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“You saw the victims before the fire?” Targa asked.
“Stephanie saw Smullen. We both saw the two bodies in the apartment building. All three had been burned beyond recognition. The scorch trail suggested flamethrower.”
“The accelerant was gasoline,” Roiker said. “We found the cans.”
“Do you know how it was ignited?” Ranger asked.
“Both times it started in a kitchen. In the case of the warehouse, it was a corner set aside for a cooler and a microwave and a toaster. The lab guys are still working, but it looks like someone rammed something that would burn into the toaster… Hell, it could have been one of those breakfast tart things. The pop-up mechanism was disabled and the toaster was wired with an interior timer. We suspect the toaster was fitted with a fuse to make sure the flames reached the accelerant, but there was no evidence of it.”
“The flaming toaster bomb,” Marty Gobel said. “We see a lot of them.”
Morelli cracked a smile and Ranger nudged my knee with his.
“Have you identified the victims from the apartment fire?” Ranger asked.
“Working on it. Not a lot left of them. The explosion was set closer and the fire burned hotter.”
“We saw Rufus Caine enter the building. And we believe he was meeting Victor Gorvich,” Ranger said. “Tank was watching, and he didn't see either man come out the front of the building. Someone rappelled out a back window.”
Stephanie Plum 13 - Lean Mean Thirteen
Ranger didn't share information on the drug connection or the missing $40 million, and no one mentioned Dickie Orr.
Five minutes before the meeting closed, Morelli's phone buzzed and he went outside to take the call and never returned. At eleven o'clock, Ranger and I left the building and buckled ourselves into the Porsche.
“Do you think he was pulling our leg on the toaster?” I asked Ranger.
“No. He's not that clever. I did a fast run through the apartment, looking for an incendiary, and didn't see anything. Smullen s girlfriend had taken everything except the couch and the toaster. I saw the toaster and didn't give it a second look.”
“Next time we enter a building soaked in gasoline, we'll think to unplug the toaster.”
Ranger glanced in his rearview mirror when we were a block from RangeMan. “It looks like Joyce got her Mercedes running.”
I turned and looked out the back window. Joyce was a car length behind us.
“I have to give her credit,” I said. “She's good.”
“She's too good,” Ranger said. “She's finding us on the road.”
He keyed himself into the underground garage and parked in his space in front of the elevator.
“Do you have plans for today?” he asked me. “I can give you paperwork if you haven't anything better to do.”
“I have two skips I'm working on. I thought I'd check on them.”
“If you're going to leave your bag anywhere, please take the monitor with you. Put it in your pocket.”
“Is it okay if I only take one?”
“How many do you have?”
“Three.”
Ranger sat there for a beat. “I only planted one.”
“Shit.”
We rode the elevator to Rangers apartment, went inside, and I emptied my bag onto the kitchen counter.
