Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum 25)

Lula snatched the eighteen from the service counter and held it out to the room. “Who wants this number eighteen, half price?”

A hand went up at one of the front tables.

“Sold to the bald idiot with big ears,” Lula said.

By nine o’clock it had become obvious that Lula and I were even worse at waiting tables than we were at being bounty hunters.

“This has been a demoralizing experience,” Lula said. “Tomorrow I’m going back to making sandwiches, where I know I excel. Ella can be the waitress. And while we’re discussing tomorrow . . . how many tomorrows are we going to have to work here? I got an image to uphold as a bounty hunter. And I don’t want my bounty hunter skills to go rusty.”

I wasn’t worried about my image or my skills. I knew they both sucked.

We did the evening cleanup and Ranger took the garbage to the dumpster while I watched on the monitor. He walked out, threw the bag in, and took a moment to check his iPhone. He looked around and returned to the deli.

“This isn’t working,” I said to Ranger.

“It’s only been two days,” Ranger said. “Have patience.”

I locked up, and Ranger drove me to Morelli’s house.

“You’re the deli manager,” Ranger said, idling at the curb, behind Morelli’s SUV. “You need to hire a waitress.”

“Are you making a comment on my waitressing skills?”

“Babe,” Ranger said. “You have no waitressing skills.”

Morelli was asleep on the couch when I walked in. Bob was curled up in the recliner. He lifted his head, gave a single bark, and went back to sleep.

“Hey,” I said to Morelli. “I’m home.”

He sat up and blinked at me. “How’d it go? Were you kidnapped?”

“Nope. No one was kidnapped. I think between Ranger’s surveillance and the police presence, this guy has been driven underground.”

“He’s not underground,” Morelli said. “He’s just moving in a different direction. He’s playing with us.”

Damn, I thought. I wish I’d said that.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I STUMBLED INTO the Rangeman lobby at six o’clock Monday morning. I took the elevator to Ranger’s apartment, let myself in, and crawled into bed. I woke up two hours later when Ranger appeared with coffee for me.

“If you’re going to stay in bed, I’ll get undressed and join you,” Ranger said.

“I’m not undressed,” I said.

“I can take care of that,” Ranger said.

I got out of bed and took the coffee from him. “What’s new?” I asked.

“CSI tells us the extra shoes in the apartment have never been worn.”

“That’s good,” I said. “It means there aren’t undiscovered victims out there.”

I went to the kitchen, toasted a bagel, and buttered it.

“I need to go to the office this morning,” I said. “I need to check in with Connie. And I need to go to my apartment to get clothes, and to make sure Rex is okay. Mrs. Delgado is looking in on him, but I want to make sure he has fresh water and enough food.”

“I have a full morning here, so I’m sending you out with Luis,” Ranger said. “He’s new. And he’s young. Try to keep him away from Lula.”