Fortune and Glory (Stephanie Plum 27)

“Maybe they fell out of his pocket when Ranger took him down. Did Manny look around for them?”

“I’ll pass your suggestion on to Manny.”

“I’m being sort of stalked by a woman we only know as Gabriela. No last name. I saw you talking to her at the viewing.”

“Gabriela Rose,” Morelli said. “She carries credentials from a bank in Switzerland and supposedly she’s investigating some illegal accounts, but I’m not sure I buy it.”

I took that in for a beat. “What’s your opinion of her?”

“She’d eat her young. If she’s following you around, you want to be careful and not let her get close.”

“Jeez.”

“Are we still on for dinner?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll pick you up at six o’clock,” Morelli said.

“How’d that go?” Lula asked when I put my phone away.

“Good,” I said. “Her name is Gabriela Rose and she told Morelli she’s investigating some illegal Swiss bank accounts.”

Connie typed Gabriela Rose into her search program.

“Nothing,” Connie said. “No history for Gabriela Rose. Either it’s a new alias or it’s been scrubbed. Maybe both.”

Ranger called. “We found the chairs, and we have the clue,” he said.

“Let me guess,” I said. “Under the seat cushion.”

“Yes. Do you want the clue over the phone, or do you want the paper?”

“Over the phone is good.”

“Fifty. The number fifty. And it’s the second clue.”

“What about the other chairs? Any more clues?”

“No more clues, but we found a party favor condom and some loose change.”

“Do you have any ideas?” I asked him.

“Only that these clues are directions, like a map. The six men probably knew Jimmy well enough to be able to follow the clues when they were all put together.”

“I agree.”

“Babe,” Ranger said. And he disconnected.

* * *

“I hate to bring this up,” Connie said, “but you have Arnold Rugalowski outstanding. I ran a credit check on him today just for giggles and discovered a car loan.”

“Local?”

“Yeah. I followed through on it and it looks like he bought a food truck.”

“Maybe he’s selling fried roaches,” Lula said. “It could be a new specialty being that his chicken nuts were lacking.”