The second was from Ranger. 'Yo.' Ranger made Joe look like a chatterbox.
The third was a hang-up.
I ambled into the living room, slouched onto the couch, and grabbed for the remote. A splash of color caught my eye from across the room. The color was coming from a vase of red roses and white carnations, sitting on an end table. The flowers hadn't been there this morning. A white envelope was propped against the vase.
My first thought was that someone had broken into my apartment. Ranger and Morelli did this on a regular basis, but they'd never left me flowers, and I was pretty certain they hadn't left them this time, either. I did a quick backtrack to the kitchen with my heart beating way too hard and too fast in my chest. I took my gun out of the brown bear cookie jar and started creeping through my apartment. There were only two rooms left unseen. Bedroom and bath. I looked into the bathroom. No creepy deranged killers lurking behind the shower curtain. None on the toilet. The bedroom was also monster free.
I shoved the gun under the waistband of my jeans and returned to the flowers. There was a message printed on the outside of the white envelope. Tag. You're it. I had no idea what this meant. I opened the envelope and removed three photos. It took a moment for the images to register. I clapped a hand to my mouth when I figured it out. They were pictures of a gunshot victim. A woman. Shot between the eyes. The photos were close-ups that were too tight in to reveal the woman's identity. One photo showed part of an eyebrow and an open sightless eye. The other two recorded the destruction to the back of her head, the exit point.
I dropped the photos, ran to the phone, and dialed Joe.
'Someone broke into my apartment,' I said. 'And they left me flowers and some ph-ph-photos. Should I call the police?'
'Honey, I am the police.'
'So I'm covered. Okay, just checking.'
'Do you want me to come over?'
'Yes. Drive fast.'
CHAPTER 4
MORELLI STOOD HANDS on hips, starring at the flowers on the table and the photos still spread out on the floor. 'It's like you have a sign on your door welcoming nuts and stalkers to walk in. Everyone breaks into your apartment. I've never seen anything like it. You have three top-of-the-line locks on your door and it doesn't deter anyone.' He glanced over at me. 'Your door was locked, right?'
'Yes. It was locked.' Yeesh. 'Do you think this is serious?'
Morelli looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. 'Someone broke into your apartment and left you gunshot pictures. Don't you think it's serious?'
'I'm completely freaked out, but I was really hoping you'd tell me I was overreacting. I was going for the outside chance that you'd think this was someone's idea of a joke.'
'I hate this,' Morelli said. 'Why can't I have a girlfriend who has normal problems… like breaking a fingernail or missing a period or falling in love with a lesbian?'
'Now what?' I asked.
'Now I call this in and get a couple guys out here to collect evidence and maybe look for prints. Do you have any idea what this is about?'
'No idea at all. Not a clue. Nothing.'
The phone rang and I went to the kitchen to answer it.
'I definitely think it might work between Ranger and me,' Valerie said. 'You're pals with him. You could fix me up.'
'Valerie, you're nine months pregnant. This isn't a good time for a fix-up.'
'You think I should wait until after I deliver?'
'I think you should wait until never.'
Valerie did a big sigh and disconnected.
Ranger on a fix-up date. Can you see this?
'You're smiling,' Morelli said.
'Valerie wants to get fixed up with Ranger.'
Now Morelli was smiling. 'I like it. Wear body armor when you tell Ranger.' Morelli opened the refrigerator, took out a piece of leftover pizza, and ate it cold. 'I think it would be smart to get you out of this apartment. I don't know what this is about, but I'm not comfortable ignoring it.'
'And I would go where?'
'You'd go home with me, cupcake. And there'd be benefits.'
'Such as?'
'I'd warm up your pizza.'
Morelli lived in a two-story row house he inherited from his Aunt Rose. It was about a half mile from my parents' house with an almost identical floor plan. Rooms were stacked one behind the other& living room, dining room, kitchen. There were three bedrooms and a bath upstairs. Morelli had added a half bath downstairs. He was slowly claiming the house as his own. The wood floors were all newly sanded and varnished, but Aunt Roses filmy old-fashioned curtains remained. I liked the mix and in an odd way would be sorry to see the house turn over entirely to Joe. There was something comforting about the curtains enduring beyond Aunt Rose. A tombstone is okay, but curtains are so much more personal.
