CHAPTER 12
After my talk with Morelli I had to go back to the station to collect my body receipt, by the time I got home I was worn out physically and emotionally and ready to crash on my couch with a tub Ben and JerryÕs.
The last thing I was prepared for was a tearful Val camped out on my doorstep with her own tub of ice cream.
I managed to get her inside and onto my new (death cootie free) couch before the real waterworks started.
I left her alone for a few minutes so she could have a good cry, and also so I could change out of my new sexy dress and get some spoons and chocolate sauce for the ice cream, I had a feeling we were going to need all the help we could get.
Especially when her opening line was: ÔWhatÕs wrong with me?Õ
Oh boy
ÔFirst Steve leaves, then I have to move back in with my parents, I canÕt find a job, I make a horrible lesbian, my mother has to bribe men to have dinner with me and even the wink wont date meÕ poor Valerie was doing that very unattractive blubbery sniffle thing between gulps.
It isnÕt t very often that I feel sorry for my perfect sister. But tonight was one of those times. She looked perfectly miserable sitting on my couch crying her eyes out.
Ice cream turned into Vodka.
But Valerie and I arenÕt very good drinkers and we passed out blind drunk sometime in the early hours of the morning.
The most horrendous noise woke me, a screeching so loud I was sure it would make ears bleed.
Turns out I had been using my handbag as a pillow and my cellphone was ringing.
It was Ranger.
ÔBabeÕ
I think I may have grunted a reply
ÔBabe you awake?Õ
ÔI am nowÕ thanks to Val and her flying limbs
Ôhey! Watch itÕ
ÔmmehffphmÕ Val was even less eloquent than I was in the mornings.
ÔWhat was that?Õ Even through the haze I could tell that RangerÕs tone had changed
ÔJust the worlds biggest bed hogÕ It had been a long time since I had had to share a bed with my sister. The last time I think would have been when we had spent a week in a cabin by the lake when I was 10. Val had been convinced a bear was going to get in during the night and eat her. I donÕt know what sleeping in a bed with me was going to do, maybe she figured that the bear would eat me first and be too full to eat her too. All these years later and she was still a blanket hog.
ÔWhoÕ I may have been able to tell that the tone of his voice had changed a moment ago, but now I realised how it must have sounded
ÔOh, thatÕs just Val.Õ I didnÕt want him getting the wrong impression or anything
ÔShe stayed over last night. We had an ice cream and vodka partyÕ
ÔUh HuhÕ I think he was back to laughing, or as close to laughing as Ranger got.
ÔShe was feeling kinda lowÕ
I rolled away from Valerie and dropped my voice to a whisper Òhow are you?Õ
Ôhit a snag with the jobÕ
ÔohÕ
ÔBureaucratic bullshit. I may have to fly out to DCÕ
I had a mild panic attack, but from underneath my hangover I donÕt think it showed.
ÔDo you think it will take long?Õ
ÔWith the government , usually.Õ
Val made a noise akin to a cow with a cold and hauled at the blankets.
ÔRanger, I miss youÕ Maybe it was the hangover, the lack of sleep or sharing a bed with my sister that made me say it, but I was glad I did.
He didnÕt answer for a while. Just dead air and a long distance telephone line. But just when I thought he had hung up;
ÔSteph. I miss you to.
A wake up call from Ranger usually makes me perky.
Uh hmm
And it seemed that the flirting ÒthingÓ that we had going had most definitely developed into a serious ÒthingÓ.
Although still only a phone ÒthingÓ, and no not that kind of a Òphone thingÓ
But the whole situation had promise.
I had already showered and dressed when Val found me watching cartoons and eating cereal. She grunted at me and headed to the kitchen. I assumed for coffee.
Surprisingly I was feeling okay (but not good) Which is a miracle in itself considering the amount we drank last night. But judging from ValerieÕs sunny disposition I would hazard a guess she wasnÕt as lucky.
Ôwhat you smiling aboutÕ Val growled lowering herself gingerly onto the couch beside me.
ÔIÕm not smilingÕ I grinned
Ôyes you areÕ
Ôno IÕm notÕ
She raised an eyebrow.
Ôokay maybe just a little bitÕ
ÔUh huh. Does it have anything to do with that early morning phone call?Õ
ÔWhat phone call?Õ
ÔThe obscenely early phone call. The one that you thought I couldnÕt hear because you were whisperingÕ
ÔNope no idea what youÕre talking aboutÕ
ÔThe phone call that made you start smiling like a foolÕ
ÔYou sure it was me?Õ
ÔYep. YouÕre still smiling like a fool, and youÕve been bouncing around here ever since.Õ
ÔI have no idea what youÕre talking aboutÕ I smiled and ate my breakfast.
ÔThe phone call that woke me up!Õ Val humpffed. She had decided to get pissy with me.
ÔOh that phone callÕ I said as I disappeared into the kitchen for more coffee, narrowly missing the cushion that was aimed at my head.
Last night I had promised Val that we would spend the day together. IÕm sure Valerie had shopping for shoes in mind when she suggested it. Unfortunatley for her my day included stopping by to collect any new skips.
We stoped for a box of doughnuts before heading into the office. I really needed the sugar this morning. I wasnÕt feeling as perky as I had and the hangover had definitely settled in. Valerie on the other hand was feeling marginally better now that she had thrown up.
It was eerily quite in the office. Both Connie and Lula were nowhere in sight, VinnieÕs office door was shut
There was a note with my name on it on ConnieÕs desk.
ÒSteph, VinnieÕs blown a gasket. All the bailees bailed. This pile is for you. GoodluckÓ
Pile, Pile! It was more like the leaning tower of Trenton precariously perched on the corner of the desk.
This was not good. This was really really not good
I took the file and Valerie back to my jeep. I needed time to think this over.
I had a 15 skips! 15 it had to be a new record. 15 skips to track down and only a few days to do it in before Vinnie would forfeit the bond, which would be bad, very bad.
15 skips and no clue where to start. Actually I knew where to start. McDonalds and the breakfast menu.
You always think better on a full stomach ( Lula had taught me that)
I t was Valerie who noticed it first. We were sitting in McDonalds eating hashbrowns and reading over the files.
These knucklehead FTAÕs all went to the same college, better still they all belonged to the same fraternity.
Looked like we were going to take a drive over to the oleÕ alma marter and check out what the frat boys were doing to day.
The drive over was silent. Not due to any habits I had picked up from Ranger but due to the fleet of jackhammers pounding away inside my skull.
The only thing that made me feel evenly marginally better was the fact that Valerie was a lovely shade of pale; now if only she would stop the moaning.
I pulled over and asked a perky blonde girl for directions to the Omega Alpha Males or whatever they called themselves.
Not only did she give me directions, but also a flyer for a party later that night.
Going via the good bounty hunters handbook I parked a few houses down on the opposite side of the street, car facing the fastest get away and watched.
It was a little before 2pm and it seemed like the frat house was just waking up, which I figured was normal, or at least it was when I was at school here. A van turned up a while later and delivered a couple of kegs. I even spotted a couple of the guys from my files. Something wasnÕt sitting right though. I was watching these big strapping young men burp and fumble around in the front lawn setting up for the party, but I kept thinking back to Steve Elton the snivelling amateur photographer, according to his file he also belonged to this fraternity. Now, I know how it sounds and I sound like a bitch for saying it, but Steve was a geek-type, and these guys were the typical jock-types; what the hell were they doing belonging to the same fraternity?
When Valerie woke up I handed her the flyer
ÔCan we go Steph? can we?Õ
ÔWe wouldnÕt be going to a party Val. WeÕd be workingÕ
ÔpleeeeeeaseÕ
Looks like we were going to a frat party.
