Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum 25)

It took Morelli twenty minutes to get to the office, and Connie was three minutes behind him. I had the videos on Connie’s computer, and we all crowded together to look.

“I did a fast review of the kidnap victims before I left,” Morelli said. “This first one is Elroy Ruiz. Age thirty-two. It’s difficult to see his face in the video, but he has the right build. The next up is Kenny Brown. The video is dark but this looks like our man. The next victim is more recognizable. He gets to the dumpster and turns toward the camera. His name is Ryan Meier. Nineteen years old. In the country on a student visa.”

“Where’s he from?” I asked.

“Switzerland.”

I had an immediate aha! moment. Wulf is a Swiss national. This is the Wulf connection.

I advanced to the fourth video, and Wayne Kulicki walked out of the deli. He had a bag of garbage, and he didn’t seem concerned. He didn’t look around. Nothing caught his attention on his way to the dumpster. He tossed the bag in, turned and faced the camera, and there was the blinding flash. Next frame was of his shoe.

The last video was Hal. He walked to the dumpster, tossed the bag, turned and walked toward the camera, smiling. Flash of light. No more Hal.

“There are three different camera angles here,” I said. “The first video was shot from the second floor of the deli building. That’s why you can’t see the manager’s face. The second, third, and fourth were shot from a camera just to the right of the deli’s back door at a height of about six feet. And it looks like Hal was captured on video by a camera that was placed in the dry cleaner’s parking lot.”

“It’s like making these movies was all part of the kidnapping,” Lula said. “I want to see season two where they show you what happens next.”

“There’s no Vinnie video,” I said.

Vinnie walked in from the back entrance. “What do you mean, ‘There’s no Vinnie video’?”

“Lula found videos of the kidnap victims on YouTube, but you aren’t included. Are you remembering anything at all from the kidnapping?” Morelli asked Vinnie.

“Bananas. Everything was black, and I kept smelling bananas.”

“Was this in the beginning when you were first captured?” Morelli asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember anything except bananas.” Vinnie narrowed his eyes. “I hate bananas.”

Morelli made a couple calls to report the videos.

“Will you be able to trace them?” I asked him.

“Possibly. It’ll get passed up the chain of command.”

“What about camera placement? Do you think someone was in the building, on the second floor, for the first kidnapping?”

“Either that or they used a drone,” Morelli said. “After the first guy, Elroy Ruiz, everyone looked directly at the camera. It could be because they saw or heard a drone.”

“I like the idea of a drone taking video,” Lula said. “A drone’s like a miniature alien spaceship, only you could get it on Amazon.”

I stepped away from the computer. I didn’t like looking at the videos. It made my stomach feel icky. I wanted to find the men and see them return to their normal routines. I wanted to know that they were healthy. And I didn’t want them dead. Please, please, please, I thought. Let them all be okay. And let this all be over soon. The protect-Stephanie routine was getting old.

We left the bonds office and drove the short distance to Morelli’s house. His brother Anthony was sitting on the front step when we parked. He had a lumpy white garbage bag with him.

Morelli tried to squelch a grimace but wasn’t entirely successful. “Looks like Anthony got kicked out of his house again.”

Anthony got kicked out of his house all the time. Sometimes his wife even divorced him, but they always remarried.

“I think Anthony likes getting kicked out of his house,” I said. “He drinks beer and shoots pool with you, and doesn’t have to take care of his kids.”

Every time Anthony got kicked out, he returned to have make-up sex, and nine months later his wife popped out another kid. It was like Darlene Boot and her chickens, except it was Anthony and his kids, running around feral in the unmowed grass around his house.

He stood and smiled when he saw us.

“Yo,” Anthony said.

“Yo,” Morelli answered.