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“The car wash won’t work for this,” Delvina said. “I’ll find someplace better and call you back.”
We had enough overhead clearance to drive the RV into the underground Rangeman garage. We parked to one side and we off-?loaded Doug.
The elevator doors opened and Hal stepped out. Hal was Rangeman muscle, with a body like a stegosaurus. He was dressed in Rangeman black, his blond hair had been freshly buzzed, and his face was brightened by a smile.
“This is a horse,” Hal said, looking like an eight-?year-?old on Christmas morning.
“Ranger told me I could park him here for a couple days.”
The smile got wider. “He’s big.”
“He was a racehorse.”
“No kidding? Wow. I’m supposed to get you whatever you need.”
“A couple bales of straw would be perfect,” Snuggy said.
“Sure. And we have a bay over on the other side where we wash the cars. You can get water there. Just give me a holler if you need anything else.”
“I could use a ride home,” I said to Hal. “I’m going to leave the RV here.”
Snuggy and I hauled Doug’s food and buckets out of the RV, and Snuggy looked at the hose on the far wall.
“I’d like to clean up the sore on Doug’s leg and rewrap it with a fresh bandage,” Snuggy said. “I found some gauze bandages in the bathroom, but there’s not enough soap.”
I had a gizmo on my keychain that got me into the Rangeman garage and Rangers private apartment. I rode the elevator to the seventh floor, let myself into Ranger’s lair, and went straight to his bathroom. I grabbed a bottle of shower gel and returned to the garage. It was Ranger’s Bulgari Green, and I’d probably get a rush every time I smelled Doug, but it was the fastest solution.
“I have to go,” I said to Snuggy. “If there’s a problem, you can call Hal or me. I’ll have someone drop food and clean clothes off for you. Diesel says you’re not to leave the Rangeman building.”
I parked the RV against the wall, and Hal pulled alongside in a black Explorer. We drove past the car wash on the way to my apartment. It was all business as usual. No one was running around looking like a robbery had just been committed. Fingers crossed that they wouldn’t open the safe and freak. I didn’t want anything to go wrong. I was excited about getting my hands on Grandma.
I thanked Hal and hurried into the lobby. Dillon Ruddick, the building super, and a couple tenants were milling around in front of the open elevator.
“I’ve never smelled anything like it,” Mrs. Ruiz said. “I got out of the elevator, and it wouldn’t go away. It’s stuck in my clothes.”
“It’s a horse fart,” Mr. Klein said. “There’s manure in the parking lot, and the elevator smells like a horse fart. Someone’s keeping a horse in this building.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Mrs. Ruiz said. “Who would do such a thing?”
Everyone turned and looked at me.
“Do you smell it?” Mr. Klein asked.
“What?”
“Horse fart.”
“I thought that was the guy in 3C.”
Dillon snorted and grinned at me. Not a lot got by Dillon, but he was a good guy, and you could buy him with a six-?pack. I ducked into the stairs and ran up a flight.
Diesel was at the dining room table, working at my computer. “Delvina called,” Diesel said. “He wanted to make the exchange in an abandoned factory at the end of Stark Street. I told him that didn’t work for us. He won’t do it at the car wash again. I don’t think he knows the money is missing, but he’s uncomfortable. He’s kidnapped an old lady. That’s different from a horse. That’s a trip to the big house.”
“Did you settle on a location?”
“I wanted it someplace public. He wanted it someplace isolated. He’s afraid the police are involved. It’s a reasonable fear. We agreed to meet in the multiplex parking lot.”
“Which multiplex?”
