Disclaimer: The characters are property of Janet Evanovich and I am not making any money from this story. The story line is mine.

What's in a Name

By, Elissahara30

He was in good shape for a man in his seventies. His hair was a snow white, and his eyes a sharp blue. He had lines on his face that spoke of happy times, and he was slightly stooped. He smiled first at Ranger and then his gaze swept over me. He took an involuntary step back; clutching at his chest, and said, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, its you!"

He noticed the box that Ranger was carrying and older man stumbled backwards. I was concerned so I reached out my hand steady him. "Go away!" He said to me.

I pulled my hand back in shock and blinked my eyes in surprise as I stared at him. "My name is Stephanie Plum and this is my partner Ranger. I'm sorry we scared you."

He eyes focused on me again, and a shudder ran through his body. "So it's comes full circle." He seemed to be talking to himself as he fell to the floor. I was really confused at this point. Ranger gently took my arm and moved me out of his way. He then walked into the house and helped Dalmish stand up. Dalmish blinked his eyes once and with trembling hands, he accepted Rangers help. The front door led into a foyer and from what I could tell there was a type of den to the left and another door to the right. Ahead of us were stairs. Dalmish with Ranger's help led us beyond the stairs into a cramped sitting room.

Ranger led Dalmish to an old wing backed chair. The furniture was so old I was afraid to sit down. I've seen antiques before, but nothing that looked like it had been around before the turn of the twentieth century. I gingerly sat on the old divan, setting my cane to the side. Ranger came back in and set the box on the coffee table between Dalmish and me.

For the longest time all three of us just looked at the box, "I need a drink." Dalmish said, he stood up on unsteady feet and made his way to a table laden with glass decanters filled with alcohol. He poured himself a tumbler of Scotch and drank all of it before he refilled the glass again. He made his way back to the chair and sat down.

With a heavy sigh he said, "So, you found the damn book."

I was taken aback, the once cheerful looking old man turned into a surly old geezer. Geez, lighten up a little bit. "It was in my sister's care." I said carefully.

His gaze seemed to harden as he looked at me, "The Meg Ryan look-a-like, right?"

I shifted uncomfortably next to Ranger, and Ranger took my hand in his. He looked at me for a beat before saying to Dalmish, "We came here to ask you questions about the book."

"You can ask, but there is nothing I can tell you about that book. It belonged to a servant who lived a long time ago. Just leave the past in the past." He directed his gaze across the room, "Ghosts belong in the past."

"You mentioned meeting my sister, what did she want with the book?" My mind drifted back to what Steve said about my sister knowing more than she pretended not to know.

"She came here a couple years ago, desperate for me to take the book back, I told her no. She threatened me at that point, told me I had to take it or her husband would be after me. I'll tell you what I told her, I'm old and I have lived my life. It have made my amends with the past, there is nothing out there that can harm me now." He faced me, and he leaned forward in his chair, "You look so much like her."

Despite the odd conversation my curiosity was bubbling to the surface, "Like whom?"

Dalmish drowned the contents of his glass, and from a shelf to his right he rummaged through and produced a tiny type picture. He looked at it for a long time before handing it to me.

I couldn't help the tremble in my hand as I looked at the picture. It was uncanny how she had looked like me. Her nose was more English than mine, and her eyes closer set, but we could almost be sisters. "Who is the person in the picture?" I handed the picture to Ranger to look at, and he quirked an eyebrow at me. Yeah, I agree it was an amazing resemblance.

Dalmish pointed to the picture and said, "That was Mary Elizabeth Chambers."

No shit! "Oh, wow." Stephanie Plum, master of the English vocabulary.

I was startled as Dalmish stood up suddenly, "You need to leave."

"We're not leaving until you can tell us about the journal and your grandfather's involvement with Mary Elizabeth?" Ranger asked forcefully.

Dalmish seemed to collapse into himself, "It was never proven, but I believe my grandfather had murdered her, but not before she had hidden something he was after."

"Do you know what he was after?" I asked eagerly.

"All I can say is that you need to find Martin Edwards. That's all I have ever known. Now please leave my home, and take that book with you." I could tell that we were not going to get any further, so I indicated to Ranger I was ready to leave.

A few minutes later we where in Ranger's car, and I wondered about the weird conversation we had with Augustine Dalmish. "He's not telling us everything."

"Do you have any idea what it might be?" Ranger asked me as he started the car and drove us away from the neighborhood.

I shook my head, "I'm not sure, but I bet you anything it all goes back to Mary Elizabeth's journal. He seemed pretty upset about the book." I looked over at Ranger, "I also think it's more than just latent guilt over his grandfather possibly killing Mary Elizabeth."

"Where do you want to go from here?" Ranger said.

I looked at Ranger and smiled, "I could use something to eat, I'm starving."

Ranger shook his head, "Babe." Then he slipped into his driving zone.

Ten minutes later found us in front of Kaleidoscope Pizzeria and Pub. The place looked busy and I was starving and having pizza sounded like it would hit the spot. Ranger parked the car, and came around and opened the door for me.

A perky nineteen year old, bounced over to us holding a clipboard, "Welcome to the Kaleidoscope Pizzeria and Pub, can I have your name please?" She asked as she flashed her overly bright smile at us.

"Carlos," Ranger said. I just looked at Ranger and he just raised his eyebrow at me.

Little Miss Perky bounced once making is obvious she was not wearing a bra, "Okay dokay, it will be about five minutes, and I'll show you to your seats." And she walked away wiggling her hips as she went. I couldn't help the frown that came across my face. I heard Ranger chuckle next to me.

"Jealous, Babe." He leaned forward and placed a kiss by my ear, "You're all the woman I'll ever need."

I ignored him as I looked around the pizza place; I noticed not a single wait person looked to be over twenty-two years old. All wore jeans and tie-dye shirts. The walls were covered in Grateful Dead memorabilia, and the tables were made of wood that gleamed. The room had tall vaulted ceilings with hangings also made up in different tie-dyed patterns. This was not like any pizza place I've ever been to before.

Our five minutes were up and we were led to our table. Ranger positioned himself so his back to the wall, once I was settled I looked at my menu and was horrified.

This is not a pizzeria; this is a health food restaurant masquerading as a pizzeria." I looked up and noticed that Ranger was smiling at me as he gave me his amused expression.

"Babe, it clearly is a pizza restaurant, just pick something out and order." He sat back and tried hard not to laugh at me.

Oh, we was so going to get it later. I pointed out one of the items on the menu, "Look at this, it's a halibut 'pizza' with Gouda cheese and olive oil baked on whole grain dough." I narrowed my eyes at him, "Did you know this was a yuppie place?"

Ranger sat back and raised his hands up to fend off my bad mood, "First time I've been here babe."

Just then our waiter came up, "Would you like our complimentary bowl of garbanzo beans and sauce? Also we have wonderful yeast free bread smothered in no fat cheese, served with our marinara sauce." Why was it that ever since I woke from my coma, people kept trying to feed me foods that just seemed very, very wrong to me.

"No thank you," I plastered my best fake smile and asked, "I would like a soda though."

"Oh, I'm sorry we do not sell soda here, we have a selection of mineral waters if you're interested." The waiter gave me his overly toothy smile and I felt like hitting him.

"Plain water will be just fine, thank you. Also I would like to order a pepperoni pizza with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese." I looked over at Ranger and he was smart enough not to laugh at me this time. He ordered a mineral water and a salad.

When our food arrived, we ate quietly and my mind kept circling back to Dalmish, and his reluctance to help us. Then I couldn't help but wonder what Valerie really knew about all of this. Val and I were going to have a conversation real soon. Then there was the find Martin Edwards comment. Who was Martin Edwards and what connection did he have with Mary Elizabeth.

So many questions and not enough answers. I looked out the window and I stopped breathing, outside staring right back at me was none other than Steve Bulisco. He saluted me as broke Ranger's car window and grabbed the box out of Ranger's Mercedes. As Ranger and I started to stand, Ranger's Mercedes went up in a bright ball of flames.

We were knocked down, the glass flying in from the explosion. The strangest thought went through me my mind; It was nice to know some things don't change.

TBC . . .

A/N: This chapter was a real head thunker for me. Hope you enjoyed it. I love the reviews. Let me know what you think.