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'Fuck,' Ward said. 'That cow took off with my car.'
No big disaster, except his clothes were in the car. Lula and I both looked at Ward.
'He isn't going in my Firebird like this,' Lula said. `I'm not sitting his nasty bare ass on my Firebird seat.'
I didn't want his bare ass on my upholstery, either. I wasn't in love with the Lincoln, but it was all I had right now.
`I'll call Morelli,' I said. 'They can come pick him up.'
'You have Ward in cuffs?' Morelli said, after a deadly pause.
'Yeah, and I thought you could come get him.'
'You were supposed to call me for the takedown.'
`I forgot. It happened kind of fast. You know, took me by surprise.'
Ten minutes later, two squad cars pulled up. Robin Russell got out of the first car and walked over to me.
'Oh man,' she said, 'he's naked. I'm not getting paid enough for this job.'
'Wasn't our fault he's naked,' Lula said. 'We caught him in the act. He was in the back seat of a Hyundai, humping like a big dog.'
Carl Costanza followed Russell. He checked Ward out and grinned at me. 'You want to tell me the details?'
'No,' I said. 'You're going to have to make them up as you go.'
'Joe's gonna love this,' Costanza said.
'Where is he?'
'He's waiting at the station. He was afraid he'd be up for homicide if he didn't calm down before he saw you.'
Robin slung a friendly arm around Costanza's shoulders. 'I have a real big favor to ask
'No way.'
Robin Russell narrowed her eyes. 'You don't even know what I was going to say.'
'You were going to try to sweet-talk me into putting this guy's bare ass in my squad car.'
'I was not,' Russell said. 'Well, all right, I was.' She locked eyes with Costanza. 'What would it take?'
Costanza smiled at her.
'You're a disgrace to the uniform,' Russell said to Costanza.
'I try.'
Russell wrapped her hand around Ward's arm and tugged him forward. `I'm going to sit you on my Trenton Times,' she said to
Ward. 'And I don't want to see your butt move off that newspaper.'
That was fun,' Lula said. 'That was worth waiting for.'
It was satisfying to have captured Ward, but I don't know if I'd classify the experience as fun. I dropped Lula at her Firebird, thanked her for her help, and then I went on to the police station.
I would have preferred to crawl back to Ranger's apartment and let my mind go numb in front of his big-screen TV, but I had to make sure I was credited for the capture. And I had to pick up my body receipt.
