Chapter Two
It hadn't been hard getting Mary to come with me. Skeezer had paid her up front and she didn't have any other clients lined up for the afternoon. That and she knew Vinnie would bond her out again in under an hour. Mary Delraya had never had to wait for a family member to come bond her out. I have a sneaking suspicion the collateral Vinnie got wasn't in tradable goods.
Damian Marquez was still unconscious when we'd loaded him into the back of Hal's black Rangeman SUV. We shackled him to the floor bolts and Hal followed me to the police station.
Joe Morelli was standing by the desk when I got inside. He was looking pretty sexy. His black hair was a couple weeks past needing a cut, curling around his ears and along the back of his neck. He was in a plain black T-shirt and jeans, his badge and Glock clipped to his belt. The other plainclothes cops had to wear suits, but Joe's rugged good looks and strong Italian demeanor made him look like a casino pitboss when he was in a suit. That didn't exactly inspire trust.
He smiled when he saw me with Mary Delraya. "Good catch, Cupcake."
"I do my best," I said, trying to keep things light. Morelli and I were in a weird place, and I wasn't sure if he was my boyfriend at the moment. The title seemed to come and go. Last week we were struggling in the aftermath of Hawaii, and I hadn't really seen much of him since. He'd been working a lot, and it was entirely possible that was partly to avoid me.
I knew Joe loved me. I just wasn't sure if he was liking me all that much right now.
I sat Mary Delraya down on the bench beside the desk just as the front doors swung open again and Hal dragged in Damian Marquez. Any affection Morelli might have had in his expression was gone the second his cop face snapped into place. He cut his eyes to me. "You took down Skeezer Marquez?"
I shrugged. Hard to tell where this might be going, but I was betting he wasn't impressed. Actually, he looked like he was thinking about the bottle of Maalox in his locker. "Please tell me you got the Stegosaurus to do the dirty work."
"Nope. I took him down all by myself, like a professional. Because that's my job. Hal's just carrying him in for me because I had Mary Delraya."
No response from the cop-face. Morelli hated that I was a bounty hunter. He'd prefer if I went with a safer profession, like gator wrangler or getting an apple shot off my head. Most of the time, it scared the crap out of Morelli that he was in love with me.
"Busy day," he said, giving nothing away. "So, did you just call in Hal to do the heavy lifting, or is there something else I need to know?"
Damn. I'd been kind of hoping he wouldn't realize that. I held back a sigh. "Tank's idea."
"And why is it that Tank feels the need to have Hal following you around?"
I was really hoping to avoid the topic. Bringing up Ranger, even to say that he was still out of town, wasn't likely to go over well. If Morelli and I were in a difficult place, the already tense working relationship between Ranger and Morelli was sub nuclear. As far as I knew, they hadn't even been in the same building since the fight in Hawaii.
I hadn't technically done anything wrong when I slept with Ranger. Morelli and I weren't exclusive. He'd been the one to say we should see other people. Trouble was, there was sort of a subcondition when he'd said it. I could explore my options with anybody I wanted, except for Ranger. He thought Ranger was dangerous. That was a pretty accurate assessment.
And that was the real root of all my problems.
Well. All my non-dangerous-felon related problems.
The hideous truth was, I was in love with two men. And I couldn't for the life of me choose between them. They were both amazing in their own way. Morelli was the bad boy made good. He'd been wild when we were young, breaking every heart in our high school, including mine. And then against all odds he'd actually managed to grow up. Something I was still struggling to do. Ranger, on the other hand, wore the mantle of bad boy like a badge of honor. He was a smoking hot Latino and sexy as hell, and the chemistry between us was nothing short of transcendent. Trouble was, Ranger wasn't in a place in his life that he could maintain a close emotional relationship. Marriage and babies weren't in his life plan at all. And Morelli might say he thinks about marrying me, but he has yet to make any serious moves toward commitment.
My mother really wanted me to settle down, like my prefect sister Valerie. And it wasn't that I didn't want to. But trying to choose between Morelli and Ranger never seemed to get me anywhere.
If the choice was easy, I would have made it already.
Morelli looked down at his shoe, trying to keep his cool. "What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time?"
"Nothing. Tank's just being paranoid."
Like a bad omen, Skeezer's squinty little weasel eyes found me and a snarl curled up his lip, showing off the shining golden grill that covered his front teeth. "Fucking bitch. The next time I empty a clip at you it'll be right into your bitch head. And that's after I catch your ass and make you wish you never—"
Hal's foot caught between Skeezer's and Skeezer hit the ground harder than gravity might have dictated. When Hal dragged him up again by the back of his baggy pants with a less than sincere apology, there was blood flowing down from Skeezer's mouth. He tried to retaliate, but Hal shoved him up against the wall and pinned him there. Hal had at least five inches and eighty pounds on him.
Something very like fury was seeping out through the cracks in Morelli's cop face when he looked at Marquez. "You're lucky that was an accident," he said to Hal. "Otherwise it might have looked like assault." He called to a couple of uniforms to come take Skeezer to a holding cell. He cut his eyes back to me. "You wanna explain to me what he meant by empty another clip at you?"
"It was a misunderstanding."
"What kind of misunderstanding?"
"The kind where I was hiding behind a bathroom door and he thought I was armed?"
"Jesus, Stephanie! You weren't even armed?"
"You hate it when I carry concealed. It's against the law."
"I hate it more when you almost get your head blown off! Jesus Christ!"
We were starting to attract attention. Morelli grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out the front door. "You wanna tell me what this is really about?"
"I told you. Tank is just being paranoid."
"Because Ranger would kill him if anything happened to you while he's off doing god knows what, right?"
I'd tried really hard to avoid the subject, but it had been futile to think it would be that easy. Morelli and I had never talked about what happened between Ranger and me in Hawaii. He wasn't asking and there was no way I was going to bring it up. Morelli was a smart guy, though. The idea that he could maintain that level of willful ignorance was just wishful thinking.
Morelli always seemed to have mixed feelings about Ranger's attachment to me. He appreciated that Ranger watched out for me, especially since it was getting harder all the time for Morelli to protect me himself. But knowing that the attachment came with such a strong sexual undertone had always rubbed him wrong. He'd rather Ranger not be a part of my life at all. He just knew that was long past being an option.
He drew in a deep breath. Trying to keep the jealous Italian boyfriend in check.
"So you don't have a price on your head? You're not being stalked by any maniacs or scary henchmen? You haven't pissed off any gangs or drug dealers...aside from Skeezer Marquez," he added without much patience.
"No, but the day's not over."
The joke didn't fly with Joe. He was getting that look again like he wanted to lock me in his basement chained to his water heater.
"Everything's fine. I'm sure it'll all go back to normal when Ranger gets back."
"Cupcake. Your normal is still a train wreck," he said, a wry smile pulling at his mouth.
"Great. Thanks a lot." I hated that he thought that was funny. I hated even more that it was true.
That was when I saw my Chevy Colorado pickup truck pull out of the parking lot. I stared at it dumbfounded for a second. Someone actually had the balls to steal my truck out of the public lot in front of the police station. "Omigod."
"What now?"
"Some jaggoff is stealing my truck!"
Morelli followed my eye line with a raised eyebrow. "Huh."
"That's all you have to say? You're a cop! Aren't you supposed to do something?"
"You hated that truck anyway."
"That's not the point! That's grand theft auto!" Hal came out through the police station doors. I turned on him. "Someone just stole my truck."
"That would be Ramon," Hal said, handing me my body receipts. "Tank wasn't happy that you ditched us and then tried to take down a drug dealer. He's confiscating your truck. He said he's having Ramon park it in the Rangeman garage and if you have a problem with that you can come talk to him."
Like that was going to happen. I liked Tank, but he wasn't a talker. Ranger wasn't a talker either, but at least I had a rapport with him. I've learned to read his silence, and for the most part I was comfortable with it. Tank, not so much.
Morelli rocked back on his heels, a wide grin on his face. He saw the humor in the fact that my desperate bid for freedom had bit me so thoroughly on the ass. I shot him a dirty look, but he only grinned wider. "Don't look at me. This is between you and Ranger's Merry Men."
"How am I supposed to get home if he's confiscated my truck?"
"I'm supposed to drive you," Hal said.
Morelli was looking too pleased about that. He probably figured Ranger wasn't looking so good right now as a potential long term mate. Not that he ever had, but Morelli didn't really understand that.
"I hate you all."
"Lies and you know it, Cupcake."