sounds were really getting on my nerves. I kept my head down at the desk, waiting for my paperwork. I didn't want to see Morelli. I didn't know if he was in the building. If I got out before he found me, that would be cool. I figured time and space were my friends at this point.
There was a new cop behind the desk, going slow, making sure he was getting it right. I had a hard time not ripping the body receipt out of his hands.
'In a hurry?' he asked.
'Things to do.'
I took the receipt from him, turned on my heel, and marched out of the building. I avoided eye contact with Ward, just in case the towel had slipped or, even worse, was moving. The back door closed behind me, and I shrieked when Morelli grabbed me and pulled me to one side.
'Jeez,' I said, hand over my heart. 'You scared the crap out of me. Don't sneak up on me like that.' Although, truth is, I'm not sure I shrieked because I didn't know who it was or because I did know who it was.
'Are you okay?'
'Yeah, I think I'm okay. I'm just having some heart palpitations. I have them a lot these days.'
'Now that you've had a chance to see Ward up close, are you sure he's the Red Devil?'
'Yes.'
'And he was in the car when Gazarra got shot?'
'Yes.'
A patrol car pulled up to the back door for delivery. Morelli and I stood aside while two cops hauled Lauralene out of the back seat.
'What did she do?' I asked.
'Ran a red light in a stolen car, driving without a license.'
Lauralene's eyes were red from crying. 'She's had a bad night,' I said to Morelli. 'And she's pregnant. Maybe you can talk to her. She looks like she could use a friend.'
I called Francine and told her Ward had been captured. Then I told her Lauralene was at the cop shop.
'Now what?' Morelli said.
'I'm going home. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.'
'And home is where?'
'It's a secret.'
'I could find you if I put some energy to it,' he said.
'I'd tell you if I thought I could trust you.'
Morelli sent me a tight smile. He couldn't be trusted. We both knew it. He'd drag me out of my hiding place against my wishes if he thought it was the right thing to do.
'Do you need an escort out of here? Are you in public parking?'
'No, I'm illegally parked in the chief's spot.'
Morelli looked over at the reserved space. The Lincoln? What happened to the truck?'
'Too high profile.'
My cell phone rang at six forty-five Monday morning.
'Junkman tagged the second gang member on his list,' Morelli said. 'You don't want to know the details, but it took us less time to locate all the body parts this time since we knew where to look.'
Not good information on an empty stomach.
I rolled out of bed and went to the kitchen to say good morning to Rex. I made coffee and drank it with my meager bowl of healthy, tasteless cereal. After two cups of coffee I still wasn't motivated to start my day, so I went back to bed.
The phone rang again at eight o'clock. It was Connie. 'You remembered about Carol Cantell, right?'
'Sure. What was I supposed to remember?'
'She's got court today.'
'Shit. I'd completely forgotten. 'What's her court time?'
'She's supposed to be there at nine, but her case probably won't be heard until after lunch.'
'Call her sister and have her go over to Carol's house. I'll pick
Lula up at the office in a half hour.'
No time for a shower. I borrowed a hat and another shirt from Ranger and pulled on my one remaining pair of clean jeans. I was in the elevator when I realized I'd buttoned the top snap on the jeans. Hooray. The diet was working. Good thing, too, because I was hating every minute of it and would love an excuse to quit.
I remoted the gate open and ran to the car. I was parking closer now that I was driving the Lincoln. Not as afraid of discovery by Ranger's men. I was on the cell phone at the first red light, calling Cantell.
'What?' she yelled into the phone. 'What?'
'It's Stephanie Plum,' I said, in my most reassuring, soothing voice. 'How are things going?'
'I'm fat… that's how it's frigging going. I have nothing to wear. I look like a blimp.'
'You remembered your court date?'
'I'm not going. I can't get into any of my clothes, and everyone's going to laugh at me. I ate a truckful of chips, for crying out loud.'
'Lula and I are coming over to help. Just hang in there.'
'Hurry up. I'm losing it. I need salt. I need grease. I need something crunchy in my mouth. I'm running a fever here.'
Cindy was sitting on Carol's front porch when we drove up.
'She won't let me in,' Cindy said. 'I know she's in there. I can hear her pacing.'
I rapped on the front door. 'Carol, open the door. It's Stephanie.'
'Have you got food?'
I crinkled a bag of Cheez Doodles so she could hear it through the door. 'Lula and I stopped on the way over and bought Doodles to get you through the court session.'
Carol cracked the door. 'Let me see.'
I shoved the Cheez Doodles at her. She grabbed the bag from me, ripped it open, and shoved a handful of doodles into her mouth.
'Oh yeah,' she said, sounding a lot like Lowanda doing phone sex. 'I feel better already.'
'I thought you were over the doodle craving,' Lula said.
'I'm not good with stress,' Carol said. 'It's a glandular thing.'
'It's a mental thing,' Lula said. 'You're a nut.'
We all followed Carol upstairs to her bedroom. 'I did my hair, and I put on my makeup, and then I went to get dressed, and I just sort of had a brain fart,' Carol said.
We stood at the doorway and surveyed the disaster area. It looked like her closet exploded, and then her room was ransacked by monkeys.
'Guess you couldn't decide what to wear,' Lula said, stepping over the clothes carnage that littered the floor.
'Nothing fits!' Carol wailed.
'Would have been good if you'd discovered that yesterday,' Lula said. 'You ever think of preparing ahead?'
I was picking through the crumpled piles of clothes on the floor, looking for slacks with elastic waistbands, bulky tops, scarves that matched. 'Help me out here,' I said. 'Let's start with the slacks. Black would be good. Everything goes with black.'
'Yeah, and it don't show the cellulite lumps,' Lula said. 'Black is real slimming.'
Ten minutes later we had Carol squashed into black slacks. The button was open at the waist but you couldn't see it under the hip-length dark blue cotton shirt.
'Good thing you got this nice big roomy shirt,' Lula said to Carol.
Carol looked down at it. 'It's a nightgown.'
'Do you have any roomy shirts that aren't nightgowns?' I asked her.
'They all have doodle stains on them,' she said. 'It's hard to get those orange smudges out of stuff.'
'You know what I think?' I said. I think this outfit looks good. No one will know you're wearing a nightgown. It looks just like a shirt. And the color is good for you.'
'Yeah,' Lula and Cindy said. The color is good.'
