Disclaimer: Thank you JE for the wonderful playmates!
A/N: A huge thanks to Alf, May and Skye for keeping my words in order, they have a tough job, believe me.
The Opportunist
Chapter Seven
Stephanie paid no attention to the directives Ranger rattled off to Hector. Why should she? The diatribe was all in Spanish. Based on Ranger's tone and Hector's body language, she knew Ranger had just laid down the law. Good thing she didn't understand or she'd be using some sign language on Hector's behalf. A devious little smile appeared on her face when she picked out the words la casa and a sneaky little plan began to form inside her head. Why not? The smile on her face grew bigger. If he thought she would just sit here and behave while he searched for Eula's killer, well – he'd better think again! Eula had been one of her first successful skips and a regular one thereafter, and somewhere along the way, Eula had become a friend.
She tucked her black tee shirt into the waistband of her black jeans, then reached up and pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail. The edge of the bed supported her weight when she shoved her feet into a pair of black leather boots, then pulled the laces tight and tied the bow in a double knot. Dressed and ready, she stood and stomped her feet to shake her jeans down over the laces.
When she looked up, she found both men watching her with intense curiosity. Hector's thin face had a child-like smile on it. Stephanie didn't know what she had done to amuse him, but she refused to let him unnerve her. She looked at Ranger; one eyebrow was arched and his face wore a mild look of interest.
Hector's sudden laugh drew their attention. He pointed to Stephanie and then to Ranger and spewed out a few brief words to Ranger. Peals of laughter followed as he pointed his finger back and forth between them. Ranger's eyes widened and both of his eyebrows rose while he watched Hector laughter, then his expression hardened and his eyes narrowed when Hector said a few brief words to Ranger.
"What did he say? What's so funny?" Stephanie demanded.
"I've never seen him laugh," Ranger said.
Stephanie rolled her eyes. "What did he say?" she almost yelled.
"He said we look like twins." Ranger shot another angry look in Hector's direction.
"Asshole," she whispered with her own version of a scary look. It didn't scare Hector anymore than Ranger's had; instead, he collapsed onto the bed when another fit of laughter overtook him.
"Tell Mr. Giggles that I'm going to visit my mother," Stephanie ordered when she walked past Ranger and out the bedroom door.
"You want to go where?" Ranger growled and followed her down the hall.
Stephanie didn't bother to stop until she found her way to the kitchen and straight to the oversized stainless steel refrigerator. She grabbed a hold of the handle on the larger door and took a deep breath. Could she face what she would see inside? Her stomach growled. Yep, she'd risk it, even if it meant coming face to face with an unholy amount of healthy food that would send her stomach into shock.
She pulled the refrigerator door open and couldn't help but stare. "Good grief, Ranger, it looks like a bunny rabbit's wet dream in here!" Panic showed in her eyes and she grabbed the refrigerator door with both hands. "I'm hungry and all you have are vegetables!"
Ranger gave her a gentle nudge to the side, opened a small compartment in the door, reached for her hand and slapped a block of cheddar cheese into it.
"Why?" he asked as he helped himself to a bottle of water.
There had better be more than a hunk of cheese to eat in this house. She opened a drawer, then banged it shut and moved on to the next one. "Why what?"
Ranger blocked her from opening another drawer. He opened a narrow drawer next to the stove and extracted a paring knife and handed it to her, handle first. From underneath the cabinet he slid out a small wooden cutting board and placed it on the counter, then took the knife from her fingers and the cheese from her hand. "Why do you need to go to see your mother?"
"Real food for one thing," she mumbled as she watched him cut off a small portion of salty, fatty goodness. He held the slice out to her and she frowned. "I'm starving here." She heard him give a small sigh before he cut off a bigger slice and handed it to her. "Think about it. You know that she's heard all the rumors by now." She stuffed half of the slice he gave her in her mouth. "Do you really want her to come here to visit?" she asked between chews. Ranger's face paled and Stephanie almost choked in her amusement. "I didn't think so."
Hector still wore a smile when he joined them, but his laughter had stopped. Ranger gave him quick instructions in Spanish, gave her a level stare that almost caused her to pee her pants, and then left. Stephanie continued to chew as she and Hector sized each other up.
She swallowed the last morsel of her 'meal', licked her fingers, and then looked at Hector. "Ready?" Stephanie pointed to the front door. "I can't wait to introduce you to my grandmother."
Hector graced her with another smile when he opened the door and then made a 'come-along' gesture.
sSsSs
Stephanie pointed out each turn to Hector while he drove with expert precision through the narrow streets of the Burg. Without a single word of English or Spanish, they arrived at her parents' house.
Both her mother and grandmother stood at the door with confused looks on their faces. Stephanie wasn't sure if it was because it wasn't dinnertime or because of Hector. Oh joy, this is gonna be fun. Mom, Grandma, this is Hector. Feel free to say anything in front of him, I promise he won't gossip.
She released a small sigh and walked up the front walk, her steps slow and measured like that of a doomed woman. She glanced up at the roof and made herself a promise. Today, when she did her imitation of Wonder Woman and jumped off the roof, she wouldn't rip her underwear.
sSsSs
Connie and Lula both jumped to their feet the minute Ranger walked through the bonds office door. Their anxiety about Stephanie overrode their usual stare, drool, and fan routine that normally accompanied his appearance.
"Is Stephanie all right?" Connie asked. Ranger noticed that her normal tough exterior had been exchanged for a worried frown, a true look of concern on her face.
"Now that you got control of our girl, what you gonna do 'bout it?" Lula planted her fists on her ample hips and narrowed her eyes at him.
"Ladies." Ranger tipped his head a fraction in their direction and then focused his attention on Lula. "I have something I'd like to discuss with you. Lunch at Big Jim's?" He almost smiled at how fast her confrontational attitude morphed into one of stunned silence.
Lula felt her knees go weak and she staggered backwards, hoping to find the support of the vinyl couch. When the back of her knees touched its solid edge, she let her behind hit the cushions. Her. Ranger. Her and Ranger. Alone together. The possibilities were endless. Nah, Batman was the kind of man who didn't do kinky in public until after dark. But maybe he wanted some ideas to try out on Steph? This could be good. Lula had some ideas, and then there was her vast personal experience and expertise…
Ranger shook off the shudder that threatened to quake his body when he saw the predatory look come into her eyes and walked to the door to push it open. "Shall we?"
Lula pulled her mind out of the gutter and looked up to see Ranger waiting at the door for her. "Uh, sure." She grabbed her purse and turned to Connie, whose face still wore the same, wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression, and winked. "If that weasel in the backroom wants to know where I'm at, just tell him I'm engaged in a business luncheon with Ranger."
Connie nodded, speechless as she watched the most improbable pair she could ever imagine sashay out the door. Well, Lula sashayed. Ranger just sort of glided like smoke.
When the door closed behind them, Connie swiveled her chair toward the back of the office. "Vinnie!" she yelled. "Get your ass out here! You're not gonna believe this!"
sSsSs
"Sooo, what you're saying is that you want me to dress up like a homeless person and hit the streets, get in tight with the shopping cart dwellers, and try to pick up information on Eula. Discretely," Lula said and swallowed her disappointment that the lunch wasn't a social call for the fine man in front of her.
Ranger nodded. "It's one of the areas we can't infiltrate."
Lula felt her back bristle. "Your posse can't get tight, but you think I can?" This was Stephanie and Batman, and if they needed her, she'd never say no. But damn, she felt an insult in there somewhere.
Ranger nodded again and smothered the smile that threatened to play on his lips. He understood that Lula felt insulted and decided to do some preemptive damage control.
"My guys can't pass as homeless. Their size alone intimidates most people. I need someone … smaller." When no lightening bolt struck him for his blatant lie, Ranger turned on one of his high wattage smiles. "And they're not people oriented. You, on the other hand, have a natural instinct when it comes to which people to trust and which ones to avoid. Why, you'd charm the information out of them in half the time."
Lula relaxed back into the booth and nodded her head. Made sense to her. She sat straight up when a thought occurred to her. "What am I gonna do for clothes? I need homeless clothes. You know, I don't have any rags in my wardrobe."
Ranger studied her in silence. He kept his face neutral while he took in her puce spandex leggings, violet sweater with red stripes, and her cornbraids. He thought she looked perfect for the role and then remembered how much he needed her help and pulled his wallet from his pocket and extracted five twenties.
"Hit the Salvation Army thrift store and pick up what you need. And lose the hair." He watched as Lula's eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. Time for more damage control, he thought. "I've never seen a homeless woman who had the time or the money to pay that much attention to her hair. You need to blend in."
Lula bobbed her head in agreement. "I can do that. You want me to start tonight?"
Ranger nodded. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "Make sure you carry this with you, but keep it out of sight. Just hit speed dial two if you find out anything."
"Manoso! I want to talk to you," Morelli called when he walked through the door of the diner.
Lula cringed at the sound of Morelli's voice. He did not sound happy.
"Okay, that's it. I'm outta here. I'll call you when I get something." Lula was already halfway out of her chair, poised to beat feet.
Ranger nodded. "Lula?" His voice stopped her and she turned around. "Thanks," he said with sincerity. "From both Stephanie and me. You're a good friend."
Lula looked at the floor to hide her embarrassment. "Yeah, well, works both ways. She's always been there for me and believed in me when no one else did. She's my best friend."
Ranger gave his full attention to Lula and ignored the angry cop who slid into the booth to take Lula's place. "Later."
Lula flipped a nervous glance in Joe's direction and then sent a quick nod to Ranger before she hustled out the door. Morelli watched for a few moments and then turned a scowl in Ranger's direction. "I want to know what the hell is going on with Stephanie, Manoso."
Ranger shifted his attention to Morelli and wondered if the man had heard what he'd just said, without the comma of course – Stephanie Manoso.
sSsS
The man leaned back in his chair, eyes closed, with his arm thrown across his forehead. He'd felt nauseous all day. He ran his fingers through his styled hair. "Shit, how could this have happened? This should have been nothing more than an unsolved homicide of a homeless old bag lady. Who the fuck cares about them? Cops would have given it the bare minimum investigation, then filed it under 'Pending', and then after a little while, it would be filed under 'Unsolved' and forgotten. The end." He shook his head. "Jesus, how the hell does Stephanie do it? She's a total disaster area."
The woman watched him, puzzled why he cared. She unfolded her small body from the chair she sat perched on and walked behind the desk. She started to massage his tight neck muscles in a slow, soothing motion. "What difference does it make if she's found guilty or not? You said she's always been a pain in the ass."
He made an indistinct sound while she continued to knead the tension from his neck and shoulders. It might have been for pleasure, or agreement, or just one of those things men did when they didn't know what to say.
"She has been a pain in the ass, but even she doesn't deserve this. I've got to find a way to slant the evidence in a different direction. With Kloughn as her attorney, there's no way she'll be acquitted," the man swore under his breath. "If possible, he's an even bigger disaster."
"Listen to me, sweetie," she entreated him. "It's bad enough that she's got Manoso on her side, but when I stopped at the station to pick up some files, I heard a rumor that Morelli is also on her case. If you try to redirect the evidence, you may very well find it pointing straight back at you and I'd be very, very upset if that were to happen." She let her fingers glide down his neck to his toned chest where she let her fingertips play across his nipples beneath the oxford shirt.
He groaned and lifted his hand to cover her smaller one. "You're right." He allowed his head to brush back against her breasts to let her know that he wanted to take things to the next level. "I'd be very upset if that happened, too."
Behind him, she smiled in satisfaction. "Good, I'm so glad we're still on the same page." Fool, she thought, men are so easy.
sSsSs
Stephanie looked over at Hector and watched while he maneuvered the truck with ease out of her parents' neighborhood. She had no idea what Ranger's exact instructions to Hector were, but she decided to test their limits with one small, but very necessary, stop. Besides, if she were to judge, Hector's enthusiasm for food rivaled hers. He had sat in the kitchen with a happy look on his face while he consumed plateful after plateful of her mother's cooking while the three women talked. The only time he'd torn himself away from the table was when she'd tried to make an escape.
She'd pretended to go to the bathroom and she'd slipped out the window, then carefully made her way around to the roof of the garage. One glance over the edge had her head in a tailspin, but the coast was clear. "Remember, no ripped panties this time," she pledged, then closed her eyes, took a deep breath and jumped. Her eyes popped open when she'd landed into a pair of thin, but strong arms.
Hector just stood there with a smile on his face while he cradled her in his arms. Stephanie sighed in defeat when he released her and shook his finger in a no-no fashion, then pointed at the tattooed tears falling from his eye.
Stephanie gulped and followed him back inside like a good little captive. Once they were settled back in the kitchen, he'd resumed his feast. Well, at least she hadn't torn her underwear this time.
The truck eased to a stop at a red light. Well, it's now or never. "Hector!" He turned to face her and raised an eyebrow in question. Stephanie pointed out the turns to take until they reached the market. Once they'd pulled in to the parking lot, Hector again raised his brow in question. "Trust me, unless you want to eat fruits, twigs, and nuts, you'll thank me for this."
He gave her a blank stare and cocked his head. Stephanie felt her frustration level rise. Fine, Ranger said use sign language, then that's what I'll do. She opened her door, stepped out, and jerked her thumb at the entrance. "Move it, buster." Hector moved.
An hour later, Stephanie sat in the truck while Hector loaded the bags in the back. She closed her eyes and smiled. This sign language thing might work out okay after all. When the food had been rung up, she'd stood there and waited, then gestured from Hector to the cashier. He'd grinned and shook his head as he'd handed over the credit card. Yeah, sign language would work, at least for the simple stuff.
Hector got in the driver's side and shut the door. She smiled and imagined how Hector would explain this to Ranger. One hundred and eighty-two dollars worth of junk food. She had to repress the urge to laugh out loud.
With that happy thought, Stephanie closed her eyes and settled into her seat to enjoy the ride back to – where? Was her current 'cell' the real Batcave?
