“He hit me with a bag of garbage.”
Morelli and Ranger were smiling again.
“Don't say anything,” I told them. “And if you value your lives you'll stop grinning.”
“Hey, man,” Ranger said, grinning wider than ever. “I'm out of here. I've got to take Bluto for a ride.”
“Show's over,” Morelli said to the neighbors.
Sandy Polan was there. She gave Joe an appraising once-?over, giggled, and left.
“What was that about?” Joe asked me.
I gave him a palms-?up. “Go figure.”
I traded his jacket for my sweater when we got to his truck. “Out of morbid curiosity, how long were you standing there watching me wrestle with Ruzick?”
“Not long. A minute or two.”
“And Ranger?”
“The same.”
“You could have jumped in and helped me.”
“We were trying. We couldn't get hold of you the way you were tumbling around. Anyway, you looked like you were doing okay.”
“How did you know where I was?”
“I talked to Ranger. He called your cell phone.”
I looked down at my dress. It was probably wrecked. Good thing I hadn't worn the little black number.
“Where were you? I went to the men's room, and it was empty.”
“Frankie needed some air.” Morelli stopped
for a light and glanced over at me. “Whatever possessed you to go after Alphonse like that? You were unarmed.”
Charging after Alphonse wasn't what bothered me. Okay, so it hadn't been the bright thing to do. But it hadn't been as stupid as walking the streets, alone and unarmed, when Ramirez might have been stalking me.
Morelli parked the truck in the lot and walked me up to my apartment. He backed me against my door and kissed me lightly on the lips. “Do I get to come in?”
“I have coffee grounds in my hair.” And Randy Briggs in my apartment.
“Yeah,” Morelli said. “Makes you smell kind of homey.”
“I don't know if I'm up to being romantic tonight.”
“We don't have to be romantic,” Morelli said. “We could just have some really dirty sex.”
I rolled my eyes.
Morelli kissed me again. A good-?night kiss this time. “Call me when you want some,” he said.
“Some what?” As if I didn't know.
“Some anything.”