It didn’t take a genius to notice a missing distributor cap. Mooch pulled his head out from under the hood, slammed the hood down, kicked a tire, and said something colorful. He jogged back to his car and peeled out of the lot.
I slunk out of the shadows and trudged the short distance to the back entrance to my building. My skirt clung to my legs and water squished in my shoes. The night had been a bust, but it could have been worse. Joe could have sent his mother to get the car.
The lobby was empty, looking even bleaker than usual. I punched the elevator button and waited. Water dripped from the end of my nose and off the hem of my skirt, forming a small lake on the gray tile floor. Two side- by-side elevators serviced the building. No one, so far as I knew, had ever plummeted to their death or been skyrocketed out of the top of the elevator shaft in a runaway elevator, but chances of getting stuck between floors was excellent. Usually I used the stairs. Tonight, I decided to carry my masochistic stupidity to the max and take the elevator. The cage lurched into place, the doors gaped open, and I stepped in. I ascended to the second floor without incident and sloshed down the hall. I fumbled in my pocketbook for the key and was letting myself into my apartment when I remembered the distributor cap. I’d left it downstairs, behind the azaleas. I thought about retrieving it, but it was a short thought and of no consequence. No way was I going back downstairs.
I bolted the door behind me and peeled my clothes off while standing on the small patch of linoleum that served as my foyer. My shoes were ruined, and the seat of my skirt bore the imprint of yesterday’s headlines. I left every stitch I’d worn in a sodden heap on the floor and went straight to the bathroom.
I adjusted the water, stepped into the tub, pulled the shower curtain closed, and let the hard spray beat down on me. The day hadn’t been all bad, I told myself. I’d made a recovery. I was legitimate now. First thing in the morning I’d collect my money from Vinnie. I lathered up and rinsed off. I washed my hair. I turned the dial to shower massage and stood for a very long time, letting the tension ease from my body. Twice now Joe had used Mooch as his errand boy. Maybe I should be watching Mooch. Problem was I couldn’t watch everyone at once.
I was distracted by a blur of color on the other side of the translucent, soap-slicked shower curtain. The blur moved and my heart momentarily stopped dead in my chest. Someone was in my bathroom. The shock was numbing. I stood statue still for a few beats without a thought in my head. Then I remembered Ramirez, and my stomach rolled. Ramirez could have come back. He could have talked the super into giving him a key, or he could have come in through a window. God only knows what Ramirez was capable of doing.
I’d brought my pocketbook into the bathroom, but it was out of reach on the vanity counter.
The intruder crossed the room in two strides and ripped the shower curtain off the rod with such force the plastic loops at the top popped off and scattered. I screamed and blindly threw the shampoo bottle, cowering back against the wall tiles.
It wasn’t Ramirez. It was Joe Morelli. He had the curtain bunched in one hand; the other hand curled into a fist. A welt was forming on his forehead where the bottle had made contact. He was beyond angry, and I wasn’t so sure gender was going to keep me from getting a broken nose. Fine with me. I was spoiling for a fight. Who did this yodel think he was, first scaring me half to death and then wrecking my shower curtain.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I shrieked. “Haven’t you ever heard of a goddamn doorbell? How did you get in here?”
“You left your bedroom window open.”
“The screen was locked.”
“Screens don’t count.”
“If you’ve ruined that screen I’ll expect you to pay for it. And what about this shower curtain? Shower curtains don’t grow on trees, you know.” I’d lowered the volume on my voice, but the pitch was still a full octave higher than normal. In all honesty, I hadn’t any idea what I was saying. My mind was racing down uncharted roads of fury and panic. I was furious that he’d violated my privacy, and I was panicked that I was naked.
Under the right circumstances naked is fine—taking showers, making love, being born. Standing naked and dripping wet in front of Joe Morelli, who was completely clothed, was the stuff nightmares are made of.
I shut the water off and grabbed at a towel, but Morelli slapped my hand away and threw the towel onto the floor behind him.
“Give me that towel,” I demanded.
“Not until we’ve gotten a few things straightened out.”
As a kid, Morelli’d been out of control. I’d reached the conclusion that as an adult Morelli had control in spades. The Italian temper was clear in his eyes, but the amount of violence displayed was tightly calculated. He was wearing a black rain-drenched T-shirt and jeans. When he twisted toward the towel rack I could see the gun stuck into his jeans at the small of his back.
It wasn’t difficult to envision Morelli killing, but I found myself agreeing with Ranger and Eddie Gazarra— couldn’t see this grown-up Morelli being stupid and impulsive.
He had his hands on his hips. His hair was wet, curling on his forehead and over his ears. His mouth was hard and unsmiling. “Where’s my distributor cap?”
When in doubt, always take the offensive. “If you don’t get out of my bathroom this instant I’m going to start screaming.”
“It’s two o’clock in the morning, Stephanie. All your neighbors are sound asleep with their hearing aids on their nightstands. Scream away. No one’s going to hear you.”
I stood my ground and scowled at him. It was my best effort at defiance. I’d be damned if I was going to give him the satisfaction of looking vulnerable and embarrassed.
“I’m going to ask you one more time,” he said. “Where’s my distributor cap?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Listen, Cupcake, I’ll tear this place apart if I have to.”
“I don’t have the cap. The cap isn’t here. And I’m not your cupcake.”
“Why me?” he asked. “What did I do to deserve this?”
I raised an eyebrow.
