Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum 25)

“Yes, ma’am, Stephanie, ma’am,” he said.

The other men were hunched over their computers, not making eye contact, trying not to laugh out loud.

We took the elevator to the underground garage, signed out a fleet SUV, and Luis drove me to my apartment. He followed me to the second floor and waited while I unlocked my door.

“Should I come in?” he asked.

“Would you like to come in?”

“Ranger said I’m not supposed to let you out of my sight.”

“That’s going to be awkward since I’m going to take a shower.”

“Yes, ma’am, Stephanie,” he said. “I’ll wait right here in the hall.”

I went to the kitchen and tapped on Rex’s cage. He poked his head out of his soup can den, blinked his tiny black eyes at me, and retreated back into his bedding. His water bottle was full, and his food cup was half full of hamster food. I dropped a peanut and a couple Froot Loops into the cage and told him I loved him.

Twenty minutes later I was showered, dressed in clean clothes, and had a tote bag filled with enough overnight essentials for a couple days. I told Rex to be nice to Mrs. Delgado even though she had five cats, I locked my apartment, and I steered Luis to the stairs.

“Next stop is the bail bonds office on Hamilton Avenue,” I told Luis.

Traffic was light, and the weather was perfect. There was still a chill in the air, but by noon it be would in the high seventies. I was feeling good in my fleece sweatshirt, sitting in the immaculate Rangeman SUV.

“This is going to be a good day,” I said to Luis. “I have a feeling. Everything is going to go right today.”

“Yes, ma’am, Stephanie, ma’am,” he said.

Luis parked at the curb in front of the office and followed me in. Connie was at her desk, and Lula was at the coffee machine.

“Well, look at who we got here,” Lula said to Luis. “Hello, cutie. What’s your name?”

“Luis, ma’am.”

“I’m not no ‘ma’am,’ but I appreciate the respect,” Lula said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Luis said.

Lula shook her head. “He’s a hunk of love, but I’m guessing he’s dumb as a box of rocks.”

“This is Lula, and this is Connie,” I said to Luis. “You can call them Lula and Connie.”

“We got donuts on Connie’s desk if you want some,” Lula said. “The good ones are all gone, so we’d appreciate if you’d eat the lame ones that are left.”

“Ranger doesn’t like us to eat donuts,” Luis said.

“Hunh,” Lula said. “You do everything Ranger tells you to do?”

“Yes,” Luis said.

Vinnie’s office door banged open, and Vinnie looked out at us.

“It’s about time you showed up,” Vinnie said to me. “Where’s Waggle? Just because I got kidnapped don’t mean you can stop working.”

“Excuse me?” I said, eyes narrowed.

“Yeah, excuse us,” Lula said. “We’ve been working at your dumb-ass deli. And on top of that we went after Waggle, and I got shot in the hair. You got some nerve accusin

g us of not working.”