Chapter Three

"That is one pregnant hamster." Diesel tapped on the tank but Raylan the hamster ignored him. "Rex must be some kind of super stud hamster."

"Like a special power?" I asked, dropping some apple chunks into the tank. Givens, Diesel and I were back in my apartment and Big Blue was parked in the lot outside. Givens had an overnight bag and so did Diesel. I had a twitch in my left eye.

Diesel grinned at me and winked.

Givens' hand was on his gun and I could see he shared Morelli's opinion of Diesel, which was they sort of trusted him but not with me. "Mind explainin' who you are and what you're doin' here?"

"I'm Diesel and in about ten minutes, I'm crashing on that couch." Diesel cut his eyes to me. "Unless..."

"There is no unless," I told him.

"Of course there's an unless. We've unlessed before -"

"We have not! There was no unlessing and there will be no unlessing!" My left eye twitched and I clapped a hand over it. "And you can't stay here. Go pop yourself over to a motel or back to your alternate dimension or wherever it is you go."

"Pop himself?" Givens repeated, cutting his eyes to me. "What the hell does that mean?"

Diesel shrugged. "Beats me."

Givens raised his index finger like he was checking to see which way the wind was blowing. "No, she has a point. There was no vehicle parked by her parents' house."

"Maybe I walked."

"With an overnight bag?"

"Maybe I planned ahead."

"Because you're a eunuch?" Givens expression was scaring the hell out of me. "That's the only way I could see Morelli not givin' a shit that you're here."

Diesel laughed but he didn't look like he found Givens funny. "So that makes us a couple of eunuchs, doesn't it?"

"Diesel's an Unmentionable," I blurted, stepping between them, before it could get any uglier.

"Like a pair of women's underwear?" Givens cocked his head at me. "That don't make any sense."

"Neither does your hat," Diesel said, lifting it from the coffee table and inspecting it. "Still, I'm gonna roll with it."

"Why are you here?" I interrupted, taking the hat away from Diesel and handing it back to Givens. "Does it have anything to do with why Raylan's here?"

Diesel grinned, showing bright white teeth. Little lines crinkled around his eyes. It was the kind of grin that made unwanted thoughts flit through my head.

"Stop that!"

"Stop what?" he asked innocently.

"The lady asked you a question and since it's one I've asked that you still haven't answered, I suggest you start gettin' talkative." Givens cut his eyes to me. "Steph, why don't you step away from Mister Diesel over there?"

"No! There will be no shooting in my apartment! Jeez!" I blew out a breath. "Diesel hunts bad guys." I let that hang for a moment and then added, "Special bad guys."

"Unmentionable ones?" Givens was like a dog with a bone.

"Somebody learned a new vocabulary word, didn't he?" Diesel strolled over to my fridge, rummaged inside and helped himself to a beer. He took a long swallow, emitted a loud burp and leaned his hip against the kitchen counter. "Yes, Raylan, I go after Unmentionables. And, no, they are not like women's undies. What they are, are people who look like you and me but have the ability to operate beyond what are considered to be normal limitations. We tend to work alone -"

"We. So you have some kinda super power too, huh?" The sarcasm was palpable and I suspected Givens was starting to lose his patience with Diesel.

"That's for me to know." Diesel drained the bottle of beer. "What you need to know is that this Crowe you're after is working for the guy I'm after."

"And you want to work alone to find them," Givens said, flatly.

Diesel snorted. "No, I'm going to work with Stephanie. You're welcome to join us, if you promise not to act like such a tool. Your file never mentioned how uptight you are."

"File?!"

"He's pushing your buttons." I stepped between them again. "He does that."

Givens looked down at me and then back at Diesel. "Show me. You got some kinda super power, let's see it."

"What, like flushing the toilet without pressing the lever?" Diesel asked.

"That'll do for a start," Givens said.

Diesel turned to me. "I'm starting to like this guy. He's almost as gullible as you are."

"Maybe you should stay with my parents tonight," I suggested.

"With your granny and all those kids? No way!" Diesel flopped on the couch and kicked off his boots. "Besides, we need to get an early start tomorrow."

"And why's that?" Givens' jaw was clenched.

"Because Simon Crowe is being a busy boy tonight and leaving us a trail a mile wide." Diesel eyed Givens. "Like all the Crowes, Simple Simon's a doer, not a leader and the guy he's working for is dangerous." He looked at me. "You remember my cousin, Wulf, don't you?"

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Lemme get this straight, the guy we're lookin' for is called..." Givens' mouth twisted and it looked like he was struggling with the name. "Gerwulf Grimoire." He cut his eyes to me. "And you've actually seen him."

I nodded, not feeling like going into how Wulf kidnapped me and gave me to his lackey, Martin Munch. Wulf was the anti-Diesel. He wore expensive black suits, had black hair, scary black eyes and was like a human stun gun on steroids. He scared the crap out of me when I'd met him. My hand went to the spot on my wrist where Wulf burned me with his hand during our last encounter.

Givens' eyes tracked the movement of my hand and when he spoke again, his voice was soft. "This guy hurt you, Steph?"

I started to look over at Diesel, not sure how much I could say without sounding like I should be committed.

"How dangerous is this Grimoire, exactly?"

Diesel sat up. "Very. In addition to his...uh...superpower, he likes playing with bombs, disrupting power grids, using chemical weapons -"

"So if I have my office do a search, they're gonna have a file -"

"Of open cases and nothing on Wulf."

"And he's your kin."

"Unfortunately."

"Do you go around disruptin' power grids and blowing shit up, too?"

Diesel grinned. "On occasion. I prefer to watch ball games and drink beer."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I shut my bedroom door and crossed myself. There had been a brief argument and then Diesel lost the coin toss for the sofa. He'd complained about the sleeping bag and even though I locked my bedroom door, I was pretty sure I'd wake up with him in my bed in the morning.

In the meantime, I was too wired to sleep. I knew all I cared to know about Wulf but I didn't know a thing about Simon Crowe. Givens must have because he didn't react at all when Diesel said the name. I knew he was fibbing earlier when he told Morelli he didn't know which Crowe was after me. The question was why.

I powered on my laptop and logged into one of the search programs I used. A second later, Simon's picture popped up. It was a picture that was going to give me nightmares. Unlike Dewey Crowe, who was something of a lightweight and not too bright, Simon was big, muscled and had thick black hair. According to his file, he was called Simple Simon, not because he was stupid, but because when Simon said to do something, people did it. Or else.

He had a degree in electrical engineering that he'd gotten online during a stint for aggravated assault in Polk Prison in Florida. I had no idea how that tied into Wulf's plans but I was sure it did. The last time I met Wulf, he was trying to control the weather. Heaven only knew what crazy plan he had now that he needed a criminal electrical engineer. I shuddered and powered off the laptop.

Even though Givens and Diesel were right outside, I had a case of the heebie jeebies that wouldn't quit. I needed a peanut butter sandwich. I opened the bedroom door and found Givens sitting up on the sofa, scowling.

"He's gone," Givens announced.

I cut my eyes to the door. It was locked and the security chain was still in place. Diesel's overnight bag was still in the corner. "He does that."

"I shut my eyes for just a second."

"I know." I crossed the room and got the peanut butter. "He'll probably be back before morning. Try not to shoot him."

Givens levered himself off the sofa and helped himself to a couple of slices of bread. "It's crazy, Steph."

"I know," I repeated and took a bite of my sandwich. Ahh, that was much better. "But it's true."

"What do you know about this Diesel fella?" Givens took a paper towel, popped open my trash can and lifted out the Diesel's beer bottle. "Ever have Morelli run his prints?"

"No! Put that back!"

"Steph, the guy is going around talking about superheroes and bad guys with comic book names. What do you expect me to do?" He eyed me, hands on hips. "You're awfully familiar with him. How many times have you worked with Diesel?"

I thought for a moment. "Four."

"And it never occurred to you he might be dangerous?"

I rolled my eyes. "The man appears in my kitchen. What do you think?"

"What do you mean, appears?"

"He's just there."

"And you didn't shoot him?" Givens was staring at me. "Or stun him? Or run out screaming?"

"I thought about it the first time it happened."

"You thought about it?"

"My gun wasn't loaded." Saying it out loud was embarrassing. "I tried getting rid of him. I threw his boots out into the hall but then he just popped open the locks and came back in."

"Why were his boots off?"

"He took them off to watch TV but there's no TV in my bedroom." Hearing myself trying to explain it, I sounded pathetic.

"And you didn't run because...?"

"He offered to help me find my skip." If Givens had any respect for me once, I was sure he didn't have any now. "It's hard to explain. Diesel sort of grew on me. And he wouldn't leave."

Givens blew out a sigh. "Jesus, Steph! How is Morelli even remotely okay with this?"

"Mostly, he just ignores it."

There was a long moment of silence and then he reached for his cell phone. "I'm gonna do something I never do. I'm calling in an expert."

"You have an expert?" I asked.

"I have Tim."

"Tim Gutterson?"

Givens shrugged. "He reads books about monsters and magic wands and shit. Figure he might have some kinda insight." He pressed a button on his phone. "Hey, how fast can you be in Trenton?"

If Givens was calling for backup, I knew I was in trouble.