Read Online 14bis Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich - Free Book Online Page A

“Who‘s here?”
    There are many members of my family tree who would like to take an axe to Vinnie‘s limb. He‘s a decent judge of people, and that makes him a good bail bondsman. Unfortunately, he‘s also oily, addicted to every vice possible, and sees nothing wrong with being a sexual deviant, so his score as a human being isn‘t all that great.
    “It‘s Diesel,” Connie said. “Stephanie‘s friend.”
    “So what are you doing here?” Vinnie asked Diesel. “Are you porking her?”
    “Not yet,” Diesel said.
    “Why aren‘t you working? What do you do?”
    “I work for the power company. I‘m the guy who pushes the disconnect button.”
    “That sounds like fun,” Vinnie said.
    “It has its moments.”
    I gave Connie my body receipt. “You‘ll never guess. Purely by accident, I ran into Hector Mendez.”
    “I thought he was dead.”
    “Nope. He‘s alive and kicking.”
    “He‘s alive, but he wasn‘t doing much kicking after Kung Fu Princess here got done with him,” Diesel said.
    “Ha!” Vinnie said. “I bet she got him in the ol‘ casabas.”
    “Gave my boys the creepy crawlies just looking at it,” Diesel told him.
    “Gives my boys the creepy crawlies thinking she‘s wasting her time on Mendez,” Vinnie said. “Mendez is penny-ante. I need to see Munch get his shrimp ass hauled back to the slammer. I don‘t have Munch by the end of the month, and I‘m gonna have to move to South America. I‘m out Munch money, and I‘m in the red. And Harry don‘t like the color red unless it‘s blood.”
    “Harry?” Diesel asked.
    “Harry the Hammer. His financial backer who also happens to be his father-in-law,” I told him.
    Diesel smiled, and Vinnie gave his head a shake, as if even after all these years he still didn‘t believe it.
    I took my capture check from Connie and dropped it into my bag. “See you all tomorrow.”
    “Yeah,” Vinnie said, “and make sure you have Munch‘s body receipt next time you waltz in here.”
    Diesel and I left the office, and Diesel beeped the Escalade unlocked. “And you‘re working for him, why?”
    “It annoys my mother. I don‘t have to wear pantyhose. And I‘m not sure anyone else would hire me.”
    “All good reasons.”
    Diesel drove us back to my apartment, and when we walked in, Carl was still watching tele vision.
    “I was hoping he‘d made dinner,” Diesel said.
    “Do you cook?”
    “No. Do you?”
    “No. I can open a jar of marinara sauce, dial pizza, and I can make a sandwich.”
    “Works for me,” Diesel said. “What‘s your choice for to night?”
    “Sandwich.”
    We worked our way through ham-and-cheese sandwiches, a tub of macaroni salad, and half an apple pie. We‘d just finished the pie when Diesel‘s phone rang. This was cause for concern because in the short time I‘d known Diesel, his phone had never rung for anything good. He didn‘t get social calls, family calls, or dinner invitations. It looked to me like only a few people had his number, and their calls were always work related.
    “Yeah?” he said into the phone. He listened for a moment, told the caller he was on his way, and disconnected. “We have to hustle,” he said to me. “Flash is on Wulf‘s tail.”
    I grabbed my bag, and we rushed out of the apartment and ran to the Escalade. Diesel took us out of the lot to Hamilton and headed for Broad.
    “I had Flash watch the Ferrari,” Diesel said. “I knew Wulf would come back for it.”
    I was familiar with Flash from previous Diesel visits. From what I could tell, Flash was a nice guy who did odd jobs and had no special talents other than the ability to tolerate Diesel. He was five feet ten, with spiked red hair and multiple piercings in his ears. He was slim and at first glance looked younger than his actual age, which I thought was probably early thirties.
    We picked up South Broad and Flash called in.
    “I‘m on the outskirts of Bordentown. I‘m betting he‘s going for the