“And I’m Stephanie Plum,” I said.
“I know who you are,” Abruzzi said. His voice was eerily quiet, and his pupils were shrunk to the size of pinpricks. “You killed Benito Ramirez.”
Benito Ramirez was a heavyweight boxer who tried to kill me on several occasions and finally was shot on my fire escape, poised to break through my window. He was criminally insane and flat-out evil, taking pleasure and finding strength through other people’s pain.
“I owned Ramirez,” Abruzzi said. “I had a lot of time and money invested in him. And I understood him. We enjoyed many of the same pursuits.”
“I didn’t kill him,” I said. “You know that, don’t you?”
“You didn’t pull the trigger… but you killed him all the same.” He turned his attention to Lula. “I know who you are, too. You’re one of Benito’s whores. How did it feel to spend time with Benito? Did you enjoy it? Did you feel privileged? Did you learn anything?”
“I don’t feel so good,” Lula said. And she fainted dead away, crashing into Kloughn, taking him down with her.
Lula had been brutalized by Ramirez. He’d tortured her and left her for dead. But Lula hadn’t died. Turns out, it’s not so easy to kill Lula.
Unlike Kloughn, who looked like he might be ready to cash in his chips any minute. Kloughn was squashed under Lula with only his feet showing, doing a good imitation of the Wicked Witch of the East when Dorothy’s house fell on her. He made a sound that was half squeak, half death rattle. “Help,” he whispered. “I can’t breathe.”
Darrow grabbed one of Lula’s legs and I grabbed an arm, and we rolled Lula off Kloughn.
Kloughn lay there for a moment, eyes glazed, breath shallow. “Does anything look broken?” he asked. “Did I mess myself?”
“What are you doing here?” Abruzzi asked. “And how did you get in?”
“We came to visit Evelyn,” I said. “The back door was open.”
“You and your fat whore friend always wear rubber gloves?”
Lula opened an eye. “Who you calling fat?” She opened the other eye. “What happened?
What am I doing on the floor?”
“You fainted,” I told her.
“That’s a lie,” she said, getting to her feet. “I don’t faint. I never fainted once in my life.”
She looked over at Kloughn, who was still on his back. “What’s with him?”
“You landed on him.”
“Squashed me like a bug,” Kloughn said, struggling to stand. “I’m lucky I’m alive.”
Abruzzi considered us all for a moment. “This is my property,” he said. “Don’t break in again. I don’t care if you’re friends of the family or lawyers, or murdering bitches. Got that?”
I pressed my lips tight together and said nothing.
Lula shifted her weight foot to foot. “Hunh,” she said.
And Kloughn vigorously nodded his head. “Yessir,” he said, “we understand. No problemo. We only came in this time on account of—”
Lula gave him a kick in the back of his calf.
“
“Get out of this house,” Abruzzi said to me. “And don’t return.”
“I’ve been employed by Evelyn’s family to look after her interests. That includes stopping by here from time to
