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“No.”
It's not a long drive from the office to my apartment building. A couple miles. Progress is slowed by lights and occasionally traffic, depending on the time of day. I would have liked the drive to be longer today. I felt safe from Abruzzi when I was with Ranger.
Ranger turned into my lot and parked. “There's a man in the SUV by the Dumpster,” Ranger said. “Do you know him?”
“No. He doesn't live in the building.”
“Let's talk to him.”
Ranger and I got out of the truck, walked to the SUV, and Ranger rapped on the driver's side window.
The driver rolled the window down. “Yeah?”
“Waiting for someone?”
“What's it to you?”
Ranger reached in, grabbed the guy by the front of his jacket, and pulled him halfway through the window.
“I'd like you to take a message to Eddie Abruzzi,” Ranger said. “Can you do that for me?”
The driver nodded.
Ranger released the driver and stepped back. “Tell Abruzzi he's lost the war, and he should move on.”
We both had guns drawn, and we kept them steady on the SUV until it was out of sight.
Ranger looked up at my window. “We're going to stand here for a minute to give the rest of the team time to get out of your apartment. I don't want to have to shoot anybody. I'm on a tight schedule today. I don't w
ant to get hung up filling out police forms.”
We waited five minutes and then went into the building and took the stairs. The second-floor hall was empty. The keypad reported that security had been breached on my apartment. Ranger went in first and walked through. The apartment was empty.
The phone rang just as Ranger was leaving. It was Eddie Abruzzi and he wasted no time with me. He asked for Ranger.
Ranger put him on the speakerphone.
“Stay out of this,” Abruzzi said. “This is a private matter between the girl and me.”
“Wrong. As of this moment, you're out of her life.”
“So you're choosing sides?”
“Yeah, I'm choosing sides.”
“You leave me no choice then,” Abruzzi said. “I suggest you look out the window, into the parking lot.” And he disconnected.
Ranger and I walked to the window and looked out. The SUV was back. It pulled up to Ranger's truck with the bug-eyed lights, the guy in the passenger side lobbed a package into the truck bed, and the truck was instantly engulfed in flames.
We stood there for a few minutes, watching the spectacle, listening to the sirens get closer.
“I liked that truck,” Ranger said.
BY THE TIME Morelli arrived it was after six and the remains of the truck were being hauled onto a flatbed. Ranger was finishing up police paperwork. He looked over at Morelli and gave him a nod of acknowledgment.
Morelli stood very close to me. “Do you want to tell me about this?” he asked.
“Off the record?”
