Lean Mean Thirteen (Stephanie Plum 13)

I grabbed Dave s leg and helped wrangle him into the trunk. We closed the lid, and the

BMW sped out of the lot.

“So what's the deal for the rest of the day?” Joyce said. “Are you staying here?” That was the original plan, but I had a feeling Dave might come back after he got his nose

straightened and his finger stitched up.

“I'm going to spend the night at RangeMan,” I told Joyce.

“Give him a tug for me,” Joyce said. And she walked to her car and took off. I ran upstairs, hung my bag on my shoulder, and

wrapped my arms around Rex's aquarium. I carted Rex out to the Porsche. Then I ran down to the basement and told Dillon about the door and the carpet. Dillon didn't look all that surprised. It wasn't the first time he'd had to fix my door.

FOURTEEN

At seven o'clock, I heard the keys get tossed onto the silver tray in the hall, and seconds later, Ranger walked into the kitchen.

“I thought you were staying in your apartment tonight,” Ranger said.

“Change of plans.”

He glanced at Rex on the kitchen counter. “This looks serious.”

“Remember the guy who got his boys stapled? He came visiting. He wanted me to go for a ride with him, but I declined.”

Ranger took two wineglasses out of the cabinet and uncorked a bottle of red. He poured two glasses and gave one to me. “What did it take to discourage him?”

“Joyce Barnhardt with a gun. She tailed me to my apartment and saw Dave follow me into the building. That's the guy's name, Dave. She came up to check things out and decided Dave was a threat to her future earnings. So she shot the

top of his pinkie finger clear off his hand. Then Dave's partner came and loaded him into the trunk of their Beemer and drove him away. That's the short version.”

“Go figure,” Ranger said.

“Exactly.”

We both sipped some wine.

“That's not even the best part of the day,” I said to Ranger. “I stopped at Morelli's house to get some DVDs for Lula, and I walked in on Dickie.”

“Dickie Orr?”

“Yep. It wasn't Dickies blood in his house. The goon squad was sent to roust him, and he shot one of them in the knee and fled. Morelli has him in protective custody. He's locked away so he can live to testify against his partners, but his partners are disappearing. Smullen is confirmed dead. The police are presuming Gorvich is dead. And they can't find Petiak.”

The doorbell buzzed and Ranger opened the door to Ella and dinner. He took the tray from her and carried it into the kitchen.

“Have you eaten?” he asked.

“A peanut butter sandwich at five.”

Ella had sent grilled vegetables, pork tenderloin, and saffron rice for two.

“Ella knew I was here?”

“Everyone knows you're here. There aren't a lot of secrets in this building. Only the private apartments and the lavatories aren't monitored.”

“Do they know anything about our relationship?”

“No. And they won't ask.”