Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the Plum world. They were created by Janet Evanovich. Just taking them out for a test spin. Like I normally do. End Disclaimer
Summary: Set after 6. Written in '02. Ranger's daughter hires a PI to find her father. This is what happens along the way to a 13 year old and the PI.
Author's Note: Let me know if I should write a sequal to this and have Mags come work for Ranger. And if she does, who should I put her with? Ranger or one of the guys?
A Dollars Worth
Pre Plum…
The Family Law courtroom was stuffy and quiet. Ricardo Carlos Manoso sat behind the table with his lawyer. If everything worked out the way he wanted, he would have visitation with his daughter, finally. Glancing over to the other table he saw his ex-wife, Melinda Robertson, with all of her family's attorneys.
The Robertson family came from old money in Miami, Florida. Ricardo Manoso had been despised the minute Melinda brought him through the door. For years they had denied him access to his daughter Kensey. He wasn't even there when she was named. He didn't even get the right to name her.
Ricardo shook his head at the stuffed-shirt lawyers sitting across from them. His lawyer, Phillip Doll, put his hand on his arm. "It'll be okay. Just relax Ric. You'll get visitation."
Visitation. After all these years. I am more than ready to see my daughter, he thought. Aloud he said, "I'm trying Phil. I'm just nervous."
"Then relax."
The hearing had progressed slowly and when the judge hit the gavel down and said he had visitation rights he couldn't believe it. After all this time he had fought with his ex's family and now he finally had an edge to grip even though it was a small one. Any leverage at this point was a miracle.
Visitation was to start that afternoon. Ricardo paced in the hotel room; he had just gotten out of the Rangers and the army and would now have time to spend with his daughter. He was nervous. He hadn't seen her since she was a baby. She wouldn't remember him.
No telling what lies her mother filled her head with. But he had never forgotten Kensey. He couldn't forget his daughter. When the time came he drove over to his ex's parent's house where he was to meet his daughter after five long years of court battles.
Stepping out of the car and going up to the mammoth house he rang the bell. Soon he would be reunited with his daughter. His pulse was racing from the excitement that had built up. Anticipation just to see her again, to hold her.
The door was opened by the family butler and Ricardo was shown which room he could wait in. After forty minutes of waiting he was growing tired of this game this family had put him through. Leaving the room he found his ex-father-in-law.
In a commanding voice Ricardo said, "I want to see my daughter now."
The old man just glared at him and smiled. "She isn't here."
"What do you mean she isn't here? I'm tired of these games, let me see her now. I'll tear this house apart if I have to."
Ricardo stormed through the house and searched in vain. Cursing himself the whole time, knowing that this family would never let him see his daughter. Even with a court order in his favor they had succeeded once again in stripping away the precious girl that was his.
The present . . .
Ricardo Carlos Manoso had moved to Trenton, New Jersey. His business had taken off and he had acquired many new business associates and friends, including a certain novice bounty hunter at Plum Bail Bonds.
He had first met with her as a favor to Connie. The woman was interesting and she was Vinnie's cousin, Stephanie Plum. He had agreed to show her the ropes, though for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. Other than he needed a new toy to play with. So he ended up calling her Babe. She could at least be a distraction of sorts; he didn't have too many that looked this good.
had been pissed at himself for the last six years because he would get close to finding his daughter and his ex only to have them slip out of his grasp. His ex had changed their names as many times as a car needed its oil changed a year. And kept moving, always that one step ahead.
He knew it was just a matter of time before he found them. And when he did he felt like he would want to kill his ex. He was missing out on his daughter's life – had already missed so much. She would turn thirteen this year. Thirteen full years and he didn't want to miss any more.
A year ago he had followed a track across the country, but it had come to a dead end. He had been almost certain he would find them that time. The private investigator he had hired to follow his ex-in-laws was not paying off. They never led them to his daughter.
Over the last two years his distraction with Stephanie Plum had helped a little. It was now her naiveté that drew him to her. Not that she was naive about life but for the fact she was the wrong type of woman for the line of work that she was in.
One thing that did impress him was how she always managed to get her FTA and almost get killed in the process of doing it.
Time seemed to have been slipping away. He looked down at the report on the desk in front of him. Yet another dead-end where his daughter was concerned. He was the man who could find the worst skips and bring them in, yet he couldn't find the one thing he really wanted. The one thing that he always wanted.
In all it had been six years since that day in the courtroom giving him visitation rights to his daughter, and it had been ten long years since he had seen her.
He laid his head back on the back of his chair. "Where are you Kensey?" This was one question he wanted answers too.
The start of another school day found Jenny rushed. "Mom, I can't find it."
"Look in the top drawer in my room. It has to be there. Keep looking," her mother yelled from in the other room.
Yeah, right, mom. I already looked in there. Jenny opened the top drawer yet again. This time she started taking all the junk out looking for the pictures of her father. She had a report due in school and Mom said she had a few. She had everything ready but putting the pictures with the paper.
She had worked very hard on that report and Mom said she had his army pictures in the drawer. He had gotten killed when he was in the army and she hadn't ever even seen him. Mom told her he died before he could see her.
She had a good pile of stuff going when she pulled on the envelope toward the back and the bottom of the drawer came up. What's this? She pulled out everything and tugged on the bottom. It came open and inside was a birth certificate. The name was Kensey Michelle Manoso. She read over it and it had her birthday day on it.
The father's name was Ricardo Carlos Manoso and the mother's name was Melinda Michelle Manoso, her maiden name was Robertson. Grandmother and Grandfather's last name. She knew her mom's name was Melinda, but she had a different middle name and last name than the ones on the birth certificate.
But who's Kensey? My name's Jenny. Ricardo was Dad's first name. But what's with this Manoso? She looked further and found court papers. Showing that her mother got custody of Kensey and, looking more, she found papers showing that Ricardo had visitation rights.
But he's dead. And our last name is Sanchez, not Manoso. My Dad's last name was Sanchez. Wasn't it? Putting everything back where she found it she picked up the envelope it had pictures in it. Army pictures of Dad.
"Did you find it?" Her mother asked from the door, putting an earring in her ear.
"Yeah. It was under a lot of stuff in the back."
"See, I told you it would be there." She waved Jenny to her to hurry up. "Come on. You're going to be late for school."
Jenny took the envelope and grabbed her backpack and followed her mother out the door.
When Jenny got to school she went into her history class and turned in her family tree assignment. All day long she waited until she could get to computer class and get on the internet. Today was a free day in computer class and she really wanted to look up that name.
By the time computer class rolled around she was ready. Jenny had focused her energy into remembering that name. She sat down at the computer and started going through searches looking up Ricardo Carlos Manoso. After twenty minutes she found a hit and went and looked at it.
It was about a case that had caused a lot of problems in Trenton, New Jersey. The man that started the trouble was named Ramos. And there wasn't much about Ricardo Manoso other than the mention of his name in an editorial on the Ramos case. Jenny printed the file out and then went to the Trenton paper site itself.
Another name that came up with the Ramos name was Stephanie Plum. She searched the archive of the paper and didn't find anymore on Ricardo Manoso. But she found a lot of stories on Stephanie Plum. From burning down a funeral parlor to blowing up cars.
Jenny thought for sure she was reading about a movie and not about someone's real life. She printed out the stories just as the bell rang to end her school day.
"Come on, Jenny," Lauren said. "It's time to go."
Jenny got up from the computer and shoved the papers in her backpack. "Are you going on the wilderness retreat?" She asked Lauren.
"Yeah, my mom says I have to. I really don't want to but it'll help with my grade. How about you?"
"I'm still trying to talk my mom into it. Hopefully she'll let me go. I want to go." Jenny stopped at her locker. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye." Lauren ran off down the hall.
"Bye. Call me tonight."
"I will."
Jenny put her books up and grabbed the ones she had homework in and headed out the door. Her mother would be mad if she was late getting to the car. She normally was mad if Jenny didn't come exactly when school was over with. She always hated that about her mother. She couldn't stand around and talk to her friends.
And her mother never let her spend the night with a friend; they always had to come to her house. It was never the other way around. Jenny started walking to the car and got in.
"Well, how did you do on the history report?" Her mother asked.
"Won't know until at the end of the week," Jenny told her. She had kept one of the pictures out of the envelope for herself. Her mother never really wanted her to know anything about her father. Now she wondered if the real reason was because he was alive? Could she really be this girl Kensey? If she was, what had gone wrong that she wouldn't have her father's last name or the name she was born with?
The morning had gotten off on the wrong foot for Margret Rose, known as Mags to her friends. The office had four clients at the moment all wanting her to follow their husbands. This was the life of a private investigator, watching men go to work and back home. Most of the time you would actually catch one cheating.
Douglas Parker, her partner, always passed the husband-watching onto her. The last time he had taken one of these jobs, he done what he was supposed to do – followed the cheating husband to his rendezvous with his lover, and taken photos of the tryst. But it had turned his stomach. Because the man was cheating on his wife with another man and Douglas was very homophobic.
And today she was supposed to meet Lauren for lunch, she had promised her niece that she would and nothing was going to stand in the way of that promise. Not even the man she was supposed to be watching. He had done the same thing for the last three days. It was like he repeated himself and stuck to his pattern, and she was willing to bet on it today and meet her niece instead.
Starting the car, Mags left the boring world of husband-watching and drove over to Maxwell Middle School. If business kept picking up she and Douglas were going to have to add another PI. She'd make sure this one had no phobias.
The middle school wasn't that far and she felt sure she could get back before Darrell Swinton left for his afternoon break. And right now he was eating at the same deli he'd eaten in every day for lunch and he wasn't flirting with anyone. This file was going to be cut and dried, probably the wife was the one cheating and had a guilty conscience about it. Trying to find a way to divorce her husband.
Mags pulled into the school parking lot and grabbed Lauren's birthday gift. She registered with the school office and then went in search of the school cafeteria to eat with her niece.
Lauren was sitting at the table with a few other girls.
"Aunt Mags, you came." Lauren jumped up and ran to her and threw her arms around her aunt.
"What did you expect? Me not to show?" Mags asked her and handed Lauren the gift.
"You know how many times Mom and Dad say they are coming and they never do."
"Yeah, but I'm not your mom or your dad. When I make a promise I keep it."
Mags followed Lauren back to the table and she introduced all of her friends to her. All the girls were excited over the new CD that she bought for Lauren. When the talk settled down about that Lauren started asking about the PI business for the umpteenth time.
Mags had felt that Lauren thought the PI business was greater than life and sneaking around spying on people was so cool. All the other girls thought it was too.
The bell rang for the next class and Mags got up to walk Lauren to her class and one of the other girls stuck with them. Her name was Jenny Sanchez. Mags noticed the brown eyes and the sweet smile the girl had.
When they got to the room Lauren went in but Jenny stayed behind. "Aren't you going to class?" Mags asked her.
"I want to ask you something." Jenny had looked away making sure no one was around.
"Go for it." Mags said, smiling at the girl.
"I need to hire a private investigator."
Mags looked around and saw the girls bathroom down the hall. "Let's go to the bathroom, you can tell me why you think you need to hire someone like myself."
Jenny followed her into the bathroom and checked all the stalls. The room was empty. The bell rang for classes to start.
"Aren't you going to get in trouble for being late?"
"It's okay. It won't be the first time."
"So why do you think you need to hire a PI?"
Jenny sat her books on the counter by the sink and pulled out an envelope. "I think I'm not who I really think I am. I think I may have been kidnapped."
Alarm bells were going off in Mags's head. "Let me see what you have."
Jenny handed her the envelope. Yellow, fraying, a little dusty from sitting so long and Megs felt jolted back to the past. She had seen an envelope like this once and opened it. Her life had never been the same after. Mags fingered through the papers and stopped at the birth certificate. "Do you think you're this girl?"
Jenny nodded her head yes. "Can I hire you to find out for sure?" The girl's eyes were wide and serious and a little afraid. "I don't have much money."
Mags folded the papers and tucked them back into the envelope. She ran her hands through her light brown hair, trying to decide what she was going to do about the girl in front of her. Running some checks wouldn't hurt. "How much do you have?"
Jenny frowned. "My mom never lets me have any. Just a little bit for milk."
"Show me what you do have." Mags said in a trusting voice.
Jenny looked at her and stuck her hand in her pocket. Setting the change on the counter she had a full dollar.
Mags reached out and pocketed the change. "You got yourself a PI. Let me take this envelope and see what I can come up with. Then I'll come back here to the school and tell you what I've got. Deal?"
Jenny smiled at her. "Deal."
Watching the young girl leave, Mags grabbed the envelope. She wasn't sure why she took the case other than the fact that the girl had honest eyes. Heading back out she got in her car and left to go back to check on Darrell again. The man's life was boring and at least now Mags had something on her plate that wouldn't be boring. Even if her client was only thirteen years old and Mags's fee had been all of her milk money. At least it would prove to be more interesting than following cheating husbands around who weren't actually cheating.
Parking in the normal spot Mags settled in for the rest of the afternoon until he got off of work. The envelope laid on the seat next to her and kept taunting her. Anything that had been a secret had always been like this. Call it her little nosey meter that went off at the least hint of a mystery and there she was in the thick of things.
That was one of the reasons why she became a PI in the first place- she always had wanted to solve the mystery. And she was good at it. The envelope gotten the best of her and she pulled out the papers again.
Reaching into the back seat she pulled over her briefcase and opened it getting out all the initial paper work. She started the paperwork that would give her access to make Jenny Sanchez a full-time client. After writing out the contract she set it aside and pulled out a folder and labeled it with Jenny's name.
The old frayed envelope went in first along with the birth certificate. Next she noted the county and state where the papers on the child custody had taken place. That would be easy to determine if they were real and not fake. A simple run at the computer would tell her.
Next she made notes on the newspaper articles that Jenny had found off the internet. She smiled at this. The little girl had made a good start. Only one of the articles had mentioned Ricardo Manoso. That one she stuck in the file, too.
Mags settled back and started reading the others. Laughing at the audacity of a woman who seemed to have a knack of getting into more trouble than any one person should in a lifetime.
Checking her watch she put everything in the folder along with the notes she'd written and watched the door for good old Darrell to come strolling out to go home. Like clockwork the man came out and she followed him down to the corner where he would stop for a pack of cigarettes and a coke. Then the next stop was the house where he would stay in all night. Marking the times she went back to the office. She had two more days of Darrell-watching but this time she was just going to close it out and refund the wife's money on those days. It wasn't worth the time if the man kept the same pattern day in and day out.
Mags walked in the front door of the office and dumped all of her files on Swinton on the floor. "Hey, Douglas, I'm dropping the Swinton case! It's dead."
Douglas popped his balding head out of the doorway leading to the back office. "Still the same routine?"
"Like clockwork. The man lives a more boring life than a snail."
"It doesn't get any worse than that. File the reports and I'll give his old lady the bad news tomorrow." Douglas came over and sat his haunch on the end of her desk. "I put an ad in the paper for another PI."
"Make sure he doesn't have any phobias. I don't want to get stuck with all the trash you throw me."
Douglas smiled an evil grin. "Me, throw you trash?"
Mags scoffed at him. "Please, ever since you took those pictures of Williams sticking his weenie into another guy's hole you've been pawning all the husband-watching to me. It's getting old, Douglas."
"Fine, how about I try it again. But if it looks like the weenie thing comes back and I'll drop it in your lap."
Mags settled back in her chair and leaned it back. "Oh, you're such a doll, Douglas." She pulled out the other three files she had on husband-watching and slapped them across his legs. "Here you go."
Douglas grabbed them. "And what are you going to do?"
"Take a vacation. I deserve one."
"Fine, but don't make it a long one." Douglas got up and headed back into his office.
Mags pulled the folder out of her briefcase on Jenny Sanchez and booted up her computer. It'll be a working vacation. But a vacation none the less. Pulling up the courthouse for Miami she made notes of the numbers and added them to the file to check on the dockets for the case numbers. Everything looked on the up and up so far. But it never hurt to be sure. She would give the courts a call in the morning.
Going over to the DMV for New Jersey she put in the name Ricardo Carlos Manoso and wrote down the address that showed up for the name in Trenton, New Jersey. Next she did a cross reference and pulled a phone number.
Douglas came back out. "Thought you were on vacation."
"I've already started. Go home before Jennifer calls and wants to hire me to find out who you are cheating with."
Douglas laughed and headed out the door.
Picking up the phone Mags called the number and waited for the person to pick up.
"Yeah?" A gruff, impatient voice answered.
"Mr. Manoso?" Mags said hesitantly.
"Who wants to know?"
"I'm calling from California..."
He interrupted before she could even finish. "We don't deliver to California."
The phone went dead.
Mags scratched the number as a business. Picking up the phone again she called one more time. Waiting for the impatient man to answer again.
"Shorty's." A female voice, somewhat more pleasant-sounding that the man had been, came over the line.
She smiled and then asked in the best business voice she could muster. "Is there a Mr. Manoso who works there?"
"Nope no one by that name works here honey." The waitress paused. "I know of a Manoso who comes in here at times."
Mags scratched a couple of question marks on the paper by the name Shorty's she wrote down.
"Can I get you to give him a phone number for me?"
"Listen, sweetie, I've got to go. This is cutting into my tips." The phone went dead again.
Well just great, rude, rude, rude. Damn rude people in Trenton.
The dark brooding establishment that housed Shorty's was in the seedier part of Trenton. Boarded-up windows didn't give much welcome to any person who normally traveled on the other side of the tracks. And the local gangs had their own markings on the walls and windows.
Ricardo Manoso, also known as Ranger on the streets, sat in the back with his back to the wall. Even though this was one of his safer hangouts he was still on guard. Any one of his enemies could walk into the door at Shorty's and it would cause his hair to stand on end, but they would have to get past some of his people he had working in the bar before they got to him at the back of the room.
Lester Santos, a Mexican man who was somewhat of a player with the ladies, sat across from him at the table. The pizza between them was vanishing rapidly along with the beer they were both consuming.
Manny, who ran the bar at Shorty's and who had a prominent snake tattoo on his head stepped up to the table. He was on Ranger's payroll with Rangeman Inc., the corporation Ranger started seven years ago. "Had a phone call for you?"
Ranger raised his eyes and waited for him to continue.
"A woman from California. Don't know anymore than that."
Ranger gave him a nod and Manny walked off. If anymore information followed he would get it. Manny wasn't the type of person to add extra words. And Ranger wasn't the one for making conversation either, unless it was someone who was close to him. Even then they had to get past all the barriers he had surrounding him.
Lester looked up at his employer. "Know anyone in California?"
"Nope."
Ranger picked up the beer and gave it a hefty swallow.
Lester let it go. When Ranger felt like talking he felt like talking. Tonight was not one of those nights. Lester resigned himself to hearing one-word replies all , their waitress, walked over to the table, "Can I get you men a refill?"
Ranger shook his head no.
Lester gave her a wicked grin. "When are you coming home with me?"
"When you stop leering at me," Cinnamon said.
Lester put a disbelieving face on. "Me, I never leer."
Ranger snickered and took another drink of his beer.
"Uh huh." Cinnamon looked over at Ranger. "Some woman called looking for you. Just thought I'd give you the heads up. Wanted me to give you her number. I'm not a pimping service."
Ranger gave her a nod. Two women in the same night? Must be popular.
He watched Cinnamon walk away and another patron grabbed her ass-cheeks that were hanging out of the short skirt she had on. Her knife was at his throat before he had time to react. Cinnamon didn't take shit off of anyone and she would let them know rather quickly.
Ranger stood and headed out after laying a hefty tip on the table.
Mags looked over the birth certificate, if hospitals still did foot printing and hand printing like they do now she would be able to verify if Jenny Sanchez was Kensey Manoso. Taking all the information off the birth certificate she made note of the hospital.
Looking up the hospital online, she had the numbers that would help in this area but the time was the problem now. The business office would be closed at the hospital and she would have to wait until tomorrow to start looking up other things.
She finished up the report on Swinton and left it in Douglas's office. Making an extra copy of Jenny Sanchez file she put everything else in the file cabinets. Douglas might not like her taking a case for a dollar but she would be thorough anyway. The business was doing fine and wouldn't be hurt by what amounted to pro bono work. And she wasn't ignoring paying work by taking this case for the young girl.
Mags called it a night and took the extra file with her to do some work at the house. If she got foot prints and hand prints from the hospital she would take some police ID kits to the school and have the girls do them. And it wouldn't look odd if she did more than one.
Pulling up in front of the old converted garage she called home, she got out and went inside. Her landlords were an elderly couple. Mags liked them and they liked her back.
Everything else she needed to do on this case she could do from the house. She had a computer here with the same software as the one at work, so some mornings she didn't even bother going in unless Douglas had a fit.
Which was often. He didn't like being in the office alone, because his office was in the back and they hadn't gotten around to hiring another secretary. So Mags had done both for the last two weeks.
Sitting everything down on the counter she went about making her a sandwich and chips. She took everything to the computer and booted it up so she could continue looking for Ricardo Manoso.
After about an hour on the computer she hit pay dirt with the military. Oh, great a military man, no doubt wanted to further his career without the encumbrance of a family. Be nice Mags, he may have not been like your father. Everywhere she turned she kept running into brick walls on the military aspect of his life. Everything was on a need-to-know basis, and she lacked clearance for that.
She had run many military background checks in the past, always without trouble or security blocks, with one other exception – her own father. She wasn't sure what the blocks meant, but it had to be serious. Mags got up from the computer, frustrated. She'd hit a dead end.
"First thing in the morning, Mags." She said to herself. "Call Denton and he'll be able to pick through this."
Lt. Col. Denton Fairchild had been the same man who had helped her track down her father's career. And he helped put her on the right road into finding him. She could remember that day in the attic.
The room was musty, and dust swirled around her feet as she started looking through boxes up here. She had discovered a box full of old military pictures and pictures of her grandmother. But her grandfather had not been in the military.
Going through them she found an old frayed and yellowed envelope, opening it up she found the birth certificate and a letter. The birth certificate had her name on it but with a different last name.
"What the hell?" She had said to the ghosts in the attic.
But they never answered her, she never got the answers from them. Reading the letter her grandmother had told her mother to burn this box. Guess her mother had lapsed and fell negligent as the dutiful daughter.
Here it was in black and white. Her mother wasn't her mother at all but really her half-sister. Her grandmother was her real mother. From that day forward Mags had set out to find her real father.
A dog barked and brought Mags out of the cluttered musings of the attic. She shook off the memory and headed for bed.
"Too many ghosts, Mags. Too many."
That night she prayed Jenny wouldn't have the same harsh ghosts she had found hidden in the family, but the unsettling feeling wouldn't leave her. It hit too close to home.
Her own father had never looked for her, instead she had found him. It took a lot of patience on her part but little over a year ago she had found him. And finding him had only left more pain and hurt. He had denied ever having a daughter, denied what was before his very eyes. The same eyes she had inherited.
By ten the next morning Mags had a set of footprints and hand prints from the hospital in Florida. She grabbed the police kit IDs and left for the school. Lunch would be interesting with the girls doing the IDs, she suppressed a snicker. So far everything had been going great but for the road block on the military thing.
Lt. Col. Denton had called her back and now he was working on the files trying to find out how much Mags would be able to know and not know.
The school bell rang for lunch hour as she walked into the cafeteria. The girls found her and were all excited about doing the finger print ID cards. It didn't take long and Mags excused herself to go to the bathroom and winked at Jenny.
Jenny met her in the bathroom.
"I'm going to take the cards and see if I get a match on the finger prints. I'll know later this afternoon if you are this girl on the birth certificate."
Mags watched as Jenny's eyes went wide. "How can you know?"
Mags set out Jenny's card. "You see your fingerprints." Jenny nodded. "Well everyone has a different pattern. There aren't two that are alike. I have a friend who can do the comparisons for me and I'll know real quick. I'm going to meet him next and get working on that right now."
"So what happens if I am her?" Jenny asked worried.
"That depends on you. And if you want me to find your father, do you want me to?" Mags held her breath. She knew she would be able to find him, it was just a matter of time and patience. Which she had a lot of.
"If I'm her." Jenny looked around then looked back at Mags. "I want you to find my father. But I want to go with you."
Mags shook her head. "It wouldn't be good. You have school."
"But my mom signed the release for the wildness retreat. I can be gone for a week and mom won't know anything. Please, I want to go with you. I want to see him."
Mags leaned back on the wall. Jenny reminded her a lot of herself. She was a very determined little girl. Just like Mags was, just like she was with her own search for her own father. "And your mom won't know you're gone?"
"She'll think I'm with the school class."
"What about the school? What happens if you aren't with them and they call your mom?"
Jenny frowned. "I didn't think of that." Then her face brightened. "What if you wrote them a note. Saying a death was in the family and I would be gone all week. Wouldn't that work?"
Mags grinned on the inside, Jenny was a smart girl. "When is this retreat?"
"We leave Monday morning."
"Okay. I'll do it on one condition. You have to stay with me and we'll work something out." Mags ran her hand through her hair. "I guess I'll be your mom for a week."
Jenny hugged Mags and Mags patted her back. "Thank you. Thank you so much."
"Nothing to thank me for yet. You better get going."
She watched as Jenny skipped out of the bathroom, she had made the little girl happy and she really hadn't done all that much. Picking up the prints she had one more stop and everything would be confirmed in a matter of a couple of hours.
Stopping off at Roy's Eatery, she bought one of the large stuffed potatoes. Detective James Wolfe had a thing for these potatoes and Mags was the type of person to bribe anyone to get what she wanted.
Detective Wolfe would be easier to handle this way. Mags went into the station with the prize and the prints. She went straight to his desk after being admitted. Every now then the police station would hire her firm to find people for them but not often. It was basically when the police had their hands tied and needed someone who didn't.
James looked up from his desk the minute he smelled the food. "Oh my, you must want something bad to come bribing me."
Mags smiled at him, "Am I that bad?"
James lifted his eyebrows. "Sometimes."
Mags placed the food in front of him along with the prints. "I need you to run these and see if they match."
"Out to find the bad guys?"
"Nope just checking on something for a client."
"Let's see them." James took the prints of both sets and scanned them in the computer. While the computer started comparing them he went to town on the baked potato.
After thirty minutes of the computer running he checked the prints. "They match."
"You're positive," Mags asked.
"100% match, no mistaking it. They are the same person."
Mags sat back in the chair. "Can you run me a printout."
"Sure."
Mags waited for the printout. When James handed it to her, he asked. "This important?"
"Very. Now I just have to find someone else. Thanks."
"Anytime. As long as you bring food."
The plane was starting to board and Jenny had been talking a mile a minute as soon as she hit the car with Mags. Mags assumed it was nerves, and really couldn't blame the young girl. After all, Jenny had said her mother never let her out of her sight other than to go to school. She rambled on and on about school and her friends and what they were supposed to do on the wilderness retreat.
Mags shook her head and said "uh huh" in the right places. She was paying attention, but also was watching out to see if anyone had followed them. All morning she had felt like a big rock was going to drop out of the sky and squash her flat.
When the plane got up in the air Jenny was bouncing in the seat and looking out the window. "Oh cool, everyone looks like little ants from way up here."
Mags smiled at her. "Yeah, they do."
"This was the first time mom ever let me go anywhere and now I'm not even going where I was supposed to go." Jenny looked at Mags and contemplated on what she just said. "Why do I feel so bad?"
She raised her eyebrows at the child. "Could be because you lied to your mother."
"Why do I feel excited at the same time?"
She had felt that rush of excitement, too, when she had finally found her own father. "Because you want to see someone who you thought was dead. You feel different, like you're a whole new person."
After awhile Jenny started watching the movie on the plane and Mags pulled out her brief case and went over the files she had brought with her. Lt. Col. Denton had found quite a few things Mags was able to get her hands on and then some.
She noticed that Ricardo Manoso had been in the Rangers like her own father, even leading one core group who had difficult missions overseas. The fact that Ricardo had a lot in common with her father had left her unsettled about the whole thing.
Her father had been cold and distant when she met him. Looking over at Jenny she didn't want this to happen to her. She really wanted a happy outcome for the bubbly girl. He could be different, Mags. Totally different. But what if he isn't? What if he devastate this girl sitting next to you like your own father did you? Deal with it when it happens.
The military had been so much to her real father. Something she couldn't stand herself now or anyone who put aside their family to make it their life. It had left a bitter taste in her mouth and one she didn't want to taste again. Closing the files she lay back in the seat and thought about her own reunion with her father.
The first time she ever saw him was in the cold marble hallways of the Pentagon. His uniform pressed without a wrinkle in sight as if he dared any wrinkles to come in contact with him. His sharp green gaze pointed straight ahead, the even level of his chin, cold and hard. He had been a man set out on a mission to get to his meeting.
Huge stacks of files under his arm and another uniformed man following close on his heels with stack of files too. Some officer had pointed him out and Mags raced to catch up with him.
"Major Winchester," She said as she caught up with him.
"Who wants to know?" Came the gruff voice as he kept up his fast clipped pace.
"My name is Margret Rose, I would like just a second of your time."
"I don't have time." He kept walking, not a hint of slowing down, "I have a meeting to get to." He glanced at her.
She noticed his eyes and almost stopped walking, a bolt had been shot right through her. She had his eyes. "The reason why I'm here is because I'm your daughter." Everything just rushed out. She had waited for this moment. Had poured time and energy into tracking this man down.
"I don't have any children. What evidence do you have proving this?"
Evidence? Plenty. She pulled out the birth certificate and handed it to him. He took a brief glance. "It's a fake, a forged copy." He thrust it back to her.
It wasn't a forgery. She'd seen plenty in her line of work and this was the real deal. She pulled out pictures of her real mother and him and showed them to him. "This you and my mother."
He looked at the pictures. "Photographic fakery."
The resemblance between the man in front of her now and the man in the pictures was so strong there could be no doubt. Just older but clearly the same man. He was calling her a liar. After all this time, all this time of wanting so desperately to find him, when she did he was dusting her under the rug. Leaving her alone.
"These aren't fake or forged. I know the difference. This is my card where I can be reached." She handed him her business card.
He took it and tore it in two and tossed it to the air letting it fall to the floor. "I don't have any children." He paused long enough to open the door to the room he came to and walked in without a glance back.
Mags stood stunned, looking at her torn business card.
The other man shook his head as he reached the door. "I would leave him alone if I were you. Think of this as a wake-up call. You won't be able to see him again." Then he slipped into the room.
She stooped down and retrieved the torn card. Could she be so mistaken? No. It wasn't likely. She had done the research and found him.
Major Daniel Winchester, minor official at the Department of Defense located in the halls of the Pentagon. The cold marble hallway gave off no warmth, Mags rubbed her arms and stared at the harsh wooden door with the gold handles.
Here in the heart of the capitol of the country her father had denied he ever had any children. The harsh reality set like a cold steel blade to her heart, slicing out any hope she ever had of being reunited with this man.
She wasn't through with him. Not yet. Not until he had all the proof he wanted. Walking back the way she came, she vowed she would get that proof, blood couldn't lie. A driving force had been shot through her and her backbone turned to steel, she wouldn't be denied with the blood.
She would get his medical files and he wouldn't deny that. No way they where forged or fakes. She wasn't a fake or a liar, she would prove him wrong one way or another.
The warm hand on her arm brought her back to the present.
"You need to put on your seat belt. We're coming into Newark," the stewardess said.
Mags nodded and put on her seat belt.
The cold feeling of those halls lingered with her even after they landed. Jenny had been subdued and quiet, Mags looked over to the young girl and smiled as she was drove towards Trenton. Even the afternoon sun didn't help push back the chill of the memory. She must be picking stuff up from you Mags, don't spoil this for her.
"We're almost there." Mags said to her.
Jenny watched out the window rubbing her hands on her jean-clad legs. "I'm a little scared Mags. What if he doesn't want me?"
If he didn't want her, it would hurt her. You can see it in her eyes she wants him to want her, just like you Mags. Just like you wanted your own father to want you. "Let's think about when and if it happens."
Jenny turned back to the window not saying anymore. Mags felt bad enough about her own past, but she would help Jenny through it if her father didn't want her.
Mags and Jenny drove from the airport to Trenton. Mags stopped at a small store to buy a city map and stake-out food. Over some cokes and chips they spread the map out and looked for the address that she had on Manoso.
Jenny put her finger to the map. "There. There's the street."
They looked at the map and got their bearings and then Mags handed her the map. "Okay, I'll drive, you navigate."
Jenny smiled at her. She started pointing out which streets to turn on and Mags took her lead. They got to the street they needed and Mags turned right going in descending address order until they came to the block they needed. On the right stood some buildings. On the left, where the address had lead them, was a vacant lot.
Mags parked the car and double-checked the address.
"This was his house address?" Jenny asked.
"That's what the DMV showed," Mags told her.
Mags shook her head, the whole time when she was searching for her father she had run into roadblocks like this too.
"I thought this would be easy." Jenny told her, she flopped back in the seat. "This is hard."
"We'll find him." Mags reached over and touched Jenny's chin. "Don't give up on me yet. Some things worth finding take time."
"We only have till the end of the week though." Jenny's voice was laced with dejection.
Mags shook Jenny's chin a little, "Hey, what's with this attitude. We're not through. We only just started. We've got to follow all the little cookie crumbs until we find the cookie jar."
Jenny started laughing. "Cookie jar?"
"Yeah, well, at least you don't have that frown face now."
"Okay. Where's the next crumb?"
Mags smiled at her. "A place called Shorty's. Let's go find a phonebook."
Mags pulled the car out and they found a payphone that had a phonebook attached. Mags let Jenny get out and look through the phonebook. She watched over the girl while she called information. Just to make sure Jenny brought back the right street address.
Any little verification helped. Jenny got back in the car with the address that coincided with what Mags had found out earlier from information.
"Shorty's it is."
They looked back over the map again, and Jenny gave Mags directions as she drove. When they pulled into the neighborhood Mags locked the doors to the rental of the car.
Jenny looked over at her. "This doesn't look like a nice place to live does it?"
"Nope, sweetie. It sure doesn't."
They pulled along side the warehouse that was home to Shorty's. Mags kept the car running and watched some of the clientele leaving. She looked back over at Jenny. There was no way she could take Jenny in this place. Taking her around with her was one thing, but putting her life in danger was something Mags couldn't handle.
Well Mags, there is no way I'm taking her in there. I don't want to go in there much less taking a young girl with me. This wasn't some up and coming establishment. "Let's drive by the bond place that we found in the paper," Mags told her.
Jenny looked at her. "Didn't you tell me they know of a Manoso in here."
"Yeah I did, but this isn't the place that I can take you in." Mags looked back at the door and saw some rough men walking in glancing at the car. She reached over and stroked Jenny's cheek. "We're here to find your father, but I'm not risking your life. That's too great a price to ask, Jenny, just for some information. And it's 21 and over, you can't go in there."
"But I could sit in the car." She stated.
Mags shook her head. "Anyone can come by and steal the car with you in it. It doesn't take that long to steal a car. I'm sorry, kiddo. This just isn't one place I want to go in much less taking you with me."
"But what if he's in there."
"We'll find some other way for now. We still have other places to cover than just Shorty's." Mags watched the door as a big man walked out and leaned up against the wall. He had a cigarette in his mouth and a snake tattoo on his head. He wasn't one just to go up and ask questions to. "I'll come back to Shorty's after we've exhausted our other leads."
Jenny sat back in the car. "Okay," she told her dejectedly.
She just doesn't understand. She's too young to understand this. Kids still think no one will hurt them. And Jenny still has a little of this mentality still tacked inside her.
Mags pulled away from the curb. While she was in California she had gotten the address of the bond company. She handed Jenny the address. "Okay, navigator. Lead me."
Jenny pulled out the map and started giving directions again. Mags knew she was upset, but every now and then you just had to take some steps back in order to get on the right track of finding someone.
Ranger's morning had been spent sitting and waiting on one of his skips. He was back in the woods sitting and staking out a house. Having been there all night he was more than upset about it, the guy hadn't shown yet. But his informant had never been wrong before. So he stuck it out. He felt on edge, not about the skip. But about the phone call he had yesterday. Someone was digging into his background, opening files that had been closed. His military files.
They hadn't located where the requests were coming from yet but he knew they'd find out and he was waiting on a phone call that would tell him. Trying to figure out what could be going on had him feeling jumpy - paranoid. In the past, background checks this deep had meant someone was hunting for him, and that was never a good thing.
He wasn't an easy man to find, but it wasn't impossible to find him, either, so he had to be ready. That also brought him back to the call from California and the woman. Who was she and what did she want?
Calm down boy, those files can't be opened just by any joe-blow off the street. Unless she was military and wanted something? But, no, that would be coming from DC. Not California. What about the woman? Manny said it was a woman? Could they be tied together?
The next thing he felt was a searing pain to the right side of his face. He hadn't been watching and Tank and Lester had chased his skip right to him like he had asked them to. And the skip had decked him. With a feral growl he got up and chased the skip.
Lucky punch, Manoso. He got a shot into you because you weren't paying attention. Damn them, going through his record. Damn whoever this woman was. Ranger caught up to his skip and tackled him to the ground and slapped the cuffs onto his wrists.
He let skip lay on the ground while Tank, a very big black man named just for that reason, came running over to him. He even looked like a Sherman tank.
"Ranger, what happened back there?" He asked.
Lester came up short just then. "Oh man. I can't believe that guy got a punch on you."
Ranger turned and looked at them.
"You gonna tell us what happened?" Tank asked.
"I got distracted." Ranger turned and rubbed his jaw. Damn! No doubt this guy will tell all his friends about hitting the great Manoso. Just what you need, Ric. "Let's get this piece of trash back to the broncos."
Tank and Lester picked up the skip and started escorting him to the broncos. Ranger hung back behind them listening to the guy taunt him. When they got to the broncos Ranger punched the man, who doubled over gasping for air.
Ranger went and sat behind the wheel of the other bronco. You can't get distracted like that, you'll get killed. He hit the wheel. Some thing's about to drop on you, you better be ready for it.
Checking his cell phone he had a message from Steph. "Ranger need some help with Norville Thompson, can you meet me at his place after lunch. Steph."
He had just enough time to get this other guy to the station and meet Steph.
By the time they got Norville in handcuffs Ranger knew something was wrong with him. Steph was standing back just looking at him. "Are you okay? You look like a corndog ready to be dropped in grease and fried."
Ranger looked at down at himself. He was covered with everything Norville could throw in his apartment. "I'm okay, Babe." But he knew he wasn't.
Some one is out to find you and get you. You know it. This is the product of how it all starts. I'm more than on edge, he thought to himself.
He helped Steph take Norville down the stairs and loaded him in her car. Then he got in the bronco. Everyone was whispering and not looking his way. He had never been bested this way.
You're slipping boy. He looked down the street before he pulled out. He checked his rearview mirror more than once on the drive home. The sky is falling, chicken little, and you're right in the middle of it.
The next stop on Mags' very organized list was the bail bond office where the Plum woman worked. Jenny had given Mags the directions to the bond company. They parked across the street in front of a deli.
"How about something to eat?" Mags had asked her.
Jenny was hungry. "Sure."
All day she had been anxious to find her father yet everywhere they went it seemed like they weren't making progress. I just have to find him, Jenny thought.
The deli was small but crowded and Jenny and Mags waited in line and got their food. They found a small table by the windows. "Are we going over there after we eat?"
Mags looked at Jenny. "I need to make sure the company is legit and trustworthy first. Bounty hunters aren't always trustworthy, Jenny."
Jenny groaned. "But why?"
"Trust me on this. I've met some real bad bounty hunters before. We can't just walk over there. Let's just sit for awhile and scope out the place."
Aren't bounty hunters like cops, Jenny thought. "Don't they bring the bad guys in like cops do?"
Mags took a drink of her coke to wash down the bite of her sandwich. "Yes, they do bring in the bad guys. They bring them back in. But they are not police officers. Just like I'm not a police officer, but I can look into things for people. Do you understand?"
Jenny looked out the window toward the bond office. She understood but it still didn't make any sense to her. It would still be easier to just go over there instead of sitting here. She nodded her head yes to Mags, and started eating her lunch.
"So we aren't going over there?" Jenny asked again.
"Not right now. Sometimes bounty hunters work with in the law and sometimes they go way beyond the law. So we have to be really careful when we approach this bond office."
Jenny shook her head, but she still didn't like it. To her everything was going wrong. She thought as soon as they got there she would know where her father lived and be with him in his house right now. Not sitting across from a company that might or might not have to do with her father.
She still didn't understand why Mags just didn't go into Shorty's, that was one place they knew that was connected to her father. Or at least a man with his last name.
"I'll be right back. I need to make a few calls, my cell is dead now." Mags told her.
Mags got up from the table and Jenny watched her walk to the back and pick up the phone. Jenny looked back out the window and put the last of her sandwich in her mouth. She saw a brown-haired, curly headed woman walking up to go to the office.
I've seen her, that's the woman. That's Stephanie Plum. Jenny recognized her from the newspaper article. Jenny looked back at Mags she had her back turned. Stephanie Plum looks okay. She didn't look like a bad person. Mags is taking her time. It's my father and I want to see him now. Not wait.
Jenny got up from the table and ran across the street and opened the door to the bond company. When she walked in she knocked into a very big black woman, knocking files all over the floor.
She heard yelling coming from another room, a man's voice and a woman's. They were very loud.
"Lil' missy, what you think you doing in here? This ain't no place for kids. You best get in school." The black woman had bright red hair and clothes on her that were so tight Jenny couldn't possible think how the woman got into them.
The black woman bent down to pick up the files, muttering under her breath. Jenny took a step back, already thinking that she had made a mistake coming into the office. Maybe Mags had been right. From the other room she heard some words about ducks and barnyard animals that she didn't understand. Did these people run a petting zoo, too? Then the angry voices in the other room stopped and the door at the other end of the room slammed open with a bang. Jenny took another step backward. She saw Stephanie come back through the door.
"Yeah, Vinnie, you can kiss my ass, too." Stephanie said and then stopped when she saw Jenny. "Do I know you? You look… familiar."
Familiar? How could I look familiar. I've never seen this woman before other than the papers and she's never seen me.
"Kiss your ass?" The male voice came from a man walking out the door. He looked right at Jenny. "What the hell is a kid doing in the damn office?"
"I don't know, Vinnie." Stephanie told him, turning back to give Jenny a very thorough and searching look.
Vinnie started rounding the corner of the cabinet. Jenny was frightened by the way he was looking at her. "Get the hell out of here! This ain't no place for any damn kids." He yelled at her.
Jenny turned and bolted out the door, running for the safety of the deli across the street and back to Mags.
Man, he was scary, she thought as she opened the door to the deli. Jenny went back to the restrooms as Mags hung up the phone.
Mags stopped her and turned her towards her, "Are you okay?"
Maybe Mags was right, you can't trust bounty hunters. At least not the man, and that black lady had something weird going on with all that red. "Yeah, I'm fine." No sense in getting into trouble.
Mags went into the restroom with Jenny. "We're leaving the bond company alone. The owner is on the shady side. So his employees could be that way too. And Stephanie Plum is his cousin."
Jenny shook her yes then went into the stall to go use the bathroom. Shady? Shady wasn't the word for him. Scary was more like it.
Ranger toweled his hair dry as he hit "play" on the answering machine in his home office. This was the office he did all of his real work out of, not the Cameron Street office that was simply a front to meet clients in and a mailing address.
"Ricardo, got some news for you. The files were opened by someone in California. But we haven't been able to track it back to the original computer. Someone covered their tracks pretty good. Looks serious, buddy, keep your head up. Sorry we don't have any more information for you. Later."
Ranger hit his desk. California? I don't know any damn person in California. It has to be the damn woman. It has to be. They have to be connected. Why would a woman be looking for me? Not only looking for me but opening up files that are classified.
He started pacing around his office. The paranoia was setting in, he knew it would happen. Knew it was coming, he needed to find out what she knew, why was she after him. And who she was working for. He wouldn't be able to sit still until he knew those things. Wouldn't have a measure of his comfort zone back until then.
Ranger picked up the phone and called Shorty's, just to see if she had called back.
"Yeah," came Manny's voice over the line.
"Has that woman called back?"
"Nope."
"Let me know when she does." He hung up.
Manny would tell him. Everything seemed to be constricting now. The noose is getting tighter. Got to find out what this is about. The damn woman was a mystery. But why California, no one was out there who he had crossed.
Jenny didn't look right, something had to have happened. Mags always trusted her instincts and they said something wasn't right with this girl. And she didn't like hearing about the owner of the bond company. She didn't like dealing with people who were on the shady side of the business.
She had a bad feeling about that guy and if she couldn't trust him how could she trust anyone that was a part of his family? That left them going back to Shorty's. She was running out of options.
"Mags, can you please go back to Shorty's? Please."
Jenny was begging. No doubt she was getting upset again. What would it hurt? Leave Jenny in the hotel room, she's big enough to stay by herself for a little while and would be safer in the hotel room than in Shorty's parking lot. "Okay, I'll do it. But you can't go with me."
"Where am I going then?" Jenny asked as she opened the stall to the bathroom.
"Back to the hotel. You'll be safer there. I would feel better knowing you're in the hotel room behind a locked door than in Shorty's parking lot in a locked car." Mags said putting a hand under Jenny's cheek and turning her towards her. "Can you stay by yourself for a little while?"
Jenny put her hands on her hips. "I'm thirteen, I'm not a baby."
Mags could see the girl had calmed down from whatever had happened before they walked in here. And now she was being defensive. "I know you aren't a baby. But I want you to stay in the room and don't go anywhere. I want to know you'll be safe. Promise me."
"I won't go anywhere. I promise."
Mags smiled at the girl. "Good. Let's go."
Mags and Jenny left to go back to the hotel. Mags took a shower and changed her clothes. What she had on wouldn't work for Shorty's and she didn't want to stand out in that place. It wouldn't be a good thing. After fixing her hair and make-up Mags walked out.
Jenny was laying on the bed watching TV. "You look good," she told Mags.
Mags looked down at the jeans and the shirt she had on. This clothing wouldn't make her stand out, just help her blend in some. "It's the hair, honey. Can't be the clothes," Mags kidded her back.
Jenny sat up. "So what are you going to do?"
Mags loved how Jenny was a curious child, well, teenager. She smiled at her. "I'm gonna talk to the bartender. See what's up and then I'll report back to you as soon as I get back." Mags reached in her purse and pulled out a card. She had charged her cell phone while getting ready, it didn't have a lot of juice, but it should be enough to go to the bar and back.
"This has my cell number on it. Don't loose it and if you need me, call me. I'll come running back. I shouldn't be gone but about an hour and a half at the most. Watch a movie. Before it's done I should be back."
"Okay. Go already." Jenny was bouncing on the bed. "I'll be fine."
Mags left and made sure she locked the hotel room door behind her. Getting in the car she drove back to Shorty's. It wasn't night yet, and happy hour had just started. Mags pulled the rental into the parking lot across from the warehouse and locked everything up. She went inside.
She hated places that put her out of her element, hated the seedier side of life and the people who crawled in and out of it with ease. I don't like this super-secret military agent bullshit this Manoso was running. Too much like my real father, too much like the old man who wouldn't claim you. Maybe Manoso is going to be the same way.
Mags shook her head to clear away her thoughts as she stepped inside the dark establishment. If she thought it was seedy on the outside what she saw on the inside didn't feel any better. Before her PI profession, she had been a cop, and her senses were setting off alarms inside her. She knew she made the right choice not bringing Jenny back even to wait in the car.
She let her eyes get accustomed to the darkness of the den of iniquity. A red-haired waitress came up to her.
"It's a seat yourself place," she said.
noticed the voice of the waitress she talked to a few short days ago. "Which tables are you working?" She asked the waitress.
"In the back." The waitress looked Mags up and down, "Honey. If I were you. I'd just sit at the bar." The waitress turned and headed to the bar.
Mags followed her and took a seat that was next to the waitress. "You said you knew of a Manoso on the phone the other day. Is he here?"
The waitress looked back at Mags appraising her. "I don't run no pimping service. You want him to have your number you give it to him yourself." She looked Mags over again. "Honey, you ain't his type."
Not his type? What the hell is his type? "Can you just point him out?"
"Hey, Manny," The waitress said to the man behind the bar.
"What Cinnamon?"
Oh great, I get a food ingredient name. And talk about rude.
"This woman is looking for Ranger." Cinnamon walked off with the drinks that the bartender put on the tray.
The snake tattoo on his forehead was unique. Mags made a mental note of that along with his name. Ranger? Ranger must be some street name or something for Manoso. Another little piece of the puzzle to add to the growing picture of a man who wants to stay hidden.
Manny stood behind the bar in front of Mags. "What do you want Ranger for?"
"I don't know a Ranger. I'm looking for Ricardo Manoso."
She watched as his eyes bored holes into her. She had staring contests before, and always seemed to be on the short side of the draw when it came to them. She looked down and fingered one of her business cards. She had two of them in her hand. She hated the vibes that she was getting, but this was a solid lead in finding this man.
"Who are you?" Manny asked her.
Mags turned one of the cards out and lay it on the counter in front of her so he could read it.
Manny looked back up at her. "What are you looking for Ranger for?"
"That's between me and my client." Mags told him. She wasn't about to tell him anything. She didn't like the looks of this guy.
"Then you can tell your client to piss off." Manny pocketed her business card. Mags noticed the brief exchange of his hand to his pocket.
"I can't do that. Look, I need to find him and its very important."
"Go away." Manny told her.
Mags turned to leave then turned back around. She had gone against her better judgment before, but this was the one place she had a feeling that Manoso – Ranger - hung out in. No doubt he had people protecting his identity and wouldn't give up anything until the person who was looking for him at least gave a little bit of information.
She turned back to him. They are protecting him, they won't say his real name here. He is hiding who he is. Would any of them know he has a daughter? Probably not, my father never told. Shit I don't like this. Great, just great. These people won't give him up. He must be some type of God around here.
Mags turned and started for the door.
A guy in blue jeans and a red t-shirt walked up to her. "You looking to find Ranger," he said in a hushed tone.
This guy looked shifty, he set her nerves on end flaring all sorts of alarm calls. While she understood what the bartender had been doing she didn't like this. Being approached felt off, way off. She liked the bartender better, even if he scared the shit out of her.
"Maybe," Mags said.
"You either are, or you aren't. There is no maybe with Ranger." The man said then looked back up to the bartender, "Meet me outside."
She watched as he walked outside. Mags turned and looked at the bartender who had a snarl going on. She turned and walked back to the bartender.
"You have a backdoor to this place?" Mags asked.
Manny gave her a nod.
"I think I need it."
She could see Manny looking her over real good.
"Look, tell Mr. Manoso to call me. I have information on someone from his past. I mean him no harm and neither does my client. But if he wants this information." Mags paused and looked back to the door where the other man went. "I need to be alive in order for him to get it."
"I'll pass it on." Manny said. Then called out into the room. "Tino, come give this lady an escort to her car."
Tino was huge, big, and beefy. On top of it, he looked just as scary as Manny. He had a black panther tattoo on his head and when he came over he put a hand on her neck under her hair.
"Come with me." Tino said as he started walking her behind the bar. He opened the back door and looked out before they both stepped out. "You got good instincts. The guy at the door was John Roberts, a shifty two timer that has been trying to get on Ranger's side. Stay away from him."
He paused at the corner of the build and then pulled Mags behind him.
"Shit." Tino exclaimed.
"What?" Mags asked.
"You are driving that blue crap rental right?"
"Yes."
She saw Tino shake his head. "Give me the keys. It has more than Roberts around it now. And you really need to stay away from the other one."
Mags snuck a peak around the corner to get a look. There were about five guys around her car. Her instincts had been right. She pulled back and fished the car rental keys out and handed them to Tino. He slapped another set of keys into her hands.
"We are swapping rides. Give me your card. I'll call you when you can get it back." Tino said.
Mags fished out the other business card. "Why are you helping me?"
Tino looked down at her. "Manny said too. You had to have done something that Manny liked."
He turned them and they walked to the other side of the building. He pointed out his car, which was black and low rider. She got in and he gave her a wave as she drove off back to the hotel.
Ranger was working on paperwork in his office. The phone rang and he picked it up.
"Yo."
"Ranger, got the name of the woman from California. She's here in Trenton. Her name is Margret Rose, works for a PI company in California. Said she had a client who wants to get in touch with you. She also has a cop vibe about her, or at least had."
A PI? Margret Rose, I have a name for my mystery woman now. "You got the numbers?"
"Yeah. She left her business card. You want them."
"I'm coming to pick it up."
Getting off the phone he would look this woman up. Two can play at this information game, sweetie. Welcome to the Big Time.
Ten minutes later he pulled into a spot near the door at Shorty's and walked inside.
Manny gave a nod and Ranger walked behind the bar and they went into the back stock room. He passed the business card off.
"The woman has some skills. She came dressed to blend in. Cinnamon turned her over to me, but JR approached her at the door as she was headed out. He must have sent off the wrong vibes to her. She came back and asked for the back door. She strikes me more as a cop than a private investigator."
Ranger had his arm crossed about his chest. "How did she leave?"
"She has Tino's ride at the moment. She was smart, she only left the California numbers. She's not giving up any information about her client, she is protecting that client, but she did say one thing and worded it very carefully. She has information about someone from your past."
Ranger narrowed his eyes. Ranger was getting a bad feeling again, it had to do something with his military records. Why else would she pull those?
"Tell Tino to come by the office. I'll hook him up with a ride he can swap with the PI." Ranger said.
"Will do."
Mags drove back to the hotel. She was getting a very bad feeling. The room was rented in her name and that just wouldn't work. She had to move them. Her instincts were kicking in that she needed to get back quickly.
Going through Shorty's was going to get them killed. She was now back to the bond company, as well as the Plum woman. She didn't know about trusting the Plum woman, but at least she had another avenue now that was looking to be another connection to Ranger and maybe a solid one. She would look back up the business again and run some checks on the Mags pulled into the hotel lot and pulled in front of the room and parked. She had to move them tonight. She ran to the door and banged on it. Jenny looked out and opened the door.
"Pack your bags. We can't stay here." Mags told her.
"What happen?" Jenny asked.
"Hurry, I'll tell you while we pack." Mags pulled the door shut.
Mags pulled everything quickly into the bags that she had with her. She did one more sweep of the hotel room of her things.
"I talked inside the bar, asked for Ricardo Manoso. He goes by another name here. Ranger. He also has some enemies. I ran into one. This room is rented under my name, we have to leave, I'm not about to put you in danger." Mags said as she pulled the bags up and opened the door to get them to the car.
Jenny followed. "What happen to the other car?"
"Like I said, he has some enemies. And he has some loyal friends as well. They got me out of there. Now I'm getting us out of here. Get in." Mags told her.
Mags found another hotel after driving awhile that she could get away with from using one of fake IDs she had done in California. While Jenny was settling down into the bed to go to sleep. Mags called Douglass and left him a message that she was really working on a case instead of being on vacation. She knew Douglass was going to be pissed with her. He always was when she did pro-bono work. The last time she came home from one she had a broken arm and a few broken ribs. She had told him she wouldn't take another one, but never made it a promise. He had wanted her too, but she wouldn't do it.
She pulled out her lap top and started digging further on the bond company and who worked for it.
The rate this PI was asking questions she was going to get herself killed just trying to find me.
Tank, Bobby, and Lester were on the way to go find which way Jackson went and find out which hotel this PI was at. He didn't want anything to happen this PI until he knew what she wanted. Getting back in the BMW he headed back to his building. As soon as he was upstairs he made everyone drop what they were doing to start running reports on this woman. She had effectively unzipped his fly and he wasn't to thrilled with the experience so far.
Tino had already been by and left the rental as he picked up one of Ranger's SUVs. Before the night was over, the PI would be traceable. He was sitting at his desk reading a report that one of his men handed him. Ranger took a sip of water as he kicked back at his desk.
Manny had been right. Margaret Rose had been a cop out of Los Angeles, staid on the force for three years and then moved to Lompoc, CA. She worked exactly where she said she did now at Millennium Investigations. The company was owned by a Douglas Parker. It was also doing rather well from the business reports he had on the company too.
Paco came in and put another file down. "I don't like what's in there. Read the file."
Ranger looked up at Paco. Whatever was in that file, Paco hadn't liked it. Ranger pulled it to him and opened it up. He started reading. The woman had been raised by her half-sister, her grandmother ended up being her real mother. It was the name of her father that surprised Ranger the most. Winchester. Ranger had done several missions for this man, he was cold and the man let nothing stop his rise up the chain inside the military. This man had walked over everything. He read the report were Margaret had confronted this man on no more than three times trying to get him to claim her. Ranger laid the folder down.
Next file he picked up that was handed to him were medical records. To him it was about like reading records on any of his own guys. She had been shot no less than four times, several broken bones as well as stitches and concussions. He sat it down when his phone rang and he picked it up.
"Yo."
"She's not in the hotel that had her name on the room." Tank reported. "According to the manager, she had her kid with her."
"Hang on." Ranger picked up the medical files again. He started looking, the woman had never given birth. "She doesn't have a kid."
"That was what she told the manager." Tank said.
"Did you get an age for this kid?" Ranger asked.
"Young teen is what the manager said, a girl. What do you want me to do?" Tank asked.
"Wait for Tino to call me back. You can go sit on the SUV after that." Ranger said.
"10-4."
Ranger hung up the phone. He ran his hands through his hair. Who is this kid? This has to be her client. No wonder she was protective of the client. Ranger looked at the one picture of his daughter, his mind started racing away. Tank said female, young teen. Hell, I got to see what this kid looks like.
Mags was still typing away on the computer when her cell phone rang. She picked it up.
"Yes."
"It's Tino. I need to swap rides."
Her cell number had been on the card. She looked at Jenny who was now asleep. "Call me back in five. I'll tell you where to meet me."
Mags hung up the phone and went to Jenny. She woke her up. "Listen. I'm switching the car out with the guy who loaned me his. You stay in this room. Do not open the door for anyone other than me. Do not go anywhere. Understand me?"
"Yes. I'm gonna go back to sleep." Jenny said and yawned.
Mags smiled at her. "I'll be back in a bit."
She grabbed the keys and headed out after she locked Jenny in the room. Jenny was safe in the room. No one knew here under this name, it wouldn't lead them to her. She drove Tino's car several blocks away until the phone rang again. Mags answered it.
"Is there a mall around here?" She asked him.
"Yes. Quaker Bridge Mall."
Mags got directions and what street the mall was on. She drove to it and pulled in the parking lot. Tino found her and they got out of the vehicles.
"Where's the rental?" Mags asked.
"Being turned back in to the rental company tomorrow." Tino said. "The SUV is local, and you won't stand out in it. It'll also be safer."
Mags crossed her arms. "Alright." She didn't like it. But she would look it up.
She tossed Tino his keys and he tossed her the SUV keys. She got in and drove off. She stopped at a seven eleven not far from the mall and started inspecting the SUV. The registration and the insurance on the vehicle came back to a company. RangeMan Inc. Mags got out of the SUV and started looking it over and then went under it. She saw the tracking device reached up and shut it off. Once she had that done, she got back in and drove back to the motel.
Ranger had told Tank the swap had been at the mall. Ranger smiled at that. The woman wasn't taking any chances. She was being very careful. Tank called back twenty minutes later.
"Yo."
"She turned the tracking off." Tank said.
"Son of a Bitch." Ranger said. "Do you have a visual at least?"
"Not yet. I'm hunting for the SUV now. I kind of like her. She's smart." Tank said.
"I'm discovering this." Ranger said. "Find her. I'll meet you there when you do. I called the PI office and its closed for the night."
"I'll call as soon as I find it."
Once back at the motel Mags started looking up the company. She found the companies web site. They had offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, and a local one in Trenton. The main focus of the company was security. She read the profile of the company and what all it had to offer. She went to the states web site and looked for the annual report filings to make sure the company was still in business to do business in the state. The company was real, this wasn't a fake company. She printed out the annual report filings and smiled. Ricardo Manoso owned this company. She loved free enterprise and stuff that was opened to the public for information. She went back to the company web site and found the main telephone number for the Trenton office. She would be calling the office this morning after she fed the both of them.
Mags shut down the computer and looked at the time. It was three in the morning now. She crawled into the other bed and laid down and finally went to sleep.
It was two in the morning before Tank had called back and found the SUV. Ranger pulled up behind the SUV that Tank was driving. Bobby had found Jackson and was watching him, Lester would be taking over at five so they had a fresh set of people watching him. He wasn't too worried about JR, that man was just sleazy, and this was one reason why Ranger could never trust him. He went on both sides of the fences.
Ranger got out of the BMW and went to the passenger side of the vehicle Tank was in and got inside. "Well?"
"Fourth room from the office. Under the name of Debra Parker, paid cash for the one night." Tank said.
Ranger watched from his position, there was a light on. The curtains were pulled. It was another hour before the light went out.
"She keeps long hours." Tank said.
Ranger gave a nod. It was four hours later when Ranger watched as the door opened up. His breath caught when he saw the teenage girl. His heart started racing. He couldn't take his eyes off the girl as she put the bag inside the SUV. He could see Mags looking around as she placed more bags inside.
"Doesn't look like they'll be coming back here for the night. You going to the BMW?" Tank asked.
"Yes. Don't loose them. I'm going to try and call California again." Ranger said and he got out.
He watched for awhile as he backed away toward the BMW. He hoped that was Kensey. If it was, he bet there was a story there. Ranger got inside the BMW as he watched Tank pull off to follow them. Ranger pulled his cell phone out and called California. He raced back to the office and went back to his office inside his apartment on the seventh floor. He opened the file drawers and started taking all the folders to the table in his dining room. There was another picture in one of these. He found it and looked at it. Kensey was seven in this picture. He sat down in the chair and stared at it. The girl he saw with Mags looked so much like this one, only older.
He dialed the number for California.
"Millennium Investigations." The man answered.
"Does a Margaret Rose work for you?" Ranger asked.
"Yes. May I ask who is calling?"
"Ricardo Manoso." Ranger said.
"I was wondering when you would call. Mags is having problems getting in touch with you Mr. Manoso. Her client is with her. A girl by the name of Jenny Sanchez, but that isn't her real name. Her real name is Kensey Michelle Manoso." Douglas said.
"How positive are you two of this? I've spent years hunting for my daughter." Ranger said.
He could hear some paper work being shuffled around. "100% according to the birth records on the hand and feet prints. I have the name of the police officer who compared them if you want to call him. Mags has your daughter. If you want your daughter, you have to run the rest of this through Mags. Call her cell number."
"Thank you." Ranger said and hung up the phone.
Waves of emotions were rolling all over him. His daughter was in Trenton. His daughter was searching for him. Ranger got himself under control and called the cell number.
Mags was sitting at the booth of McDonald's with Jenny. She had pulled out the folder on the company and passed it over to Jenny so she could read a little. Mags took a drink of her coke while Jenny was reading.
Jenny looked up at Mags. "So he has a security company?"
Mags gave her a smile. "Yeah he does. The SUV we are in is his."
She watched as Jenny looked back at the SUV and then to Mags. "Really?"
Mags nodded.
Jenny had loved the GPS display in there had had programmed it to find them a place to eat.
"So we are going to go to the company then?" Jenny asked.
"That's the plan. I have the address." Mags told her.
Mags cell phone rang and she opened it and started putting it to her ear.
"But what if he doesn't want me?" Jenny asked.
"We'll deal with that if it happens." Mags said then held up her hand to answer the phone. "Hello."
"Tell her I want her, and I've been looking for her since my ex-wife ran off with her." Came a very emotional voice.
Mags smiled at Jenny. "He heard what you said, Jenny. He wants you." She held up her hand again. "Hold on Jenny."
Then she said into the phone. "Mr. Manoso. Are you at your office on Cameron?"
"I'm in the building. Bring me my daughter, please." Ranger said.
"We're on our way. Why don't you talk to Jenny." Mags handed Jenny the phone.
"What am I suppose to say?" Jenny asked Mags.
Mags smiled at her. "All you have to do is just be yourself. That's it sweetheart. Now talk to him, while I drive."
Ranger had gotten up from the table and went out of the apartment. He was nervous and anxious. He could hear how scared his daughter was. But he could hear how encouraging Mags was to his daughter. His daughter trusted this woman. He could hear it in how she spoke to her.
"Hi."
"Hi, Kensey." Ranger said.
"It's Jenny, I didn't know I was Kensey till Mags proved it."
Ranger sighed. "What do you want me to call you baby?"
"Jenny if that's okay."
"Jenny it is then. Tell me about yourself." Ranger said.
He had gotten on the elevator and listened to his daughter tell him about her school, and her best friend Laurel who was Mags' niece. About how she was supposed to be on some wilderness retreat and how Mags got her out of it. Ranger was pacing up and down the third floor not even going into his office when he turned around as the elevator opened and he saw her and Mags.
"So, is that you on the phone in the middle of the hall?" Jenny asked.
"Yes baby, its me." Ranger said as he shut the phone off.
He watched as Mags took the phone away from Jenny and shut it. "I found him. Go get him."
Jenny took off running for him and Ranger reached out and picked her up and hugged her to him. He very rarely ever cried, but so many emotions were going through him he couldn't do anything but as he held his daughter.
Mags watched as that man held Jenny. She couldn't help but grin. He looked exactly like the pictures she had of him. That would all go to Jenny now. The elevator opened again and a very large black man stepped out of them. He stopped and stood beside her as he looked at the pair half way down the hall.
"About damn time." He said.
Mags looked at the pair. "I would say so from the looks of it. I do believe she's in good hands."
"She is." He extended his hand. "I'm Tank."
Mags shook it. "I'm Mags."
"I think its going to be awhile before my boss settles up with you. Why don't I show you to a conference room." Tank said and started walking.
Mags followed him. "Your boss doesn't have to settle up with anything. I've already been paid."
Tank opened a door and held it open. "How much was that?"
Mags flashed him a smile, "A dollars worth."
The End.