Janet Evanovich is the rightful owner of the Stephanie Plum stories and characters.
Author's Note: My heartfelt thanks for the touching and supportive reviews with the last chapter! I'm glad so many of you found the music recommendation helpful in creating the emotional draw intended by the chapter.
Hopefully, as the story continues on its path, this next chapter will answer many of your questions, confirm or dispel some of your guesses, and compel you to let me know what you think!
A Total Eclipse of the Heart
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Chapter 14
Megan's incredulous exclamation caught the attention of everyone in the room. They stared at her, waiting. Not understanding what had precipitated her shocked expression. Lester was concerned that she had become overwrought by the images of the explosion and tried to comfort her with his arms.
Megan put both hands on his chest and pushed back. "Lester, I can't believe it. I…I…I need to see it again." She turned to Hal. He didn't even hesitate.
Ranger had become aware of the commotion and entered the room, followed by Bobby, Tank, and Hector; all of them hoping that some sort of breakthrough had occurred.
The video recording began to play once more. It was difficult for them. It may have been low quality, but the image of Stephanie's final moments of life tugged at their hearts. Megan was the only one looking at the film critically.
"There!" She exclaimed. "Hal, can you freeze it there?"
Hal paused the video.
Megan placed her finger on the screen. "Right here. Do you see it?"
Lester leaned forward and peered closely at what she was pointing at. "She's closing the tailgate."
Megan replied. "Yes, yes she is." Her voice was gaining enthusiasm. "Hal, can you forward it some more?"
Hal resumed the play. Everyone keenly watched, trying to catch on to what Megan was seeing.
"And here!" She shouted again. "Freeze it…there!" Hal did. "Do you see it there, too?" She looked at Lester and then Ranger. Both were baffled. "She's opening the car door." She looked at Bobby, hoping the medic would understand what she was too overwhelmed to explain clearly. "With her left hand!"
Ranger raised his eyebrows, he was slowly processing what she was getting at, but it wasn't fast enough for Megan, who was, by now, practically jumping with excitement.
"Stephanie had been complaining all afternoon about how sore her left wrist was. She had trouble just carrying her packages." She looked back to Lester. "Look at the screen! She used her left hand to close the gate, and there…" She pointed to Stephanie's hand on the door. "She's using her left hand to open the car door. She shouldn't have been able to do that." She looked back to Ranger with the threat of more tears forming in her eyes, but this time they would be tears of happiness. "I don't think that's Stephanie."
Ranger was stunned. He was torn between his desperation to believe her words, and the concern that there might be some explanation to prove her theory wrong. He wasn't sure his heart could take the wild swing that would result from such a let down.
"Hal, can you magnify and clear up the image of her hand?"
"Boss, that's a bit out of my field of expertise."
Hector stepped up and put a hand on his shoulder. "Step away, amigo, I can do this."
Hal moved from the chair, and Hector swiftly negotiated the process of manipulating the video.
By now, word had spread on the floor and men were crowding into the room. In a few short moments, Hector had a large, but very fuzzy image of the hand on the car door.
"Hector, can you enhance it?" Lester was now standing with his arms tightly around Megan, with her back to his chest. They were both practically vibrating with anticipation.
Hector clicked a few more keys and the image cleared slightly. Poised on the slender ring finger, was the weak image of the jewel studded engagement band that Ranger had given Stephanie and, just as obvious, the only thing showing between the base of the fingers and the cuff of the coat sleeve…was skin.
There was no cast.
Ranger closed his eyes in silent reverence for the miraculous revelation. He attempted to organize his frenzied thoughts, but for the first time in his life, his emotions dominated his response and he couldn't act.
Tank noticed Ranger's indisposition and quickly started barking orders. "Lester, call Morelli, get him over here. We need to find out if they can do DNA testing on any of the remains that were thought to be Steph's." He turned, "Bobby, get up to seven, collect anything of Stephanie's you think could be used to obtain a DNA sample for a comparison. If you aren't happy with what you find upstairs, head over to her apartment." Bobby nodded. "Hal, Tony, get back to the surveillance tapes. If that's not Stephanie, she has to be somewhere. Whoever this guy is must have gotten to her shortly after she made that last phone call to Ranger. See if you can follow her through the mall. Look for anything that could be interpreted as them leaving."
"Yes, sir," they both replied, in a trained military response.
Tank glanced at Ranger who was still standing there...bewildered. "For now, let's keep this quiet. He thinks we believe she's dead. If he doesn't know we're looking for her, maybe he'll get careless."
Everyone nodded. Bobby left to follow his instructions. Hal and Tony turned back to their work. Lester pulled out his cell phone.
Tank turned to Hector, who was still staring in unbelief at the enlarged image. His rapid fire energy softened, and he put a hand on his shoulder. "Héctor, tenemos que encontrar nuestra niña. ¿Qué ha encontrado con el teléfono celular de seguimiento?" (Hector, we need to find our little girl. What have you found with the cell phone trace?)
"Nada de lo hasta ahora, jefe. El teléfono fue comprado en una tienda Wal-Mart en Filadelfia, hace más de un mes. Envié Cal para obtener las cintas de vigilancia de ese día." (Nothing so far, boss. The phone was purchased at a Wal-Mart in Philadelphia, over a month ago. I sent Cal to get the surveillance tapes from that day.)
Tank then looked to Lester, who had just finished placing his call to Morelli. "When those tapes come in I want three men on it. We have to identify this guy."
"On it." Lester replied.
Ranger finally brought himself back to the present. He took Megan's hand. "Megan, I can't tell you how grateful I am for what you've done. Just to know that she's alive...that there's a chance...I could get her back again…"
"I wish I could do more." Megan looked down in embarrassment. "I should have spoken up sooner. I'm not the hero here. I let you, Stephanie, and Lester down, and I'm so sorry for that." Megan could feel the negative vibrations emanating from Hector. She only had a slight understanding of the powerful connection he felt toward Stephanie, but she knew from his time spent with her in the hospital and his reaction to her death, that his forgiveness would not come easy, if at all. She also understood that there were probably others that felt the same way. But if she had learned one thing about the men at RangeMan in recent days, it was that they were very professional and, for the most part, they separated their emotions from the job. It was something she had been forced to do herself from time to time in her job as a nurse, but she never found it easy to do for long. She could apologize until the end of time and she knew it would not be enough to undo the damage caused by her silence and cowardice.
Ranger interrupted her thoughts. "Megan, you're the only witness we have to identify this guy. There's going to be a lot of video tape to go through. Why don't you get some dinner and rest. It will take the guys a while to reorganize. Then we'll need you again."
"Okay," she nodded.
Ranger left the chaos of the 5th floor behind and shut himself into his office. He needed to think. He needed to put everything he now knew about the situation into some perspective so that he could develop a clear plan. It's what he intended to do, but instead he thought about Stephanie and where she could be. He thought about how and when to tell her parents the news. He wanted to keep this under wraps, but it didn't seem fair to let them continue to suffer. There had been a lot of press. Details of her death and the investigation had made the front page of the Trenton paper every day. He expected tonight's edition would have a story and photos of the funeral.
There was a knock on the door and Tank entered. He was carrying a tray and set it down on Ranger's desk before he took a seat.
Ranger looked at the tray. "Ella?"
Tank nodded. "I promised her I would force you to eat. She'll check. So eat."
Ranger lifted the napkin. A nice warm stew and fresh baked bread lay underneath. He didn't have much of an appetite, but it was going to be a long night, so he picked up the spoon and took a few bites, then sat back when he realized Tank was just staring at him with his arms crossed over his chest.
"You want to say something?"
"Eat first."
Ranger ate a few more bites of food and then grabbed a piece of the bread and sat back in his chair. He noticed how tired Tank looked. It was easy to forget, being caught up in his own grief, that his friend had managed to carry the weight of RangeMan on his shoulders, comfort Lula, and carry his own personal sorrow at Stephanie's death.
"Speak."
Satisfied at his nutritional attempt, Tank sat forward and clasped his hands together with his elbows resting on his knees. Ranger was familiar with this pose. It's how Tank positioned himself when he wanted to talk straight, eye to eye, no bullshit.
"She's been gone four days already," he began. "Have you stopped to think about what could have happened to her by now? You know the statistics for kidnapping. If there's no demand for ransom…"
Ranger cut him off. "He went to a lot of trouble to make us believe she's dead. I don't think he would do that just to kill her."
"You and I both know there are worse things than death."
"I can't let myself go there. We know she wasn't killed in that car. That's enough for now. It doesn't change the fact that we have to search for her. We have to find out where she is now."
"True. I just don't want you to ignore the possibility that she could be…"
"She's not!" God, he didn't want to talk about that.
"Think about it, Carlos. What are the reasons someone would work this hard to take her?"
Ranger didn't answer.
"None of them are good."
"What's your point, Tank?"
Tank sat back in the chair and sighed. "Just lookin' out for my friend." He stood up and headed toward the door. He opened it and paused. "Morelli's on his way." He stepped out, closing the door behind him.
What Ranger didn't admit to Tank, was that he had already contemplated those other things. He had thought that, whoever this sick bastard was, he could be harming her in ways that would be worse than death. In his years of service in Special Ops, he had seen some of the most monstrous and sadistic forms of torture and punishment. Things done to women. Things that would make your skin crawl and could give even a hardened soldier nightmares. This son-of-a-bitch had already shown the lengths to which he was willing to go. The young girl in the bar had been brutally mutilated, only to serve as an example. And, while it may not have been Stephanie in that car, it was someone's daughter. Another innocent lured to her death to serve his evil purpose.
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"I'll be damned." Joe sat in Ranger's office looking at the evidence in front of him. Hector had printed still photos of the key points to the video, showing that it was most likely not Stephanie who entered the car. His emotional relief got the best of him, and he buried his face in his hands.
Ranger watched and waited. He knew from his own reaction that it would take time for Joe to process what he himself was still finding hard to comprehend as being true.
No longer able to sit, Joe stood and paced in front of Ranger's desk. "What are you doing about this already?"
Ranger went over the steps that his men were following. Joe nodded his approval of the plan. He ended by telling Joe their wish to keep the truth concealed for as long as possible.
"I can't get involved formally. If I do, I'd be required to notify the FBI because this is now, officially, an abduction. And we can't forget that there are at least three other victims involved. Two of them are dead. Another was threatened with bodily harm."
"I'm very aware of that. I don't mean to diminish the tragedy of their involvement in this, or their deaths, but if this guy doesn't know we're looking for Stephanie, we have a better chance of finding her."
Joe produced a deep sigh while he mulled over his options. He finally turned to Ranger and Tank. "It's a holiday weekend. A lot of people have taken time off since the excitement surrounding Stephanie's funeral required so much overtime. I'll talk to Pauzek. He can get started on the DNA testing. He's a good guy. He'll keep it under the radar. Paper work is always getting misplaced anyway. If he leans on the lab, he can have the results back sometime early tomorrow morning. When he gets those results, and they don't match, he won't be able to wait long to report them. You're gonna have two days tops, before all Hell breaks loose." He rubbed his face. "Jesus, the press is going to have a field day with this."
Ranger nodded. "Thank you."
Joe looked up and met Ranger eye to eye. "Don't thank me. Find her. Bring her home."
"I will."
"What about her parents?" Joe questioned.
"I'm going to see them tomorrow after I have the DNA evidence to present to them. I'll ask them to keep it quiet until it hits the papers."
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Megan was back in the room looking at videos. She had eaten, but was too anxious to rest. She wanted to find the man. She wanted others to see the face she saw in her mind. Preliminary tests on the photos revealed no fingerprints other than hers. The cell phone connection looked more and more like a dead end, and somehow this guy had managed to avoid being caught by any of the surveillance cameras at the hospital and the mall.
Hal and Tony had narrowed down Stephanie's movements through the mall to her entrance into Macy's. She went in and eight minutes later, her presumed double came out the door by the shoe department, wearing Stephanie's coat, pants, shoes and jewelry, and carrying Stephanie's purse and packages. Lester had wanted to stay by Megan's side, but he and Max had gone over to Macy's to interview employees before the store closed for the night. They were looking for clues as to what had happened to Stephanie in those eight minutes. Lester didn't want her to be alone so Jack had volunteered to sit with her.
Hal and Tony were still assisting her with the videos. They had finished the interior shots and were now working their way through the parking lot surveillance tapes. It had been the day before Thanksgiving and the mall was crowded. Traffic was heavy.
The sight of a dark delivery van caught Megan's attention. She wasn't sure why, but it gnawed at her until she could no longer ignore it.
"Tony, could you see where that van came from?"
Tony rewound the video, and together they watched the progression of the van as it entered the camera range on the south side of the mall near Lord & Taylor, then pulled up to the curb at the entrance. They continued to watch as the van sat for a moment. The driver got out and opened the back doors. He pulled out a large, rolling garment rack, the kind enclosed in a zippered, canvas bag to protect the contents. He closed the back doors and rolled the cart into the mall.
Hal, seeing the interest in the van, quickly pulled up additional surveillance footage on his screen to locate the van before it entered the camera screen that Tony was looking at.
"Look at this." Hal said. "That van was parked in a parking space outside Penney's before it got to your screen." He looked at the time stamp. "He pulled out of his parking spot and headed your way, one minute after the detonation of the explosives in Steph's car."
"Was he in range for the detonation?" Tony asked.
"Hell yes." Hal replied.
Jack was getting curious too. "Can you tell what kind of delivery van it is?" He was leaning over Hal, trying to view the screen as well.
"It's not very clear, but maybe we can have Hector do something about that."
"I'll go get him." Jack left the room.
Tony and Megan continued to watch the now parked and empty van. Tony fast forwarded until he saw the garment rack coming back through the entrance doors once more. This time, there were two men guiding it to the van. The original driver opened the back doors, and it took both of them to lift the cart up into the van. They closed the doors, got in the front seat, and drove away.
"Call Ranger," Tony said to Hal. "I think we've got something."
Hector and Jack returned to the room, followed shortly by Ranger and Tank. Tony and Hal replayed what they had seen in the videos for everyone, and Hector worked on enhancing the image of the van, and the two men.
"The bag is definitely heavier when it goes back into the van, than it was when it left," Tank observed.
"There are not words on the side of the van, but I think I have a part of the plate," Hector said as he typed furiously. He gave a final tap of the keys and the image appeared. The plate was covered in mud, but just enough of the top was clean to make out the partial name of the state. "Florida."
Hector quickly returned to the images of the men. Both were wearing hats, and their faces were hidden in the shadows. When he got one image as clear and as large as he could, he pulled it up. It wasn't much help.
"Damn it." Tony swore under his breath. He turned to his computer. He pulled up a file that needed authorization to open and looked to Ranger. "I have an idea, can you get me in?"
Ranger nodded, reached over and typed in the password. Tony navigated the file until he found what he was looking for. The image of a man appeared on his screen.
Ranger raised an eyebrow as he recognized the man.
Tony looked at Megan. "Is this the man that contacted you?"
Megan studied the picture. "No. This guy has a similar build and hair color but it isn't his face. The man who contacted me was younger and not as muscular." She took another look at the picture. "Although there's something about the eyes…"
Tony grabbed his cell phone stepped to the back of the room and made a call. A minute later he returned to the group. He sat back down in front of the computer and brought up what looked like an email account. He impatiently tapped his finger on the mouse. "I called RangeMan Miami. They're sending me some surveillance photos. I have a feeling…" Tony's computer signaled that a new email had arrived in his in-box. Tony opened the mail, downloaded the attachment and brought up the file. A few clicks more and another image appeared.
"That's him!" Megan didn't hesitate. She was positive. "That's the man that has been threatening me. That's the man from the mall!"
Ranger looked sharply at Tony for an explanation. "Who is that?"
"Jake Murdock." He sighed. "Marcus Sandor's cousin."
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Stephanie didn't want to open her eyes. She was nauseated again. She was getting really tired of all this. The last few days were a blur of pain, nausea and confusion. She knew she was being kept drugged, but she tried to retain as much information about what had been happening to her as she could.
The last thing she remembered was talking to Ranger on the phone.
She hung up and was making her way through Macy's to get to her car so she could help Megan. The next thing she knew, she was inside some van or small truck; trussed like a turkey, lying on the floor blindfolded, and she had a hell of a headache. She heard no voices and detected no other human movements, so she was pretty sure the cab of the vehicle she was in was separate from the back. The only clue that told her she had probably been there for a while was that she really needed to pee…badly! She lay there, listening. The van was travelling at a steady pace, so she assumed they were on an interstate. After a while, she felt the vehicle slow, make several turns and come to a stop. She heard the muffled opening and closing of one of the doors, and then it was quiet for several minutes. The door opened and closed again and then the van started up, traveled a very short distance, then stopped. She heard both doors open, close and then the back of the van was opened. She was roughly handled to a standing position, lifted by her arms; feet dragging the ground, and carried through the door of a house or building.
They walked a short distance and her arm hit the frame of a doorway as she was shoved forward. The door was closed and someone began loosening the ties that bound her feet.
"Don't remove the blindfold until I leave the room. If you do, I'll cut you. You have ten minutes to do whatever you need to do in here. Then put the blindfold back on." He stood up from his crouched stance. "I'll come back in and you can have something to eat. There aren't any windows and the only door leads right back to me. So don't try anything. And don't scream for help. The next closest cabin is over a hundred yards away. No body will hear you." He finished unbinding her hands and she heard him leave the room. She quickly reached up and released the blindfold. She was in a bathroom. He was right, no windows.
She looked at herself in the mirror and it was then she realized she wasn't wearing her own clothes. Even her shoes were different. They were maybe a half size too big. She was wearing navy cargo pants and a tan sweater. She lifted the neck of the sweater away from her chest and looked down at her bra. It was her own. She undid her pants, and found the underwear was hers, too. She did her business and spent a couple of minutes trying to wash off some of the grime from the floor of the van. As she rinsed her hands in the sink, it dawned on her that her engagement ring was missing. She felt a knot in her stomach at the loss of Carlos' beautiful gift.
There was a sharp rap at the door.
"Put the blindfold back on."
She did, and acknowledged through the door that she had done so. The door opened, she was taken into the main room and seated at a table. Food was put in front of her, but she couldn't eat.
"You'll only be offered food, drink and the bathroom twice a day; at night and in the morning. If you don't eat or go at those times...well, that's up to you."
"Who are you? What do you want with me?"
There was no answer.
"Where are you taking me?" Tears were threatening, but she wanted to stay strong. She wanted to stand up to her captors.
She wasn't hungry, but she was thirsty, so she groped around the table in search of a drink. She almost tipped it over, but large hands caught it and guided it into hers. It was cold and she drank the whole thing over the next couple of minutes.
When it became obvious that she wasn't going to eat, she was taken back into the bathroom, her arms and legs were bound again and that's the last thing she remembered until she woke up in the bathtub with a pillow behind her head and a blanket covering her body. The routine was repeated from the night before, and when she awoke again she was back in the van barreling down the highway to a destination unknown.
She had slept in three bathtubs, so Stephanie deducted that by now it was Saturday morning. She still had never seen either one of her kidnappers, and only the one had ever spoken to her. His words were always instructive and commanding. There was never any sign of warmth or concern for her well-being. She was treated like a package, being transported on a long journey to be delivered.
They must have been close to their destination because she wasn't drugged after this morning's breakfast. She was tied, blindfolded and led back into the van. As they travelled, she noticed that the air was getting warmer. The drugs they kept injecting her with had kept her unconscious most of the time, and when she was awake; her ability to think straight was greatly impaired. Her mind wandered to Ranger and what he must be going through. Surely he was looking for her. Megan would have called Lester when she didn't return. She had caused him so much worry already, and now she was doing it again. She cried when she thought of Rex and hoped that someone had remembered to feed him. She wondered how her mother had handled Thanksgiving. So many people were supposed to be there. Julie…she had bought her that necklace. She wanted to make this trip to Trenton so special for Ranger's daughter. The more she thought, the more melancholy she became, and by the time the van stopped she was an emotional mess.
The back doors opened and the van was immediately filled with warm salty air. She could smell the ocean.
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"Chelsea Grant." Morelli burst into Ranger's office with a little more lightness in his step than there had been in the last several days. He dropped a file on Ranger's desk.
Ranger looked up from his computer. He was exhausted. He had spent most of the night going over information and in planning meetings with his core team and those men who would be involved with Stephanie's search and rescue.
"When the DNA results came back, I did a search for missing persons. When nothing showed up locally or in the state, I looked in the national database. Chelsea Grant was listed as missing 10 days ago from the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Her DNA was already in the system. It's a match with the sample Pauzek was able obtain. 23 years old, white, 5' 7", 130 pounds and curly brown hair. There's a picture of her in the file."
Ranger opened the file. "She looks a lot like Stephanie."
"Yeah, she does." Joe had sad smile on his face. "When I left here last night, I didn't know what to believe. I didn't want to fool myself into believing…"
"I know." Ranger looked down at the file again. "It makes sense. I95 runs through Richmond, and that's the interstate that runs from Florida to Trenton. He probably picked her up on his way north in the van."
"What are you talking about?"
"We know who has her." Ranger stood up. "Marcus Sandor is a man that Stephanie helped us capture on a recent trip to Miami. He had attacked the sister of one of my employees down there. Megan has identified his cousin, Jake Murdock as the man who has been threatening her. We're working under the assumption that he's taken her as some sort of revenge for his cousin."
"Attacked?" Joe questioned, "what kind of attack?"
"Rape and assault."
"Jesus Christ, you think she's being held by a rapist?" Joe's initial good mood had evaporated.
"We don't know for sure if he has her. We only know about the involvement of his cousin."
"Where is this guy…Sandor? Is he in jail?"
"He was released on bond. My men have been monitoring him since his release. To our knowledge he hasn't left the area."
Joe ran his hands through his hair. "Hasn't left the area! Hasn't left the area?" His voice grew increasingly agitated, and his arms were flying in a fashion that reflected his explosive Italian heritage. "He doesn't need to leave the area! His cousin is going to hand deliver her to him!"
Ranger was holding on to his sanity by a thread. Inside he felt just like Joe, but he didn't have the luxury of falling apart. He had to stay strong. He had to stay focused. And although he had been failing miserably at it for the last several hours, he now managed to give Morelli a calm, professional reply. "We have his location under surveillance. There's been no sign of her yet."
"What do you plan to do?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Joe threw his arms up to stop Ranger's answer. "No! Don't tell me. It's better if I don't know." He picked up the report and dangled it. "I can't sit on this much longer, Manoso. I have to turn this stuff over to the FBI."
"Give us a twenty-four hour head start, Morelli. We leave for Miami in a few hours. You know we can get her. You know it will get complicated if government agencies get involved. I'll give you everything we have and you can turn it over to the authorities."
Ranger and Joe looked hard at each other eye to eye; speaking without saying a word. They seemed to be doing that a lot lately. They had an intense and tenuous relationship that swung between mutual, professional respect and personal distrust.
Joe blinked and the silent conversation was over. "I'll give you until three o'clock tomorrow. I'm taking some personal time, so I won't be in until then. What about her parents?"
"I'm going to see them now."
"Do you want me to come along?"
"No, I think it would be better for your deniability if you didn't. But I'll tell them that you will be keeping them updated on our progress...if that's okay with you."
"Deniability? Christ, I'm already up to my ears in this. I'll be lucky if I'm not busted down to traffic."
"I could put in a good word for you with the Mayor." Ranger almost smiled.
"Don't do me any favors." Joe headed toward the door to leave and turned back at the last second. "Good luck, Manoso," he said. "And take a shower before you go see the Plums. You look like shit!"
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