14 Fearless Fourteen (25 page)

“We like this one because it's so slimming,” the saleswoman
said. “We think it hugs her curves and is very flattering. She's a
lucky lady that we had her size in stock.”

“All it needs is some of them crystal beads to make it sparkle,”
Lula said.

“They said they could sew them on.”

The gown was slimming because it was two sizes too small and
squished in all Lula's fat and pushed it up until there was no more
gown.

She was spilling out of the top in rolls of Lula. She had
cleavage everywhere... front, back, side.

“It's pretty,” I said, “but there seems to be a lot of you
oozing over the top. Maybe you should go up a size.”

“They don't got this in a bigger size,” Lula said. “And anyway,
I don't want it too big on account of I'm planning to lose some
weight.”

I heard something pop and fly off the back of the dress, and the
zipper burst open.

“Hunh,” Lula said. “This here seems to be shoddy
workmanship.”

Ten minutes later, Lula dropped me at Morelli's.

“Boy,” Lula said. “I dodged that bullet. Those people don't know
how to sew.”

“You might consider getting married in a dress instead of a
gown,” I said. “It wouldn't even have to be white.”

“And it could be more representative of my outgoing
personality,” Lula said.

“It could be animal print. You know how I'm partial to animal
print.”

“And it would be practical because you could wear it even if you
didn't get married.”

“I'm psyched,” Lula said. “I'm going to the mall. You want to
come?”

“No. Morelli should be getting off his shift right about now and
I need to talk to him.”

I was in the kitchen, eating pizza, when Morelli rolled in. He
helped himself to a piece from the box and went to the refrigerator
in search of beer.

“My refrigerator is filled with potatoes,” he said, door open,
face bathed in refrigerator light. “They're everywhere. I've got
potatoes in the egg holder.”

“Ammo. I think the beer is behind the
half-baked.”

He moved some potatoes around and grunted when he found the
beer. “Zook's a terrific kid, but I feel displaced. Bad enough
Mooner is always here, now we've got Gary. Once, I got up in the
middle of the night to get water, and I swear I saw him sitting in
a lawn chair in front of my garage.”

“Imagine that,” I said. “How odd.”

“Have you heard from the partner?”

“No. The ball's in our court.”

Morelli took a second piece of pizza. “This is bad. Either
someone is leaking information or the guy is
inside.”

“Or maybe he's some genius computer geek that can tap into
phones and computers.”

Morelli shook his head. “That only happens in the movies. This
guy knew about the van and the money. I didn't tell anyone, and
Spanner swears he didn't tell anyone. I know the Fed who's running
the show, and I can't see him telling anyone.”

“What about the sack of shit?”

“Larry Skid? He could leak. And there were some other people
working details. Looking at it in retrospect, we should have played
it tighter, but there's always all this chain-of-command
crap.”

“I assume the department is investigating.”

“Yes, but there's not much to go on. Truth is, some of this op
went through the bureaucracy. The van needed to be requisitioned,
the storage facility had to be cleared, yada yada.”

I checked to make sure Zook wasn't listening and I lowered my
voice. “He said he would cut Loretta's hand off at noon tomorrow if
he doesn't have the money.”

“He's sick,” Morelli said. “He's caught up in the drama. If he
was thinking sanely, he'd back off and wait. There's no way he's
going to drive away with nine million dollars. It was a good plan
when they executed it ten years ago, but it's not a good plan now
that the police are involved.”

“I suppose he figures he can stay ahead of the game if he can
force me to locate the money and drive the van to him without
telling anyone.”

Morelli cut his eyes to me. “You wouldn't do that, would
you?”

“Of course not,” I said. And we both knew I
would.

Problem was, I had the key but I didn't know what to do with it.
And I had no way to reach Dom. I suspected Dom and the fourth
partner had the same dilemma.

Dom had always talked to Zero and Gratelli.

“I can practically see the wheels turning in your head,” Morelli
said. “What are you thinking?”

“I'm thinking this is pathetic. There's no communication between
the major players here. Dom and I have identical goals right now,
but we can't get anything done because I can't get in touch with
him.”

“Connie couldn't pull up a cell number?”

“No. Nothing for Dom. And the partner has me calling him on
Zero's phone. I had Connie run it.”

“Let's go obvious,” Morelli said. “We think Dom watches the
house, so make a sign and hang it in the living room window. ”Have
key. Call me.“” I ran upstairs to Morelli's office and used black
magic marker on a piece of computer paper. I brought the sign
downstairs and taped it to the window. “We only have a couple hours
of daylight where he can read it,” I said to Morelli. “No problem.
I'll hook up a spot.” We moved Zook and Mooner and Gary into the
dining room, and Morelli and Bob and I sat in front of the
television, waiting for the call. At ten o'clock, I got a call, but
it was from the wrong person. “You must be kidding,” he said. It
was the fourth partner. “What?” He sighed into the phone. “You
don't have any way of getting in touch with this idiot, either, do
you?” “You mean Dom? No.” “You better hope he sees your sign,
because I'm running out of patience.” And he disconnected. “That
was the fourth partner,” I told Morelli. “He saw the sign.” At
ten-thirty, I had a problem. I didn't know how to get out of the
house to meet Ranger without Morelli going postal. Take the cowards
way out, I thought. Go out the bathroom window and deal with
Morelli when you get home. I didn't want anyone to think I was
kidnapped, so I wrote a message on the toilet lid with my eyeliner
pencil. Be back soon. Don't worry. I climbed out the window onto
the small overhang that shelters the back stoop. Morelli's house is
almost identical to my parents' house, and this was the route I'd
used all through high school to sneak out with my friends. I rolled
off the edge of the roof and lowered myself down. I felt hands at
my waist, and I got an assist from Morelli. “Dammit,” I said to
him. “How did you know?” “I have the windows attached to the new
alarm system. It dings when you open them. What are you doing?”
“I'm meeting Ranger, and you don't want any more information than
that.” “Wrong.” He glanced at his garage. “It looks like the light
is on.” “Gary has his camper parked in there.” Morelli was silent
for a couple beats. “Notice I'm not yelling,” he said to me. “Yeah,
but I think the roots of your hair are smoking.” “How long has Gary
been squatting in my garage?” “A couple days.” Morelli opened the
back door for me. “Get in the house.” Fine with me. My car was
parked out front. Now I didn't have to walk halfway around the
block. “I won't be long,” I told Morelli, wasting no time getting
through the kitchen and dining room. “Maybe an hour.” Morelli was
close behind me. “Is this about Loretta?” “Yep.” “I'm going with
you.” “That's not a good idea.” “Why not?” “You don't want to
know,” I told him. “And Ranger is in on this?” “He's not in on it.
I asked him to help me. He has skills I lack.” “Such as?” “He's
good with locks.” “You're right. I don't want to know, but if
anything happens to you, I'll go after Ranger, and it won't be
pretty.” “Nothing's going to happen.” Probably. I ran to my car and
took off. The fourth partner saw the sign, and that meant he was
watching the house. I didn't want to be followed, so I wound around
in the Burg, looking for headlights behind me. When I felt
absolutely safe, I cut across town to Route 1 and headed for
Stanley Zero's apartment complex. Ranger was already there when I
pulled into the lot. He was in his black Porsche Turbo, watching
the building. I parked next to him, and he got out. He was wearing
black jeans and T-shirt and a black windbreaker. Nothing with the
Rangeman insignia. He looked at my ghoulish complexion and smiled.
“Long story,” I said. “I know the story. I'm just sorry I missed
seeing you before you faded.” We walked to the entrance, and when
we got to the door, he draped an arm across my shoulders. We were a
couple, home from date night. When Ranger got close to me like
this, I could smell his Bulgari shower gel. I've used the same gel,
and the scent is fleeting on me. It lingers on Ranger. Zero's
apartment was sealed with yellow crime scene tape. A DO not enter
notice was tacked to the door. Ranger peeled the tape back, used a
pick on the lock, and in seconds we were inside. Nothing keeps
Ranger out when he wants to get in. I've seen him open a door when
a slide bolt was thrown. It's borderline eerie. We pulled on
disposable gloves and methodically moved through the apartment.
There were smudges where the crime lab had searched for prints, and
marks on the carpet where the body had fallen. “I'm looking for
something that might give me the identity of Dominic Rizzi's fourth
partner,” I told Ranger. “Either the killer swept the apartment, or
else the crime lab did an unusually thorough evidence collection,”
Ranger said. “I'm not finding anything. No cell phone, no computer,
no address book.” “I had a few minutes to look around after I
discovered the body, and I don't remember seeing a computer or
phone. I went through all his pockets, with the exception of the
clothes he was wearing. I couldn't bring myself to touch the body.”
“He was dressed?” “In jeans and a shirt. His boots were beside the
bed.” “They're still there,” Ranger said. He walked into the
bedroom and picked up one of the boots. “I know it's a cliche, but
people really do hide things in their shoes.” He removed the padded
insert and found a scrap of paper with a phone number on it.
“Damn,” I said. “You're good.” Ranger smiled. “That's what they
tell me. Do you recognize the number?” “No, but it's local.” Ranger
called his control room and gave them the number. Two minutes
later, the answer came back. The number belonged to Alma Rizzi. So
Dom was using his mother's cell phone, and Zero hadn't wanted to
share that information with his partner. He didn't trust himself to
remember the number, so he hid it in his shoe. This was quite the
group of guys. I dialed the number, but there was no answer.
“Nothing in the other boot,” Ranger said. “I think we've done as
much as we can here.” We let ourselves out, took the stairs,
crossed the small lobby, and walked to our cars. “Not much of a
date,” Ranger said. “Not true. I got a phone number.” He kissed me
on the cheek. “You could have gotten more than a phone number.”
“I'll take a rain check.” Morelli remoted the television off when I
walked into the house. He stood and stretched. “Well?” “Someone
picked Zero's apartment clean.” “You didn't find anything?” “No.”
Our eyes held for a moment, and he didn't ask anything more and I
didn't tell. I trusted Morelli, but he was a cop, after all. And
the cops didn't have a good track record on this operation. It was
four in the morning, and I was wide awake, trying not to thrash
around and disturb Morelli. I couldn't stop thinking about the
fourth partner. He was out there, moving through his day as a
normal person. This guy who could kill his friends and mutilate a
mother. He did his mundane job and talked sports scores while he
drank coffee with his friends. And he was watching Morelli's house
and monitoring police action. How was he doing that? When the
bedside clock hit five-thirty, I got dressed in jeans and a T-shirt
and sneakers. I went downstairs, made coffee, and dialed Dom. Still
no answer. I could hear Morelli moving around upstairs. It was a
workday. I was pacing when he came into the kitchen. “What's the
special occasion?” he asked. “You're never up this early.” “I
couldn't sleep. Loretta will lose her hand today if I don't figure
this out.” “It's not your fault.” “I know that. I just don't want
it to happen.” “Me, either. I'm still on the gang killings, but
Spanner's keeping me in the loop. The Feds are nuts that the op got
blown. They're on everyone's ass.” “You went door-to-door, right?
You talked to all your neighbors?” “Everyone on the street. I
covered three blocks.” He poured coffee into a travel mug and
capped it. “I have an early meeting. I'll grab a bagel on the way
in.” He kissed me on the top of my head. “I have to go. Be careful.
This guy is a real crazy. Don't piss him off. I'll try to keep in
touch.” I fed Bob and hooked him to his leash. “Time for a walk,” I
told him. I knew we were missing something, and walking Bob would
give me a chance to look around. The fourth partner was close. He
saw the sign intended for Dom. He saw the scarf. And he was the one
who broke into Morelli's house and got the key. He knew when
Morelli and I left the house to take Grandma home. I walked two
blocks in each direction, several times. The guy was so close, I
could practically smell him, but I couldn't put my finger on him.
Zook was eating breakfast when I returned. He looked up
expectantly. “Hang in there,” I told him. “She's okay, isn't she?”
“Yes.” Alive is okay, right? Worse things in life than missing a
toe or two. I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but I'm not
sure I totally pulled it off. I drove Zook to school and rode
around Morelli's block. I cruised by his house and looked up at the
second-floor windows. They were visible from the street, but I was
having a hard time thinking this guy was constantly driving by. He
was squirreled away somewhere, and he could see the house. I kept a
gym bag in the back. It held bounty hunter stuff. Cuffs, shackles,
stun gun, Cheez Doodles, flashlight, and binoculars. I grabbed the
binoculars out of the bag and brought them into the house. I ran up
the stairs and trained the glasses on the houses across the street.
I looked in all the windows. I looked at the front yards and the
cars parked in front of the houses. I looked over the roofs to see
if line of sight carried to any houses on the next block. I put the
binoculars down and pressed my fingers to my eyeballs. Think,
Stephanie. What are you missing? There has to be something. I
raised the binoculars again and ran them across the housetops. And
there it was ... a camera. It was positioned on the roof, directly
across from Morelli. I don't know how I missed it. I suppose I just
wasn't looking for it before. I called Ranger on my cell. “I need
some technical information,” I said to him. “Can you mount a camera
somewhere, like on a roof, and access it from somewhere else? I
mean, do you need wires and things?” "No. You can transmit
wireless. If you're going a distance, you need
relays.