22 Caliber - A Stephanie Plum-inspired Story

Chapter Seven

I woke up the next day to the sun glinting off the fire escape at my window. I loved crisp, clear days like that. Unfortunately for me, I also woke up with a sore throat. It felt scratchy and raw. The curse at work.

I got up and shuffled to the kitchen. Shoved under my front door was a paper. I picked it up, expecting it would be a pizza take-out menu. Instead, it was a note. It said "I know you are looking for me. Leave me alone or something bad will happen to you." As far as threats went, it was fairly harmless. It was sad to say I'd received much worse as a bounty hunter. It was hard to take this one seriously. But it raised the question - who was the person I spooked?

I popped in the shower and shaved my legs. One problem solved. I got out, wrapped a towel around me and headed to the bedroom. Ranger was sitting on the bed, staring at the note. "From anyone I know?"

"I don't know", I croaked. "Could be Mario. Could be the blackmailer. Could be Robin Hood. I just don't know."

"You don't sound too good, Babe."

I grimaced and grabbed some jeans, a t-shirt and hoody and headed back into the bathroom to change. I pulled my hair into a loose ponytail, slapped on some mascara and lip gloss and I was ready for the day. Ranger was waiting for me in the kitchen. He handed me a coffee in a to-go cup and a bagel with cream cheese he had brought me from Rangeman and pulled out the file of pictures. Of the six customers, five now had names to attach to the faces. The sixth face was not a frontal picture. It was of the back of the head and was impossible to identify.

"Do you recognize the names of any of these people?" I asked Ranger.

"Not really. Mario Morelli, sure, wanted for possession and fencing of stolen property. Jack Katz and Allan Kendrik were hits off the passport database. They don't have any kind of criminal history anywhere we could find. Now Leonard Kostner and Stefano Pendello are more interesting. Kostner has been arrested twice for dealing drugs and Pendello is a flesh-peddler on the fourth block of Stark. Let's talk to Vinnie to see if he recognizes any of these guys and then talk to Kostner and Pendello to see what we can shake out. I think the blackmailer is probably familiar with Vinnie, Joyce and Vicky. He could obtain email addresses for them quickly and knew that, in each case, he was hitting a hot button when he sent the blackmail message. Do you have time today?" Hell yes, I had time. Anything to avoid taking down Robin Hood.

I followed Ranger in my car and parked in my spot at the back of the office. We entered to find Lula shaking on the couch, looking like a bug in its death throes, and Connie trying desperately to ignore her. We went into Vinnie's office and showed Vinnie the pictures and asked him whether he recognized anyone. Like Ranger and me, Vinnie thought Jack Katz and Allan Kendrik were dead ends. Vinnie did not remember meeting them and, as a bails bondsman, Vinnie recognized the chances of the blackmailer not knowing him were non-existent.

Vinnie agreed Kostner and Pendello were more interesting suspects. Kostner was bonded out twice by Vinnie in the past and was currently awaiting his court date. His mother put her car up for collateral. Pendello was a long shot. He had also been arrested but used a different bondsman. Ranger and I decided to meet after lunch to follow up our two leads. Drug dealers and pimps didn't normally get up early in the day and we would have better luck catching them in a talkative state if we waited until they were open for business.

Ranger left. Lula stopped shaking and Connie and Lula looked at me with bright eyes. "So, did you get any last night?" Lula asked. "You left here to have dinner with Ranger and you showed up for work here with Ranger. Did anything happen?"

"No. Not at all. I hadn't shaved my legs" I offered in way of explanation. "Besides, I sort of have an agreement with Morelli."

"Yeah, but that ain't no formal agreement", Lula said. "That's like a part-time agreement. And although Morelli is hot for a cop, Ranger is the hottest guy I've ever met. I would be doing the nasty with him in a heartbeat if he looked at me like he looks at you."