Chapter 4

I was on an emotional roller coaster. I would get mad as hell when I thought about how Joe didn't tell me anything about what was going on, but then I would think about what he had done to keep me from even thinking of asking him about it and I would get warm all over.

I must have been in the warm all over phase when Lula came into the office. "Damn girl looks like you got some use out of that dress after all."

I quickly went into the mad as hell phase. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing my mistake" Lula said and went to her desk.

"That file is not for you, Stephanie. I've already talked to Ranger about it and he'll be in this afternoon to get it." Connie said reaching for the file.

I stepped back so she could not take the file from me. Andrew Sutter had a fifty thousand dollar bond. Definitely a Ranger file, but I wanted it. For some reason I felt the need to prove myself. Look how well yesterday went, it could happen again. As I scanned the file my confidence shook a little when I read the line that started "Gang affiliations" My face must have shown it.

"I told you that was a case for Ranger." Connie said reaching for the file.

Again I stepped back to stop her from taking it. "Do you have any other FTA's?"

"No. This is the only one right now but we have a whole lot of hearings scheduled for today and tomorrow. I'm sure things will pick up." Again Connie tried to take the file.

"I'll take this one." I said as I headed for the door. Just outside Lula caught up to me.

"If you're going to take that case, I'm going to come and protect your white ass. Let me get my bag."

"No, Lula. I'll be fine. I'm just going to take a look around. If I need help I promise I'll call."

Lula went back into the office and I climb into the Buick. Just as I was putting the key into the ignition my phone chirped.

"Lo" I said not even looking at the ID.

"Babe, what's going on?"

"I'm getting ready to go to work."

"You're stealing jobs from me now?" Ranger said with laughter in his voice.

"I'm not stealing anything! My job is to go after FTA's and that's what I'm doing!"

"Do you have the paperwork to do the apprehension?" he asked.

I looked in the file. "No"

"Babe, you did a great job yesterday, but this one is not going to work that easy. You'll need to do your homework."

My anger lessen, Ranger had not said any thing about me not doing the job. "That's what I was going to do today."

"Ok, maybe we can help each other out. I'll give you the FTA if you let my new guy help you out. He's very competent, but doesn't know about things from this angle. What do you say? Help me out?"

"Alright where should I meet this guy?"

"Just hang tight he and Hal should be there any minute. Hal will get the paperwork and you should be all set."

Great Hal, the last person I wanted to see. I haven't seen him since I stunned him.

"And, babe"

"Yeah"

"Keep the new guy in one piece." Range said and hung up.

Three minutes later two Black SUVs passed me then turned around and came up behind me. All that dark glass was great from the inside, but it was hell when you were trying to make out who was inside. The door to the SUV right behind me opened. I still could not see the guy's face it was blocked by the dark glass in the door. The door closed and the guy was walking back to Hal.

Damn I must have Joe on the brain, that guy's ass looks just as good as Joe's. Damn it. I need to stop lusting after every Merry Man I see. What is the matter with me? I just had a great night of sex and I'm checking out some stranger's ass. My thoughts were interrupted when the passenger door to the Buick open. Time to get a grip and look at mister nice ass.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I yelled.

"I'm the new guy, Mañoso sent to help you out. What's the matter Cupcake? Don't you want to be my mentor?" Joe said with a smile.

"Joe, you have got to be kidding me. You are not really working for Ranger are you?"

"Well from what I understand today I'm working for you." Joe looked at the back seat of the Buick. "You remember the last time we worked a case together in this car."

"Yeah" I said with a smile remembering how mad I had gotten at Joe before I locked him out of the car.

"We'll take the SUV. I'll drive." Joe said opening the door.

"Wait a minute, who are you to make that decision?"

"No body really, but those are my orders from Mañoso. I'm supposed to drive you around where ever you want to go." Joe got out of the car and I followed him.

Hal came out of the office with the paperwork in his hands. He stopped when he saw me. I smiled weakly at him. He did not return the smile. He turned to Joe and handed him the paperwork. "Here you go you're all set. Good luck." He said while giving me a sideways look then he turned and got into his SUV and drove away.

"Come on Cupcake. This should be fun. Don't you what to boss me around?" Joe said as he climbed into the SUV.

After I climbed into the SUV, Joe turned to me and asked, "Where to first?"

"I was going to checkout Sutter's residence. It's off Rosewood."

"Any particular route or should I just fine my own way?"

"Joe, stop being a smart ass. Just get there."

"Yes, ma'am"

We drove in silence for about ten seconds. That's how long it took me to start asking questions.

"Joe, would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?"

"I'm driving you to a FTA's residence so we can check it out."

"Joe, please stop it. You know what I'm asking you. Why did you shoot Fred Shaffer? Why does everyone think you where on vacation? Why did you get let go from the force? Why does everyone think this is all my fault? And why are you working for Ranger?"

"I shot Shaffer because he was going to kill someone. I was officially on vacation. They took my badge because I shot Shaffer on vacation. I don't know why everyone thinks this is your fault. I'm working for Ranger because he gave me a job. Any other questions?"

"Yes. Can you answer with more than one sentence answers?"

"Yes, if you can ask one question at a time." Joe said as we turned off Rosewood. He parked just down the street from Sutter's house. We had a prefect view of his house. "Is this okay with you boss?" Joe asked as he put the SUV into park.

"This is good, thanks for asking, now back to my questions. I'll give them to you one at a time. How did you end up shooting Shaffer while you where on vacation?"

"I was working a tip from an old friend. You know who Mr. Grinaldi is right?"

"Grinaldi, as in Grinaldi Brothers?"

"Actually Anthony Grinaldi is the son of the oldest brother. Anyway when I was in high school I used to work for Mr. Grinaldi."

"What kind of work exactly?" I asked folding my arms and turning to look at him.

"I would run errands for him. I would drop things off and pick things up. I started when I was sixteen and I made good money. A few months before my eighteenth birthday I got picked up by the cops. They wanted me to work for them to set up Mr. Grinaldi. I refused to help so they started laying on me. It was decided it would be a good idea for me to leave town for a while. That's when I joined the Navy."

I sat there staring at Joe. I've known Joe forever but I had no idea that he had ever worked for the mob.

"Mr. Grinaldi was good to me. He only gave me that job and paid me so good because he wanted to make sure my mother was taken care of after my father had died. I'm sure he paid off the mortgage for my mother making it look like it was insurance my father had taken out. My father would never have thought of protecting his family that way."

"Why would he do those things for your family and you?"

"I pretty sure he had my father killed." Joe said matter of fact. No emotions at all in his voice.

"Oh my god! And you worked for him?" I said raising my voice.

"I think he had my father killed partly because my father was scamming money from Mr. Grinaldi. In Mr. Grinaldi's line of work he could not let someone get away with stealing from him. But I think the real reason he had him killed was because my father was beating the crap out of my mother. Mr. Grinaldi and my mother used to go together in high school. Her parent's didn't approve of him so she broke it off. I don't think he ever got over her."

I just sat there stunned. Trying to take this all in. "Does your mother know that the man who had your father killed paid off her mortgage?"

"No, I didn't even know all this until years later when I put some of the pieces together. If you remember my dad's death was always consider an accident."

"Yeah, right. And how does this bring us to shooting Shaffer?"

"I'm getting to that. About three weeks ago Mr. Grinaldi called me and gave me a tip about a man who was setting up his competition's gun buys. Since I happened to be working with a gun runner on another case I thought I would look into it."

"Get a collar by helping the mob get rid of the competition." I could not believe this was Joe Morelli I was talking to. "Joe I thought you always followed the rules? I can't believe you would use your position to help criminals!" I said with disgust.

"Hold on a minute Cupcake. I did not use my position to help out the mob. Anthony knows I would never cover for him. If I found evidence against him I would use it. But from time to time he has given me information about criminal activity. What would you have me do? Not act on it? It may help Anthony out if I get someone out of his way legally, but let's face it. He could take care of his own problems. He's still trying to help me out."

"What a great friend to have! Because of him you were almost arrested for murder and you have lost your job."

"It's not his fault. If he had any idea it would have ended up this way I'm sure he would never have given me the information about Sutter."

"So Sutter was the man setting up the gun buys for his competition?"

"Yes he was. Sutter set up the meeting between the gun runner and the buyers. I think Sutter had gotten the idea that he was going to replace the gun runner. The only problem was that I happened to be there when Sutter tried to take down the gun runner. So I took him down instead."

"Why didn't you let him take down the gun runner then take him in? You would have killed two birds with one stone?"

"I don't think Mañoso would have given me this job if I had let Sutter kill him."