Gone Girl
Chapter 54 Life goes BoomA/N: In this chapter I switch POV's. This is a very different Ranger than I've written before and it was a wonderful challenge to show him being more emotional and reactive. I hope it jives with the Ranger that is in the rest of the story.
Chapter Fifty-four
Wednesday April 16, 2014 - Day 155
Stephanie POV
When I stepped outside, Lula was already waiting by my car. "You seem to be doing better in the police station," I said. So far, she hadn't said anything about her stomach or about taking off without me. Of course, I had the keys, but still.
"Yeah, I finally sat down with Big Dog and Carl, off the record, and made sure there weren't any old warrants for me. You see the whole time I've was workin' with you I was always afraid if I went inside, or even if the wrong cop, who needed to boost their numbers, like say Officer Picky, saw me; they would arrest me. Even though I aint doin' that no mor'." She took a deep breath and continued. "Once I got that all cleared up, I realized that it was like me going to church. You know I go to church every Sunday. Even though at one time I was a sinner, I learned I could turn my spiritual life around. Now, I've turned my working life around and I am upholding the law by bringing in the bad guys instead of breaking the law and it feels good."
"That's great!" I was proud of her for turning her life around so completely. I unlocked the car and got in. We went to Cluck N A Bucket for lunch and it was like old times. I was happy with how things had gone today. I walked into the bond's office with a Clucky burger, fries, and large coke for Connie. She was often stuck here in the office to answer the phones and handle everything while Vinnie was out doing whatever. In fact, it dawned on me that I hadn't seen Vinnie since coming back.
"You just missed Bones. He came in early today," Connie told me as I set her food on her desk. "He wants to meet you sometime but as I mentioned before he doesn't usually get into the office before noon."
"Where's Vinnie?" I asked since as far as I knew his father-in-law Harry the Hammer had been keeping close track of him.
"He and Lucille are in Florida visiting more of her extended side of the family. That's where Harry's mother retired to, and he has siblings – her aunts and uncles down there. The grapevine is putting pressure on her to produce offspring or get cut out of the will. There are only five grandchildren, and no great-grandchildren. Lucille was an only child and the oldest granddaughter. Grandma Hammer wants to see little ones before she goes and as far as I know she is paying for both of them to get fertility testing to determine why it hasn't happened yet," Connie explained.
I shuddered, just the thought of Vinnie procreating was an aberration. Maybe they will find out that his sperm are defective and get some from a nice sperm bank to produce some nice offspring. It could happen. Lucille was a nice woman, at least she was the few times I met her. We didn't really have a lot to do with them. I just sent positive vibes that it would all work out for Lucille.
Suddenly, there was a horrifically loud noise from outside and the whole front window vibrated with tremendous force. BOOOOM! VAROOOOM! CRASH! All we could see was a huge fireball.…my beautiful car, my precious car, my barely two-week-old car had just exploded. It jumped six feet in the air in an amazing explosion and crashed down in the same spot. It was spewing flames higher than my head and from the sound of it, something had been lobbed under the gas tank and it had already exploded and now was just burning itself out.
My phone was immediately ringing Carlos's ring tone and I quickly answered it. "I'm fine. I wasn't in the car. I don't know why it exploded. But I'm in the bonds office and once it burns out and gets towed off, I'm going to need a ride," I said all at once just to save him any questions.
"Are you sure you are fine?"
I was just quiet. I didn't know what I was. I was in too much shock to cry. I was very upset about my car going to car heaven. Lula had been doing this for five months and never had her car blown up. Bones had been doing it for about four months and never had a car blown up. I wasn't even doing it anymore. I was just parked outside the office and boom my car got blown up.
"Babe?" He said and I realized I hadn't answered him.
"Ranger, I really liked that car. It's the first car in my adult life since my Miata that I really liked. I should be very upset, and I think I am but mostly I'm just numb. You know five months on the run and the only car that got blown up was Anton's. I don't miss this. I don't miss my cars getting blown up. Most of them were old Junkers and some of them barely ran so I didn't care as much but I really liked this car and I really don't know what I feel. I have money now and I want to be able to buy a car and keep it in good shape for a year or more. I want to buy a nice car. A sports car and drive it and have it still be there tomorrow. Hell, Next week. I want to buy a car and keep it long term. I don't want any more of my cars exploding." I burst into tears.
Lula handed me a pack of tissues but wisely said nothing.
The next thing I knew he was here taking me tenderly into his arms and whispering comforting words in Spanish. "Mi corazón, mi tesoro, mi vida. Estás seguro. Estás completo. Nada más importa. Era solo un auto. Te conpararé otro. Te compraré diez más y no importará si explotan mientras estés a salvo." (My heart, my treasure, my life. You are safe. You are whole. Nothing else matters. It was just a car. I will buy you another. I'll buy you ten more and it won't matter if they get blown up as long as you are safe.)
"I don't even know what happened or why. I was just standing there and boom." I sobbed.
He held me close and after a few minutes I was over crying and instead I was getting angry. That was my nice new beautiful car. I promised it I would shoot anyone who tried to blow it up and damn it all I was going to find whom ever did this and shoot them. Not necessarily life threatening but somewhere painful. I'd been shot in the butt and in the arm and it needed to be worse than those. Maybe a knee, or one in both feet so they couldn't walk or maybe through the hand.
I was getting more and more gruesome as I thought about it. I would cripple them. Shoot them in both shoulders, both knees, both feet, both hands so they can't walk or pick anything up or feed themselves. "Carlos, I want you to find this bastard and I want to make them pay. I have let too many people blow up my cars with no punishments for them. I want to make them pay," I reiterated.
"I already have them pulling up the video for the bonds office. When we're through here let's go back to Haywood and look at it."
It took another hour for my car to burn itself out and during that time I went through a great range of emotions. Driving that car was freeing and thrilling and made me feel like Wonder Woman and someone had taken that away from me. And I was angry, very angry.
Anton had given me that car, I had to admit to myself, to probably make a play to get into my pants. So maybe it was a good thing it was gone. I had fallen in love with that car partially because of the adrenaline laden ride to my death and how well it worked that night. I'll never forget what it felt like doing 145 to 160 miles per hour down the road outrunning the police and even the helicopters. It was exhilarating and amazing. Going off the bridge and surviving was better than any roller coaster ride I've ever been on and I felt that way every time I got behind the wheel of that car. Sure, I could get another car, a different car maybe, but one that makes me feel like that one did. Powerful. Invincible. Like I could do anything. Like I was on the top of the world. Yeah that's what I would do.
While we were there, Ranger asked Connie for a one page print out with a photo of all current FTA's and all FTA's I had in the month before I left who may be out on the street. As we rode back to Haywood, he leveled with me.
"Babe this may have been someone who thought they could receive the hit money for killing you, or this may have been an old FTA that has gotten out of prison, or a family or gang member of someone you put back in the system, or a current FTA who doesn't want to go back to jail. And it could have been random. My point it, right now, we don't have a clue. What we do know is that on the video you pull up and park in front of the bonds office and nobody approached the car. It blew up seven minutes after you got out of the car. So whatever device they used was already on the car. I need to know everywhere you went today and if you noticed anybody following you?"
"Oh no, Carlos, I haven't noticed anybody following us." Of course, I hadn't really been looking but surely if someone was following me, I would have noticed. "I came to the bonds office this morning and Lula wanted a ride. I took her to I-95, and we drove for about 15 min. Then we just drove around randomly for about an hour. Lula just got some new FTA's this morning and we drove by one house, then we drove by an apartment building but didn't stop." I paused because at that point in the day we hadn't stopped anywhere so it had to have happened after this point.
"Then we drove by Samuel Dickenson's house," I continued, "and he was out in the front yard watering his plants. Anyway, Lula apprehended him, and Carl and Big Dog came and took him to the police station. We went to the police station to get her body receipt and I went inside for about half an hour to say 'Hi' to people. By the way Morelli got one of his girlfriend's prego and he's now engaged, too." I snickered because Morelli would never be contained even by a wedding ring. Ranger didn't seem to react, and it was possible that he already knew. Anyway, then we went to Cluck N A Bucket where we went inside to eat. Then we came back to the bonds office and BOOM my car was gone." I sat quietly. Of all the cars I've lost I loved this one the most and I am really hurt that it was already gone.
Carlos turned the Cayenne around and drove to Cluck N A Bucket. It had been rebuilt after the fire. There was still the big chicken turning slowly on the pole out front. The building was off-white with red and yellow accents and trim. All the employees still wore those awful pajamas with the horrible clucky hats with the chicken legs hanging down each side of their faces. Since they had to rebuild; the building and all the equipment was all brand new and state of the art. Including the microphones, speakers and headsets. You could easily hear people placing their orders and it was no longer necessary for you to scream how much they owed, back at them.
My understanding is that Cluck N A Bucket took Con Stiva to court for burning down their previous building and they were able to add years to the multiple life sentences he is serving. They also won a nice settlement because he pretended to bomb the building. Con's lawyer argued that the fire was started by an improperly trained employee who dumped something into the fryer and then sprayed the grease fire with water causing it to spread. Cluck N A Buckets lawyers argued that the boy had been properly trained, but that it was Stiva's fault because he freaked out when a ticking box passed into the drive thru window.
Stiva was never prosecuted for the original armed robbery, so he still had all the money he stole from his partners. Cluck N A Bucket's insurance paid to rebuild the building and replace the equipment. Then they took the $35,000 they got from Stiva to protect the new building. Along with all the upgrades there were now cameras inside and out, monitoring the drive thru, the parking lot, the registers, and the tables where people sat to eat.
Imposing Ranger, not Carlos my lover, immediately spoke to the "manager" who was a twenty something college student who had better things to do in his office than deal with a very intimidating Ranger. Ten minutes later Ranger had a burned disk of all their cameras feed for the last two hours. When we got back to Haywood, I saw the remains of my blown-up car in the corner of the garage. Eric, one of Ranger's men who specialized in bomb making, bomb diffusing, and in this case bomb identification, was going over the car with a fine-tooth comb. He would be the one to determine what was used to blow up my car.
When we got to five Carlos turned to me. "Babe, I'd like you to stay in the building till we know what's going on and who may be targeting you." My shoulders slumped. I hated getting locked up in the building. "Please Babe." Carlos took me into his arms and kissed me. Immediately my panties went damp, and I became dizzy, wanton, and breathless. I remembered his excellent lovemaking last night and understood he just wanted to keep me safe.
"Sure, okay." My shoulders slumped in defeat, but I had to take this seriously. I didn't want to die now that I had Ranger in my life and in my bed. I looked at him earnestly. "You know I don't like being locked up, but I like being blown up even less. I'm going to go upstairs and talk to Julie." I smiled at him. "She always makes me feel better." I turned and headed to the elevator.
RSRSRSRSRSRS
Rangers POV
As Ranger took the stairs, heading to Hector's office to watch the video footage himself. He was pissed and thrilled all at the same time. This was the same drill; protect Stephanie, who picked up stalkers and killers like other people picked up a bag of chips or a twelve pack of soda. It was just something they did in the course of a normal day without thinking about it. He was pissed somebody was after her and he hadn't picked up on any chatter. There hadn't been anybody stalking her. Hell, she had only been back five days! But honestly, he was thrilled somebody got rid of that damn car and he didn't have to be the bad guy and do it.
Damn, he knew she loved that car, but it was given to her by someone who had every intention of seducing her away from him. Anton trained her to become a killer like him. With every intention of showering her with money and showing her the "good life" you could have by killing people for a living. The wardrobe and the car were just the beginning. The money was the next step. Anton was going to wine her and dine her in the best restaurants, put her up in five-star hotels, and take her all over the world while he hunts down people to kill.
Some of them are government approved kills and some of them are well paid for-hire hits. Anton would get her to kill Ivan to start and tell her they could all be that easy and you get paid good money to do it. He would teach her to use drugs like conium that make it look natural or how to disable a car, so the brakes fail or like Agent Luent teach her how to cause a fatal car accident. Those CIS shows on TV make it look easy to catch all the criminals and everybody gets an autopsy.
But in real life, police medical examiners or coroners are overworked and under paid civil servants. They just push the bodies through. It takes a licensed pathologist to do a full autopsy and they only do it if the cause of death is suspicious. They don't have time to do a full autopsy on every single body and they can't order a full scan of blood work for every case. Drugs like conium are not usually tested for.
Basically, all you have to do is research the person, find out their health history and if they have none; the health history of their family members. All it takes is one drug that makes it look like a heart attack and the wife to say that it runs in the family. The medical examiner writes it down; looks for physical confirmation and three days later the body is being buried. No real investigation and you end up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in your bank account. It can be a seductive lifestyle.
Knowing Stephanie, the way he did, he couldn't see her ever taking it up permanently. But he could see Anton sucking her into a few casual things. Things like investigating people for him, surveillance, being a decoy, or pretending to be his girlfriend, or as he preferred it his wife, in order to create a believable cover. They go to France on vacation for a week and a businessman at the restaurant they are eating at stops breathing and dies before the ambulance gets there. He makes a half a million and gives her a neat two hundred thousand for her part.
In Russia, she never asked him where he got the conium or why he happened to have it along on a trip that was supposed to be infiltration by a team. It's because he has a small case of deadly drugs that he constantly carries. He'd never allow Anton access to anything he was eating or drinking. It was one reason he preferred sealed bottles of water. Killing is only one part of Anton's employment but it is where a good chunk of his money comes from. He wasn't kidding when he told Stephanie that Anton was much richer than he was. He kills, he steals, he cheats, and he lies. He does it for fun and profit. He works for the CIA to cover his tracks and to give himself a legitimate income that he can report on his taxes.
Needless to say, Ranger was glad the car was gone. Hector reviewed the video from outside the Bonds office and said it had been a spectacular explosion. Ranger had looked long and hard at the one small screen that viewed all nine camera angles at Cluck N A Bucket. They had one at the drive thru order box, one at the pick-up window, and one at each of the three registers inside. There were also three cameras viewing the sitting areas inside and entrance/exit to the building as well as two more cameras pointed at the front and side parking lots.
Fortunately, Stephanie parked in the front lot. He was hoping Hector had been able to isolate that particular video stream and blow it up so it can be thoroughly examined.
He knocked on Hector's door. The only other door he knocked on in this building was occasionally Tanks. But Hector was deadly and not someone you came upon without announcing yourself, it was just safer that way. Plus, he knew Hector was mostly healed from his wounds and now that Stephanie was home safe and sound. Hector might think that it was time for a little payback. He knew Hector would never kill him. But startling Hector could give him the ammunition for a few retaliatory knife wounds.
Hector opened the door looking like he had been expecting Ranger. "Obtuve el video de donde probablemente se colocó la bomba". (I got the video from where the bomb was probably placed.) Ranger said as he offered Hector the burned DVD.
"¿Cuánto tiempo estuvo fuera y dónde fue hoy Chica?" (How long was she gone and where did my girl go today?) Hector asked as he loaded the DVD into his computer.
"Ella fue a la oficina de bonos a primera hora de esta mañana," (She went to the bonds office first thing this morning.) Ranger said.
"Sí, ya revisé esa cinta, nadie plantó la bomba allí," (Yes, I've already reviewed that tape, nobody planted the bomb there.) Hector interrupted. Hector seemed impatient and more than a little upset as he opened the video.
"Ejecútelo en avance rápido para que sepamos en qué cámaras aparece," (Run it in fast forward so we know which cameras she shows up in.) Ranger said.
As the video played in fast forward, we saw miniature people rushing in and out of the building, placing their orders and wolfing down their food. At 11:12, Stephanie's midnight blue Audi drove into the parking lot and parked a couple of spaces away from the door. As soon as it showed up, the video speed cut down and we could see her get out of the car with Lula. She was looking around, aware of her surroundings. She locked the doors and went inside. He divided his attention between watching her and the car. They walked to a front hallway, past the registers and entered a side door that I expected held the restrooms. I was watching the video timer as it counted down the time and a few minutes later they both appeared at the register.
There were two people in front of them as they waited. Once they ordered, they took a step back and waited for their food to be prepared. Ranger was watching the car and a big black truck pulled up and parked next to it. Two men got out and made their way inside. Stephanie got her order and waited for Lula. Lula had a whole bucket of chicken two sides and rolls. It looked like she got the chicken meal deal and not for the first time Ranger wondered how she could eat so much.
As the two women filled their drinks, a head caught Rangers attention. The top of a blue ball cap could be seen peaking up. Clearly someone in a crouched position was making their way along the front of the building. "Acércate a eso," (Zoom in on that.) Ranger pointed, but it was unnecessary because Hector had already seen the person and was isolating that portion of the video so he could blow it up.
The head was just barely showing on the inside camera and wasn't showing up at all on the external cameras. The person was right up against the building in the outside camera's blind spot. From this internal camera view they could not see Stephanie or her car. The person kept going, apparently crouched so low they couldn't be seen through the window. It was obvious they were hiding. They lost sight of the person's head, but Hector flipped to another camera angle and found them right in front of Stephanie's car.
Ranger pointed at the screen as the male body left the shelter of the wall and crossed into full view of the second parking lot camera. He – and it definitely was a guy – was wearing blue jeans, a faded black t-shirt, and beat up white tennis shoes. He stayed crouched down with both arms tightly crossed over his chest as if he was carrying something heavy or delicate. and bent over wearing blue jeans, a faded black t-shirt and beat up white tennis shoes., Since Stephanie was not parked directly in front of the camera, we could only see him as he crossed the three-foot sidewalk and ducked between her car and the black truck that was parked next to her.
We watched with bated breath for him to reappear as the camera clock counted the minutes. A whole minute passed, and then two, and then three, leaving us with no doubt that this was the person that planted the bomb. Obviously, he had not done this much. He was on the wrong side to wire this to the starter unless he was all the way under the car. Two more minutes and another car pulled up and parked in the row behind Steph. Three teenagers – probably off campus going out to lunch from the local high school – got out and walked beside Steph's driver side of the car. They didn't seem to notice the guy, which made Hector and Ranger believe that the guy must be almost all the way under the car. Whoever was planting the bomb was at least semi-professional because he knew enough to avoid the cameras, but not enough to efficiently plant the bomb. The ball cap kept his face covered from the camera's. We had to hope that when he got up, he would make a mistake and get caught by the camera.
The car didn't blow when she started it so obviously it wasn't wired to the starter and Ranger was again wondering what was taking him so long. Eight minutes later we could see movement on the driver's side of the Audi. The ball capped covered head popped up as he duck walked to the back of the car. Fuck, they had to get something they could use to track this fucker down. He watched carefully as the head turned and made his way along the back of the car. Once he got behind the black truck he stood up, and dusted off the back of his shirt and his pants.
He took a quick glance toward the front window, but all the camera got was part of his cheek and chin. His cap kept his eyes and most of his face in the shade. He quickly walked to the back of the lot where a red BMW convertible was waiting with its white top up. –They probably thought the car was out of the camera's view, but they caught half of license plate. It was a vanity plate that ended in WIFE. The guy quickly got into the passenger's side and as the car backed out, we got the full license plate that read NMBR1WIFE.
As the car sped away, Ranger began issuing instructions. "Respaldarlo. Averigua de dónde vino ese auto." (Back it up. Find out where that car came from.) He meant it as a request but he knew with the hard tone of his voice it sounded more like an order.
Hector had the nine-camera view pulled up and the DVD on rewind. The car sat there the whole time Steph and Lula were eating. Stephanie had sat in the very back with her back to the wall so she could see both doors, but her car was out of her view. He would have to talk to her about that. The head bopped back across the view of both screens and then as soon as the head disappeared beyond the front window the convertible reversed to the drive thru side of the building. "¿Pasaron por el camino?" (Did they go through the drive thru?) Ranger asked because if they did, we would get great camera shots of them through there.
Once again Hector, played the video, and sure enough, there in the drive thru window was the convertible with both occupants that Ranger recognized. The video was so good they got clear pictures of both of them. It was obvious that Joyce Barnhardt was driving and Stanley Pinkerton – one of Lula's new FTA's - was riding shotgun. We watched the car back up through the drive thru and back around the building. It stopped behind Stephanie's car and the driver pointed her finger toward the Audi. Hector stopped the tape and started it running forward again. They must have pulled around to the back of the building to discuss how they were going to things, because Stephanie and Lula came out of the bathroom, ordered their food, and sat down before the convertible went through the drive through. He didn't know if this was a coincidence or if Joyce had followed her from the police station.
"Jefe, la vi en video esta mañana. Ella estaba en la oficina de bonos antes. Te muestro." (Boss, I saw her in video this morning. She was at the bond's office earlier. I show you.)
Good, the bond's office also had video inside and out. He watched as Hector pulled up the video and fast forwarded it to 8:30 am. At 8:37 the red convertible pulled up and Joyce got out. She was wearing tight leather pants and a leather bustier with four-inch black stiletto boots.
"Se parece más a una prostituta que a un cazarrecompensas," (She looks more like a hooker than a bounty hunter.) Hector said.
"Le importan más las miradas que hacer el trabajo. Debe quedarse sin perspectivas de marido si regresa a Vinnie's." (She cares more about looks than doing the job. She must be running low on husband prospects if she's back at Vinnie's.)
"Si."
Hector slowed the video to real time and turned the audio up on the computer as Joyce pushed her way through the bond's office door. She picked up the stack of files from Connie's desk and looked through them. "Those are Lula's," Connie said. "You might as well put them down."
"I talked to Vinnie yesterday. He promised me he had some for me and not those bullshit LC files. Vinnie told me the truth; that those were lost cause files. I've brought in several high bond skips in the past and I need to make big money. Vinnie promised me something good."
When Connie turned away, Joyce took a sheet out of two of the files, folded them up and tucked them in her bustier. Then she picked up another pile of files when Connie turned back to her. "Those are Bone's files. They are over your skill level." Connie turned back to her computer and Joyce walked around Connie's desk behind her and once again pulled pages out of the files, tucking them away. She rounded back towards the front of Connie's desk and set the files back down.
"So, what do you have for me? I heard that Gregory McDougal skipped yesterday on a $150,000 bond. He's white collar - a non-violent offender. Vinnie said I could have him."
Connie sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. She pulled two files out of her bottom drawer and held them up, but didn't extend her arm. Joyce had to step forward and reach out for the files, but before she could grab them, Connie pulled them back. "You have four days to bring in McDougal then he is getting turned over to Bones. The other file is overdue. If you can bring him in, Vinnie said he would give you double the normal fee."
"Bryce Sledghorn?" Joyce was questioning the file. "Says here his bond was $10,000. Why wasn't he picked up?" She asked and then she answered herself. "Oh, I know, it's because fatso can't do the job." She laughed.
"Bryce is long gone, and everybody knows it," Connie explained. "He's wanted for breaking and entering and destruction of property. His wife got everything in the divorce including both boys. He broke into the house, trashed everything of value and left. Once he got out on bail, he kidnapped both his boy's – Bryce Jr. who is 12 and Steven who is 9 - and moved back home to Montana." Connie took a deep breath and continued. "He has a lot of family out there including three brothers, his parents, and a variety of aunts, uncles and cousins. We know he's out there; we just don't know where. Vinnie is hoping you'll be willing to go out there and find him. There is a $15,000 reward for the safe return of the children, and he says you can have all of that. It's just that there are only two people who can do out-of-state FTA's: Bones – who won't do it because the fee is too small - and Vinnie who is in Florida being tortured by Grandmother Hammer and his other in-laws. He knows if you find Bryce it would give him a good excuse to escape Florida for a little while – and fornicate with you again." Connie breathed under her breath.
Joyce smiled wide and took the folders. "I'll find him," she announced at the same time Lula walked in.
"I can always smell fire and brimstone when you're here," Lula announced to no one in particular.
"Oh, fatso showed up for work. Well you can go back home. Vinnie is giving me all your files," Joyce antagonized.
"I know he gives you copies but you haven't captured anyone in over a year." Lula walked over to Connie's desk and picked up her stack of files. "Yep here are my copies because you know I always gets my man. Beside Stephanie's comin' back today and she's going to help me. She had a 90% capture rate – you'll never beat us workin' togeth'r," Lula said smugly.
Joyce put her hands on her hips her files sticking out behind her like a peacock. "I've been married, and he didn't like his wife working."
"You mean he didn't like you around Vinnie," Lula interjected.
"He took good care of me while we were married, and I have a pre-nup that says if he cheats, I get the house and half of what he's worth. We're talking millions!' Joyce sounded excited.
"Then why are you slummin' back here?" Lula asked.
"Because he is fighting it, saying all those late night rendezvouses with that lawyer were work related and I'm cut off and homeless until it all goes through," Joyce bemoaned.
"He's smart and covered his ass. You're going to end up with nothing but your big fat black leather pants!" Lula joked.
"I hid a camera in the bedroom and got him on video for a whole month sleeping with two different women. Plus, I took multiple trips out of town to give ample opportunity to cheat. But my lawyer is waiting till we go to court to bring it into evidence so they can't say it's faked." Joyce through it all down.
"Oh, there's Stephanie," Lula pointed but looking at the cameras Steph's car was not outside. "She's goin' to the bakery to get breakfast. Once she starts workin' here Vinnie's gonna put you out on the street," Lula threatened.
"We'll see who Vinnie puts out on the street," Joyce said as she headed to the door.
We could clearly see Joyce get in her car and leave, but 15 minutes after Steph got to the bond's office Joyce came into view walking up the street. She looked briefly into the office window and then she walked around to the back of Stephanie's car. She wrote down her license plate number and kicked the back panel of the car and then slunk out of camera view.
Ranger was upset with Lula for telling Joyce, Stephanie was going to take her job. Joyce is reactionary and obviously upset. He didn't know if Joyce was trying to take out Stephanie or Lula or both, but she obviously was the real threat here.
"Límpielo y conviértalo en un video perfecto. Vamos a entregarlo a la policía una vez que los atrapemos," (Clean it up and make it one seamless video. We're going to turn it over to the police once we catch them.) Ranger told him.
Hector started loading the video into the program that would isolate each particular stream and he walked out of the room.
Ranger walked straight to Tanks office. "I need the core team, and team's Alpha, Bravo and Echo in Conference Room B in 15 minutes."
"Did you find out who did it?" Tank asked as he ran his hand over his bald head and down the back of his neck.
"Yes, we have them on video. I'll give you the full report with everyone else. Basically, Joyce Barnhardt and one of Lula's skips planted the bomb. We need to find them so they can't try again, and we can find out why."
He had been away from his desk half the day and when he stopped at his desk to look through the folder of FTA's Connie had given him. He had several voice messages. The first was from Rachel, telling him he wouldn't get away with this. She screamed that she wasn't going to let him take her daughter away from her and more importantly without Ron's income or his life insurance she couldn't pay her bills. She needed the six grand in child support he paid each month.
The second call was from his attorney, Tom Anderson, letting Ranger know that Rachel's attorney had contacted Child Protective Services in Trenton to take custody of Julie immediately stating that he only had a one-bedroom apartment and had nowhere private for Julie to stay. She also asserted that Julie wasn't safe with him because he was armed and dangerous. He carried two guns and a knife on his person at all times.
Tom had spoken to one Janice Cotswallow to explain that Julie's life was in danger and she couldn't be taken from the secured building for her own safety and the safety of anyone taking care of her because they would gladly kill a few extra people to get the two million dollar hit on Julie. He also informed the woman that Julie had her own bedroom, and if that wasn't sufficient, she could stay in her own apartment on the fourth floor or in Ella's spare room on sixth. Tom stressed that Ranger needed to have all these options available for the social services woman to see when she came later today with a court order and the police to take custody of Julie. He did not inform her that Ranger currently had temporary legal custody of Julie because the woman became short with him and disconnected the call. She seemed to only want to hear bad things about Ranger. Tom finished by reminding Ranger of his copy of the temporary custody paperwork and that he was emailing him a copy if he needed it.
Tom also asked him to have on hand his written agreement to pay child support and show her the many years' worth of payments. He said this would prove my active involvement in Julie's life even though he was not legally required to make these payments. Ranger immediately called Ella to explain the situation and request her to be available at a moment's notice to help escort the social services lady around the building. He kindly asked her to have both her spare room and an apartment on four readied and offered her additional manpower if she needed it. He looked at his watch it was ten minutes till three. He expected the child services woman would show up before five. Ella declined any help and promised to be there at a moment's notice.
The next most important call was from Ocalli Ben Makton, the millionaire that owned the car Steph stole. In his very deep voice, he informed Ranger that he was flying back Friday morning and that he may pick Ocalli up at 11:00 in a black SUV limo in front of Delta Airlines. He expected hot chicken hors d'oeuvres, fresh cut chilled tropical fruit salad, shrimp salad, a medium rare Japanese Wagyu steak with lightly steamed and seasoned broccoli and cheddar mashed potatoes. To drink he wanted an unopened bottle of Louis VIII Brandy that a quick internet search showed costs in the neighborhood of $4000 but there were at least two local retailers that had it in stock.
If the food and drink was to his liking, Ranger was to bring his checkbook so they could discuss making this problem go away for everyone. Ocalli gave the number of his personal chef who would cook the perfect meal for a price and reminded Ranger that the police chief had contacted him but at his request he was calling Mr. Manoso first to resolve his problem. Ocalli gave his office and home address and requested to have a Ferrari F450 rented for him for one week waiting at his office. He insinuated that if they didn't come to an amicable solution by the time they were leaving his business offices he would be calling the police chief to press maximum charges.
Ranger sighed. Three days back and it was all coming to a head. He called Hector and asked him to bring the Cluck N A Bucket video as is and the video of the explosion. He called Connie and asked her to email over a complete digital file on Stanley and Joyce's current address. He made copies of it all and walked to the conference room.
Half of the room was full of men while other's trickled in behind him. Ranger walked to the front and waited for everyone to get seated. Hector came in and immediately set up the video. As soon as everyone was seated Ranger started. "You all heard that at approximately 11:53 this morning Stephanie's car was blown up outside the Bond's office." He looked around the room for confirmation. "We know who did it and Hector has video of them planting the bomb."
As Hector played the video Ranger pointed out the red convertible going through the drive thru. We watched it come around and park. The men growled at the head that bobbed up and down and disappeared under Stephanie's car. Hector finished the viewing with the explosion.
"The woman is Joyce Barnhardt. She and Stephanie have hated each other since elementary school. Ram and Manny, I want you to take Hal and go pick her up. The address Connie has is in the folder but we're not sure who else might be there. The apartment is rented under the name Guy Wentworth. Be polite but firm. We're not taking No for an answer from whomever she is staying with."
"The man in the video is one of Lula's current skips. He is Stanley Pinkerton. He is currently out on bail for arson but if you read further back in his file, he did some munitions in the army. He blew off two fingers and got discharged. So, he likes fire and explosions and he's not afraid to use either. Zip and Zero take Cal and go get him. His current address is in the file. Stake it out but plan on going in after dark. That's when he's been drinking and he's a bit less dangerous. Put them both in holding cells downstairs. This is to be kept quiet. Tank, you and I will interrogate Stanley in the morning. You and Bobby will interrogate Barnhardt after. Just so everyone knows, social services will be here this afternoon checking on Julie. I don't have to tell you that these activities are to be kept out of sight." He got head nods around the table.
"Core team please stay. Everyone else dismissed." Ranger waited for the men to collect their files and leave. Then he turned to his Core team and laid it all out. "I have a personal issue that I think we need everyone in the building to be aware of. Rachel has contacted Child Protective Services to report me and have Julie taken away. I have a voice recording from her telling me in no uncertain terms will she let me keep Julie because she needs the child support that I pay. CPS will be here this afternoon with the police to remove Julie. Unless the police have a search warrant – which they won't – they are not allowed past the front desk. Ella and Lester will escort the Social Services person up to seven and anywhere else in the building she needs to go. Lester, I expect you to ditch your obvious weapons and be charming and non-threatening. Tank dig up evidence of the hit on Julie's life. Bobby, I want you and Tank in the lobby to deter the police. I'm going to send out an alert text to all RangeMan so that everyone knows. I'm going to brief Eric – who is at the front desk – personally. Anything else you guys can think of?" All I got were head shakes. "Dismissed."
To be continued…