Dirty Thirty (Stephanie Plum, #30)(17)

“Jeez.”

“His jewel-thief pseudonym was Duncan Dare.”

“I went through ‘Duncan Dare’s’ house yesterday. He’s very neat. The opposite of Nutsy. The one thing their places have in common is the complete absence of electronic devices. It’s hard to imagine these two guys being friends, they are such polar opposites. But they must know each other pretty well if Nutsy is writing stories with Duncan as the lead.”

“Unfortunately for Duncan Dugan, he doesn’t seem to have the skills of the fictional Duncan Dare. Duncan Dare succeeded at everything. He got the jewels. He got the beautiful women. His true identity was never revealed.”

“And he never fell off a ledge and broke all his bones.”

“Not in the material I read,” Ranger said. “While we’re on the subject of Nutsy Manley, someone blew up his parents’ car last night. We picked it up on the police band. No one was hurt.”

“Do you know who exploded the car?”

“No. And the police don’t seem to know either.”

Ranger drove down Faucet Street. Lights were on in a few houses. Early risers getting ready for work. No activity on the street. Seventy-two Faucet was dark. Ranger turned at the corner and drove down the alley so we could see Dugan’s house from the back. No cars parked in his yard. No lights on in his house. Ranger pulled to the side of the alley several houses away and we walked back to Dugan’s house.

“What exactly are you hoping to find here?” I asked Ranger.

“A more solid connection between the two men. A lead on their locations. Motivation for the robbery.”

The back door was closed but the lock hadn’t been repaired after Lula’s whack with the hammer. I opened the door and shouted, “Bond enforcement,” and we did a fast walk-through to make sure no one was in the house.

“Stay in the kitchen and watch the back door while I look around,” Ranger said. “If someone approaches, don’t let them get away.”

I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to accomplish this, but I gave him a thumbs-up.

The sun wasn’t visible, but the sky was getting brighter. I had no idea where Ranger was in the house. He moved like a cat. Silent and stealthy. I could imagine his value in Special Forces. He didn’t speak a lot about those years or why he left. One of Ranger’s many secrets.

I prowled through the kitchen in the morning light, imagining Duncan Dreary coming home after a day of examining buttons, making his dinner, wondering if there was more to life than buttons.

Headlights appeared in the kitchen window and were immediately extinguished. Moments later, I heard a car door slam shut. Someone had parked in Dugan’s small yard. I flattened myself against the wall beside the back door. If someone entered, I’d kick the door closed behind them and yell for Ranger. I heard someone fumbling with a key and then the doorknob turned. The door opened and a man walked in. I let him get halfway into the kitchen, I kicked the door closed, and I shouted for Ranger. The man turned and rushed at me. He shoved me away from the door and was about to run out. I didn’t have a gun, and I don’t have a lot of muscle, but I have boobs. So, I picked my T-shirt up and flashed my lacy pink bra at him.

“Hey!” I yelled. “Look at this!”

He stopped and stared, and Ranger stepped around me and pinned the man to the wall.

“Nice work,” Ranger said to me. “I like your weapon of choice.”

I straightened my T-shirt. “Might as well use ’em if you got ’em.”

The corners of his mouth tipped up in a smile. “We need to talk,” he said.

The guy pinned against the wall was shorter than Ranger. Maybe five foot ten. Slim. Brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. I would guess he was in his twenties. Looked like he was about to mess his pants.

Ranger took his hand off the man’s chest and stepped back. “It’s okay,” Ranger said. “I’m just going to ask you a few questions.”

“Sure,” the man said.

“Your name.”

“Jeff. I live down the street.” He held up a key. “I have a key. I feed Marty when Duncan works late.”

“Who’s Marty?” Ranger asked.

“The fish. Duncan’s fish.”

“Is that why you’re here now?”

“No. Duncan called and asked if I’d clean out his refrigerator and take out the trash. He said he wouldn’t be home being that he was in the hospital. He’s very neat.”

I introduced myself and told Jeff that I was looking for Duncan because he was overdue for his court date.

“Oh wow,” Jeff said. “Okay. That’s a relief. That was scary for a minute there. I didn’t know what to think. You should look for him in the hospital. I don’t know which one.”

“When did you talk to him?”

“This morning. He knows I’m up early. I work the early shift.”

“Did Duncan sound okay?” Ranger asked.

“No,” Jeff said. “He didn’t sound like himself, or maybe it’s that he sounded sort of out of it. From what I hear he broke a bunch of bones and I guess he’s kind of doped up.”

“We just walked through the house, and we didn’t see a fish,” I said.

“Sissy has him. Duncan said Sissy stopped by for Marty right after Duncan’s accident when he fell off the ledge.”