Plum Spooky

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Diesel standing about twenty feet behind me, relaxed, looking amused.

“Walk away,” Wulf said to Diesel.

Diesel shook his head no. His mouth still held the very small smile, but his eyes were hard.

Wulf moved close to me, wrapped his hand around my arm, and I felt a buzz of electricity run from his hand to my fingertips.

“Get in the car,” he said.

“No.”

“I could snap your neck.”

“And I could shove your nuts into your small intestine with my knee.”

This was absolute bravado on my part. It was one thing to sort of accidentally on purpose co

“Release her,” Diesel said.

Wulf‘s voice was low and silky. Wind whispering in the trees. “I won‘t tolerate interference in my business. If necessary, I‘ll destroy you and everyone associated with you.”

Diesel‘s posture was relaxed. No fear visible. “I have a job to do. Nothing personal, but I will do it.”

“We‘ll take this up some other day,” Wulf said.

He released my arm and stepped away from me. There was a blast of heat and a flash of fire, and when the smoke cleared, Wulf was gone. The car was still there.

Diesel was hands on hips, looking disgusted. He gave his head a small shake. “Mr. Hollywood.”

“I didn‘t see nothing,” Mendez said, still on the ground. “I don‘t know what just happened, and I didn‘t see it.”

I made a move to the car, and Diesel pulled me back. “You don‘t want to touch Wulf‘s car,” he said. “You never know what might happen.”

I PROCESSED MENDEZ and returned to Diesel. He was parked in the public lot across the street from the court, and he was zoned out behind the wheel. I slid onto the seat next to him and buckled myself in.

“You look deep in thought,” I said to him.

“I should have known Wulf was in the building.”

“Maybe his blood vessels were expanded.”

Diesel grimaced.

“Or maybe he wasn‘t in the building. Maybe we caught him going in. Maybe he‘d just got there,” I said.

“That‘s a happy idea. That would make me feel much better, because the possibility that I might have lost my ability to sense Wulf depresses the crap out of me.”

“How did he disappear in a flash of fire?”

“The fire and smoke is right out of the Magic for Dummies book. Any nine-year-old kid can do it. And it creates a diversion for his exit.” Diesel rolled the engine over. “Now what?”

“Back to the office so I can collect my capture money.” We got to the office in less than ten minutes, due to the fact that every light was green and traffic was non ex is tent.

Diesel parked at the curb and gri

“That was pure luck,” I said to him. “I don‘t for one instant believe you can control traffic lights.”

“I didn‘t say anything.”

“You gri

“We could make a bet,” Diesel said.

“Can I set the stakes?”

He shook his head. “No. It‘s my ability that‘s called into question. I think it‘s fair that I set the stakes.”

“No way.”

“Afraid you‘ll lose?”

“Not willing to take a chance.”

“This isn‘t doing a lot for my ego,” Diesel said.

“Your ego doesn‘t seem especially fragile.”

“That doesn‘t mean I can‘t be crushed. I‘m only human… sort of.”

I did a mental eye roll and got out of the car. “If you said that to a health care professional, they‘d shoot you full of Thorazine.”

“Hey, look who‘s here,” Co

Vi

There are many members of my family tree who would like to take an axe to Vi

“It‘s Diesel,” Co

“So what are you doing here?” Vi

“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 disco

“That sounds like fun,” Vi

“It has its moments.”

I gave Co

“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!” Vi

“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,” Vi

“Harry?” Diesel asked.

“Harry the Hammer. His financial backer who also happens to be his father-in-law,” I told him.

Diesel smiled, and Vi

I took my capture check from Co

“Yeah,” Vi

Diesel and I left the office, and Diesel beeped the Escalade unlocked. “And you‘re working for him, why?”

“It a

“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 di

“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 di

“Yeah?” he said into the phone. He listened for a moment, told the caller he was on his way, and disco

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 Turnpike,” Flash said and disco

“He always goes south,” Diesel said to me. “I got hung up in traffic on Broad Street when I was following him, and I suspected he went to the Turnpike, but I couldn‘t catch him.”