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Ranger smiled at me. “Babe.”
“I guess I need to go home,” Vinnie said.
“That’s not a good idea,” I told him. “Lucille isn’t happy with you.”
“She’ll get over it,” Vinnie said. “She always does.”
Ranger was waiting for my instructions.
“Take him home,” I said to Ranger.
Vinnie lived in a large yellow-and-white colonial in Pennington. It looked like a house a normal person would own, but it belonged to Vinnie. Go figure. Lucille made sure the lawn was mowed and the flowerbeds were mulched. White shears hung in the windows. It was close to eleven o’clock and lights were off in the house. The sky was overcast, and there was no moon. Some light filtered onto Lucille’s lawn from a streetlight half a block away. It was enough light to see there was debris scattered across the yard.
Ranger pulled into the driveway, and Vinnie jumped out.
“What the heck?” Vinnie said, kicking through the debris. “This is my shirt. And socks.” He walked to the door and rang the bell. He rang a second time. “Hey!” he yelled. “Hey, Lucille!”
A light flashed on in an upstairs window, the window opened, and Lucille stuck her head out. “Vinnie?”
“Yeah. I’ve been rescued. Let me in. I don’t have my key.”
“Your key won’t do you any good, you jerk. I had the locks changed. Get your perverted butt off my lawn.”
“This is my lawn, too,” Vinnie said.
“The hell it is. My father bought this house for us, and it’s in my name.”
“It’s common property, sweetie pie,” Vinnie said. “And you’ll have to kill me to get my half.”
“No problem,” Lucille said.
She disappeared from the window, and Vinnie started collecting his clothes. “I can’t believe she did this,” he said. “Look at this silk shirt laying here in the mulch. And my hand-painted tie.”
Lucille reappeared in the window with a shotgun, and she blasted one off at Vinnie. “You’re trespassing,” she said.
“What are you gonna do, shoot me and call the police?” Vinnie yelled at her.
“No. I called my father. He’s on his way over.”
“Her father’s dumped so many bodies in the landfill he has his own parking place,” Ranger said.
Lucille squeezed off another shot, and Vinnie scrambled to the Jeep with his arms full of clothes.
Ranger put the Jeep in gear and backed out of the driveway. “Your call,” he said to me.
“Take him to the office.”
THE BLACK SUV was parked in front of the bonds office. There was a big gash in the hood and the roof was smashed in over the cargo area. A second car was parked behind it.
“Probably, we don’t want to stop here,” I said to Ranger.
“Give me a gun. I’ll take care of those assholes,” Vinnie said.
“You’ve caused enough trouble,” I told him. “You’re not getting a gun. And for crying out loud, put some clothes on. I’m going to have
to disinfect the seat back there.”
Ranger cut off Hamilton, into the Burg, and stopped at a cross street.
