Twisted Twenty-Six (Stephanie Plum 26)

“No,” DeSalle said. “I hadn’t heard. I know an attempt was made a couple days ago. The police were here, asking about the old Zeus. I believe he was involved.”

“How well did you know the old Zeus?” Ranger asked DeSalle.

“Not all that well,” DeSalle said. “I employed him. He had a following. Hard-core workout junkies and hard-up women. He had a reputation for making needy women happy. Not any of my business as long as it didn’t take place on the premises.”

“Someone hired him to do the kidnapping,” Ranger said. “Do you have any ideas?”

“I imagine it would be someone who wasn’t connected and wasn’t real bright. The old Zeus had muscle and that’s where his talent ended. I’ve been told that Marion Beggert was one of the women he regularly made happy enough to pay off his credit card. Have you seen Marion Beggert?”

Ranger shook his head, no.

“If you’d schtupp Marion Beggert for a couple bucks, you’d do most anything,” DeSalle said.

“Have you talked to any of the La-Z-Boys lately?” Ranger asked.

“I used to play poker once a week with the La-Z-Boys, but poker night was discontinued when Charlie took off and Benny got too fat to fit at the card table.”

“If you hear anything, let me know,” Ranger said.

DeSalle nodded. “You bet.”

“Did we get anything out of that?” I asked when we were back in the car.

“Not a lot, but I agree that an amateur hired Lucca.”

“Barbara?”

“Maybe, but there are a couple issues that make her a long shot. She would have to assemble another kidnap team on short notice, because I don’t think she’s capable of actually doing the kidnapping herself. And she would need a place to hold Grandma. Does she own any other properties?”

I called Connie. She was closing up shop for the day, but she ran a property check on Barbara for me.

“I’ve got two properties,” Connie said. “A house and a storage locker. The house is rented. It was Barbara’s house before she moved next door to Jeanine. The storage locker is on the road to White Horse.”

“We’ll take a look,” Ranger said. “We’ll do the house first.”

I called Morelli on the way to Barbara’s rental.

“I talked to Benny,” Morelli said. “He’s in the hospital with heart issues. Between gasping for breath, he told me to go fuck myself, and that was about the extent of our conversation. Charlie Shine made bail and was released an hour ago. I just missed him, and I haven’t been able to find him. I also haven’t been able to find Lou Salgusta.”

“We’re running down Lucca leads,” I said. “Let me know if you want us to change direction.”

* * *

—

The house in Hamilton was in a family-oriented neighborhood of nice middle-income homes. Lots of swing sets visible in backyards. An occasional basketball hoop attached to a garage.

Barbara’s rental house had a red and yellow Big Wheel tricycle parked on the short sidewalk leading to the small front porch.

Ranger and I walked around the tricycle and stepped onto the porch. A young woman carrying a baby answered the doorbell. Two toddlers and a dog were running around behind her. The kids were laughing and yelling, and the dog was barking.

“I’m looking for Barbara Rosolli,” I said to the woman.

“We rent the house from her,” the woman said, “but she’s never here. I’ve only seen her once, a couple years ago.”

One of the toddlers turned and ran past the woman and onto the porch. Ranger snagged him and redirected him back into the house.

“Thanks,” I said to the woman. “Sorry to have disturbed you.”