Two for the dough

'It's possible.'

I had my car keys in hand. 'I'm going to check on Sandeman. See if he's come home yet.' I parked half a block from Sandeman's rooming house, on the opposite side of the street. Morelli parked directly behind me. We stood for a moment on the sidewalk, taking in the bulky house, black against blue night sky. Harsh light poured from a shadeless downstairs window. Upstairs two orange rectangles gave muted testimony to life within the front rooms.

'What kind of car does he drive?' I asked Morelli.

'He's got a hog and a Ford pickup.'

We didn't see either on the street. We followed the driveway to the back of the house and found the Harley. No windows were lit in any of the rear rooms. No light in Sandeman's upstairs window. No one sat on the stoop. The back door was unlocked. The hall leading from the back door was dim, lit by a bare 40-watt bulb hanging from an overhead fixture in the front foyer. Television sounds escaped from one of the upstairs rooms. Morelli stopped in the foyer for a moment, listening to the house, before continuing on to the second floor and then the third floor. The third floor was dark and quiet. Morelli listened at Sandeman's door. He shook his head no. No noise coming from Sandeman's room.

He went to the window, opened it, and looked out. 'It would be unethical for me to break into his apartment,' Morelli said.

As opposed to downright illegal for me.

Morelli glanced at the heavy-duty flashlight I held in my hand. 'Of course a bounty hunter would have the authority to go in after her man.'

'Only if she was convinced her man was in there.'

Morelli looked at me expectantly.

I peeked out at the fire escape. 'It's really rickety,' I told him.

'Yeah,' he said. 'I noticed that. It might not hold me.' He put a finger under my chin and gazed into my eyes. 'I bet it would hold a dainty little thing like you.' I am many things. Dainty isn't one of them. I took a deep breath and angled myself out onto the fire escape. Iron joints groaned, and rusted metal shards flaked off underfoot and fell to the ground. I whispered an oath and inched toward Sandeman's window. I cupped my hands to the glass and looked inside. The interior was blacker than black. I tried the window. It was unlocked. I gave the bottom window a shove, and it rose halfway and stuck.

'Can you get in?' Morelli whispered.

'No. The window's stuck.' I squatted down, peered through the opening and worked the flashlight around the room. So far as I could see, nothing had changed. There was the same clutter, the same squalor, the stink of unwashed clothes and overflow ashtrays. I saw no signs of struggle, flight, or affluence.

I thought I'd give one more try with the window. I braced my feet and pushed hard against the old wood frame. Masonry bolts tore loose from crumbling brick, and the slatted floor of the fire escape tipped to a 45-degree angle. Stairs slid out of place, railings ripped from their moorings, angle irons wrenched free, and I skidded feet first, ass second off into space. My hand connected with a crossbar, and in an act of blind panic and reflexive action, I held fast . . . for ten seconds. At the end of those ten seconds, the entire thirdfloor gridwork crashed onto the second- floor fire escape. There was a momentary pause. Long enough for me to whisper, oh shit.

Above me, Morelli leaned out the window. 'Don't move!'

CHAAANG! The second-floor fire escape separated from the building and crumbled to the ground, carrying me with it. I landed flat on my back with a solid whump that knocked the air out of my lungs.

I lay there stunned until Morelli's face once again loomed over me, just inches away.

'Fuck,' he whispered. 'Jesus, Stephanie, say something!' I stared straight ahead, unable to talk, not yet able to breathe. He felt for the pulse in my neck. Then his hands were on my feet, moving up my legs.

'Can you move your toes?'

Not when his hand was feeling up the inside of my thigh like this. My skin felt scorched under his palm, and my toes were curled into a cramp. I heard myself make a sucking sound. 'Your fingers go any higher up my leg, and I'm filing for sexual harassment.' Morelli rocked back on his heels and passed a hand over his eyes. 'You just scared the hell out of me.'

'What's going on out there?' A loud voice from one of the windows. 'I'm calling the police. I'm not putting up with this shit. We got noise ordinances in this neighborhood.' I propped myself up on my elbow. 'Get me out of here.'

Morelli gently hoisted me to my feet. 'You sure you're okay?'