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We left the same way we came in. Ranger slid behind the wheel of the Cayenne, and we drove away. I checked my watch and realized I was due for dinner at my parents'.
I reached Morelli on his cell. “It's Friday,” I said.
“And?”
“Dinner?”
“Oh crap,” Morelli said. “I forgot. I can't make it. I'm tied up here.”
I didn't say anything. I just sat on the phone.
“It's my job,” Morelli said. “You can't get mad at me for doing my job.”
And that was true, but I didn't want to go to dinner without Morelli. I was afraid I'd get relentlessly grilled about Dickie if I didn't have Morelli on board to distract my mother and grandmother.
“Is that Bob barking?”
“Yeah, Bob's with me.”
“So what kind of job is this?”
“It's a secret job.”
“And when is this secret job going to be done?”
“I don't know. Hopefully soon.”
“I could swear I hear television.”
“Bob's watching a movie.”
I hung up and looked at Ranger.
“No,” Ranger said.
“You don't even know what I was going to ask.”
“You were going to ask me to fill in for Morelli at dinner.”
“Roast chicken.”
“You'll have to come up with something better than roast chicken.”
“Do you have dinner plans?”
“Are you going to nag me on this?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to the Stephanie who thought I was mysterious and scary?”
“Gone.”
Actually, that wasn't entirely true. Ranger was still mysterious and scary at times-just not today, just not compared to my mother and grandmother.
Ranger parked in the driveway behind my fathers Buick. “We need to be out of here at seven-thirty. If you tell Tank I did this, I'll chain you naked to the traffic light on Hamilton and Broad. And I'll shoot your grandmother if she grabs me.”
I was pretty sure he was kidding about the traffic light.
