12bis Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich

for ourselves."
     
    I shelved Gary Martin, rammed myself back into the Escape, and followed Diesel across town to Annie's house. It was exactly what I would have expected. A tidy cape with two front dormers. White siding and black shutters. Very traditional. White picket fence around the small yard. A red heart on the mailbox. We parked in the driveway and walked to the front door.
     
    "There's bad energy here," Diesel said.
     
    I took a step back. I didn't want to walk in and find Annie dead on her living room floor. "How bad are we talking about? Do I want to wait out here?"
     
    "Not that bad. Disrupted would be a better word."
     
    Diesel opened the door, and we walked into the dark, silent foyer. He flipped a light on, we worked our way through the house, and it was clear that the house had been tossed. Couch cushions were scattered, drawers were left open, beds were torn apart, toilet-tank tops were on the floor. No stone unturned. We checked all the closets, the basement, and the crawl spaces. No bodies found.
     
    We left Annie's house exactly as we found it, Diesel locked the door behind us, and we angled ourselves into his Vette to talk.
     
    "Someone was looking for something," I said to Diesel.
     
    "Yeah, and there might have been a struggle in the foyer. The vase was knocked off the sideboard onto the floor."
     
    "The obvious person is Bernie, but I don't know why he'd have reason to search the house. Do you suppose the police did this, searching for the supposedly stolen property?"
     
    "No," Diesel said. "This doesn't feel like a police search. And I doubt the police would go to this trouble for a charge I can almost guarantee will be dismissed. Annie's wanted for armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. A guy named Stanley Cramp claims Annie walked into his pawnshop, robbed him, and shot him in the foot. No weapon was found, but two witnesses can place Annie at the scene. Neither of them saw the robbery or assault happen."
     
    Diesel was turned toward me in the small car. His arm was resting on my seat back, and he was absentmindedly stroking my neck with his fingertip while he was talking. It was soothing and disturbingly erotic, all at the same time, and I was working hard to pay attention to the conversation and not to the warm fingertip.
     
    "Why was Annie in a pawnshop?" I asked Diesel.
     
    "Annie said she went into the pawnshop on a whim. She said she saw a necklace in the window that intrigued her. The two witnesses were in the shop when she went in. The witnesses left. Annie left shortly after that without the necklace. And minutes later the call went in to 911."
     
    "How was she identified?"
     
    "She'd parked in front of the shop, and Stanley Cramp took her plate down."
     
    "What is she accused of taking?" I asked Diesel.
     
    "The necklace. Nothing else."
     
    "Have you talked to Stanley Cramp?"
     
    "Not yet, but I think it's time. I'd like you to do it. See if you can charm something out of him. If that doesn't work, feel free to shoot him in the other foot."
     
    "That would be tough," I told him, "since I haven't got a gun."
     
    Diesel reached under his seat and pulled out a Glock.
     
    "I'm not going to take that!" I said.
     
    "Why not?"
     
    "I hate guns."
     
    "You can't hate guns. You're a bounty hunter."
     
    "Yes, but I almost never shoot people. Bounty hunters only shoot people on television."
     
    Diesel raised an eyebrow.
     
    "Okay, so maybe I shot a couple guys, but it wasn't my fault."
     
    "Just take the friggin' gun," Diesel said. "Stanley Cramp isn't a nice person."
     
    "Where am I going to find this guy?"
     
    "He lives in an apartment over the pawnshop, but at this time of day he'll be working. The pawnshop is a one-man operation, open seven days a week."
     
    I got out of Diesel's 'vette and into my Escape. I drove into the center of the city and took the side street that led to the pawnshop. I parked two doors down on the opposite side of the street. I left