High Five Read Online Free Page A

tall?”
    â€œThree feet tall and uncooperative. I should have read the physical description on his application for appearance bond before I knocked on his door. Don’t suppose anything else came in?”
    â€œSorry,” Connie said. “Nothing.”
    â€œThis is turning into a real bummer of a day. My uncle Fred is missing. He went out to run errands on Friday, and that was the last anyone’s seen him. They found his car in the Grand Union parking lot.” No need to mention the butchered body.
    â€œI had an uncle do that once,” Lula said. “He walked all the way to Perth Amboy before someone found him. It was one of them senior moments.”
    The door to the inner office was closed, and Ranger was nowhere to be seen, so I guessed he was talking to Vinnie. I cut my eyes in that direction. “Ranger in there?”
    â€œYeah,” Connie said. “He did some work for Vinnie.”
    â€œWork?”
    â€œDon’t ask,” Connie said.
    â€œNot bounty hunter stuff.”
    â€œNot nearly.”
    I left the office and waited outside. Ranger appeared five minutes later. Ranger’s Cuban-American. His features are Anglo, his eyes are Latino, his skin is the color of a mocha latte, and his body is as good as a body can get. He had his black hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing a black T-shirt that fit him like a tattoo and black SWAT pants tucked into black high-top boots.
    â€œYo,” I said.
    Ranger looked at me over the top of his shades. “Yo yourself.”
    I gazed longingly at his car. “Nice Mercedes.”
    â€œTransportation,” Ranger said. “Nothing fancy.”
    Compared to what? The Batmobile? “Connie said you were talking to Vinnie.”
    â€œTransacting business, babe. I don’t
talk
to Vinnie.”
    â€œThat’s sort of what I’d like to discuss with you . . . business. You know how you’ve kind of been my mentor with this bounty hunter stuff?”
    â€œEliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins Do Trenton.”
    â€œYeah. Well, the truth is, the bounty huntering isn’t going all that good.”
    â€œNo one’s jumping bail.”
    â€œThat too.”
    Ranger leaned against his car and crossed his arms over his chest. “And?”
    â€œAnd I’ve been thinking maybe I should diversify.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œAnd I thought you might help me.”
    â€œYou talking about building a portfolio? Investing money?”
    â€œNo. I’m talking about
making
money.”
    Ranger tipped his head back and laughed softly. “Babe, you don’t want to do that kind of diversifying.”
    I narrowed my eyes.
    â€œOkay,” he said. “What did you have in mind?”
    â€œSomething legal.”
    â€œThere’s all kinds of legal.”
    â€œI want something entirely legal.”
    Ranger leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Let me explain my work ethic to you. I don’t do things I feel are morally wrong. But sometimes my moral code strays from the norm. Sometimes my moral code is inconsistent with the law. Much of what I do is in that gray area just beyond entirely legal.”
    â€œAll right then, how about steering me toward something mostly legal and definitely morally right.”
    â€œYou sure about this?”
    â€œYes.” No. Not at all.
    Ranger’s face was expressionless. “I’ll think about it.”
    He slipped into his car, the engine caught, and Ranger rolled away.
    I had a missing uncle who quite possibly had butchered a woman and stuffed her parts into a garbage bag, but I also was a month overdue on my rent. Somehow I was going to have to manage both problems.

 
TWO
    Â 
    I WENT BACK to Cloverleaf Apartments and parked in the lot. I got a black nylon web utility belt from the back of the Buick and strapped it on, arming it with a stun gun, pepper spray, and cuffs. Then I went in search of the building