Nonnie fidgeted in her seat. Her eyes dropped to the purse in her lap. 'My little dog,' Nonnie finally said. 'My little dog is missing.' She opened her purse and extracted a photo. 'His name is Boo because he is so white. Like a ghost. He disappeared when Samuel vanished. He was in the backyard, which is fenced, and he disappeared.'
We all looked at the photo of Nonnie and Boo. Boo was a small cocker spaniel and poodle mix with black button eyes in a fluffy white face. Boo was a cockapoo.
I felt something tug inside me for the dog. The black button eyes reminded me of my hamster, Rex. I remembered the times when I'd been worried about Rex, and I felt the same sharp stab of concern for the little dog.
'Do you get along okay with your neighbors?' Vinnie asked. 'Have you asked any of them if they've seen the dog?'
'No one has seen Boo.'
'We must leave now,' Mrs. Apusenja said, glancing at her watch. 'Nonnie needs to get back to work.'
Vinnie saw them to the door and watched them cross the street to their car. 'There they go,' Vinnie said. 'Hell's message bearers.' He shook his head. 'I was having such a good day. Everyone was saying how good I looked in the picture. Everyone was congratulating me because I was doing something about visa enforcement. Okay, so I took a few comments when I dragged a naked, greased-up fat guy into the station, but I could handle that.' He gave his head another shake. 'This I can't handle. This has to get fixed. I can't afford to lose this guy. Either we find this guy, dead or alive, or we're all unemployed. If I can't enforce this visa bond after all the publicity, I'm going to have to change my name, move to Scottsdale, Arizona, and sell used cars.' Vinnie focused on Ranger. 'You can find him, right?'
The corners of Ranger's mouth tipped up a fraction of an inch. This was the Ranger equivalent of a smile.
'I'm gonna take that as a yes,' Vinnie said.
'I'll need help,' Ranger told him. 'And we'll need to work out the fee.'
'Fine. Whatever. You can have Stephanie.'
Ranger cut his eyes to me and the smile widened ever so slightly – the sort of smile you see on a man when he's presented with an unexpected piece of pie.
CHAPTER 2
CONNIE HANDED A stack of papers over to Ranger. 'Here's everything we have,' she said. 'A copy of the bond agreement, photo, background information. I'll check the hospitals and the morgue, and I'll run a full investigative report. I should have some of it tomorrow.'
This was the information age. Sign up with a service, tap a few keys on the computer, and within seconds facts start pouring in& all the names on the family tree, employment records, credit history, a chronology of home addresses. If you pay enough and search hard enough it's possible to access medical secrets and marital infidelities.
Ranger read through the Singh file and then looked at me. 'Are you available?'
Connie fanned herself and Lula bit into her lower lip.
I blew out a sigh. This apprehension was going to create problems. My involvement with Trenton cop Joe Morelli was on the fast track again. Joe and I had a long, strange history and we probably loved each other. Neither of us felt marriage was the answer right now. It was one of the few things we agreed on. Morelli hated my job and I wasn't crazy about his grandmother. And Morelli and I had clashing views on Ranger's acceptability as a partner. We both agreed Ranger was dangerous and a shade off normal. Morelli wanted me to stay far away from Ranger. I thought six to ten inches was sufficient.
'What's the plan?' I asked Ranger.
'I'll take the neighborhood. You talk to Singh's employer, TriBro Tech. TriBro should be cooperative. They put the money up for the visa bond.'
I snapped him a salute. 'Okeydokey,' I said. 'Don't forget about the dog.'
The almost smile returned to Ranger's mouth. 'No stone unturned,' he said.
'Hey,' I said, 'dogs are people, too.'
The truth was, I didn't give a hoot about Samuel Singh. I know that's not a great attitude, but I was stuck with it. And I certainly didn't care about Mrs. Apusenja. Mrs. Apusenja was a bridge troll. Nonnie and the dog seemed like they needed help. And the dog pushed a button on me that triggered a rush of protective feelings. Go figure that. I really wanted to find the dog.
Ranger took off and I headed for home to degrease before questioning Singh's boss. I live in a three-story brick apartment building that houses the newly wed and the nearly dead& and me. The building lacks a lot of amenities, but the price is right and I can get pizza delivered. I parked in the lot, took the stairs to the second floor, and was surprised to find my apartment door unlocked. I stuck my head in and yelled, 'Anybody home?'
'Yeah, it's me,' Morelli yelled back from the bedroom. 'I'm missing a set of keys. I thought maybe I left them here last night.'
'I put them in the cookie jar for safekeeping.'
Morelli walked into the kitchen, lifted the lid on the cookie jar, and removed his keys. Morelli looked like a real badass& lean and hard in a black T-shirt, washed-out jeans that fit him great across the butt, and new running shoes. He wore his gun at his hip, out of sight under a lightweight jacket. His hair was dark and his eyes were dark and he looked like he frequently traveled through places where men's hearts were dark.
'I'm not surprised to find the thirty-eight in here,' he said. 'But what's with the box of condoms?'
'They're for an emergency. Like the gun.'
He pocketed the keys and looked me over. 'You get into a fight with the guy who owns the lube gun at Midas?'
'Punky Balog. He thought if he was greased up and naked I wouldn't take him in.'
'Hah,' Morelli said. 'Greased up and naked is your specialty. Are you done for the day?'
