Hard Eight (Stephanie Plum 8)

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.

Costanza walked over and stood next to Big Dog. “Cripes.”

Carol and I were holding hands for support. “Tell me,” I said to Costanza.

“You sure you want to know?”

I nodded my head yes.

“It's a dead guy in a bear suit.”

The world stood still for a moment. “It's not Evelyn or Annie?”

“No. I'm telling you, it's a dead guy in a bear suit. Come look for yourself.”

“I'll take your word for it.”

“Your grandma's gonna be real disappointed if you don't look at this. Not every day you see a dead guy in a bear suit.”

The EMTs rolled in and a couple unmarked cars followed close behind. Costanza stretched some tape around the crime scene.

Morelli parked across the street and strolled over. He looked in the trunk, and then he looked at me. “It's a dead guy in a bear suit.”

“That's what they tell me.”

“Your grandma's never going to forgive you if you don't take a look at this.”

“Do I really want to look at it?”

Morelli studied the body in the trunk. “No, probably not.” He walked over to me. “Who owns the car?”

“Evelyn, but nobody's seen her. Carol said the car showed up this morning. Did you draw this case?”

“Nope,” Morelli said. “This is Benny's. I'm just sight-seeing. Bob and I were on our way to the park when I heard the call go out.”

I could see Bob watching us from the truck. He had his nose pressed to the window, and he was panting.

“I'm okay,” I said to Morelli. “I'll call you when I'm done here.”

“You have a phone?”

“It came with the CR-V.”

Morelli looked at the car. “Rental?”

“Sort of.”

“Shit, Stephanie, you didn't get that car from Ranger, did you? No, wait a minute.” He held his hands up. “I don't want to know.” He looked sideways at me. “Did you ever ask him where he gets all these cars?”

“He said he'd tell me, but then he'd have to kill me.”

“Did you ever stop to think he might not be kidding?” He got into his truck, buckled himself in, and cranked the engine over.

“Who's Bob?” Carol asked.

“Bob's the one who's sitting in the truck, panting.”