Electric 13

Author's Note: This is of course a Fanfic involving character's created by Mrs. Evanovich. I am a babe, but have no intentions of being mean to Morelli. This is my first ever attempt at this so please be kind. I welcome any feedback

Chapter 1

When I woke up this morning I had that feeling that maybe I should just roll over and pretend to not notice that it was time to get out of bed. I actually had the conversation with myself, "Stephanie what difference would it really make, if you took just one day off. Just stay in your warm bed. Why bother with everyone else?" That's when reality hit and I realized that eventually I would have to pay rent. Damn reality.

That is how I wound up here, freezing my butt off in the middle of a Jersey snow storm with Lula, and trying to convince Sandy Bruner to allow us entry into her home.

Sandy seemed like a pleasant enough person. She had average height, dirty blond hair, and about six months pregnant. Lula and I are currently paying her a visit in hopes that her boyfriend Jesse Sanchez will come willingly with us to the Trenton Police Department. Sanchez failed to appear for his court date, and this posed a problem for my current employer Vincent Plum Bail Bonds.

"He's not here."

Sandy stood looking very tired and not all that interested in talking with us. Her son was standing beside her and seemed desperate to get her attention.

"Ms. Bruner, we can see that you are very busy, but it is really important that we speak with Jesse. He missed his court date and my associate and I were hoping to get in contact with him today so that we can help him reschedule," I said all of this with my nicest possible voice and hoped to God that she was buying it.

"Look," she said, "I understand that you girls have a job to do, but he ain't gonna buy that load of crap."

"Momma, momma, momma!"

"Honey, Mommy is busy talking and it is not polite to interrupt adults."

Lula was eyeing the kid suspiciously. Not that I blame her. I wasn't all that trusting myself. I am the proud parent of a hamster, and I am not all that sure my mothering skills reach much further than that.

"Perhaps you could help us out and tell us where we might be able to locate Jesse."

"I really can't he..." she started before the kid started again. " Momma"

"Look Johnny, I've already warned you. Hush or you will have to sit in the corner!"

"But Momma!"

"Hush"

That is when the kid threw up on my new jeans and black boots. Lula's eyes seemed to bug out of her head. Everyone stared for a minute and tried to decide what to do.

"I tried to tell you." Said Johnny

Sandy grabbed Johnny and very quickly carried him to the bathroom. She came back with a wet towel for me. "Please come in and clean yourself up. I am so sorry about that."

I tried to clean myself off the best I could with the towel, but I was pretty sure that the clothes were going in the garbage and all I really wanted was to leave. Lula appeared to still be in shock. "It's really alright Ms. Bruner."

"Please call me Sandy. And come in, I'll just get Johnny cleaned up and I'll be right back out."

Reluctantly we went inside. I wasn't really sure what to do with the dirty towel and it was hard to act professional in this situation. I looked at Lula. She blinked back, indicating that she didn't know what to do with the towel either. Finally Sandy returned and took the towel and discarded it in the trash, then went to wash her hands.

"Sandy, could you just tell us when Jesse might be in? Or I could leave you a card and you could call me when he gets home."

"You could just talk to him at work. He works at my father's jewelry store, Bruner's Gold and Diamond. I could give you directions."

"I know that place." Lula chimed in apparently over the shock from the prior incident. "They have those great sales. You can get really great jewelry there for cheap. It's not that far from here."

"That's right, and you should be able to reach Jesse there until about 6:00. To tell you the truth, I have been waiting for someone to show up about him. He said he was getting all of the charges worked out, but I think he has a real problem. Maybe you can do something to help."

"We ain't no social worker's here. What you think we got time to be helping every piece of scum that runs into trouble with the law and then can't even make their court date. We ain't got time for that kind of shit. You been watchin too much television," said Lula.

"Hey I could pay you," added Sandy. "To tell you the truth, I'm kind of desperate. Maybe you could just do some snooping and find out how far he is into this stuff. I gotta do something to make sure my kids and I aren't in any danger. And it's not like I'm in any condition to be out doing detective work of my own. My mom gave me some mad money before she died. She told me to keep it for a time when I might need a little extra help."

"Sandy," I kindly interjected, "I don't know that we would be qualified to do the kind of thing you're asking about. And if Jesse really is in some trouble you might need your money to take care of yourself and your kids."

"Well she gave me enough to last for a while. And I can always go back to work in my father's store. I only quit so I could stay home for a while with Johnny, and then we found out about this little one," she said as she rubbed her protruding belly.

"What kind of money are we talking about?" asked Lula. I shot her a glare, while she pretended not to notice.

Sandy studied us for a moment before saying, "How about two hundred up front, and another thousand if you can find out how bad the problem is and work towards to get him some help."

I started again to tell her the reasons she should not hire us for it, but Lula beat me to it and told her we would do it. While Sandy went to get us the two hundred dollars, I calmly questioned Lula's state of mind.

"Are you crazy! We can't do this. We don't have any idea what kind of trouble this guy is in. What if he's some crazed addict, or even a drug dealer? What if he's mixed up in some gang?"

"It says in his file that he is only charged with possession of an illegal substance. He only has one other prior DUI. He don't sound like no crazed addicted gang member to me. Just a guy that got hooked on some unfortunate substances. All we gotta do is talk some sense into him and get him to go to some rehab and we make six hundred each. Heck all we really gotta do is try and we each get one hundred. They are having a really great sale at Macy's this week. And I need some sexy new shoes for my date with Tank this weekend. I figured we could give it a try with this Jesse guy and then hit the sale."

She did use good logic. Sandy came back with the two hundred dollars and I agreed to try to help Jesse.

When we reached Lula's car, she took a moment to look at my now stained pants and shoes. "I don't suppose you would take those off before you get in my car would you," she asked. "I don't suppose I would," I replied with a glare.

"Okay, okay," she shrugged, "I just don't like letting things that smell in my car. Plus I got a lunch date with the Big Guy today and I don't want to go smellin like puke."

"I will do my best to keep the smell on my side of the car," I said.

"So when you want to go to the jewelry store? Can we do it after lunch?"

"Sure just drop me at my car and I'll meet you back at the office in a couple of hours"

After a quick shower and change of clothes at my apartment I headed to my sister Valerie's house. She had called me earlier that morning and asked me to come by for lunch. She said she needed my help. This was another reason I wished I had stayed in bed. I love my sister and her family, but they could be a little overwhelming. It also didn't help that I had already been puked on and talked into helping a possible drug addict. The good news is that her older daughters would be in school and Albert would still be at the office. Probably I could handle Valerie and Lisa. I would just stay a few feet away from Lisa since I didn't want to take any more showers today, and hope that the favor Val needed wouldn't be very demanding.

"Thanks for coming. I made us salads for lunch," she said. Valerie had gained a lot of weight during her pregnancy with Lisa and she was still having some trouble loosing the weight. I absolutely hate salad, but there is no point reminding her of this.

"I hate salad." I said.

"I know but it won't kill you to be supportive. You should get used to it you know. Eventually your Hungarian roots will catch up with you and you will have to diet too." I felt my eyes rolling skyward and decided I should try to keep this lunch short. "So what is the favor you need Val. I have to get back to work soon."

Out of no where Valerie burst into tears. I was shocked. I don't deal well with emotions like these, and I really thought Valerie was becoming more stable recently. Obviously I was wrong.

"Oh Stephanie," she moaned. "I have no idea what to do. Steve has been calling the girls and talking to me, and he says that he is going to move to New Jersey."

"Steve?" I said trying to put this together.

"Steve, my ex-husband, the father of Angie and Mary Alice, the man who I was married to for several years and completely devoted to only to have him leave me and run off with the babysitter."

Oh that Steve. "Yeah I knew who you meant Val. It's just surprising. I didn't know that you had heard from him at all since you moved here."

"Well we hadn't until a few weeks ago. I mean we had very minimal contact when we divorced, but that was mostly through lawyers. He didn't fight for any contact with the girls, and he even agreed to pay some child support. He was living in the Cayman's and I honestly figured I would never hear from him again. But then one day he called and said that he missed Angie and Mary Alice and asked if he could talk with them. I allowed it. They seemed confused at first, but it didn't upset them, so I continued to let them talk with him on the phone. Then yesterday he calls me while they are at school and he says that he has taken a job here and he wants to have regular visitation with them. He even mentioned joint custody. I am really nervous about all of this. I mean he deserted us, and now he just wants to come back and start acting like their father again. I just don't trust him."

"Wow," I said. "What does Albert say about all of this?"

"Albert started getting hives again when Steve started calling. He is convinced that I am going to leave him for Steve. I have told him over and over that that will never happen. He has been better the last couple of days, but he doesn't even know that Steve is moving here yet. I couldn't tell him."

"You have to tell him Val. I know it will upset him, but after a while he will calm down and realize that you aren't interested in Steve anymore."

"I know that, and I will tell him. First I was kind of hoping you would do some of your detective stuff and find out what Steve is up to. All I know is that he got some sort of job here and that he wants to see more of the girls. I can't figure out why he is doing all of this. I was hoping you would look into it for me."

"I don't know Val. What if Steve finds out? What do I tell him? And what if he is legit and I can't find out anything on him?"

"Stephanie this is Steve, the guy who deserted his family to party with an 18 year old girl in the Caymans. You can find something on him. And so what if he finds out, it's not like he's dangerous. He's just a dickhead."

"Ok Val. I'll try, but I can't promise anything."

"That's all I can ask"