'And?'
'Understands the barter system. You sure you don't want a sandwich?'
'I want to know more about the barter system,' Ranger said.
'Why?'
Ranger didn't say anything. He didn't blink. He didn't smile. He didn't sigh. He just silently stared at Rufus.
'Good thing I like you,' Rufus said to Ranger, 'because you could improve on your social skills. You're not exactly a fun guy. Anyone ever tell yon that?'
Ranger cut his eyes to me and then back to Rufus.
'The barter system is where you trade some shit for other shit,' Rufus said. 'Wait a minute. Maybe I don't mean the barter system. What is it when you say you're paying for legal advice, but you're really paying for inventory?'
'Lying,' Ranger said.
'Yeah, that's what those assholes understand… lying.'
Ranger reached forward and took the bottle of champagne off the coffee table and refilled Caine's glass. 'Anything else you want to tell me?'
'What's your angle?'
'No angle,' Ranger said. 'Like I told you, I'm looking to retain counsel and I like the firm. I'm just having a hard time finding someone to talk to. No one's answering the phone.'
'Do you have something to… barter?'
'You want to stay away from Jimmy Monster. He's wearing a wire.'
'Ow.'
'And?' Ranger said.
'I'm meeting Victor Gorvich tonight. He has a package for me. We used to make the drop at a warehouse, but the warehouse burned down, so I'm seeing him at ten at Domino's.'
“The strip club on Third Street?'
'That's the one. Just make sure my business is concluded before you move in.'
Ranger stood. 'Be careful,' he said to Rufus.
'Fuck that,' Rufus said.
We were a couple blocks away from the apartment building when my cell phone rang.
'I can't talk long.” Morelli said. 'I just wanted to pass some information on to you. The guy in the warehouse was identified by his wedding band and key ring. It was Peter Smullen.'
'Holy crap.”
'The guy in the warehouse was Peter Smullen,' I said to Ranger.
'Who are you talking to?' Morelli asked.
'Ranger.'
'You're with Ranger?'
'You told him to take care of me.'
'Yeah, but I didn't mean-'
'I'm getting static,' I said to Morelli. 'Hello? Hello?' And I disconnected. 'He needed a moment to collect himself,' I said to Ranger.
'Understandable.'
'Let's recap,' I said to Ranger. 'First the law firm's accountant goes swimming with the fishes. Then Dickie gets dragged out of his house. And now Peter Smullen is dead.'
My cell phone rang again.
'We got cut off,' Morelli said.
'Cell phones,' I said. 'Go figure.'
'I wanted to tell you Marty Gobel might want to talk to you again. Smullen's secretary said Smullen was supposed to meet with you the night he disappeared.'
'Are you suggesting I might be under suspicion for Smullen's murder?'
'You have an alibi, right?'
I hung up and slouched in my seat. 'Smullen's secretary told the police I was supposed to meet with Smullen the night he disappeared.'
Ranger hooked a U-turn on Broad. 'Let's see what Smullen's girlfriend has to say about all this.'
We passed Joyce, who was now going in the wrong direction in her rented white Taurus.
'I used to be such a badass,' Ranger said. 'Everyone was afraid of me. Everyone wanted to kill me. I needed Tank walking behind me to keep the paid assassins under control. And now look at me. I'm followed by a woman in a rented Taurus.' He made a vague gesture with his hand. 'And I can't remember the last time someone tried to kill me.'
'It wasn't that long ago,' I said. 'It was in my apartment, and you got shot a bunch of times, and it wasn't all that much fun.
'Not to change the subject, but if I understood the conversation back there, Victor Gorvich is supplying Rufus with drugs.'
Ranger turned off Broad and drove toward the projects. 'Not only is he supplying drugs, he's laundering the money through the firm. He's billing Rufus for legal advice when Rufus is actually paying him for inventory. If you look at the client list you lifted, it's a shopping cart filled with the Worlds Most Wanted. Not just drug dealers, but gunrunners and agents for dictators. One or more of the partners is shuffling drugs around and washing the money as billable hours.'
'Gorvich, for sure.'
'Looks that way.'
Ranger parked curbside at the law firm's slum apartment building, and we both got out. Ranger took a remote gizmo, aimed it at the Porsche, and the Porsche chirped.
We hoofed it up to the top floor and rang the bell. No answer. We rang it again, and Uncle Mickey stuck his head out his door.
'She isn't there,' Uncle Mickey said. 'She went shopping.' He looked at Ranger and retreated into his apartment.
Ranger took his little tool out of a pocket on his cargo pants and opened the apartment door.
Smullen's apartment had been freshly painted and carpeted. The furniture was new. The kitchen appliances were new. The countertop was Corian. The building was a slum, but Smullen's apartment was not. Smullen's toilet worked.
Smullen's clothes were hanging in the closet and neatly folded in bureau drawers. His toiletries were still in the bathroom. I checked pants pockets for the bug, but didn't find it.
I walked out of the bedroom and caught Ranger at the living room window, looking down. He was standing hands on hips, watching two men direct a flatbed tow truck up to the Porsche. His car alarm was wailing away, and the men were ignoring it.
Ranger unlocked and raised the window, unholstered his gun, took aim, and shot one of the men in the leg. The guy crumpled onto the pavement and rolled around, holding his leg. The flatbed driver jumped out and helped drag the wounded guy into the truck, and they drove away. Ranger aimed his gizmo at his car and silenced the alarm.
'Do you feel better now?' I asked. 'You got to shoot someone today.'
'I've still got the touch,' Ranger said.
'Smullen's clothes are here, but I didn't find the bug. Did you come up with anything interesting?'
'No. He doesn't have a home office. Not even a laptop squirreled away somewhere.'
The lock tumbled on the front door, and Smullen's girlfriend pushed into the apartment. She had a brown grocery bag in the crook of her arm, and she was out of breath from the stairs.
'What the fuck is this?' she said to Ranger and me.
'We came to visit, but you weren't home,' I said to her.
She cut her eyes to Ranger. 'Who's the hot guy? Is he a cop?'
'No. He's Ranger.'
'Why's he dressed like a cop? What is this, Halloween and no one told me?'
