22 Caliber - A Stephanie Plum-inspired Story

Chapter Twenty-Four

After we ate our dinner the freezing was starting to come out of my leg and I was feeling pretty sore. Morelli gave me a pain pill and a glass of water. I hobbled down to the bathroom and got ready for bed. I got to the stairs and looked up and sighed. Ranger picked me up and carried me up to Morelli's bed. This damsel-in-distress thing was getting old.

The pain pill knocked me out and I slept fitfully for three or four hours. When I woke, the house was quiet and dark. My leg was killing me, and I needed to tinkle. I got out of bed and tried to be as quiet as I could so as to not disturb Joe in the spare room or Ranger down below on the couch. I used the facilities and then decided it would be a good idea to go downstairs to get another pain pill from the kitchen. I crept down the stairs as quietly as I could, whispered to Bob that it was me so he wouldn't bark, and then tried to creep quietly down the hallway and into the kitchen. I turned on the light and ran a glass of water from the tap. I heard a noise behind me. Apologizing for waking him up, I turned around expecting to see Ranger. Instead I was faced with Mario. Mario was pointing a gun at me and blocking my way back to the hall. Bob came charging down the hall and ran over to me and leaned into my leg to have his ears rubbed. As terror surfaced, blood ran from my head and pooled in my feet. Black spots danced before my eyes. My only hope, I thought, was to keep him talking long enough to have Ranger and Morelli wake up. Pretending to be brave, I said "how did you get here?"

"I've been sleeping here at nights", Mario replied. "There is a window in the basement I broke and opened a few days ago. I come in at night, just before you go to bed, when you won't hear the sounds of me getting into the basement. I've been waiting to get to you."

"Why are you threatening me?"

"Because you are ruining everything! All I wanted to do was get some money, so I didn't have to go to jail. In jail, they make you go to the bathroom on a toilet without a toilet seat, in front of everyone. I don't want to do that. And it's not even fair. It's not like I got to keep the TVs. It was just a lark, a drunken lark. I shouldn't have to go to jail for that.

"But I knew if I didn't go to jail," he continued, "Mom could lose her house. And I didn't want that to happen. So I followed Vinnie one night back to his house, intending to ask him for help. Shortly after Vinnie went in the house, Lucille came out. So I waited, trying to get up my nerve to talk to Vinnie. Then, after a couple of minutes of planning out what I would say to him, I saw Joyce Barnhardt drive up. A couple of seconds later I saw Vicky Trimble and her dog show up. I knew whatever was happening would be good if Joyce and Vinnie were involved. So I crept up to the windows and what do you think I saw? Joyce and Vinnie and the dog doing things no dog should ever do. So I used my phone and taped it. And I thought, maybe, I could get enough money to pay back the bond. Then I could disappear, I wouldn't have to go to jail and Mom wouldn't lose her house. It was a good plan.

"But then you came along", he said. "You started asking questions. You started sticking your nose into everything."

"Joe asked me to. He was worried about you ... What about Tessa and the kids?" I asked.

"Things haven't been good between Tessa and me for a while now. It's not like it used to be. It's not good like it is between Tina and me. I was planning on taking Tina with me when I disappeared, but I was leaving Tessa behind. I don't want kids – they are sniveling, whiny little brats. Tina doesn't want kids. She's the perfect person for me.

"Like you are for Joe. And that's another reason why I was after you. Because of Joe. He was always the golden boy. He was always the example child. All my life: 'Why don't you act more like Joe?' 'Why don't you join the military, like Joe?' 'Why don't you join the police force, like Joe?' 'Why don't you get a job, like Joe?' BECAUSE I DON'T FUCKING WANT TO! After I married Tess and had the kids, the comparisons slackened off. But now I was caught with the TVs, it started again. 'Why can't you be more like Joe?' Well, Joe has the perfect life. And I wanted to take away part of that perfect life, to make him hurt like I have been hurt.