Hard Eight: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich

Author:Janet Evanovich [Evanovich, Janet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Humorous, Romance, Romantic Comedy
ISBN: 9780312983864
Google: Dw3B71AHmj0C
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2003-06-16T17:24:05+00:00

AN HOUR LATER, I pulled into my lot with Kloughn yammering away alongside me. I had Godsmack plugged into my CD player, but I couldn't get the volume loud enough to totally drown out Kloughn.

"Boy, that was something," Kloughn said. "I've never seen a movie star up close before. And especially naked ones. I didn't look too much, did I? I mean, you couldn't help looking, right? Even you looked, right?"

Right. But I didn't get down on my knees to examine the pubic hair thunderbolt.

I parked and walked Kloughn to his car, making sure he got safely out of the lot. I turned to go into the building and let out a yelp when I bumped into Ranger.

He was standing close, and he was smiling. "Big date?"

"It's been a strange day."

"How strange?"

I told him about Vinnie and the porno movie.

Ranger tipped his head back and laughed out loud. Not something I see very often.

"Is this a social visit?" I asked.

"As social as I get. I'm on my way home from a job."

"Home to the Bat Cave." No one knew where Ranger lived. The address on his driver's license was a vacant lot.

"Yeah. The Bat Cave," Ranger said.

"I'd like to see the Bat Cave sometime."

Our eyes held.

"Maybe someday," he said. "Looks like you could use some bodywork on your car."

I told him about the spiders and about Abruzzi suggesting to me that at some point in time he'd rip my heart out.

"Let me get this straight," Ranger said. "You were driving along after being attacked by a flock of geese, and a spider jumped at you and caused you to smash into a parked car."

"Stop smiling," I said. "It isn't funny. I hate spiders."

He slung an arm around my shoulders. "I know you do, babe. And you're worried Abruzzi will make good on his threat."

"Yes."

"You have too many dangerous men in your life."

I looked at him sideways. "Do you have any suggestions on how I can cut the list down?"

"You could kill Abruzzi." I raised my eyebrows. "No one would mind," Ranger said. "He's not a popular guy."

"And the other dangerous men in my life?"

"Not life threatening. You might get your heart broken, but you won't get it ripped out of your body."

Oh boy. That's supposed to make me feel relaxed?

"Aside from your suggestion of killing Abruzzi, I don't know how to get him to stop," I said to Ranger. "Soder might want his daughter back, but Abruzzi is after something else. And whatever it is that Abruzzi is after, he thinks I'm after it, too." I looked up at my window. I wasn't real crazy about entering my apartment alone. The heart-ripping-out thing still had me feeling spooked. And every now and then I felt nonexistent spiders crawling on me. "So," I said, "as long as you're here, I don't suppose you'd want to come up and have a glass of wine?"

"Are you inviting me for more than wine?"

"Sort of."

"Let me take a guess. You want me to make sure your apartment is secure.

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