Turbo Twenty-Three

One

Monday

Larry Virgil is a lanky, grease--stained guy in his forties. He lives alone in the back room of his auto body shop on Baker Street in north Trenton, and he hasn t cut his hair in at least ten years. For all I know that was also the last time he washed it. He has a reputation for drinking too much and abusing women, and he has a hotdog with testicles tattooed on his forehead. I suppose it might be a penis, but it s not a very good tattoo, and I prefer to think it s a hotdog.
None of this would be any of my business, but a couple months ago Trenton s finest caught Virgil hijacking an eighteen--wheeler filled with cases of premium bourbon. Virgil was arrested and subsequently bonded out by my bail bondsman cousin and employer, Vincent Plum. Virgil failed to appear for his court appearance a week ago, and Vinnie isn t happy. If Virgil isn t brought back into the system in a timely fashion, Vinnie will lose his bond money.
My name is Stephanie Plum. I m a college graduate with virtually no marketable skills, so for the past several years I ve been tracking down Vinnie s skips. What I lack in expertise I make up for with desperation and tenacity, because I only get paid when I catch someone.
It was ten o clock at night in mid--September, and cool enough for me to need a sweatshirt over my T--shirt. I was currently pulling surveillance on Larry Virgil s three--bay garage, hoping to catch him entering or exiting. I was with my wheelman, Lula. We d been sitting across from the garage for over two hours and my eyes were crossing out of boredom.
This isn t going anywhere, I said to Lula. He isn t answering his phone, and there aren t any lights on in the building.
Lula is a former ho who Vinnie hired as a file clerk a while back. When files went digital he didn t have the guts to fire her, so now Lula shows up every day for work and pretty much does whatever she wants. Mostly she hangs with me. She s shorter than I am. She packs a

Janet Evanovich is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum series, the Knight and Moon series, the Fox and O’Hare series, the Lizzy and Diesel series, the Alexandra Barnaby novels and Troublemaker graphic novel, and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author.