Ten Big Ones (Stephanie Plum 10)

'Anything new going on?'

There was another devil holdup last night. This time the firebomb worked and the store burned down.'

'Anyone hurt?'

'No. It was late at night, and the store was empty. The night manager got out the back door. The word on the street is that the

Comstock Street Slayers are bragging about the cop shooting.'

'I didn't realize we had Slayers in Trenton.'

'We've got everything in Trenton.'

'If you rounded up all the Slayers, I might be able to identify the

Red Devil,' I said to Morelli.

'To the best of our knowledge there are twenty-eight active

Slayers, and they're about as easy to round up as smoke. And probably the twenty-eight figure is low.'

'Okay, suppose I rode around in their neighborhood, looking for the guy?'

'Honey, even I don't ride around in that neighborhood.'

I disconnected and turned onto Fenton Street. It was easy to find Sally's house. A big yellow school bus was parked at the curb.

I pulled up behind the bus, and we all trooped out.

Sally opened the door with the security chain still in place. I've changed my mind,' he said. `I don't want to go.'

'You have to go,' I told him. 'It's the law.'

'The law's bogus. I didn't do anything wrong. And now if I go with you I'm going to have to pay more money, right? Vinnie's gonna have to write another bond, right?'

'Uh... yeah.'

'I haven't got more money. And anyway, I'm not even the one who should have been arrested. They should have arrested that jerk Marty Sklar. He's the one who started all this.'

I felt my eyebrows shoot halfway up my forehead. 'Marty Sklar is the guy who made a pass at you?'

'Do you know him?' Sally asked.

'I went to school with him. He was a big macho football player.

And he married Barbara Jean Biabloki, the pom-pom queen.' It was a perfect match. They deserved each other. Sklar was a bully, and Barbara Jean thought she could walk on water because she grew perfect breasts. Last I heard, Sklar was working in his father-in-laws

Toyota dealership, and Barbara Jean had porked up to biblical proportions. 'Was Sklar drunk?'

'Fuckin' A. Oh crap!' Snap, snap.

'You gotta remember about fudge,' Grandma said.

Sally nodded. 'Fudgin' A.'

We all did a mental eeyeuuiv. Fudgin' A didn't sound tasty coming out of Sally's mouth.

'Maybe fudge don't work for that one time,' Grandma said.