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“Nothing on the police scanners?”
“Nope.”
“Have you told anyone about this?”
“A couple people.”
“You don’t seem to be very disturbed by it all.”
“I have people trying to kill me. A giraffe is low on my list of disturbances.”
“That’s where we differ,” Ranger said. “I’m used to people trying to kill me, but it’s not every day I’m almost run over by a giraffe.”
“So I’m guessing you want to go big game hunting?”
Ranger slowly drove his Porsche down Fifteenth Street as we looked for signs of Kevin. We’d been at it for about an hour, systematically following a grid that included alleys and cross streets. I’d done the drill with Lula and had turned up zip, but I didn’t mind doing it again with Ranger. I loved the intimacy and the power of the Porsche, and in the confined space, Ranger smelled great. He smelled like the Bulgari shower gel his housekeeper bought for him. When I use his shower gel the scent disappears almost immediately, but Ranger carries it all day.
Plus there was the added benefit that we might run across Sunny. Instinct told me he was with Bella, but other parts of my brain knew he could just as easily be in one of the buildings on Fifteenth Street.
Ranger stopped at the corner of Fifteenth and Freeman. “No giraffe,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s a real bummer, isn’t it? Whenever you go looking for him you can’t find him, and then when you least expect it he gallops down the street.”
“I can’t believe I’m this hung up on a giraffe.”
“That’s just the way it is with some people.”
Ranger looked at me. “Not you.”
“Nope. Not me. But Lula is obsessed with him.”
“That’s not a comforting thought.”
I burst out laughing, because it’s not often I see the human side of Ranger. Most of the time Ranger is chill.
“We’re done here, right?” I asked him.
“Right.”
Ranger drove me back to my car, but my car wasn’t there. A black Honda CR-V was parked at the curb.
“I replaced the Buick with one of my fleet cars,” Ranger said. “You’re too easily recognized in the Buick.”
“Where’s the Buick?”
“In your parents’ driveway. Did you turn up anything interesting this morning on the murders?”
“The women shopped where they got the senior discount even though some store locations were inconvenient. Melvina, Bitsy, and Rose shopped on Saturday. Lois didn’t completely fit that profile. I’m sure it’s because Lois had her own car and wasn’t relying on someone to chauffeur her around. I’m going to make some phone calls and try to find out who took the women shopping. Maybe you could have someone ask Ruppert for me.”
The black Lincoln rolled past us and parked in front of the Morelli house. Moe got out of the front passenger seat and carried a duffel bag into the house. He left a little later without the bag, got into the Lincoln, and the car disappeared down the street.
“He’s in there,” I said to Ranger. “What on earth is wrong with Joe’s mom that she’d allow Sunny to hide out in her house?”
“He’s family,” Ranger said.
“That’s no excuse.”
“It is in the Sunucchi–Morelli family culture.”
