For Fortune and Love

Chapter Nine

At exactly 10 AM a black RangeMan SUV rolled into the lot with Tank behind the wheel. I grabbed my bag with my cuffs and pepper spray and headed downstairs. I didn't bother with a gun since I knew Tank would be armed for both of us.

I slid into the car. Tank makes Ranger look like a chatterbox so I expected a fairly silent day. I was surprised when Tank asked me if I was OK. I guess I hadn't done as good a job as I thought covering up my crying jag.

"I'm fine" I told Tank.

He handed over an envelope to me. "I found these on your car" Tank said.

I opened the envelope and a picture of a guy's dick fell out along with a note. The note simply said soon.

Tank's tone was flat "Do guys leave pictures of their johnson on your car often?"

"More often that you would think" I replied.

Tank nodded and his eyes cut to me "Does Ranger know?"

"No"

"But Ranger is going to know."

I sighed. "Yes, but right now he needs to focus on Harris. I don't want him distracted."

Tank nodded. "You would think a guy with a johnson like that would take pictures of something else" he said.

I smiled and nodded sagely. We spent the rest of the drive in silence.

I chose Anton Smith for our first skip. Anton Smith was a member of the Slayers and was out on bond for murder. I'm not sure what Vinnie had been thinking when he wrote the bond, but to no one's surprise Anton had missed his court date.

The good news is Anton's location wasn't a mystery and capturing him would net me the largest capture fee. The bad news is Anton had a taste for violence and killing, which would normally cause me pause. Anton was hanging out on Stark street near the burned-out dry cleaner in the middle of Slayer territory. He hadn't even felt compelled to hide his whereabouts.

We parked about half a block away. I put the pepper spray in my front pocket and the cuffs half in the back pocket of my jeans. I got out of the SUV making my way toward Anton.

When I got close to him, I asked if he was Anton Smith.

"For you baby I can be anybody you want" he said.

I rolled my eyes and gave him my best stern look. I introduced myself and told him he had missed his court date and he needed to come with me to reschedule. I left out the part where he would probably be remanded back to jail.

"Nah, bitch I don't think so" he said and pulled a gun out of the far recesses of his baggy jeans and pointed it at my head. His gold tooth winked in the sun as he grinned. "Now either get on your knees and suck my dick or go on and get out of here" he said motioning with his gun.

Not all my captures go bad. I have gotten better at it, but to be honest a fair number of them turn out about like this. Normally this is where things would get dicey and I end up shot at, blown-up, or rolling in garbage. But today I had a secret weapon named Tank.

While Anton was propositioning me, Tank had walked up behind him. He pressed his Glock to the back of Anton's head. "I think you had better make time for the lady" Tank said. His voice was quiet but the authority was unmistakable.

"Damn man" Anton said shaking his head and put up his hands letting the gun dangle loosely from his trigger finger.

Tank took the gun and nodded at me. I moved to cuff Anton.

"No, nuh-uh" Anton whined and shifted nervously back and forth on his feet. "I'm not going to be taken in by some snatch. I'll go but only if the big guy takes me. I gotta keep up my street cred ya know".

I had about had it with men. Between the freak leaving pictures of his private parts, Ranger's bullshit life goals, and Morelli's sudden inability to commit I was done with stupid men. Probably the polite thing to do would be to just stun gun the asshole, but I wasn't feeling polite so I kneed him in the groin with one vicious hit. It might not be one of my finer moments but it definitely felt good.

Anton's eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled to the ground clutching his crotch. I pulled his hands behind his back and cuffed him. I then paraded him to the SUV making sure all his buddies could get a good look.

Tank looked like he wanted to smile but wisely kept his eyes glued to the ground.

I had a few other low-level skips. A drunk and disorderly, indecent exposure and shoplifting. Tank and I bagged each of them quickly and by 1PM I had all my body receipts. Normally this would have taken me days but with Tank it took me all of three hours. No getting shot at, blown-up, wrecked cars, or rolling in dog poop. I really needed to get some better skills or get me a Tank.

I asked Tank to swing by the bonds office so I could get my check from Connie. I was also going to have to tell her I was quitting. I was dreading that conversation.

I rolled in and handed Connie all my body receipts. I looked around. No Lula.

"Where's Lula" I asked.

"Lula's at the dentist. Cracked a tooth or something". Connie looked down at all the body receipts "Damn girl you're on fire!" she exclaimed.

I smiled and blurted out "I have Tank with me today. I'm going away with Ranger, and you are going to have to hire someone else because I got a new job".

Connie looked at me blandly "uh-huh" she said "I'll have Joyce fill in for a couple of weeks". She handed me my check and went back to painting her nails.

"I'm serious… this time!"

"OK. Look, the only thing I believe in all that is that you're going away with Ranger. I want details when you get back" she said and winked at me.

So maybe this wasn't the first time I'd quit, but I really did mean it. At least I think I did. "I'll see you next week" I said and walked out the door.

I was glad Lula hadn't been there. I wasn't sure I understood what I was doing myself let alone explain it to Lula. Despite her bigger than life personality, Lula could be pretty insightful sometimes.

Tank dropped me off at my apartment. He came up and did a quick scan to make sure no bad guys were around and left.

I ate a quick peanut butter and olive sandwich. I broke a chunk of the crust off and dropped it in Rex's cage. The conversation with Morelli was still bothering me so I grabbed my bag and headed to Morelli's house.

Morelli lives just outside of the burg in a house he inherited from his Aunt Rose. Morelli has been slowly making it his own, and it is an eclectic mix, but it feels welcoming and homey. I like living in the house, and sometimes I even like living there with Morelli.

I pulled onto Morelli's street and quickly pulled to the curb. Morelli's car was gone, and Sandy Sanducci was walking Bob up the street. My mouth gaped open while I stared.

Sandy Sanducci was a petite, perky brunette that worked at the courthouse. She came from a good Italian family and was just what all good Italian Mother's wanted for their sons. I wanted to dislike her, but the truth is I couldn't. She was kind, and funny, and warm. She was a few years younger than I was, and apparently still good breeding stock as far Morelli's crazy Grandma Bella would be concerned. Bella wasn't too fond of me corrupting her favorite grandson and was horrified that I wanted to have sex and not make babies.

I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I had found Morelli's sudden aversion to marriage. I had to admit he would probably would be happier with Sandy. I wasn't really sure how I felt about that. I wanted Morelli to be happy, I had just always thought that it meant with me. Truth was Morelli and I had been circling each other for a decade and despite repeated attempts the stars have never aligned for us. Maybe we had simply missed our window. A tear popped out and slid down my cheek. I wondered how long Morelli had been seeing Sandy. Obviously, it wasn't new.

I put the car in gear and numbly drove off. I had things to do. I had to go dress like a slutty office worker and be bait for a brutal rapist.