Hot Six

wearing pink lipstick. She had her big black leather purse tucked into the crook of her arm. My fear was that she was packing the long-barrel, and might threaten the DMV guy if he didn't give her a license.

'You don't have your gun in there, do you?' I asked.

'Of course not.'

I didn't believe her for a second.

When we got downstairs to the lot, Grandma went to the Buick. 'I figure I stand a better chance of getting my license if I'm driving the Buick,' she said. 'I heard they worry about young chicks in sports cars.'

Habib and Mitchell pulled into the lot. They were back in the Lincoln.

'Looks good as new,' I said.

Mitchell beamed. 'Yeah, they did a great job on it. We just got it this morning. We had to wait for the paint to dry.' He looked at Grandma, sitting behind the wheel of the Buick. 'What's up for today?'

'I'm taking my grandmother to get her driver's license.'

'That's real nice of you,' Mitchell said. 'You're a good granddaughter, but isn't she kind of old?'

Grandma clamped down on her dentures. 'Old?' she yelled. 'I'll show you old.' I heard her purse click open, and Grandma reached down and came up with the long-barrel. 'I'm not too old to shoot you in the eye,' she said, leveling the gun.

Mitchell and Habib ducked flat on the seat, out of sight.

I glared at Grandma. 'I thought you said you didn't have the gun with you.'

'Guess I was wrong.'

'Put it away. And you better not threaten anyone at the DMV either, or they'll arrest you.'

'Crazy old broad,' Mitchell said from low in the Lincoln.

'That's better,' Grandma said. 'I like being a broad.'

12

I HAD MIXED feelings about Grandma getting her license. On the one hand, I thought it was great that she'd be more independent. On the other hand, I didn't want to be on the road with her. She'd run a red light on the way over, snapped me against my seat belt every time she stopped, and parked in a handicapped spot at the DMV, insisting it went along with joining the AARP.

When Grandma stomped into the waiting room after taking her road test, I immediately knew the streets were safe for a little while longer.

'If that don't tear it,' she said. 'He didn't pass me on hardly anything.'

'You can take the test again,' I said.

'Darn right, I can. I'm gonna keep taking it until I pass. I got a God-given right to drive a car.' She pressed her lips tight together. 'Guess I should have gone to church yesterday.'

'Wouldn't have hurt,' I said.

'Well, I'm pulling out all the stops next time. I'm lighting a candle. I'm doing the works.'

Mitchell and Habib were still following us, but they were about a quarter-mile back. They'd almost plowed into us several times on the way over when Grandma had stopped short, and they weren't taking any chances on the way home.

'Are you still moving out?' I asked Grandma.

'Yep. I already told your mother. And Louise Greeber is coming over this afternoon to help me. So you don't need to worry about a thing. It was nice of you to let me stay. I appreciate it, but I need my shut-eye. I don't know how you get by on so little sleep.'

'Well, okay,' I said. 'I guess your mind is made up.' Maybe I'd light a candle, too.

Bob was waiting for us when we walked in.

'Think Bob needs to do you-know-what,' Grandma said.

So Bob and I trooped back down to the parking lot. Habib and Mitchell were sitting there, patiently waiting for me to lead them to Ranger, and now Joyce was there, too. I turned around, went back into the building, and exited the front door. Bob and I walked up the street a block and then cut over, back to a residential neighborhood of small single-family houses. Bob did you-know-what about forty or fifty times in the space of five minutes, and we headed home.

A black Mercedes turned the corner two blocks in front of me, and my heart tripped. The Mercedes drew closer, and my heartbeat stayed erratic. There were only two possibilities: drug dealer and Ranger. The car stopped beside me, and Ranger made a slight head movement that meant, 'Get in.'

I loaded Bob into the backseat and slid in next to Ranger. 'There are three people parked in my lot, hoping to get a shot at you,' I said. 'What are you doing here?'

'I want to talk to you.'

It was one thing to have the skill to break into an apartment; it was something else to be able to divine what I was doing at any given moment in the day. 'How did you know I was out with Bob? What are you, psychic?'

'Nothing that exotic. I called, and your grandma told me you were walking the dog.'

'Gee, that's disappointing. Next thing you'll be telling me you aren't Superman.'

Ranger smiled. 'You want me to be Superman? Spend the night with me.'

'I think I'm flustered,' I told him.

'Cute,' Ranger said.

'What did you want to talk to me about?'

'I'm terminating your employment.'

The fluster disappeared and was replaced with the seed of an ill-defined emotion that settled in the pit of my stomach. 'You and Morelli made a deal, didn't you?'

'We have an understanding.'

I was being cut out of the program, shoved aside like unnecessary baggage. Or worse, like a liability. I went from hurt disbelief to total fury in three seconds.

'Was this Morelli's idea?'

'It's my idea. Hannibal has seen you. Alexander has seen you. And now half the police in Trenton know you broke into Hannibal's house and found Junior Macaroni in the garage.'

'Did you hear that from Morelli?'

'I heard it from everyone. My answering machine ran out of space. It's just too dangerous for you to stay on the case. I'm afraid Hannibal will put it together and come after you.'

'This is depressing.'

'Did you really sit him up in a lawn chair?'

'Yes. And by the way, did you kill him?'

'No. The Porsche wasn't in the garage when I went through the house. And neither was Macaroni.'

'How did you get past the alarm system?'

'Same way you did. The alarm wasn't set.' He looked at his watch. 'I have to go.'

I opened the passenger door and turned to leave.

Ranger caught hold of my wrist. 'You're not especially good at following instructions, but you're going to listen to me on this, right? You're going to walk away. And you're going to be careful.'

I gave a sigh, heaved myself out the door, and extracted Bob from the backseat. 'Just make sure you don't let Joyce catch you. That would really ruin my day.'

I deposited Bob in the apartment, grabbed my car keys and my shoulder bag, and went back downstairs. I was going somewhere. Anywhere. I was too bummed to stay at home. Truth is, I wasn't all that upset about my employment being terminated. I just hated it being terminated for stupidity. I'd fallen out of a tree, for God's sake. And then I'd sat Junior Macaroni in a chair. I mean, how inept can a person get?

I needed food, I thought. Ice cream. And hot fudge. Whipped cream. There was an ice cream parlor at the mall that constructed sundaes for four people. That's what I needed. A mega sundae.

I got into Big Blue, and Mitchell got in with me.

'Excuse me?' I said. 'Is this a date?'