to be any Stephanie, either.” He had the phone base shoved into his slacks. He plugged it into my bedroom wall jack and dialed. “My man,” he said when the connection was made. “I've got a girl here wants attention.”

Something was said at the other end.

“Stephanie Plum,” Jimmy answered. “She's at home, waiting for you. And Benito, make sure no one sees you. Maybe you better come up the fire escape.”

The conversation was severed and the phone discarded.

“Is this what happened to Carmen?” I asked.

“Christ, Carmen was a mercy killing. I don't know how she ever made it home. By the time we heard about it she'd already called Morelli.”

“Now what?”

He leaned back against the wall. “Now we wait.”

“What happens when Ramirez gets here?”

“I turn my back while he does his thing, then I shoot him with your gun. By the time the police show up, you'll both have bled to death, and there'll be no more loose ends.”

He was deadly serious. He was going to watch while Ramirez raped and tortured me, and then he was going to make sure I was mortally injured.

The room swam in front of me. My legs wobbled, and I found myself sitting on the edge of the bed. I dropped my head between my knees and waited for the fog to clear. A vision of Lula's battered body flashed into my mind, feeding my terror.

The dizziness faded, but my heart pounded hard enough to rock my body. Take a chance, I thought. Do something! Don't just sit here and wait for Ramirez.