Hard Eight (Stephanie Plum 8)

“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.