Fortune and Glory (Stephanie Plum 27)

“Whoa,” Ramone said. “This is old-school. I don’t need equipment to open this. I could stand a foot away and hear the tumblers.”

Minutes later the safe creaked open and Ranger flicked the penlight on. There were two bricks of what I suspected was cocaine on the top shelf. The second shelf held stacks of money neatly held together by paper wrappers. The third shelf was a jumble of porno magazines, a TV remote, a half-eaten Snickers bar, and a cardboard cigar box.

I took the box out and flipped the lid open. There were two pieces of paper in the box. They were each folded in half. The message on one was ACE it. The other message was Philadelphia. Each piece of paper had a number on the bottom. ACE it was #1 and Philadelphia was #3.

“Is this it?” Ranger asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I expected to find two clues, and I guess these are the clues, but they’re disappointing. I was hoping for pieces of a map.”

I used my phone to take photos of the clues. I put the clues back in the box and put the box back in the safe.

Ramone closed the safe and spun the dial. Fifteen minutes later we were back in the bakery parking lot. Ranger loaded Ramone into the Rangeman SUV and waved them off.

“I’m riding with you,” Ranger said. “I had my car dropped at your apartment.”

“Thinking ahead?”

“Babe,” Ranger said.

This was a noncommittal babe. It could mean that he wanted to talk. It could mean that he was being protective and wanted to see me safely to my door. Or it could mean that he had his cargo pants pockets stuffed full of condoms.

Ranger took three calls while I drove. I parked next to his Porsche 911 Turbo, and he put his phone away.

“Break-in at the home of a high-end client,” he said. “They weren’t home when it went down. Three men with ski masks. Parked in the driveway in a stolen car. One of them was dumb enough to remove his mask before driving away, and we have him on an exterior camera. The police can take it from here.”

“Inside job?”

“Probably. They took cash. Knew where to find it. I suspect they also took drugs, but the homeowner isn’t going to report a drug theft.”

We crossed the lot and Ranger followed me into the building. We took the elevator to my floor, walked the length of the hall, and Ranger inserted a key in my door lock. This was no surprise. He’d installed my security system, and truth is, he could have easily opened my door without a key.

I flipped the light on, and Rex stopped running on his wheel and blinked at us. I took a couple of Froot Loops from a box on the counter and dropped them into Rex’s cage.

“Would you like something to drink?” I asked Ranger. “Water, wine, beer? Froot Loops?”

“Pass,” Ranger said. “We need to talk.

Damn. That was my least favorite of the three options.

“I know the basic facts about the keys,” Ranger said. “Jimmy was Keeper of the Keys. He died. The keys disappeared. Supposedly the keys are needed to open a safe that contains something valuable.”

I nodded. “Those are the facts.”

“And I know that Grandma has the keys.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You planted a listening device on me again.”

“Babe,” Ranger said. “You told me.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry. I forgot.”

“I want to know what’s happening now. Starting with today when you visited Benny.”

“How do you know about Benny?” I closed my eyes and held my hand up. “Never mind. Erase that question. I know the answer.”

Early in our relationship Ranger decided it was his job to keep me alive. Placing a GPS locator on my car turned out to make his job goal more realistic.

“Benny told me about the two clues in the safe,” I said. “He also said that if you try to open the safe without the keys it’s Hiroshima.”