“Change in plans,” I said to Vinnie. “Out the window.”
Vinnie ran to the window, threw it open, and looked out. “Are you insane? We’re four floors up.”
“Fire escape,” I said.
“It’s rusted. It’s junk!”
The door rattled, and a body slammed into it, but the bolt held.
“Go!” I said to Vinnie, shoving him out the window. “Go!”
The metal creaked under our weight, and chunks of metal flaked off when we ran down the stairs. No time to think about it.
“This is falling apart underneath me!” Vinnie yelled.
“Keep going!” I yelled back. “Don’t stop.”
We were on the third floor. I grabbed a railing for support, and the railing gave way. The fire escape groaned and separated from the building.
“Holy crap,” Vinnie said. “Holy Mary, mother of God!”
The entire metal structure was disintegrating and collapsing into itself. We weren’t exactly plummeting to the ground but rather sliding toward it. And then the last bolt let go as we passed the second floor, and we were in a free fall. The framework crashed onto the black SUV, and Vinnie and I went flying off into space.
One of the men leaned out the fourth floor window and fired off a shot. Two more shots were fired from the alley not far from me. I was on my back, on the ground, all air knocked out of me. I was lifted to my feet and yanked toward the Jeep. It was Ranger. He had his hand clamped around my wrist, and he was running with me, half dragging me. We reached the Jeep, he hauled me up into the passenger seat, jumped in next to me, and spun the wheels taking off.
“Vinnie!” I said.
“Tank has him.”
“I need to get Connie and Lula. They’re on Stark Street.”
Ranger turned the corner and cruised by the building. Connie and Lula were on the sidewalk looking like they were trying to stay calm, not having any luck at it. The door guard was gone. Probably on the fourth floor. Connie and Lula scrambled into the back of the Jeep, and Ranger moved off with a Rangeman SUV on his tail.
“So I guess that went well,” Lula said.
Ranger slid a look at me. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. I was having a hard time finding words.
TWELVE
RANGER TOOK CONNIE and Lula to the office and waited while they got into their cars and drove away. The Rangeman SUV was still behind us, idling at the curb. Ranger called back and had Vinnie transferred up to the Jeep.
“Do I need to know why he’s in his underwear?” Ranger asked me.
“That’s how he was captured.”
Vinnie climbed into the back, chain dangling from his handcuff, and Ranger took a universal handcuff key out of his pocket and handed it to Vinnie.
“I assume the first shot I heard was aimed at that chain,” Ranger said to me.
“I didn’t have a handcuff key.”
“You’re a bounty hunter,” Ranger said. “You always carry handcuffs.”
“I forgot, but I remembered my gun. And I whacked someone in the head with your Maglite.”
Ranger smiled at me. “Babe.”
“I guess I need to go home,” Vinnie said.
“That’s not a good idea,” I told him. “Lucille isn’t happy with you.”
“She’ll get over it,” Vinnie said. “She always does.”
Ranger was waiting for my instructions.
“Take him home,” I said to Ranger.
Vinnie lived in a large yellow-and-white colonial in Pennington. It looked like a house a normal person would own, but it belonged to Vinnie. Go figure. Lucille made sure the lawn was mowed and the flowerbeds were mulched. White shears hung in the windows. It was close to eleven o’clock and lights were off in the house. The sky was overcast, and there was no moon. Some light filtered onto Lucille’s lawn from a streetlight half a block away. It was enough light to see there was debris scattered across the yard.
Ranger pulled into the driveway, and Vinnie jumped out.
“What the heck?” Vinnie said, kicking through the debris. “This is my shirt. And socks.” He walked to the door and rang the bell. He rang a second time. “Hey!” he yelled. “Hey, Lucille!”
A light flashed on in an upstairs window, the window opened, and Lucille stuck her head out. “Vinnie?”
“Yeah. I’ve been rescued. Let me in. I don’t have my key.”
“Your key won’t do you any good, you jerk. I had the locks changed. Get your perverted butt off my lawn.”
“This is my lawn, too,” Vinnie said.
“The hell it is. My father bought this house for us, and it’s in my name.”
“It’s common property, sweetie pie,” Vinnie said. “And you’ll have to kill me to get my half.”
“No problem,” Lucille said.
She disappeared from the window, and Vinnie started collecting his clothes. “I can’t believe she did this,” he said. “Look at this silk shirt laying here in the mulch. And my hand-painted tie.”
Lucille reappeared in the window with a shotgun, and she blasted one off at Vinnie. “You’re trespassing,” she said.
“What are you gonna do, shoot me and call the police?” Vinnie yelled at her.
“No. I called my father. He’s on his way over.”
“Her father’s dumped so many bodies in the landfill he has his own parking place,” Ranger said.
Lucille squeezed off another shot, and Vinnie scrambled to the Jeep with his arms full of clothes.
Ranger put the Jeep in gear and backed out of the driveway. “Your call,” he said to me.
“Take him to the office.”
THE BLACK SUV was parked in front of the bonds office. There was a big gash in the hood and the roof was smashed in over the cargo area. A second car was parked behind it.
“Probably, we don’t want to stop here,” I said to Ranger.
“Give me a gun. I’ll take care of those assholes,” Vinnie said.
“You’ve caused enough trouble,” I told him. “You’re not getting a gun. And for crying out loud, put some clothes on. I’m going to have to disinfect the seat back there.”
Ranger cut off Hamilton, into the Burg, and stopped at a cross street.
“I don’t suppose you’d want to take him home with you,” I said to Ranger.
Ranger glanced at Vinnie in the rear view mirror. “We could negotiate. The price would be high.”
“Would I have to dress up like a geisha and rub your feet?”
Ranger cut his eyes to me. “It wasn’t what I had in mind, but it would be a place to start.”
“Cripes,” Vinnie said. “You two want to get a room?”
“Tell me again why you rescued him,” Ranger said.
I slid the Maglite back under the driver’s seat. “Grandma Plum and Aunt Mim.”
“Maybe he can stay with them,” Ranger said.
“Unfortunately, that’s not an option,” I said. “He can stay with me tonight.”
I GAVE VINNIE a quilt and a pillow. “You can spend one night here,” I said. “One night. Tomorrow, you have to find a different place to live.”
Vinnie dropped the quilt and pillow onto the couch. “I can’t believe Lucille kicked me out.”
“You were caught with a hooker!”
“I was doing Lucille a favor. She’s a good woman, but she’s picky about a lot of stuff. Don’t do this, and don’t do that. And what about me? I got needs. Okay, so I’m a pervert, but perverts got rights, too. There are places
