Chapter Eleven
Ranger's phone rang. It was Les. Ranger knew even before he answered, it wasn't good news.
"Yo!" Ranger barked.
"Stephanie Plum is at Vinnie's." Les didn't even bother with a greeting.
A beat of silence went by. "Fuck." Ranger ground out.
Another beat of silence. Les could tell Ranger was struggling for control. He could picture him with his eyes closed looking for that Zen place while the muscle in his jaw twitched.
"Get in there and see what she's doing." Ranger snapped. "And stop her."
"On it." Les disconnected and started looking for a parking spot for the monster sized SUV.
And, just how the hell was he supposed to do that? In Les' experience stopping a woman from doing something she wanted to do, usually ended up going badly. Especially for him. The kind of bad that resulted in him standing in the hall staring at the locked hotel door, after he got pushed out that door while naked kind of bad. He had some experience with that one.
He was still on the no-fly list of that hotel. Mainly because some old lady with a yappy poodle had gotten the vapors and fainted when she saw him, which resulted in EMS and the fire department showing up. He'd narrowly avoided a public indecency charge that time. He had a feeling that would be a picnic compared to this.
Short of setting the bonds office on fire he didn't have a lot of ideas. Les had to admit, despite spending a good amount of time with women, he didn't know anything about them. Granted the time he usually spent with them wasn't spent talking, and generally involved one or both of them being naked. He figured that might explain a few things, but didn't exactly equip him for success in this case.
Stephanie beeped her car locked and headed to the bakery to grab box of donuts. If you had to breathe New Jersey air there wasn't much point in getting carried away with always eating healthy food. That and maybe Vinnie would be more forthcoming with information and not ask too many questions about why she wanted it if he was distracted by a Boston crème.
Stephanie stood in line at the bakery thinking she really needed to buy some groceries and throw out that slimy head of lettuce. Tastykakes never did that. They never turned all brown and mushy. Maybe it was a sign from God that he wanted her to buy Tastykakes instead of lettuce. She heard some woman on the radio just this morning saying there were little signs from the universe all around you, if you just paid attention. Maybe this was one of them.
The woman behind the counter gave her a bored kind of pissy look. She was about as wide as she was tall, and had some unidentified glob on her yellow t-shirt. Stephanie forced a smile on her face, and just barely kept her lip from curling back. She didn't want to think too hard about that glob clinging precariously to the woman's shirt. At least the woman had a hair net on, so there was that.
"I'll take four Boston crème, four glazed and four chocolate donuts." Stephanie gave the woman her best smile. Employee of the month just glared at her. Stephanie narrowed her eyes at the woman's back. So much for friendly.
The way the woman was smashing the donuts in the box, they would be one inch high tall, but really who cared, they were just for Vinnie. Stephanie squinted and looked at her again. She was too old to be someone Stephanie went to high school with, so it couldn't be some long-ago mean girl thing. Stephanie decided it was probably not personal, she was just one of those generally pissed off people. The woman slapped the box of donuts down on the counter with such force Stephanie gave a little startled jump.
"Uh, thank you." Stephanie stammered.
The woman just held out her hand without a word, and Stephanie handed her a twenty. The woman gave her back her change.
"Have a nice day." The woman said.
Given the way she said it, somehow Stephanie was pretty sure have a nice day was code for burn in hell. She wasn't entirely sure why that woman was so pissed off at the world. Working around donuts didn't seem like such a bad job. It wasn't like she was a garbage truck driver, or had to pick up dead animal carcasses.
Stephanie gave her a half smile and left. She really hoped that wasn't one of those signs from the universe that foreshadowed how the rest of her day was going to go. It wasn't like it hadn't been all kinds of weird already between Pardo babbling about connection and Morelli's sort of marriage proposal. Neither of which she wanted to think about right now.
Stephanie headed to the bonds office, donuts in hand and pushed through the front door. The little jingle of the bell announcing her arrival.
Connie Rossolli waived at her when she came in. Connie was Vinnie's office manager. She was a couple years older than Stephanie, a couple of inches shorter, and a few pounds heavier and way curvier.
Today Connie had her dark brown hair teased and sprayed within an inch of its life. Connie definitely subscribed to the higher the hair the closer to God philosophy.
"Hey Stephanie. How are you?" Connie greeted her.
""I'm good." Stephanie handed the box of donuts to Connie.
Connie opened the box and looked at the donuts, her lip curling back a little. "You get these from Darinda next door?"
"Yeah." Stephanie replied.
"What brings you by?" Connie asked as she closed the box and pushed the donuts away with one finger, like they might be contaminated.
"Is Vinnie in?"
Connie raised an eyebrow like she really wanted to ask why Stephanie would be meeting with Vinnie, but Connie's family had mob ties so she knew the value of plausible deniability.
Connie shook her head. "No, he and Lucille went on a cruise."
"A cruise?" Since when did Vinnie go on cruises? Casinos sure, racetracks and strip clubs you bet, but a cruise?
"Yeah, Lucille wants to work on their marriage." Connie rolled her eyes conveying just how pointless that was.
Lucille was a saint as far as Stephanie was concerned. She put up with Vinnie and kept her head firmly in the sand. Denial is what made their relationship work. Most days Stephanie could see the value in that. Lucille was also Harry-the-Hammer's only daughter. Stephanie was pretty sure that is what sealed the deal with Vinnie, and got him on that cruise. Harry would have removed certain parts Vinnie was particularly fond of and given him a pair of concrete shoes if he upset Lucille.
"Is there something I could help you with?" Connie asked.
OK, it was decision time Stephanie thought. What was she even doing here? Why was she so interested in finding out more about Pardo? He just seemed to be holding so much back. Something about his answers tingled her spidey sense. Of course, that didn't keep her from sleeping with him, not that they'd actually done much sleeping last night. They'd done a lot of other things, but sleeping wasn't high on the list. She resisted the urge to groan out loud.
And, now she was at Vinnie's digging for information. A smart woman would just let it go. But what the hell. She'd always been more smartass than smart anyway. She didn't even know if she would see Pardo again. This morning had been all kinds of confusing. She told herself that is why she was here, precisely because this morning had been confusing and Pardo had been so vague. Stephanie debated for a second. Eh, good judgement and common sense had never really been her thing. She didn't see any reason to start now.
"I was wondering if Vinnie knew a security consultant by the name of Marc Pardo?"
Connie thought for a second and shook her head. "No, that name doesn't ring a bell."
"He does mainly high bond FTAs. He said he knew Vinnie."
An odd look passed across Connie's face that made Stephanie a little uneasy.
"Well, Vinnie handles some of the higher bonds himself, so maybe he is someone Vinnie works with." Connie shrugged. "What does he look like?"
Stephanie thought about it for a second. He looked like a freakin' sex god is what he looked like, but she figured she should try and be more articulate. "About six feet, muscular, good looking. Drop dead gorgeous really. Dark hair, dark eyes. Cuban-American maybe."
Connie tilted her head studying Stephanie. "Are you sure his name is Marc Pardo?"
"Yeah, why?" Stephanie responded as an involuntary shiver slid down her spine.
Connie shrugged. "No reason. It just sounds like another guy that sometimes does work for Vinnie."
Unease skittered through Stephanie. How many drop-dead gorgeous men worked for Vinnie that had that description. "What's the other guy's na…" Stephanie stopped mid-sentence.
Marc Pardo had just walked in the door. Stephanie squinted her eyes and looked again. Except it wasn't Pardo. It looked so much like him, but it wasn't him.
"Lester." Connie greeted the man.
Lester gave Connie a 1000-watt smile. Stephanie watched a blush stain Connie's cheeks. Stephanie could relate. Now that he was closer, Stephanie could tell this guy was a little taller than Pardo. The eyes were different, the hair was different. This guy's hair was the same silky dark color, but it wasn't pulled back, it was cut short. He had the same muscular build and easy grace about him. He wasn't a guy who wasted a lot of unnecessary energy and effort. He moved with an efficient ease that reminded her of a big jungle cat.
Apparently, there really were two of them in the world, and they both did work for Vinnie. Go figure. She guessed that explained that.
The Pardo clone's eyes settled on Stephanie. He held out his hand to her.
"I'm Les Santos." He greeted her.
Stephanie took his hand. It was warm with little callouses that felt like sand paper. His big hand completely engulfed hers.
She couldn't help but stare. She was pretty sure her mouth might be hanging open and she was probably looking at him with that what-the-fuck furrow between her brows. He really did look like Pardo. Different, but the same, and equally gorgeous and mesmerizing. It was funny though. When he'd taken her hand no little jolt of electricity, no tingle of awareness like she felt with Pardo.
"Stephanie Plum." She heard herself say.
"Plum?" He gave her a questioning look. "Please tell me you are not related to Vinnie." He was grinning at her.
"Guilty." Stephanie said. "He's my cousin."
"Yikes." Les replied. "What part of the family tree did he fall out of?"
Stephanie laughed. "Crawled out of the family swamp in more like it. Yeah, most of the time we don't claim him. But I have to confess, sometimes it's nice to have Vinnie in the family. It sets the bar pretty low for the rest of us."
Les laughed. It was a good laugh. Deep and rich. A real one, not just one of those polite fake laughs people give you when they feel like they have to.
"Hopefully you don't need someone to bail you out?" He winked at her.
Les saw the marks on her neck that she was trying to hide with the high-necked contraption she was wearing. Vinita my ass he thought. Stephanie had the relaxed look of a satisfied woman that had been well loved. Les looked a little closer. She also had the look of a woman on a mission. That look largely terrified Les. Anytime a woman had that look things never turned out well.
Stephanie Plum was digging up information on Ranger. Clearly, they'd spent some quality time together last night. All night. Ranger hadn't made it back to RangeMan by roll call, which told Les it had been a good night. Ranger never missed roll call.
She shook her head. "No. Not yet anyway." Although after the Morelli thing it was probably a miracle, she didn't need bail.
"What brings you to see Vinnie?" His tone was deceptively casual like he was just making friendly conversation.
Les was just looking at her expectantly, waiting on her to answer. Stephanie felt a little panicked.
What was she supposed to tell him? I'm stalking some guy I don't know on a whim, who looks an awful lot like you, because I have a feeling that he's hiding something. Oh, and I slept with him, and now I sound like a desperate, crazed lunatic.
Her eyes cut to Connie shooting her a plea for help. Connie was busy staring at Les with lusty appreciation, but the lull in conversation finally caught her attention.
"Oh, Steph just brought donuts. Vinnie's out of the office, so I didn't want to leave. Want one?" Connie shoved the box of donuts towards Les. Stephanie gave Connie a look that said thank you.
Les looked at the donuts. He could swear it looked like they had thumb prints on them where they had been flattened to about an inch. Eh what the hell, Les had lived off of worse. Once you ate MREs for weeks on end, you learned not to be so picky. He took his time looking over the selection, while he assessed the nonverbal communication between the two women.
Les selected a glazed donut. Connie was blushing and couldn't meet his eyes. Stephanie had developed a fascination with the scuffed linoleum. Both of them were fidgeting. Connie was bouncing her foot and Stephanie was toeing the floor. Now wasn't that interesting, he thought. Neither of them wanted him to know what they had been talking about. That pretty much meant one thing, well maybe two. Sex or Ranger, and when he thought about it, really one, because it was probably sex with Ranger.
"What brings you in?" Connie asked Les.
Les was stumped for a second. What did bring him? He used the big bite of donut in his mouth to stall for time. He really should have had a better plan, but it wasn't like he'd expected to follow Stephanie to the bonds office, or have a completely unexpected run in with her. Les' job was just to tail her. Something he fully expected to be a boring trip across town to E.E. Martin, not interrupting a girls gone wild gossip session. Although when he thought about it, Les wouldn't mind a few of those details. Les gave himself a mental head slap. Focus Santos. Get your mind out of the gutter and say something.
"Eddie DeChooch." Les blurted out. He really had no idea why he said that. "Boss man wants to know if you brought him in already." Yeah, next time he should remind himself to say something not quite so stupid.
Connie was giving Les a look like she was pretty sure Ranger had taken leave of his senses. Eddie DeChooch's recovery fee was barely worth the paper it was written on. Ranger only took high bond cases anymore, and even that was selective.
"No, Morty hasn't been able to find him, but he's pretty low priority. Why would Ra…" Les cut her off.
"You know DeChooch has ties." He gestured with his hand. "The boss man promised his family, he'd take care of it so nothing happened to the old guy. A little good will, and all that." Les shrugged. Giving Connie his best who knows why Ranger does anything look. He figured Connie could relate to that one.
Connie nodded. "Sure, let me get you the file."
Connie got up to retrieve the file. If Ranger wanted to waste his time on DeChooch, better him than Morty. "Hey Les, do you know a bounty hunter by the name of Marc Pardo?"
Les was pretty sure he was going to choke on his donut. Sweet mother that had not been what he had expected. He knew Pardo was one of Ranger's aliases but he was pretty sure that alias was in the import export business. He could see Stephanie staring at him intently waiting on an answer. Les forced the bite of donut down his suddenly dry throat with an audible gulp. Les was going to fucking kill Ranger. Like full on beat him until dead for getting him in this mess. Letting him go in blind. He could have warned him.
"Yeah, I've heard of him. I didn't think he did much bond work though." Les had no idea if that worked with whatever story Ranger had told Stephanie, but he gave Connie his best aw shucks grin anyway.
Connie seemed satisfied with his answer and headed off to get the file. Les let out the breath he had been holding.
Les turned back to Stephanie. He was studying her. Stephanie thought it was odd. He was giving her a charming smile, but it was clear Les didn't miss much. His eyes took in everything about her. She watched as his gaze swept her body, eyes lingering briefly on her neck, making her want to squirm. It took all her willpower not to reach up and touch her neck and make sure the collar of her blouse was still pulled up. His gaze continued to travel, searching her face before locking his eyes with hers. Stephanie felt a sense of wariness work its way down her spine. He was perceptive, and he felt a little dangerous. All goofy charm, but absolute steel underneath. Not to mention he looked so much like Pardo it was disconcerting.
"It was nice to meet you." Stephanie told Les. She needed to get out of there before she blurted out something stupid. Besides the mystery was sort of solved. Clearly this was the guy Connie was talking about. Still, it seemed odd Connie didn't know Pardo. Although if Vinnie handled high dollar bonds himself, maybe it was possible Connie didn't know him. Something felt off about it.
"I don't suppose I could buy you a coffee." Les said to Stephanie.
She smiled at him. Two hot sex gods in two days. Nope that would kill her. Not to mention, it was pretty clear Les was good at charming the ladies and the last thing she was interested in was another guy that played around. She smiled at him.
"Nope, I don't suppose you could." She let the p make a little popping sound.
"Another time?" He was grinning at her. "You're not really going to break my heart, are you? At least tell me there is hope."
Stephanie laughed. "Maybe."
She turned to head out. "Bye Connie." Connie waived back.
"I'll see you around Stephanie Plum." Les called after her as she headed out the door.
Les had a feeling he would be seeing a lot of her. It was clear Ranger was in deep, and now he could see why. Ranger was good at controlling his emotions, and avoiding attachments. Les' grin got bigger as he watched Stephanie take her fine ass out of the office. Ranger had met his match. Les would put money on that. He could see why she intrigued Ranger. He just hoped Ranger knew what he was doing, because a woman like that didn't do casual.
A little shiver went up Stephanie's spine. That sounded more like a certainty than a possibility. Les was a charmer she'd give him that. As long as you didn't look to closely, because if you did, he might just scare the shit out of you. The way he watched, the way he moved. He only looked domesticated. It also seemed like he knew who she was before they were introduced. Unease prickled at the base of her spine.
Stephanie was still wondering about Les when she got into her car. Les Santos was a player, that much had been clear Still, he was nice to look at. He looked so much like Pardo, surely it wasn't just a coincidence. She wondered if maybe they were related. They were both in the bonds business, maybe it was a family business. That coffee offer was looking better and better.
Her gaze went back to the bonds office. She should have said yes to that coffee. Find out what Les knew. The bonds business in Trenton had to be a pretty small community, and Les had indicated he knew Pardo. Of course, if they were related Les would probably call Pardo and tell him she was a deranged stalker, and that would be all kinds of awkward. Almost guaranteeing she never heard from Pardo again. She considered going back, but then looked at the time and decided against it. She really didn't have the luxury of spending her morning trying to play Nancy Drew.
Les took the file from Connie, and jogged to the SUV. Ranger would have his ass if he lost Stephanie. Of course, Ranger was probably going to have his ass anyway for volunteering to take DeChooch, but really that was Ranger's fault.
Clearly little Ms. Plum wasn't just dropping off donuts. She had been in fishing for information, which only meant one thing. Ranger had slipped up and told her too much. That worried Les a little because that was not like Ranger. Ranger was like a vault. Les had seen him go for hours without saying a word, yet somehow Stephanie had gotten past those defenses.
Les reasoned he would probably tell Stephanie the secrets of the Vatican, if he knew them, when she was making those marks on his neck. He couldn't really blame Ranger for that one. It was clear what part of Ranger had been driving last night.
Les pulled out in traffic a few cars back, following. Where the hell was this woman going? She was making all kinds of random turns.
Stephanie pulled away from the curb and was idling at a red light. She had that weird feeling she was being watched again. It was different than the weird tingle in her neck, but still there. Of course, she'd had that same weird tingle with Pardo, which probably meant she was just imagining things. It was a feeling she couldn't quite shake. Stephanie checked in the rearview mirror, and there it was. That big black SUV with the blacked-out windows. The same one she saw this morning. Well, maybe. Lots of people had black SUVs. Still her spidey sense was in overdrive.
She made a couple of turns and still the SUV was behind her. She would bet money it was following her, but why? Nothing about it felt right. Fear started to knot in her stomach as she made a couple of left turns and the SUV stayed with her. Sure enough she was being followed. Between Brian Fry's death, the accounting issues, and the vacant warehouse yesterday, things just felt off. She tried to tell herself she was just imagining things, and maybe she was. There was probably a reasonable explanation for all of it. Really only one way to find out. Stephanie stopped at a red light. OK she thought here goes nothing.
She looked both ways, said a little prayer, and gunned it through the intersection. Tires screeched and horns blared as she narrowly missed being hit.
"Son-of-a-bitch" Les barked as he saw her rabbit through the light. He was pretty sure his heart stopped, as she almost got clipped. The woman was full-on crazy.
He tried to follow but the intersection was snarled as people tried to unwind from the chaos that was Stephanie Plum. He watched the tail lights of the little red beamer disappear around the corner. He whacked is fist on the steering wheel. How the hell had she spotted him? Les had definitely underestimated her.
"Fuck!" He ground out.
Ranger was for sure going to have his ass now. How was he ever going to explain this? Aliens. Yep, that seemed as plausible as just about anything else. Somehow, he didn't think Ranger would buy a story about aliens, but a guy could hope. It was either that or he was going to have to admit not only did she tag him as a tail, but she had managed to evade him. The woman had some brass, he'd give her that. The way she'd shot across the intersection, he'd watched in fascinated horror as she dodged cars, weaving into oncoming traffic.
Les took a deep breath and dialed Ranger.
"Yo!"
"Bad news."
Ranger waited, silence and his anger pulsing across the line in equal parts. Les took a deep breath.
"This is bad." Les started again.
"You said that already." Ranger growled. His impatience evident.
"It seemed worth repeating." Les snapped. Irritation rolling through him. Ranger just waited. Les ran his hand through his hair, and started again.
"Stephanie spotted me, and I lost her. Connie wanted to know if I knew Mark Pardo, clearly Stephanie was asking. Oh, and I told Connie we would find Eddie DeChooh." The words came out in a rush.
Les thought he may as well get it all out on the table. Well except for the part where Stephanie shot across traffic and almost clipped three cars in the process in her attempt to evade him. He figured he'd just file that in the Ranger never needs to know file.
Les could feel Ranger working to control himself. He could tell Ranger was thinking Les should have probably been killed at birth, and done them both a favor. Saved Les from being and idiot, and Ranger from a murder charge when he beat his dumb ass to death. He grimaced a little. Probably Ranger was contemplating fixing that oversight about now.
"One job. You had one job Santos." Ranger gritted out.
Les stayed uncharacteristically quiet. Ranger had a point. But really in his defense, it was Ranger's fault the whole thing at the bonds office happened. If Ranger had been thinking with his brain instead of his other parts Stephanie would have never been at the bonds office looking for information on Marc Pardo. Les figured he should probably just keep that little gem of wisdom to himself. Ranger was on edge. He could feel it pulsing through the phone.
He could hear Ranger tapping away on his computer. "Shit. She's at the warehouse on Calhoun. Get your ass over there, and try not to get caught."
"On it." Les said and disconnected. Yeah, Ranger was definitely going to beat the shit out of him for being an idiot.
Morelli pulled into the driveway of Terry's house. He'd only left her a few hours earlier, so he really couldn't imagine what was so urgent, but her text was clear. She needed to seem him. Terry wasn't a woman that was prone to hysterics or exaggeration.
Morelli parked and jogged to the house, giving a little hop onto the porch. Terry opened the door before he even rang the bell. Her eyes looked swollen and were rimmed red. Her face was bare and her hair was still damp from the shower.
Morelli felt his heart give a little lurch as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He reached for her but she backed away. Confusion went through him.
"What's wrong Angioletto?" His voice was soft as he studied her.
Terry waived him in towards the couch.
"You may want to sit down." She told him.
Morelli could feel the knot starting to form in his gut. He had a really bad feeling he knew what was coming next.
He reached out and took her hands pulling her to sit on the couch with him.
Terry took a deep breath. Morelli could tell she was struggling. Her haunted eyes met his and he could see the tears shimmering. "I'm pregnant." She shrugged and a lone tear escaped down her cheek.
"I don't know how this happened. We are always so careful." Terry was shaking her head.
Morelli felt his stomach drop like he was on a roller coaster. He thought for a moment he might actually get sick. He knew exactly how this had happened. Fucking Bella is how. Shit this was not good., and it was all his fault. What if Terry wasn't the only one? He shook off the thought. Right here, right now, he needed to deal with this.
"Condoms aren't fool proof, you know that. Sometimes things just happen." Morelli worked to keep his voice soft and calm.
Morelli thought he might strangle Bella with his bare hands. Things really tended to happen when holes got poked in condoms. Morelli debated about whether to tell her, but that would just be picking at festering wounds. That wasn't something he needed to do right now. Bella had been hoping he would get Stephanie pregnant and have to marry her, and Terry really didn't need to hear that.
Morelli didn't ask Terry if she was sure it was his. He wasn't going to insult her like that. He knew Terry had other lovers on occasion too, but he was probably the only one with faulty condoms.
"It's yours." She said like she'd read his mind.
Morelli locked eyes with her. "Of course, it is." He pulled her into his arms, relieved this time she let him. A really screwed up part of him was glad it was his. He couldn't imagine her pregnant with another man's baby. He didn't think he could handle that.
He kissed the top of her head. Now what were they going to do. This complicated things in way he couldn't even begin to imagine.
"We are going to figure this out." Morelli had no idea how, but they would. "Do you know what you want to do?"
Terry sat back and looked at him. "I don't know that we have much of a choice."
Morelli wasn't exactly sure what that meant, and right now he didn't know if he should ask. In fact, Morelli had no idea what he should do about anything, so he just held her and stroked her hair. He'd never felt quite so helpless in his life.
"I love you, Terry." He whispered against her head.
"I know you do, but we both know sometimes love isn't enough for a happy ending." She whispered back.
A/N:
Angioletto – Little angel