Again... Character's aren't mine. except Windy - she's mine all mine. As for Ranger...I sure wish he was mine..;) But he isn't. Sadly.
Still trying to get them in character. Is Not. Working. sigh
By noon I had managed to capture and transport two FTA's, making a great morning! I parked the neon outside the office, and headed in, doughnuts in hand. "I'm on today!" I informed the girls, handing Connie both - TWO! - body receipts.
"You go girl!" Lula cheered. She was lounging on the couch eating a cheeseburger and supersize Fries. Lula herself was Supersize. Everything about Lula was supersize, except her clothes. Today Lula was squished into a bright pink spandex tank top, and a sun-yellow miniskirt to match. And they looked like they were originally about a size 10.
"Making headway on the filing?" I asked her, knowing full well she probably hadn't touched it yet.
"You betcha. I'm filing this here Mickey-D's supermeal between S and I." she shoved another bite of burger in her mouth. I must have looked confused because, after swallowing, Lula added "Stomach and Intestine."
"TMI. We don't need to know!" Connie exlaimed. I agreed, and grabbed a doughnut to to "file away."
"Besides, the way I figure it, the new girl can do the filing, and i can be Steph's partner."
"The new girl is going to do computer searches and follow Steph to learn captures." Connie stated, digging through some papers on her desk.
"Well, I think the new girl should get the filing and I should get to learn computer searches and be Steph's partner on account of I've been here longer."
"The new girl goes with Stephanie on account of I said so! Sheesh." Vinnie yelled from his office, before the door slammed. I rolled my eyes.
"The new girl goes with Stephanie on account of we don't need Vinnie scaring her off so she quits." Connie's voice was final.
Lula nodded slowly. "That makes sense."
"Guys? Stephanie's out of the loop. WHO is the new girl and when was she hired?" I managed to get a word in edgewise and took full opportunity to do so.
"Hired yesterday. Nice girl. Should be here soon. She can't work mornings so will be in around 1 every day and work for a few hours." Connie filled me in. "Names-"
Connie was interrupted by the bell that signified the opening of the door. I turned my head to see none other than my one measly lead in the Carson case walk through our door.
"Ah" Connie stood. "Stephanie, this is Windy, our new employee. Windy - Stephanie. She's the Bonds Enforcement Agent you'll be shadowing to learn about apprehension."
We shook hands. "I think we'll be teaching you how NOT to apprehend. On account of Stephanie and I aren't very good." Lula stated, shoving in and offering her own hand to Windy. Up close, the woman looked to be close to my age, and she was absolutely gorgeous, with gold-accented brown hair that hung straight and wispy down her back. She was no more than 5'5 and looked...almost anorexic. There was a strength in her handshake that signified otherwise, though. I got the instant impression that she was strong. Strong like Ranger. And her eyes held secrets. Her eyes were like Rangers.
"Hiya." I said, before turning to Connie. "What's in today?"
Connie shuffled papers..."Lets see... Dougie and Mooner - guess they were caught passed out naked in a public park. Martin Anderson - got caught with Crystal Meth, claimed it wasn't his. And Esther Peterson. She's an old lady who clubbed her bank manager over the head with a heavy handbag when he tried to explain to her that her debit card wasn't working because she had no money in her account. And Carson's still FTA and Vinnie is PISSED on account of a conversation with Ranger this morning." No surprise there, even Vinnie won't cross Ranger.
"Alright. Well, Windy and I'll go for Dougie and Mooner, then Esther - Grandma probably knows her too, and then we'll see about Anderson." I quickly formulated a gameplan and then gestured to Windy. Together, we headed our of the office. I grabbed another doughnut on the way out. Windy refused one, so I took two. Hey, if she's not going to eat it, I'll eat it myself.
We headed towards Dougie and Mooner's house, a route I know by heart. Windy sat silent in the passenger side of my Neon, a gun on her hip - Connie provided it - and an expression on her face that once again reminded me startingly of Ranger.
"So...what made you decide to take up Bond Enforcement?"
"Nothing special. Saw the ad, needed some extra cash, need flexible hours." Windy shrugged.
"Why flexible hours?"
"I have other obligations as well."
Ok... so she isn't going to be forthcoming on what those obligations are. Could they be related to Carson? I would bet that probably, they were. "Every morning?"
"Yep."
"You know how to shoot a gun?"
"Yeah."
Ok, this was like talking to Ranger, too. Frustrating and pointless. I contemplating asking her about Carson but decided not to. We drove in silence for a little while, but I was finding it uncomfortable. So I tried again. Hey, I'm nothing if not persistent, right?
"Saw you last night at Pino's, actually."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I was with another partner. His name is Ranger and he is Bad-ass bounty hunter numero uno. Actually, you were looking at him last night."
"Oh. Him."
"You know him already?" Ok, so I was nosy.
"He looked vaguely familiar. Can't place him though. I meet a lot of people...so who knows why he looks familiar."
Wow. Real sentences. I considered telling her about Ranger's recognition of the Emily name...but thought that maybe it was too soon for that. So I settled for more comfortable territory. "Ranger and I are investigating an fTA together. His name is John Carson. Maybe you could help us?"
Windy was silent for a moment, as I pulled up to Mooner's apartment building. "Yeah." she finally said. "I could. But I need to stay in the background."
"You know Carson." I stated.
"I don't know where he is, if that's what you're getting at." she looked at me, face impassive, as she unbuckled.
I reached out and put a hand on her arm. "But you know something?"
There was a long pause - probably Windy was weighing her words. She was street-smart. This would work well for her on the job, but maybe not for us finding Carson. "I know Johnny indirectly. He's a bad horsetrainer and a bad person. Be careful tracking him. What's the story on these two?"
"Repeat cases. Forget their court dates. Get arrested for strange stuff, usually indecent exposure of some sort. They smoke pot and watch Star Trek and always come peacefully after our pre-requesite visit and TV watching." I got out of the car and beeped the doors locked. Windy and I walked shoulder to shoulder to the apartment doors. Hm...I think maybe we look rather professional!
"Dudette!" Mooner exlaimed, opening the door for us. He grabbed each of us by an arm and pulled us into the apartment. It smelled faintly of stale pot and beer. "Come, Come - we're watching 3rd Rock from the Sun. It's great." We squished onto the couch with Mooner and Dougie and settled in for the show. Two shows, to be exact - it was a back-to-backer. Windy looked vaguely uncomfortable but followed along. For a while, we watched in silence. Mooner and Dougie were paid rapt attention to the television until both shows were over.
"Man..Dudettes.. Isn't that cool, aliens pretending to be people." Dougie popped the cap off of a beer.
"Hey, maybe WE'RE aliens too. But maybe we don't know it yet." Mooner enthralled himself with his own idea. I rolled my eyes at Windy, then smiled indulgently towards Mooner. "Maybe we're ALL aliens."
"Maybe, but boys, lets get you rescheduled and rebonded so you can get back."
"Yeah. Better hurry Dudettes. Star Trek is on at 5." We filed out of the apartment in an orderly fashion and escorted Mooner and Dougie to the Station, then back home, without issue.
By then it was 4:30 and I was thinking that maybe Esther and Anderson could wait until the next day. I voiced as much to Windy.
"Nah. We could do Esther. She sounds easy enough." So I drove to the burg and parked in front of Esther's house. Generally, it was frowned upon for little old ladies to hit their bank managers over the head with heavy handbags. Especially when the item that made the handbag so heavy was a gun. Probably, Esther knew Grandma Mazur and was taking lessons from her. This was not good. Worse is the fact that gossip in the burg meant my mother probably found out about this before we even parked. And that would mean another lecture about my job, and my prospects, and how I should just settle down, Marry Morelli, and have enough kids to keep me too busy to leave the house.
It should have been easy, but Esther checked her peephole and recognized me. Instead of her opening the door and greeting us, she cracked the door and we were greeted by the barrel of a gun. "You just go away Miss Stephanie. Or I'll have to shoot you. I'm not going to jail."
"Probably, she doesn't have that gun loaded." I told Windy. "Probably she doesn't know how to shoot it." Windy nodded at me and was just taking her hand off the gun when the gun in Esther's hand was fired...into the azalea bush. Leaves flew up, and fluttered down. Probably, I'm wrong as usual. I sighed. Windy raised an eyebrow at me - just like Ranger - and pointed towards the back door. She headed around that way, and moments later I heard the doorbell ring. The gun withdrew from the door and it slammed shut. I heard the chain rattle as she locked it. A few moments later, there were sounds that made it appear that the backdoor was being opened - but only slightly.
"Yes? Can I help you dear?"
"Hi Ma'm" This was Windy "My name is Windy and I'm new to the neighbourhood."
"Are you dear?"
"Yes. And I couldn't help but notice that you have a gun. Is there a need for that kind of protection around here? Is the neighbourhood safe? I am thinking of raising my kids here, so I need a safe neighborhood."
"Oh, the neighbourhood's safe. It's just I had a bounty hunter at my other door a minute ago, and she was trying to harrass me! Can you imagine harassing an old lady like me?"
Yes, I thought from the other side of the house, I could. Old ladies like her harass the world, and turnabout is definitely fair play.
"That's horrible." I heard Windy reply. Just whose side was she on, anyway? "I have a gun too - but I don't know how to use it. Maybe you could give me a lesson?"
"Well now, let's just..."
That was all I heard, before things went awful silent for a minute. Then, Esther shrieked. "Hey! HEY! Unhand me at ONCE." And I heard thumping, then saw Esther running around the side of the house. Oh no. Again. I gave chase, tripped over a stick, and went flying into the trash can, which fell over, causing me to flip over it and into the garbage. Great. Another day for Stephanie Plum. I got up and brushed at my clothes just in time to see Windy, sprinting for all she was worth, and grabbing Esther by the arms, pinning them to her sides and marching her back towards me.
"All in a days work." I said, grabbing the cuffs off my belt and cuffing esther. By the time we got her to the police station we both had migraines from listening to her shrill protests, and we were more than happy to call it quits for the day.
"Just think." I told Windy as I dropped her off at her car at the office. "Every day is a variation of this."
"Never a dull moment, I'd imagine." she quirked her mouth up in a partial smile, waved, and got in her car to head off.
I got back to my apartment and told Rex about my day, and about Windy. I still knew nothing about her - she was secretive and quiet. Her conversation skills rivaled Rangers. Hm... Ranger. And Windy. I headed into the shower, on account of the garbage smell, and continued to ponder windy and Ranger. Their mannerisms were so similar, yet different. She thought he looked familiar. He didn't think he knew her, but...hm...it was a puzzle! After spending an extra-long amount of time in the shower, I checked my messages - 3 from my mother: 2 sounding angry - presumably she heard about Esther - and 1 sounding resigned, asking if I was coming to supper tommorow night. Yeah, sure. And the 4th was from Morelli, telling me again he'd be working late. "Love you." he finished off. I thought maybe it sounded like an afterthought. I looked at the ring on my finger. Pretty sure we're still engaged. With that, I settled in for a date with my television, a blanket, and an eary turn-in.
Windy's POV
It was a long day, for her. These new hours were going to take some getting used to, but on the flip side, it was money - potentially good money - that she could squirrel away and hide, for the day when her body couldn't stand up to the rigors of the job. Then she'd buy a little acreage somewhere, pick up a few track horses in need of new careers, and live a quiet life...maybe run a full-fledged re-homing and retirement farm for all racehorses. She pulled into the trailer park just off the track lands. The little trailer she lived in was far from new, or fancy, but it was clean, and she'd made it a home.
She unlocked the door and headed into the kitchen. The colors were tacky, and the lino old and torn, but she kept it as clean as possible. Dropping her shoulder-bag and unclipping her gun, she turned back and secured the door, then flipped the light switch. Rooting through the fridge she turned up a turkey sandwhich and ate that and an orange... while flipping channels on the television. Nope, nothing interesting tonight. Flipping the lights off as she went by, she padded down the hall and made a right into the bathroom, showered quickly and economically, then took another right into her bedroom, collapsed on her double bed, and flipped the switch to turn on her alarm. 4:30 a.m. came way too early, and she needed as much sleep as possible. She needed to be sharp in the morning. And she would be.