Seven Up (Stephanie Plum 7)

He picked up my shirt and looked under it.

“Hold it! Wait a minute!” I said. “I can't do this with Mooner in the next room!”

“Mooner's watching television.”

His hand cupped my pubic bone, he did something magical with his index finger, my eyes glazed over, and some drool trickled out of the corner of my mouth. “The door's locked, right?”

“Right,” Morelli said. He had my pants down to my knees.

“Maybe you should check.”

“Check on what?”

“On Mooner. Make sure he's not listening at the door.”

“I don't care if he's listening at the door.”

“I care.”

Morelli sighed and rolled off me. “I should have fallen in love with Joyce Barnhardt. She would have invited Mooner in to watch.” He opened the door a crack and looked out. He opened it wider. “Oh shit,” he said.

I was on my feet with my pants up. “What? What?”

Morelli was out of the room, moving through the house, opening and closing doors. “Mooner's gone.”

“How could he be gone?”

Morelli stopped and faced me. “Do we care?”

“Yes!”

Another sigh. “We were only in the bedroom for a couple minutes. He can't have gone far. I'll go look for him.”

I crossed the room to the window and looked down into the parking lot. A car was leaving. It was hard to see the car in the rain, but it looked like Ziggy and Benny. Dark, American-made midsize. I grabbed my bag, locked my door, and ran the length of the hall. I caught up with Morelli in the lobby. We pushed through the doors to the lot and stopped. No Mooner in sight. The dark sedan no longer in view.

“I think it's possible he's with Ziggy and Benny,” I said. “I think we should try their social club.” I couldn't imagine where else they'd take Mooner. I didn't think they'd take him home with them.

“Ziggy and Benny and Chooch belong to Domino on Mulberry Street,” Morelli said, both of us climbing into his truck. “Why do you think Mooner's with Benny and Ziggy?”

“I thought I saw their car pull out of the lot. And I have a feeling Dougie and DeChooch and Benny and Ziggy are all mixed up in something that started with the cigarette deal.”

We wound our way through the Burg to Mulberry and sure enough, Benny's dark blue sedan was parked in front of the Domino Social Club. I got out and felt the hood. Warm.

“How do you want to play this?” Morelli asked. “Do you want me to wait in the truck? Or do you want me to muscle you in?”

“Just because I'm a liberated woman doesn't mean I'm a moron. Muscle me in.”

Morelli knocked on the door, and an old man opened the door with the security chain attached.

“I'd like to talk to Benny,” Morelli said.

“Benny's busy.”

“Tell him it's Joe Morelli.”

“He's still gonna be busy.”

“Tell him if he doesn't come to the door right now I'm going to set his car on fire.”