On Saturday, we drove into Philadelphia, reported David to the police and got a restraining order against him. Despite telling David on Thursday night exactly what would happen if he didn't leave her alone, by Friday night Julie had received twenty texts asking her where she was with the request that they talk about the issue in person, five requests asking why she wouldn't open her door, and forty phone calls. Some of those calls were just panting, and at one point I swore that I could hear him masturbating to the sound of her voice message. Ranger downloaded a copy of her texts, and the log of her phone calls. We stayed overnight at Julie's place, and as we made dinner there was a furious banging on the door.

Julie sighed. "He's right on time."

Ranger patted her on her shoulder. "Let me", he said. We followed him and stayed in the living room, within view and hearing distance of the front door but outside our restraining order distance. Ranger opened the door and saw David and his father. "Senator", he said with a smile and he held out his hand. The Senator shook it quickly and dropped it. "You must be David", said Ranger as he turned to the geeky kid beside the Senator and shook his hand as well. "It is nice to meet you. I'm Julie's dad. How may I help you?"

The Senator started to talk, and Ranger glared at him. "I'm sorry, I wasn't talking to you." The Senator turned red and his mouth opened and closed like a fish. Ranger turned back to David. "How may I help you?"

David turned to his father and looked at him for support, and the Senator put his hand on his son's shoulder. "I just want Julie to remove the restraining order", said David in a rush.

"Not happening", said Ranger. "In the last week, you have left almost two hundred phone messages, came to her house over fifty times, some of which were in the middle of the night, and sent her three hundred texts. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but that is the behavior of a stalker and when someone has a stalker, the natural response of the victim is to get a restraining order."

"I think there has been a misunderstanding. I would like to talk to Julie."

"I'm sorry, but that contravenes the restraining order."

"I don't think it is fair for my son to have a restraining order given to him", said the Senator.

Ranger looked at him. "If you had a member of your community who emailed or texted or phoned you every few minutes, who came to your house at all hours of the night, you would call the police and have them charged for harassment. Julie knows that this is an election year for you and knows that you probably won't want your son to be similarly charged. Although that will be what happens if David approaches, calls or texts her again, she is trying to avoid that for your sake. She said that in a text to David on Thursday. In the twenty-four hours after that text, David called her forty times, at times masturbating while he left his messages, came to her house, and left numerous texts. Julie has been trying to be cognizant of your needs. Unfortunately, your son hasn't had the same consideration for you. Now, contrary to the recommendation of the police, Julie has elected to do the bare minimum to deal with David's immature and criminal behavior so as to not disturb your campaign. However, if David breaks the restraining order, if he texts her, if he calls her, if he comes to see her, she will call the police and report him for harassment. If the behavior still continues, she will report it to the media."

"Are you threatening me?"

Ranger laughed. "You call that a threat? I'm recommending that your son doesn't behave in a criminal manner and I am outlining the legal consequences of doing so, and you call that a threat?" He shook his head. "You have a different view on what a threat is than I do, Senator." He turned to David. "The police will be doing regular and frequent checks on Julie's house. We have also added video monitoring to Julie's house and the monitoring station has your picture. If you approach Julie's house again, the police will be called and you will be arrested." He turned to the Senator again. "In case you are confused again, that also isn't a threat." He turned back to David. "May I help you with anything else?"

"I just don't know why she is doing this to me. I thought we had something going."

"Maybe at one time you did. However, Julie isn't interested in underage drinking or taking drugs, and she doesn't want to hang out with a loser that is. Did you tell your father that you are a regular consumer of cannabis or that you periodically drink excessively, despite the fact that - at your age and in this state - it is illegal?"

David turned red.

Ranger looked at the Senator. "We'll keep quiet on what has gone on as long as the behavior stops. However, if David continues to follow this path, we will escalate the legal response as it is within our rights to do so. If we have our choice, though, we would prefer that the issue is resolved out of the courts. To do that, all contact must stop immediately."

"Fair enough", said the Senator.

As he turned to leave, David called out, "Julie! Why are you doing this to me? I love you."

Ranger shook his head. "Get your house in order, Senator. This cannot go on. He's going to cause you some real problems if you aren't careful."

The Senator sighed.

A car drove slowly down the street, and parked outside Julie's house, behind the Senator's car. A man got out in a formal police uniform. Ranger smiled at the newcomer. "Hey, Ben. How are you?"

"Good", said the man as he walked up the walkway. "How are you, Ranger? I heard that you and your daughter made a visit to the station today."

Ranger quickly introduced the Senator and his son. Ben put out his hand and shook theirs. "I'm Ben Prentice. I'm the Chief of Police for Philadelphia. It's nice to meet you."

Ranger explained the situation to Ben, and Ben smiled. "That's what I heard. I'm actually here for a reason. I was hoping to talk to Julie."

"Sure", said Ranger. "David will have to step off the deck and walk down to the sidewalk first though."

David turned red, and his father glared at him until he moved. When he was down on the sidewalk, Ranger called Julie forward. I walked forward with her.

"Hey, Steph", said Ben.

"Hey, Ben. How are things going?"

"Good. Your team did some great research on that last person. We found him three hours after you submitted your capture plan. As always, your help was invaluable. We'd been looking for him for weeks."

I laughed. "I'm glad we could help. He needed to be off the streets before he molested more children."

Ben smiled as he pulled a business card out of his wallet and a pen out of his pocket. "Julie, your parents are good people who have helped the City of Philadelphia extensively through their work. I actually live a couple of streets over, and I wanted to let you know that, if you ever need support in the middle of the night, here is my private cell number. If you hear a sound and are scared, or if you are receiving texts and are uncomfortable, or if David isn't respecting his restraining order, I want to hear of it. I can be here in minutes." He turned to Ranger. "I have asked for increased police presence on this street, and I personally will be doing regular daily drive-bys. We have a couple of SWAT team members that live in the neighborhood as well, and they have been apprised of the problem and are ready to step in and help if needed. They have also said that they will be doing regular drive-bys and have been given David's picture."

"Thanks, Ben", said Ranger. "Steph and Julie and I appreciate it."

Ben laughed. "I understand, Ranger. You may be a badass, but you are still a father." He shook Ranger's hand. "I would do the same for my little girl." He turned to Julie. "Remember, any time."

Julie smiled and thanked him. As the Chief and the Senator left the porch, we could hear the Senator say, "who the hell was that man?"

Ben laughed. "That couple has probably done more to protect American citizens than any other couple currently living in the States. Dozens of cities in the country use their services to identify locations of vicious and hard-to-find felons. Their capture plans outlining how to pick them up are so accurate that officers believe that they get their answers through crystal balls. They help build cases with their research and, if our own teams are short manpower, we can use one of their tactical teams to support our services. They are the good guys, but I don't know of another company or governmental body that is as badass as they are. Periodically our SWAT team trains with their tactical teams, and every time our SWAT team is creamed - and our SWAT team is very talented and excels at what they do. It's just that Ranger's team is better. They only operate within the law, but I still wouldn't want to get on their bad side. They have enough power to decimate their opponent, and their opponent would never see it coming. There are few people that I have as much respect for." He smiled at him and shook the Senator's hand. "I'd better go. My wife has dinner waiting. Have a good evening." He turned to David. "I'll be watching."

"You don't have to", said the Senator. "By the sounds of what I've heard, I think it is time to pull David from school and make him get a job to pay back what I have spent on his tuition. His marks are dismal, it sounds like he's been drinking and smoking pot, and now he is criminally fixated on a girl who does not return his interest. I think he needs to come home and receive some counselling and have a little more parental support for a year, and perhaps in another year he will be mature enough to try again."

"Dad! You can't do that!" said David.

The Senator smiled. "I can, David, and I will. Get in the car, please. I'll just go and tell Julie's parents my decision."

The Chief smiled. "That sounds like a very logical decision, and I know that is what I would do as well." He patted the Senator's elbow. "Have a good evening."

He got in the car and drove away, and as he did the Senator walked up the path and told us what he was planning on doing. Ranger smiled. "That's how I would have handled it as well, Senator. I think you are on the right track, and I wish you well."

The Senator pulled out his business card. "My email address is on the card", he said as he gave the card to Julie. "If you receive any more messages, could you please email them to me?"

Julie smiled. "Certainly. I appreciate your help with this."

The Senator smiled. "You're welcome. Good luck on the rest of your year."

He turned and walked away and, as he got in the car, Ranger shut the door and joined us in the kitchen. I smiled at him. "And you didn't even have to break any bones."

Ranger grinned. "I know. They took all the fun out of it."

I laughed.