'How about Ranger? Have you heard from Ranger?'
'Not a word.'
Rats. He wasn't supposed to be back for at least another week, but I didn't want to take any chances on being caught in his bed.
Or even worse, in his shower!
Connie's eyes fixed on my hat. 'That looks like Ranger's hat.'
'He gave it to me.' It was a perfectly good fib. If he gave me his truck, why not his hat?
Connie looked like she bought it.
'I wish Ranger would get his butt back here,' Connie said. 'I'm not happy about you going after Rodriguez. What land of a person would carry a thumb around with him?'
'A crazy person?'
'It's creepy. If you want, I can call Tank to go with you.'
'No!' Last time I went out with Tank he broke his leg. Then his substitute got a concussion. I was hell on Ranger's Merry Men. Bad enough I was squatting in his apartment, I didn't want to compound the damage by wiping out his workforce. And if I was being totally honest, I'd have to admit that time spent with Tank was uncomfortable. Tank was Ranger's right-hand man. He was the guy who watched Ranger's back. He was entirely trustworthy, but he rarely spoke, and he never shared his thoughts. I'd reached a sort of telepathic state with Ranger. I hadn't a clue what was in
Tank's mind. Maybe nothing at all.
`I'm a lot more worried about Junkman than I am about
Rodriguez,' I said to Connie.
'Have you seen Junkman?'
'No.'
'Do you know what he looks like?'
'No.'
'Do you know why you're on his list?'
'Does there have to be a reason?'
'There's usually a reason,' Connie said.
'I can identify Ward as the Red Devil, and I bounced Eugene
Brown off my Buick.'
'That could be it,' Connie said. 'Or it could be something else.'
'Like what?'
Connie shrugged. 'I don't know gangs, but I know something about the mob. Usually when someone's targeted for takeout, it's about power... keeping it or getting it.'
'How does that relate to me?'
If it's an entire gang that's out to get you, you move far away. If it's only one member, you can eliminate the problem by eliminating the member.'
'Are you suggesting I kill Junkman?'
`I'm suggesting you try to find out why Junkman has you on his list.'