Eleven on Top (Stephanie Plum 11)

“One of us should go through and check for bad guys,” Lula said.

“You've got the gun.”

“Yeah, but it's your apartment. I could check, but I don't want to be intrusive. It's not that I'm chicken or anything, I just don't want to deprive you of checking.”

I rolled my eyes at her.

“Don't you roll eyes at me,” Lula said. “I'm being considerate. I'm giving you the opportunity to get shot before me.”

“Gee, thanks. Can I at least have the gun?”

“Damn skippy. It's loaded and everything.”

I was 99 percent sure the apartment was empty. Still, why take a chance with the 1 percent, right? I crept through the apartment with Lula three steps behind me. We looked in closets, under the bed, behind the shower curtain.

No spooky Spiro. We returned to the front door and stared down at the box.

“I guess you should open it,” Lula said.

“Suppose it's a bomb?”

“Then I guess you should open it far away from me.”

I cut a look to her.

“Well, if it's a bomb it's a little bitty one,” Lula said. “Anyway, maybe it's not a bomb. Maybe it's a diamond bracelet.”

“You think Spiro's sending me a diamond bracelet?”

“It would be a long shot,” Lula said.

I blew out a sigh and gingerly picked the box up. It wasn't heavy. It wasn't ticking. I shook it. It didn't rattle. I carefully unwrapped the box. I lifted the lid and looked inside.

Lula looked over my shoulder. “What the hell is that?” Lula asked. “It's got hairs growing out of it. Holy fuck! Is that what I think it is?”

It was Mama Mac's mole. I dropped the box and ran into the bathroom and threw up. When I came out of the bathroom, Lula was on the couch, flipping through television channels.

“I scooped the mole up and put it back in the box,” Lula said. “And then I put it in a plastic baggie. It doesn't smell all that great. It's on the counter in the kitchen.”

“I have to change clothes. I took a job working for Ranger, and I need to wear black.”

“Does this job involve fancy underwear? Oral sex? Lap dancing?”

“No. It involves phone investigation.”

Lula remoted the television off and stood to leave. “I bet it'll work its way around to one of those other things. You'd tell me, right?”

“You'll be the first to know.”

I bolted the door after Lula and got dressed in black jeans, black Puma sneakers, and a stretchy black V-neck T-shirt. I took Mama's mole, shrugged into my denim jacke

t, and looked out the window at Morellis SUV. No one lurking around, planting bombs. Hooray. I grabbed Rex's cage and vacated the apartment, locking up after me.

Lot of good that did. Everybody and their brother broke into my apartment.

I drove the mole to Morelli's house, handed it over, and took Rex into the kitchen.

“This is disgusting,” Morelli said, opening the box, checking the mole out.