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Ranger nodded at the safe.
Slick set his backpack on the floor and squatted in front of the safe. Ten minutes later, the safe was open, and Slick took his backpack and left.
“That was disappointing,” I said to Ranger. “No dynamite. He didn’t even do any drilling. He just used an electronic gizmo.”
Ranger opened the door wide, and we looked in. A small spiral notepad. Several bundles of hundred-dollar bills. A Smith & Wesson .38. Very similar to the gun I sometimes carried. A passport.
Neither of us moved for a beat. Ranger showed nothing, but I know my eyebrows were raised. I’m not sure what I expected to find, but it wasn’t this. Ernie Sitz might have walked away from twenty-year-old tax returns and a collection of sitcom scripts, but he wouldn’t have left this much money in a building he no longer owned. That left Harry or Vinnie. Vinnie didn’t have this kind of money. Harry had varied interests and probably had money and fake passports stashed all over the place.
Ranger took the passport and paged through it.
“Ernest Jingle,” he said.
“Is it a fake?”
“Yep. And not a very good one.”
Ranger returned the passport to the safe, took out the notepad, and flipped pages.
“And?” I asked.
“Financial transactions.”
He showed me a page with numbers.
“Offshore banking?” I asked.
“Bitcoin,” Ranger said.
“Anything else in the notepad?”
“That’s it.”
He used his phone to take a picture of the Bitcoin numbers, and he replaced the notepad. The bundles of money were left.
“That’s a lot of money,” I said.
Ranger examined one of the bundles. “It’s movie money. It’s a prop.”
“The gun looks real,” I said.
Ranger tossed the fake money into the safe and partially closed the door. There were footsteps on the stairs, and Morelli and a uniform walked into the room.
“Looks like Krut is still sick,” Ranger said.
“Pneumonia,” Morelli said. “I think he’s faking it so I have to take over as primary on this.”
“There’s a lot of faking going on,” Ranger said. “The safe is full of fake things.”
Morelli glanced over. “I saw Slick on the street. I appreciate that you left this open for me. I wouldn’t have cause to break in, and even if I did, Slick isn’t in my budget.”
Ranger and I left, and Morelli stayed.
“I have to get back to Rangeman,” Ranger said.
I put my shoes on, and gave him my boots. “I’m going to the bonds office. I have some loose ends.”
“Victor Waggle?”
