'Ranger's here.'
'Going to be tight in the bathroom in the morning,' Morelli said. And he kissed me and left.
I made coffee and ate a Pop Tart while Ranger showered. Then I went across the hall and swiped Mr Wolesky's newspaper. I was standing in the kitchen, reading about the shooting when Ranger strolled in. He was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, his hair still damp.
'That was close,' he said, helping himself to coffee.
'Yeah, you almost opened the door to Morelli.'
'I wasn't talking about Morelli. I was talking about us.'
'That too,' I said.
Ranger sliced a bagel and looked for the toaster.
'It's broken,' I told him.
He turned the broiler on and slid the bagel into the oven.
'That's surprisingly domestic for the man of mystery,' I said to him.
He looked at me over the rim of his coffee mug. 'I like things hot.'
Stephanie Plum 12 - Twelve Sharp
Fifteen
The sidewalk in front of the bonds office was wet from being scrubbed down and hosed off in an attempt to remove the bloodstains, and two guys were working to repair the front window. I parked the Mini in front of the used bookstore, carefully stepped around the men and the glass, and walked through the open front door.
It was after nine, and I was the last to arrive for work. Connie was at her desk. Meri was at a card table with a phone and a laptop, Melvin Pickle was a filing demon, and Lula was on the couch reading Star magazine.
'How's Ranger's man?' Connie wanted to know.
'He's okay. I stayed at the hospital until he was out of recovery. They wanted him to spend the night, but he refused. Lucky for him he was wearing a vest.'
'He told the police it looked like Ranger shooting him,' Meri said.
'Yes, but when I talked to him in the hospital he said that was a first impression. He said it freaked him out, and he didn't respond because of it. His second impression was that it wasn't Ranger. It was someone who was dressed in black and resembled Ranger.'
'How could he be sure it wasn't Ranger?' Meri asked. 'I mean, he was getting shot!'
'He said he was right up to the window, shining his flashlight on the guy. He said the guy looked him in the eyes and raised the gun and shot him without blinking.'
'Gives me the heebie jeebies,' Lula said. 'That's so cold. And I bet he's the one who's got the little girl. How terrible is that? That child must be terrified.'
'I don't know,' Meri said. 'I'm having a hard time with this. Everything always points back to this Ranger person. How can you be so sure it's not actually him? I mean, he could have gone nutso. From what I hear he was dark anyway, like Batman. Silent. Tortured soul. Always dressed in black.'
'The all black clothes just make things easy,' I said. 'He doesn't have to mix and match. He doesn't have any decisions in the morning. His housekeeper doesn't have to worry about colors running.'
Meri's eyes got wide. 'Do you know him that well?'
'Um, no,' I said. 'I was sort of putting myself in his place.' Okay, so that was liar, liar pants on fire, but there was something about Meri that had me on guard. Hard to say what it was, but she still felt off to me. Something about her manner, the way she looked, the way she asked questions, the way she showed up and was too good to be believed… too perfect for the job.
'Your problem is you don't know him,' Lula said to Meri. 'If you knew him you'd understand. He's dark in a good way. And besides, anybody that hot can't be all bad.'
'What's happening with Dooby Biagi and Charles Chin?' I asked Meri.
She handed the files over to me. 'They're both business as usual. I made some phone calls and neither seems to have skipped town.'