Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum 25)

I returned forty minutes later. Local police were already at the warehouse. Morelli pulled in behind me.

“You went shopping?” Morelli asked, looking at my Target bags.

“The kidnap victims are naked. I went out to get them some clothes.”

“Makes me happy,” Morelli said.

I led the way to the basketball court and handed the bags over to the men. Underwear, T-shirts, sweatpants, and flip-flops.

“You’re pretty casual about all these naked men,” Morelli said to me.

“You’ve seen one and you’ve seen them all,” I said.

“Is that true?”

“No,” I said to Morelli. “Absolutely not.”

Ranger joined us. “Were you able to find Sitz?” he asked Morelli.

“Yeah. We found him at Newark Airport. He was stuffed into a garbage container.”

“Is he okay?” I asked.

“No,” Morelli said. “He’s dead. I don’t know any details.”

Ranger and I exchanged glances. Harry the Hammer was cleaning house. That included friends and foes and partners. He was tidying up loose ends that could tie him to the kidnappings. Classic mob behavior. There were four Colombians left behind who may or may not know anything about Harry. And there was Frankie from Central GP.

I caught a flash of black in my peripheral vision and turned to find Wulf standing a short distance away. He was in full Wulf regalia. Black cape. Black suit and dress shirt. Blood-red pocket handkerchief.

“Thank you for locating my charge,” Wulf said.

He crooked his finger in a come-here gesture, and Ryan Meier ran over to him.

“Oh man,” Ryan said to Wulf. “Am I ever glad to see you.”

“Your father’s been worried,” Wulf said.

Wulf spread his arms wide, flaring his cape. There was a flash of blinding light, a crack of thunder, a lot of smoke, and when the smoke cleared, Wulf and Ryan Meier were gone.

“I didn’t see that,” Morelli said.

I agreed. I didn’t see it either.

“I saw it,” Hal said. “It was awesome.”

Ranger stayed stoic, but I knew he was mentally rolling his eyes.

“I’ll take Hal back with me,” Ranger said to Morelli. “He’ll be available if you need to talk to him.”

“I’ll pass that on to the feds,” Morelli said. “They’re about a half hour behind me with the crime lab. Not that I expect they’ll find anything worthwhile here. This warehouse belongs to Harry, and Harry knows how to cover his tracks. I’m sure you already know this. We also got full disclosure on The Cannibal Deli. Harry is listed as an executive producer. He bought into a production company that’s involved. If I’d asked my mother instead of having the department research the show, I could have found out sooner. Apparently, it’s the hot gossip topic in the Burg.”

“Have you talked to Harry?” Ranger asked.

“Harry is on a Caribbean cruise. He gets back tomorrow.”

“Nice,” Ranger said. “What about Skoogie. Any tests back?”

“Skoogie overdosed. Looks like self-inflicted and accidental.”