'I'm heading out then. See you tomorrow.'
I slid behind the wheel and called Morelli.
'What's happening?' I asked.
'Murder, mayhem. The usual stuff.'
'Are you up for dinner with my parents?'
'Yeah, I'm afraid if I don't fill that seat you'll bring in the second team.'
'Very funny. See you there at six.'
Ranger followed me into my apartment. 'My radar is humming so loud it's giving me a headache. This guy is watching you. I know he's there. And I can't get a fix on him.' He removed his gun and put it on the counter next to his keys. 'What do you know about Meri Maisonet?'
'Almost nothing. New to the area. Didn't show up for the interview in black leather, and didn't say she wanted to kill people, so we hired her.'
'She has cop written all over her.'
'She said her father was a cop. Connie ran her, and she seemed to check out.'
Ranger punched her into his computer. 'Let's
see what we get.'
Twenty minutes into the computer search, my phone rang. I answered on speaker phone so Ranger could hear. There was a pause, and then Scrog's voice.
'I followed you around today. I saw you make the capture. Not bad, but I could teach you some things,' Scrog said.
'Like what?'
'I could teach you to shoot. I know a lot about guns. I could teach you about everything. And I don't like that you look so unprofessional. You don't look like a bounty hunter. If we're going to work together you have to dress better. You should look like that other bounty hunter who came to the office. The one with the red hair.'
'Joyce Barnhardt?'
'I don't know. The one in the black leather. She looked great. You need to dress like that from now on if you want to hook up with me.'
I glanced at Ranger and caught him almost smiling.
'Maybe,' I said to Scrog.
'No! You'll do as I say. We're a team. You have to do as I say.'
'Okay, I'll dress like that if you will. Is that a deal?'
'Yeah. Okay. It's a deal.'
'So, what are you doing these days? Have you made any captures lately?'
'I captured my daughter.'
'That wasn't a capture. She probably wanted to go with you.'
'Yeah, but it was tricky. I had to get her on a plane and everything.'
I could hear his voice ratchet up a notch. He wanted to brag about his kidnapping success. 'How did you do that?'
'You're going to love this. I drugged her, and then I wrapped her leg in one of those inflatable casts and put her in a wheel chair. Everyone thought she was drugged because she was in all this pain and flying to Jersey for special medical help. Pretty good, huh?'