Chapter 50

SPOV

East State Street, I didn't think I'd ever come here voluntarily, and already I was feeling nervous. Why would Morelli include me in his will, what could he have that I would want? I think Sam knew I was nervous; I'd given him a synopsis of my relationship with Morelli right up to that awful day when he had locked me in his car. I let Sam do all the talking when we arrived at the reception area, I'm sure the girl was giving me the once over, well let her, I didn't ask to come here. She led us through into a large conference room which to be honest looked shabby compared to Rangeman, thin worn carpets and mismatched chairs around a stained oval table, not at all what I was expecting. Malory Gibson stood up from his seat at the head of the table and walked to greet me; he had his hand extended and a serious expression on his face. The color of his eyes were a pale grey, with flecks of green in them, set in a face that seemed too brown for his complexion. He had a thin nose and straight lips and with hair swept back from his face making him quite ugly.

"Miss Plum I'm so glad you could come today"
I shook his hand glad when he released mine and then turned to Sam.
"This is Mr Diaz my lawyer"

"Mr Diaz, a pleasure, but I'm sure we won't be needing your services"
"I'm here for Miss Plum, she's shocked at what happened to Mr Morelli and needs someone to support her and help her to understand the proceedings"

"As you wish, please take a seat, there are others still to arrive"
I looked at Sam as he said that, oh shit, was he expecting the whole Morelli family? Sam positioned us so that no one could sit next to me and then we waited, but not for long. Angie came in first followed his brothers, Anthony and Paul, Sisters: Catherine and Mary, Grandmother Bella and his cousin Mooch, I don't think they saw me to start with but when they did the bantering began.

"Why's she here?"
"She doesn't belong at this meeting"
"She should be ashamed, I put eye on her"

Between the tasteless comments I almost smiled when in walked terry Gilman and all attention went to her.

"Why her?"
"For heavens sake"
"Ladies and gentlemen can I have you all seated so I can begin these proceedings. I take it you all know each other so I'll get right to the business at hand"

Everyone found a chair and looked expectantly at Gibson, oh shit what the hell was he going to say and why was Terry here?

"Joseph came to see me several weeks ago to ensure that should anything happen to him his affairs were in order. He worked in a dangerous job and unfortunately death came to him violently and suddenly, so it is with regret that I now have to put his wishes in place"
"Will you just get on with it"
"Mooch!"

"This is the last will and testament of Joseph Morelli duly signed and witnessed. To his mother he leaves the contents of his house and $1000. To Mooch he leaves his house. To his Grandmother Bella he leaves his bible and rosary beads. To Miss Gilman he leaves a package and his pension fund. To Miss Plum he leaves a package and she is the beneficiary of his insurance policy. Any residual amount in his bank account will be donated to the police beneficiary fund. That concludes these proceedings. Mr Morelli the keys for the house and transfer of ownership, please ensure your family receive what is due to them. Miss Gilman, your package, the information you need is in there. Miss Plum your package with the information you need"

I passed the package to Sam because there was no way I was going to open it here, I was just about to get up from my seat when Mooch decided to have his say again.

"So what the hell's in the packages, I mean why isn't that broad here?"
I looked at Mooch at the same time as Terry; we were probably both curious who his new broad was.

"Who Mooch?"
I looked at Terry as she asked the question again and then had an idea.

"Mooch I'd gladly share the insurance payout with her, but I need to know who she is"
"I promised Joe I wouldn't say anything"

"He's not here now and if he cared about her he would have included her, I suppose he never thought anything would happen to him"

"All right, all right, he was quiet about her at first, you know using her place and the odd motel but then she started to come to the house and then kinda moved in"
"When was this?"
"Ah hell, about a month ago"
I know I was shocked and by the look on Terry's face so was she. The two no three timing son of a bitch, had she been around when I was living there for that week or had it happened after I'd told Morelli we were finished? Terry was now right up in Mooch's face.

"Name Mooch, or at least a description"
"Tricia, she was called Tricia. I didn't see her much, I mean Joe kept it real hush hush, I only knew because I went there one afternoon and saw her through the kitchen door"

"And?"
"Well she sure was good looking, her hair was wrapped on top of her head in a towel, pale skin, not sure what color her eyes were but she sure had a figure on her, especially when all she was wearing was a towel"
"Thanks Mooch"

I turned and found Sam stood next to me and for some reason so was Gibson, I shivered as he tried to place his hand on my back and was pleased when Sam stepped between us.
"Miss Plum I thought maybe you'd like some help with the contents of your package, you know accessing the insurance policy?"
"No thanks"

I continued to walk to the door and through the building with Sam at my back. At reception we had to sign out and as I turned I bumped into someone stood behind me.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there"
I gave the man a second look and realized that I recognized him, he was with Gibson at that bar the day Benjie and I followed him. I turned back to the girl behind reception.

"Excuse me is there a powder room?"
"The door over in the corner on your left"
"Thanks"

I walked calmly into the room and used the toilet and carefully washed my hands then went back to the reception desk to sign out.
"Ma'am, can I help you?"
"I need to sign out don't I?"
"I thought you did that already"
I ran my finger down the page making sure I read the name the man had signed in with and smiling looked up at the girl.

"Sorry, I have, I forgot doing it"

I smiled at Sam who was looking confused and then with my arm looped through his walked out of the door onto the street. I felt so relieved that the meeting was over and really it hadn't gone too bad, in fact maybe I'd found some information that could be useful. Once in the car Sam started to talk, I wasn't used to that, I mean Ranger rarely talks when he's driving.

"That was a sham"
"Why do you say that?"
"The way he conducted that meeting, it was totally unprofessional"

"The place was certainly shabby"
"Yeah, I'm going to ask around about his work ethic when I get back"
"But is everything that happened legal?"
"I assume so, do you want to open the package when we get back?"
"I think I'll open it with Ranger, then we can decide what to do"
"Why so cautious Steph?"
"I don't want Morelli's money"
"I can understand that, but you'll need to do something with it"
"I may have an idea, but I have some finding out to do first"
"So why the games at reception?"
"Who me? Nah no games"

Thankfully he didn't ask me anything else and he dropped me off in front of Rangeman meaning I had to go through reception to get into the building. I didn't recognize the man at the desk and he obviously didn't recognize me either.

"Ma'am do you have an appointment?"
"No, but I work here"
"I 'aint seen you before what's your name?"
"Stephanie Plum"

"Is it now, you have ID on you?"
Did I? Hell probably not, well not anything with a photo on it.

"Just call up to five they all know me there"
"Sorry Ma'am, protocol"
I did have my phone in my bag though and it was charged up for once I hit the first name on my list, Ranger, and he answered straight away.

"Yo"

"I love the new security but the man on the desk won't let me in"
"On my way"

The man on the desk had a smug look on his face which made me nervous, I knew it would be a couple of minutes before Ranger appeared from the door of the stairs, what I wasn't expecting was the screech of breaks outside and three masked men jumping out and barging into the room. I ran behind the desk jumping when the sound of gunshots rang out and the man who had been so grumpy with me fell off his chair onto the floor next to me. I hit the panic button on my watch and looked over the top to see what was going on. Big mistake, because pointing at me was the end of a gun, I ducked again at the sound of more gunfire but this time it was coming from the other side of the room, oh god no, please don't let Ranger walk into this without knowing what was going down. I pushed myself to the floor and managed to hide in the area underneath the desk, praying like mad that no one was hurt. There was absolute silence and I held my breath not daring to make a noise.

"Did they take her?"
"Babe?"
"I'm here"
I saw his shoes first then as he knelt down his face, he was worried, dam, why was it that something always happened to make him worry about me.

"Are you hurt?"
"No"

I crawled out on my hands and knees and allowed him to help me to stand.

"You're sure?"
"Yes, what the hell just happened?"
"When we got down here we came under fire and then they were gone"
"So you have no idea who they were?"
"No, come on let's get you upstairs"
As the lift opened Bobby met us and handed me a can of soda, I knew why, he was waiting for me to have an adrenaline crash, but it wasn't happening, how strange was that, maybe I was so used to being frightened I was getting used to it. From the lift I walked with Ranger into his office and sat down on the couch, the next thing I knew Bobby was wrapping a band around my arm and taking my blood pressure. It was one of those electronic ones that also measured your pulse. As it beeped that it had finished I felt my legs being lifted and a blanket wrapped round me and that was the last thing I was conscious of.