Dirty Thirty (Stephanie Plum, #30)(12)

I flashed my key card at the garage gate and found a parking space by the elevator. This key card is priceless. Ranger’s mother doesn’t have one. Only trusted Rangeman employees have key cards… and me. I’m not sure why I’ve got one, but I suspect it has something to do with Ranger’s deciding it was easier to give me the keys to the candy store than it was to stop me from trying to break in when I needed help.

There’s constant audio and video surveillance throughout the building, with the exception of Ranger’s lair on the top floor. I waved at the camera in front of the elevator, and the doors opened. I stepped inside and punched the button for the fifth floor.

I walked past the control room and the café and followed the hallway to the end, where Ranger has an office suite. I found him relaxed back in his desk chair, waiting for me. He was in the black everyday fatigues that all Rangemen wore.

“I guess you saw me on the monitor,” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “Plus, the front desk alerted me, and so did the control room.”

There are no secrets at Rangeman.

I sat in one of the two chairs in front of his desk. “Do you have time to talk?”

“Will it be a long conversation?”

“Word on the street is that you’re looking for Nutsy Manley.”

“And?”

“And I am too. Plover hired me to find him.”

“You have my attention,” Ranger said.

“Plover thinks Manley stole a tray of diamonds.”

“This isn’t breaking news.”

“Do you think he took the diamonds?”

“I don’t know,” Ranger said. “There’s something that feels off about the robbery.”

“Which robbery? The Duncan Dugan robbery in the afternoon? Or the safe robbery that Plover accused Nutsy of executing?”

“Both of them.”

“Morelli’s advice was that I don’t get involved.”

“But you are involved?”

“Yep. Plover hired me to find Nutsy, and Vinnie needs me to find Dugan, who skipped.”

“Babe.”

Depending on the inflection, babe can mean many things in Ranger-speak. This babe was said with a smile. So, here’s another possible reason why I have a key card. Ranger finds me amusing.

“Why are you looking for Nutsy?” I asked him.

“Rangeman installed and maintains the security system for Plover’s Jewelry. The robbery wasn’t the result of a system failure, but I still feel a certain responsibility. And I’m curious. Neither the stolen jewelry nor the tray of diamonds has been recovered. Duncan Dugan said he panicked and dropped the garbage bag with the stolen jewelry on the street, but the bag hasn’t been found.”

“And then Nutsy disappeared, much like the garbage bag, and the tray of diamonds,” I said.

“Yes.”

“Are you having any luck finding him?” I asked Ranger.

“No, but I haven’t made a serious effort. It hasn’t been a priority.”

“I went to school with Nutsy. He was sort of a misfit in an interesting kind of way. He’d do anything on a dare.”

Ella brought a tray of sandwiches into Ranger’s office and set them on his desk. “Nice to see you,” she said to me. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Ella and her husband managed the Rangeman building, and Ella managed Ranger. She prepared many of his meals and made sure his clothes were perfectly laundered and folded, his apartment was immaculate, his toiletries were always in place, and his towels were fluffy.

Ranger chose turkey on wheat, and I took egg salad. Ella made amazing egg salad.

“I can run some searches on Manley,” Ranger said.

“That would be great. And speaking of searches, I have another favor to ask.”

“I’m running a tab,” Ranger said. “You don’t want to owe me more than you’re willing to pay.”

This prompted a short stare-down. We both knew what Ranger wanted in payment. This was a game we’d been playing for a while, and truth is, we both enjoyed it.

“I could use some help accessing video on Duncan Dugan,” I said.

“I heard he jumped off a ledge.”

“More like he slipped and fell. I thought he was safe in the medical center, but he’s disappeared.”

“When did this happen?” Ranger asked.

“This morning between seven and nine. No one saw him leave. I just came from his house. He wasn’t there. He has a compound fracture of the tibia and two cracked ribs for starters. He wasn’t in shape to walk out on his own. I’d like to know who helped him.”

Ranger called his control room and asked one of his technicians to get a video of Dugan’s hospital floor between the hours of seven and nine this morning.

“Plover told me he refused to install security cameras in the front of his store. I’m sure he regrets it now,” I said to Ranger. “Are there city or private cameras that you can tap into on that street?”

“It’s in a one-block dead zone. I can tap into the feeds on both cross streets, but there are no security or surveillance cameras on the seven hundred block of King Street. Not even a Ring doorbell.”

“And Plover only had a camera on his rear exit?”