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'I heard that, too, but I haven't been able to confirm the capture.
I've got a man on you. Try not to destroy him.'
Disconnect.
&n
bsp; I went into the hall and looked for Grandma. Sally was on stage, doing rap in a red cocktail dress and red sequined heels. The rest of the band was in gargantuan T-shirts and baggy-ass pants.
It was too noisy to hear my phone ring, but I felt the vibration.
'Stephanie,' my mother said, 'is your sister with you? She was supposed to be here an hour ago.'
'Did you call the apartment?'
'Yes. I talked to Albert. He said Valerie wasn't there. He said she took off in the Buick. I thought maybe she got confused and went to the shower without me. She's been getting confused a lot lately.'
'Valerie doesn't have a Buick.'
'She was having problems with her car, so she borrowed Uncle
Sandor's Buick yesterday.'
I got a sick feeling in my stomach. `I'll get back to you.'
I located Grandma and asked if she'd seen Valerie.
'Nope,' Grandma said. 'But she better show up soon. The natives are restless.'
I went out to the lot, got the gun Ranger always kept under the seat, and put it in my denim jacket pocket. Somewhere in the lot was a black SUV with Ranger's man in it. I thought that was a good thing. And my sister was somewhere in the powder blue Buick.
That was a bad thing. I was associated with the powder blue Buick.
That's why I wasn't driving it. I'd thought it was safely locked up in my parents' garage. Out of sight, out of the Slayers' minds. Not to panic, I told myself. Junkman was in jail, and probably Valerie was in a bar trying to get numb enough to survive the shower. I just hoped she didn't pass out before she got to the hall.
I called Morelli.
'You've got Junkman locked up in jail, right?' I asked him.
'We've got someone locked up in jail. We're not sure who he is.
He's telling us he's Junkman, but he's not checking out. He was driving a car with California plates belonging to Norman Carver, and Gang Intelligence tells us Junkman's name is Norman Carver.'
'So, what's the problem?'
'He's too short. According to California DMV, Carvers a big guy.
And we got a little guy.'
'No ID on him?'
'None.'
Tattoos?'
'None.'
That's not good.'
