Part 30 (1/2)
”You said don't let anything go wrong.”
When I got back to the bike I hauled my cell phone out and called Ranger.
”I'm on my way,” Ranger said. ”I'm about ten minutes from Quaker Bridge. I'll call when I have her.”
I nodded my head and disconnected, unable to speak. There are times when life is just f.u.c.king overwhelming.
LULA LIVES IN a tiny apartment in a part of the ghetto that's pretty nice as far as ghettos go. I took Brunswick Avenue, wound around some, crossed over the train tracks, and found Lula's neighborhood. Streets were narrow and houses were small. Probably originally built for immigrants imported to work in the porcelain factories and steel mills. Lula lived in the middle of the block on the second floor of one of these houses.
My phone rang just as I cut the engine.
”I've got your grandmother with me, babe,” Ranger said. ”I'm taking her home. Do you want any pizza?”
”Pepperoni, extra cheese.”
”That extra cheese will kill you,” Ranger said and disconnected.
Lula got off the bike and looked at me. ”You gonna be all right?”
”Yep. I'm fine.”
She leaned forward and hugged me. ”You're a good person.”
I smiled back at her and blinked hard and wiped my nose on my sleeve. Lula was a good person, too.
”Uh-oh,” Lula said. ”Are you crying?”
”No. I think I inhaled a bug a couple blocks ago.”
It took me ten more minutes to get to my parents' house. I parked one house down and cut my lights. No way was I going in ahead of Grandma. My mother was probably berserk by now. Better to explain Grandma was kidnapped after Grandma was there in the flesh.
I sat on the curb and used the down time to call Morelli. I got him on his cell phone.
”Grandma's safe,” I told him. ”She's with Ranger. He picked her up at the mall and he's bringing her home.”
”I heard. I was behind you at Ronald's. I stayed there until I got the word from Ranger that he had your grandmother. I'm on my way home now.”
Morelli asked me to spend the night at his house, but I declined. I had things to do. I got Grandma back, but Mooner and Dougie were still out there.
After a while headlights flashed at the end of the street and Ranger's gleaming black Mercedes eased to a stop in front of my parents' house. Ranger helped Grandma out and smiled at me. ”Your grandmother ate your pizza. Guess you work up an appet.i.te being a hostage.”
”Are you coming in with me?”
”You'd have to kill me first.”
”I need to talk to you. This won't take long. Will you wait for me?”
Our eyes held and the silence stretched between us.
I mentally licked my lips and fanned myself. Yep. He'd wait.
I turned to go into the house and he pulled me back. His hands slid under my s.h.i.+rt and my breath caught.
”The wire,” he said, removing the tape, his fingertips warm against my skin, skimming the swell of breast not covered by my bra.
Grandma was already through the door when I caught up with her.
”Boy, I can't wait to go to the beauty parlor tomorrow and tell everyone about this one.”
My father looked up from his paper, and my mother gave an involuntary shudder.
”Who's laid out?” Grandma asked my father. ”I haven't seen a paper in a couple days. Did I miss anything?”
My mother narrowed her eyes. ”Where were you?”
”Danged if I know,” Grandma said. ”I had a bag over my head when I went in and out.”
”She was kidnapped,” I told my mother.
”What do you mean . . . kidnapped?”
”I happened to have something that Eddie DeChooch wanted, and so he kidnapped Grandma and held her for ransom.”
”Thank G.o.d,” my mother said. ”I thought she was shacked up with a man.”
My father went back to reading his paper. Just another day in the life of the Plum family.
”Did you learn anything from Choochy?” I asked Grandma. ”Do you have any idea where Mooner and Dougie have gone?”
”Eddie doesn't know anything about them. He'd like to find them, too. He says Dougie's the one who started it all. He says Dougie stole his heart. I could never figure out what that heart business was about, though.”
”And you don't have any idea where you were kept?”
”He had a bag over my head when we went in and out. At first I didn't realize I was kidnapped. I thought it was some kinky s.e.x thing. What I know is we did some driving around and then we went into a garage. I know because I heard the garage door open and close. And then we went into the downstairs part of a house. It was like the garage opened into the cellar except the cellar was fixed up. There was a television room and two bedrooms and a little kitchen down there. And another room with the furnace and the washer and dryer. And I couldn't see out because there were only those little bas.e.m.e.nt windows and they were closed up with shutters on the outside.” Grandma yawned. ”Well, I'm going to bed. I'm p.o.o.ped and I've got a big day tomorrow. I've got to make the most of this kidnapping. I've got a lot of people to tell.”
”Just don't say anything about the heart,” I told Grandma. ”The heart is a secret.”
”Fine by me since I don't know what to say about it, anyway.”
”Are you going to press charges?”
Grandma looked surprised. ”Against Choochy? Heck no. What would people think?”
Ranger was leaning against his car, waiting for me. He was dressed in black. Black dress slacks, expensive-looking black loafers, black T-s.h.i.+rt, black cashmere jacket. I knew the jacket wasn't for warmth. The jacket covered the gun. Not that it made any difference. The jacket was handsome.