22 Caliber - A Stephanie Plum-inspired Story

Chapter Seventeen

The day dawned cool and bright. I dressed in a black suit, a pale pink stretchy scoop-neck girl t-shirt and heels. I put on the jewelry I had picked up from my apartment the day before. I was ready to go.

The courthouse shared a building with the Trenton police department and had a common entrance. Inside the lobby you could go one way to the courtrooms and the other way to the police station.

Morelli and I were at the courthouse by nine in the morning. Joe and I split up. I sat inside the courtroom. Morelli staked out the outside of the building and commandeered a radio so he could stay in contact with the security guard posted outside the courtroom.

Mario's trial was scheduled for eleven o'clock. Promptly at eleven, the doors to the courtroom opened and Mrs. Morelli and Grandma Bella entered. Mrs. Morelli looked determined to prove her son's innocence; Grandma Bella looked like she was ready to strike down anyone who messed with her grandson. She saw me and moved to talk to me. Mrs. Morelli restrained her mother, glared at her and whispered in her ear. Grandma Bella sat down, touched her eye and pointed at me. I shivered.

The judge waited fifteen minutes before saying she would not wait any longer for Mario. Mario was now considered FTA.

Grandma Bella popped up and scurried over to me. "You!" she screeched. "You make Mario not come. Mario good boy. You bad girl. I give you eye." She touched her eye and nodded, before departing the courtroom and leaving me shaken. I didn't think I could handle any more bad fortune.

I joined Morelli outside the courthouse. Waiting until we were alone, I told him what had transpired in the courtroom. "The 'eye' isn't real", he said. "Don't worry about it. I've had a lot of years seeing the work of the eye and have come to the conclusion it's nothing more than coincidence at work." We both turned at the sound of a car coming quickly down the street. The car slowed as it approached the courthouse and a gun appeared out the passenger window. Morelli grabbed me and threw me onto the ground and lay on top of me. The gun sprayed bullets in our direction before taking off. In an instant, Morelli was on his feet, gun drawn. "You okay?"

"Yeah. You?" I got up.

"Yeah. Did you see the shooter?" he asked.

"No. It happened too fast. I didn't really see anything. I can't even tell you the make of the car, other than telling you the car was dark red."

"Yeah, I couldn't get a plate either, but I know it was a Le Sabre. But that's not enough information to do a search. We're just lucky there was no one else out the front of the building." He paused and put his arm around me. "How about we go inside to fill out an incident report? You can sit at my desk while you wait for me. It might be a good idea for you to phone this in to Ranger, too."

I phoned Ranger. "Babe", he said. I started shaking when I heard his voice.

"You know how you told me to stay safe?" I asked. There was a silence on the end of the line. "Well, I'm safe."

"What happened?"

"Joe and I came to the courthouse this morning. I sat inside while Morelli stayed outside, just like we planned. Mario didn't show up but Grandma Bella did and she gave me the eye again. After Mario was deemed FTA, I went outside to join Morelli. Luckily there wasn't anyone around, as there was a drive-by shooting. Joe threw himself on top of me when the shooting started."

"Were you hurt?"

"No. Neither Morelli nor I were hit."

"Where are you now? Do you need me to come get you?"

"No. I'm sitting at Joe's desk. Morelli is doing his cop thing and I'm trying to stop shaking."

"It's natural. Adrenaline burn-off."