'No guns drawn?'
'No. Not necessary.'
'I guess you made an impression.'
'Apparently. That was the only connection I could find.'
I went into the kitchen and investigated the refrigerator. It was filled with Ranger food. Sandwiches, fruit, low-fat cream cheese, yogurt, and assorted snack vegetables all cut and washed. I selected a baby carrot and dropped it into Rex's cage. I looked at the phone on the counter by the cage and saw that I now had a working answering machine.
'I don't want an answering machine,' I yelled at Ranger.
'When this is over you can throw it away.'
I took a turkey sandwich and brought it to the table to eat.
'I thought you had spaghetti for lunch,' Ranger said.
'I wore it. I didn't get to eat any. The entire country's looking for Scrog. Hard to believe he hasn't been caught.'
'He's enjoying the game,' Ranger said. 'Probably has Julie stashed somewhere and goes out in disguise. He'll be careful at first, but the longer the game goes on the more chances he'll take.'
'Is there something I can do?'
'You can go about your business, so he has a chance to make a move on you.' He took a cell phone from the table. 'If you need to call me, use this phone. My number's programmed in. And make sure you're always wearing the panic button. It's tied into the RangeMan network. I can track you if you're wearing the button. If you catch someone following you, don't try to lose him.'
I looked at the car keys on the table.
'I'll be in a blue Honda Civic, a silver BMW sedan, or a silver Toyota Corolla,' Ranger said. 'And Tank will be in a green Ford Explorer.'
'I'll be in a black and white Mini Cooper,' I said. And my knees will be knocking.
I drove to the bonds office and parked at the curb where I could easily be seen. Stephanie Plum, psycho bait. Lula and Connie and Melvin were huddled around Connie's desk, debating the files in front of them.
'These people all creep me out,' Lula said. 'I don't want to work with none of them.'
'I liked the blond woman with the eagle tattooed on her big huge breast,' Melvin said.
We all turned to look at him, and he blushed bright red.
'Pickle, if you want to be a pervert you gotta stop blushing like that,' Lula said. 'You're gonna give perverts a bad name.'
The door opened and a woman walked in. 'I heard you're looking for someone to do bond enforcement,' she said.
We looked her over. No black leather, no tattoos that were visible, no gun strapped to her leg, no obvious missing teeth. Already she was ahead of everyone else. She was about my height and weight. Maybe a little chunkier. She had short brown hair cut into a bob. Not a lot of makeup. Some lip gloss. She was wearing a three-button collared knit shirt and tan slacks. She was perfectly pleasant-looking and amazingly forgettable.
She extended her hand. 'Meri Maisonet.'
'Maisonet,' Lula said. 'Isn't that a puppet?'
'That's marionette,' Connie said.
'I haven't got a lot of experience,' Meri said, 'but I'm a fast learner. My dad was a cop in Chicago, so I grew up around law enforcement types.'
Connie gave her one of the forms we'd printed out, asking for name and vital statistics… like human being, yes or no. When she left Connie punched her name into the computer.
'She looked sort of normal,' Lula said. 'What's with that?'
The information started flooding in.