I took the box out and flipped the lid open. There were two pieces of paper in the box. They were each folded in half. The message on one was ACE it. The other message was Philadelphia. Each piece of paper had a number on the bottom. ACE it was #1 and Philadelphia was #3.
“Is this it?” Ranger asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I expected to find two clues, and I guess these are the clues, but they’re disappointing. I was hoping for pieces of a map.”
I used my phone to take photos of the clues. I put the clues back in the box and put the box back in the safe.
Ramone closed the safe and spun the dial. Fifteen minutes later we were back in the bakery parking lot. Ranger loaded Ramone into the Rangeman SUV and waved them off.
“I’m riding with you,” Ranger said. “I had my car dropped at your apartment.”
“Thinking ahead?”
“Babe,” Ranger said.
This was a noncommittal babe. It could mean that he wanted to talk. It could mean that he was being protective and wanted to see me safely to my door. Or it could mean that he had his cargo pants pockets stuffed full of condoms.
Ranger took three calls while I drove. I parked next to his Porsche 911 Turbo, and he put his phone away.
“Break-in at the home of a high-end client,” he said. “They weren’t home when it went down. Three men with ski masks. Parked in the driveway in a stolen car. One of them was dumb enough to remove his mask before driving away, and we have him on an exterior camera. The police can take it from here.”
“Inside job?”
“Probably. They took cash. Knew where to find it. I suspect they also took drugs, but the homeowner isn’t going to report a drug theft.”
We crossed the lot and Ranger followed me into the building. We took the elevator to my floor, walked the length of the hall, and Ranger inserted a key in my door lock. This was no surprise. He’d installed my security system, and truth is, he could have easily opened my door without a key.
I flipped the light on, and Rex stopped running on his wheel and blinked at us. I took a couple of Froot Loops from a box on the counter and dropped them into Rex’s cage.
“Would you like something to drink?” I asked Ranger. “Water, wine, beer? Froot Loops?”
“Pass,” Ranger said. “We need to talk.
Damn. That was my least favorite of the three options.
“I know the basic facts about the keys,” Ranger said. “Jimmy was Keeper of the Keys. He died. The keys disappeared. Supposedly the keys are needed to open a safe that contains something valuable.”
I nodded. “Those are the facts.”
“And I know that Grandma has the keys.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You planted a listening device on me again.”
“Babe,” Ranger said. “You told me.”
“Oh yeah. Sorry. I forgot.”
“I want to know what’s happening now. Starting with today when you visited Benny.”
“How do you know about Benny?” I closed my eyes and held my hand up. “Never mind. Erase that question. I know the answer.”
Early in our relationship Ranger decided it was his job to keep me alive. Placing a GPS locator on my car turned out to make his job goal more realistic.
“Benny told me about the two clues in the safe,” I said. “He also said that if you try to open the safe without the keys it’s Hiroshima.”
“What about the combination? There’s usually a combination lock in conjunction with keys.”
“Benny didn’t say much about that. He thought Jimmy’s clue, the last clue, might be the combination.”
“You have two clues,” Ranger said. “Ace it. Labeled as #1. And Philadelphia. Labeled as #3. Do they mean anything to you?”
“No. Only the obvious. Ace it could refer to the playing card. Or it could mean total success. Like I aced the test. And Philadelphia is Philadelphia.”
“Babe, you need the rest of the clues. What about Jimmy’s clue?”
I squelched a grimace. “It’s missing.”
“It wasn’t in the chair?”
“Not in the chair or under the chair. Not in his apartment, his office, his car, or any of his body cavities.”
“Do you have plans to get the other three clues?”
“I have to capture Lou Salgusta and Charlie Shine. And I have to bargain with Benny the Skootch.”
“Once you capture them, how are you going to convince Salgusta and Shine to give you their clues?”
“In the words of Indiana Jones, ‘I’m making it up as I go.’ Do you have any ideas?”
“I do,” Ranger said. “You’re going to like them.”
“Do these ideas involve Salgusta and Shine?”
“Not even a little.”
I was pretty sure I knew where this was going. Ranger had kept his distance, romantically speaking, while Morelli and I were a couple. Now that Morelli was out of the picture, it was game on for Ranger.
“You look like you’re about to have a panic attack,” Ranger said. “Not the reaction I was going for.”
“Yeah, caught me by surprise, too.”
That got a smile. He reached out, pulled me close, and brushed a kiss across my neck, just below my ear. A second one lingered.
“How’s the panic level?” he asked.
“All-time high.”
“With good reason,” Ranger said.
“How about you? Are you feeling panicky?”
His hands slipped under my T-shirt. “Panic isn’t included in my emotional package.”
His hands were warm, leaving a heated trail as they moved up my rib cage to my breasts. We kissed, our tongues touched, and my fate was sealed. I’d been here before with Ranger, so I knew the deal. He’d just put a match to the fuse that was going to send me off like a bottle rocket. Zzzzzing! Blam!!!
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Babe,” Ranger said, “I’m heading out. What’s your plan for the day?”
I propped myself up on one elbow and squinted at him in the dark. “Plan? What time is it? Am I awake?”
“It’s five o’clock and I’m late,” Ranger said. “The morning briefing and roll call is five thirty. Text me when you’re up and can talk.”
I gave him a thumbs-up and pulled the quilt over my head. I didn’t have a plan for anything, much less for my day. And as for talking, if he wanted to discuss what just happened between us my comments would be Wow, Holy Cow, Damn Skippy, and Omigod. I had other thoughts, but I’d keep them to myself. In fact, I intended to work at pushing the other thoughts out of my head. The other thoughts had to do with love and commitment and who the heck was this guy, anyway? And why wasn’t he tired?
I dragged myself out of bed when the sun came up. I showered, dressed in my usual uniform of jeans and T-shirt, gave Rex his breakfast, and made coffee for myself. I put the coffee in a to-go cup and headed for the office.
I called Grandma on the way and told her about the two clues. “Do they mean anything to you?” I asked her.
“Not a thing,” Grandma said. “I don’t think Jimmy was crazy about Philadelphia. And he was more of a slots guy than a card guy.”
“Keep thinking about it,” I said. “Hopefully we can get a couple more clues.”
“Better sooner than later. My list of things to do with the money is growing.”
Connie was unlocking the door when I arrived. “Whoa,” she said. “This isn’t something I see every day. Are you up early for a reason? Or have you not been to bed yet?”
“I need to find Shine and Salgusta, and I need to be the one on the hunt, not the other way around. Problem is, I don’t know where to begin.”
Connie handed me a box of donuts, opened the door, and we stepped inside.
“Begin by having a donut,” Connie said. “Start with the good stuff.”
I put the box on her desk and took a donut. “Any other ideas?”
“If it’s the treasure you’re actually interested in, ask yourself
, what would Indy do?” Connie said.
“Indy always comes through. Me not so much.”
“Indy has what you have, perseverance,” Connie said. “Most of the time you don’t know what the heck you’re doing, but you stick with it, and eventually you get lucky.”
“I haven’t got a lot of time to get lucky on this. Salgusta and Shine are also after the treasure, and they have two extra clues that I don’t have.”
“Shine has been like the invisible man,” Connie said. “Everyone knows he’s here, but no one has seen him. And with good reason, he’s being invisible. There’s an outstanding warrant on him for tax evasion, among other things. Plus, he’s now a murder suspect. Salgusta keeps circling back to the Mole Hole. Never stays long. No pattern to his visits. Have either of them made a move on Grandma?”
“You mean since they kidnapped us a while back, and we escaped? No.”
“That kidnapping had to have been horrible.”
I nodded.
Horrible didn’t begin to describe it. It was terrifying, and I still had an occasional nightmare about it.
“Any ideas about where these guys are staying?” I asked Connie.
“No, but Shine likes the ladies. Last time he was hooked up with a pro. Lula might be some help there. Salgusta pretty much creeps out everyone. I don’t know who would harbor him. Especially since he’s also a suspect for the murder you witnessed.”
“Can you get me information on recent credit card use? It might lead me to a neighborhood.”
“You want me to hack into his accounts?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay,” Connie said. “Not a lot going on here. I have some extra time. You’ll visit me in jail, right?”
“I’ll bring you lasagna on visiting day.”
The front door banged open and Lula swung in. “What’s going on here?” she said. “Did I miss something? Did Stephanie eat the Boston creme donut?”
“No,” I said. “I ate a maple glazed and a jelly donut. I left the Boston creme for you.”
“I appreciate it,” Lula said, “but that’s worrisome. First one here always gets the Boston creme. What’s up?”
“I wasn’t in a Boston creme mood,” I said. “I have a lot on my mind.”
Lula took the Boston creme. “Like what?”
“I need to find Lou Salgusta and Charlie Shine.”
“Good luck with that one,” Lula said. “Last time we tried to catch Salgusta we almost got roasted. I’m not going after him no more. And I’m not going into that tunnel again, either.”
“Okay,” I said, “but we could look for Charlie Shine. Connie thinks he might be shopping around for a new girlfriend. Do you still have friends on the street?”
“I know a couple of the older girls, but it’s been a while since I was a professional satisfier,” Lula said. “Still, I guess we could ask around tonight.”
I looked at Connie. “Do you have anything else?”
“He’s not with his wife in the Burg,” Connie said. “That’s definite. I’m thinking he’s hanging somewhere close, but not in Trenton.”
“Unless he’s with a new honey,” Lula said.
Connie and I nodded agreement.
“So, what are we gonna do now?” Lula asked
“We can look in on Rugalowski and Trotter,” I said.
“I’m not excited about that,” Lula said. “I don’t like them. I especially don’t like Arnold Rugalowski and his stupid nuts.”
“We’re going to try Rugalowski at home this time,” I said. “I’m hoping he’ll be more receptive to getting re-bonded.”
“He don’t look like he even got a home,” Lula said. “He looks like he lives in his ten-year-old Chevy Nova. I’m guessing the ex-wife got the home.”
I pulled his file out of my bag. “He gives a home address of 43 South Clinton Street.”
Lula tapped it into her phone. “That’s a weird address,” she said. “It don’t look like there’s any houses. It’s only got a cemetery on one side and some government offices on the other.”
I looked over at Connie.
“I didn’t write the bond,” Connie said. “Vinnie wrote the bond.”
“Is Vinnie coming in today?” I asked.
“Vinnie is in Vegas,” Connie said. “Poker tournament.”
I hiked my messenger bag higher onto my shoulder. “Let’s see if there’s a ten-year-old Chevy Nova parked on South Clinton.”
“I guess I could go along with that,” Lula said.
I drove a short distance down Hamilton Avenue, turned onto South Clinton, crossed over the railroad tracks, and followed Clinton to the cemetery. There were some cars parked at the curb alongside the cemetery, but none of them looked like they were home to a fry cook.
“He could be camped out inside,” Lula said. “This is a cozy cemetery. It’s got lots of trees, and I can see from here that they keep the grounds nice.”
I parked behind one of the cars.
“Hold on here,” Lula said. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to walk around and see if he’s camped out behind a tombstone.”
“I’d just as leave stay here, thank you. Cemeteries bring me down. And on top of that I’m not looking forward to seeing the roach cooker. I got a bad feeling about him.”
“Okay,” I said. “You stay here and guard the car while I prowl around the cemetery. Make sure the roach cooker doesn’t car-jack us.”
“You didn’t believe in my nipple radar, either, and look where that got us,” Lula said.
I left Lula in the car, found the entrance gate, and meandered around, following paths, listening for activity. I walked up a small hill and saw a solitary figure on the other side. It was a slim woman dressed in black. She was very still, staring at a headstone on a relatively new grave. It was Gabriela. She turned as I crested the hill and glanced my way. She did a small nod of acknowledgment and returned her attention to the simple granite marker.
I walked downhill and joined her. The name on the headstone was Julius Roman. He’d been one of the six La-Z-Boys. He’d recently been killed execution-style and one of the clues in the Mole Hole safe had been his.
“A relative?” I asked Gabriela.
“No,” she said. “And you?”
“No.”
“But you knew him.”
“We met shortly before he died,” I said.
“I understand he was killed. Gunshot. Deliberate.”
I nodded. “Yes. Was he a close friend?”
“No,” she said.
“Are you here looking for someone who knew Julius or are you looking for something else?”
“Just looking.”
She turned and walked away, following a path that led in the opposite direction from where my car was parked.
After ten more minutes of wandering around, looking for Rugalowski, I was back behind the wheel.
“How did that go?” Lula asked.
“I didn’t find Rugalowski, but I ran into Gabriela.”
“Who?”
“The woman in black with the Fendi bag. More and more I’m thinking she’s after the treasure. She was at Julius Roman’s grave.”
“What was she doing there?”
“Nothing. Looking at the gravestone.”
“Did she have a shovel?”
“No,” I said. “This time she had a Hermès purse.”
“I always wanted a Hermès purse. They’re real classy.”
“I didn’t know you were into classy.”
“You bet your ass,” Lula said. “I’m all about it.”
I backtracked down Clinton to Hamilton and drove past Cluck-in-a-Bucket. An aging Chevy Nova was parked in the lot.
“Looks like he’s got the breakfast shift,” Lula said. “Probably people coming in for their morning nuts.”
I made a U-turn, swung into the lot, and idled next to the Nova.
“Now what?” Lula asked.
“Now you’re going to loo
k in his car to see if he’s asleep in there.”
Lula got out and looked in the car.
“Nobody here,” she said, “but this car is a mess. It’s full of crumpled-up beer cans and dirty clothes. And there’s a bunch of ratty magazines.”
“Porno?”
“Mostly Guns and Ammo and Food Network.” Lula got back into my CR-V. “You aren’t planning on another takedown attempt while he’s working the fry station, are you? I couldn’t come up with a lot of enthusiasm for that.”
“No. I want to get him after hours. I’ll have Connie do some research on his schedule and maybe she can find an address that isn’t a cemetery.”
“That leaves the butt guy,” Lula said. “It used to be that we went after carjackers and armed robbery guys, and now we got a bunch of creepers.”
I was with Lula. I couldn’t get excited about another face-to-face with Rodney Trotter. I had treasure on my mind.
“I say we go back to the office and see if anything good came in this morning,” Lula said. “A killer or a serial rapist. Something normal.”
* * *
“Sorry,” Connie said, “I haven’t got any new skips, but I made a couple phone calls while you were gone, and it looks like Charlie Shine is definitely in town. Marge Russo saw him yesterday. She said she was crossing the street and he drove past her. He was wearing a hat pulled down low and dark sunglasses but she was sure it was him. And Loretta Bettman saw him over the weekend. She said he was behind her at the Dunkin’ drive-thru. Both times he was alone and driving a white Kia.”
“Has anyone seen Salgusta?” I asked Connie.
“My mom and my aunt Cookie think he’s hanging out in the tunnel,” Connie said. “They said there are a bunch of exits, and one of the exits is at the Hotel Margo.”
“I know that hotel,” Lula said. “It’s got good hourly rates. When I was in the customer happiness business I frequented that hotel. It gave a special discount if the customer was mob.”
“Anything else?” I asked Connie.
“No,” Connie said. “That’s all of it.”
Fortune and Glory Page 5