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“Do you have the bottle with you?”
“It’s in my purse.”
“So that should help,” Connie said.
Oh jeez, it was going to come down to the bottle.
Connie got out of the Jeep and adjusted her girls. “Vinnie better appreciate this effort. It’s not like I haven’t got better things to do than to save his ass,” she said.
I reached under my seat and grabbed the two-pound Maglite that was standard equipment on all Rangeman vehicles. It was also the weapon of choice for head-bashing.
There wasn’t a lot of light in the alley. There were streetlights in place, but the bulbs had been shot out. We walked to the back of the building and looked up. Shades were drawn on the fourth-floor windows. The black SUV was parked nose-in to the building. I tried the back door. Locked. We both took a step back and waited in the shadows for Lula to unlock the door.
I heard footsteps, the doorknob turned, and Lula looked out at us. “The coast is clear,” she said. “The door dummy went down the street to get something to smoke.”
“Show time,” Connie said. And she motored through the door, down the short hall, and wasted no time going up the stairs.
I followed close behind, thinking I’d done equally dangerous and stupid things as a bounty hunter, but this was right up there with primo bone-head operations. We reached the fourth floor and looked around. Three doors—4A, 4B, and nothing on the third door. I listened at the unnumbered door. Silence. I carefully tried the knob. Unlocked. Utility closet.
I stepped into the closet and pulled the door almost entirely closed. I heard Connie rap on a door. Heard the door open. Muffled words. Connie was handing the guy a line about her girlfriend passed out on the second floor.
“And she’s naked,” Connie said. “And we’ve both had too many cosmos, and I think we’re in the wrong building.”
I heard the apartment door click closed and then footsteps on the stairs. I slipped out and went to 4B. The door was unlocked. I stepped inside and scanned the room. It was an efficiency with a small kitchenette on one side. Grease-stained pizza boxes on the counter. A card table and a folding chair. An ashtray overflowing with cigarettes. No couch. No television. No wonder Connie had an easy time with the guy who answered her knock. He had to be going nuts in here. I heard something rustle in the other room, and I was hoping it was Vinnie, because the last time I heard something rustle like that it turned out to be an alligator.
I poked my head in and spotted Vinnie handcuffed to a thick chain that stretched into the bathroo
m.
“Holy shit,” Vinnie said. “What the fuck?”
Vinnie was wearing pointy-toed, shiny black shoes, black socks, and black bikini briefs. Vinnie fully dressed wasn’t all that good. Vinnie in black socks and briefs was a nightmare.
“Where are your clothes?” I asked him.
“I haven’t got any. This is what I was wearing when they snatched me.”
There was a moment where I actually debating leaving him there.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Vinnie said. “And Grandma Plum and Aunt Mim would be very upset if you left me here and they killed me.”
“Okay,” I said, “but how am I supposed to rescue you when you’re chained to the toilet?”
“You don’t have a universal key? What kind of bounty hunter are you?”
“I didn’t think I was going to be uncuffing anyone.”
“You never know when you’ll come across someone,” Vinnie said. “You should always have cuffs on you. This is why I’m losing money.”
“You’re on thin ice here,” I said to Vinnie.
“I know,” he said. “I’m sorry. It was nice of you to try to rescue me. You should get out before Snake comes back.”
“Snake?”
“So sue me, that’s his name. And he moves like a snake. He’s creepy.”
“I’m not leaving without you,” I said. “Pull the chain tight.”
