Chapter 21

When I entered the conference room, Morelli was demanding answers from Julie. She sat with her arms folded across her chest, refusing to answer his questions.

Taking a seat next to Julie, I said, "I'm here for you Jules. Where's your dad?" I removed my phone from my pocket to record our conversation. Manny would be recording everything, but I needed to have a copy for my records.

"He's neither my legal guardian nor parent since he relinquished his rights. Detective hairy creep wouldn't let him stay. Dad went to grab the lawyer," she replied.

"That's bullshit and we all know it," I snapped. "Why didn't you stop him, Eddie?"

"He's our superior, we were ordered to follow his command," Eddie replied.

"Cousin Eddie advised me to remain silent until I had legal representation," she replied. I gave Eddie a small smile. "Every time detective hairy creep asked me a question, cousin Eddie and Robin told me not to answer."

"You know Julie can't be questioned without a parent of legal representation," I reminded them.

"Since you're here, we can commence questioning," Morelli sneered. I understand exactly what Joe did. It was a manipulative tactic to get me into this conference room. He took advantage of my protective instincts. He has no idea what he just unleashed.

Julie smiled before sweetly asking, "Can you please repeat the question?" She was baiting him.

I assumed the questioning would focus on the kidnapping case. Joe repeated the question and I was seeing red. It wouldn't help Julie if I lost my cool. Taking a few seconds to ground me, I quietly asked, "Morelli, you of all people know you can't interrogate a minor without a parent. Do you seriously think she was responsible for Scrogg's death?" Turning to Julie, I said, "Don't answer those questions without your lawyer or father."

"She can and she will answer them," Morelli screamed.

Julie flinched from his raised voice but didn't answer his question. Instead, she asked, "If my dad wasn't permitted to stand in as my guardian, why did you allow Steph to stay?"

We never received his response unless you count the pen he whipped across the room as his answer. Eddie stifled the laughter ready to explode from his mouth.

"Detective Morelli, I was under the impression Julie and I would be providing our statements regarding her kidnapping. I have permission to oversee Julie issuing her statement, but not for this farce of an interrogation," I politely stated.

Robin smiled and handed us lined paper. "Write out your statements regarding the kidnapping. Remember to sign and date it," she quickly added. She wasn't concerned about overstepping her rank. We both knew Julie and I was not responsible.

When I finished writing my statement, I wrote notes along the bottom of the page. 'Page 1 of 6; SR. Page 2 of 6; SR,' I continued until I got to the final page where I initialled the page numbers and signed, 'Stephanie Ramsey.' I used my phone to photograph the pages.

"How many pages did you write?" I asked Julie.

"Twelve," she replied. I told her what I did and she quickly followed suit. I used my phone to take pictures of her statement. Once I verified the information was legible, I forwarded the copies to Hector, the Rangeman lawyers and Ranger's private email account. Robin collected the paper pads and placed them into her messenger bag for safekeeping.

Ranger arrived as Robin stowed the statements. An attractive man I recognized from my childhood dance classes entered the room. "Hi, Enzo," I greeted the newcomer. He's Italian and speaks the language fluently.

"Bellissima, it's a pleasure to see you again. How long has it been?" he asked in Italian.

"Much too long. I think we were 15," I replied using the same language. Our conversation continued in Italian. I knew Eddie and Ranger also understood our conversation. Morelli refused to learn the language. For all Morelli knew, we were discussing the reason for his attendance.

"Are you still dancing?"

"No. I never did find another dance partner after you left," I sadly replied.

"Surely your husband dances. Ram's an excellent dancer if I recall correctly," Enzo stated.

"So my husband's been holding out on me? We'll need to exchange words later," I joked.

"Do you know why you're here?" he asked.

"The detective was attempting to get a minor to talk without her parent or lawyer present. I still had a few minutes, so I checked on Manny. He was shot while we were searching for Julie," I replied. "I noticed this group on the monitors and saw Julie was alone. Detective Morelli was waving his arms and asking her questions. The officers kept advising her not to talk."

"Did she answer any of his questions?" Enzo asked.

"No, but we provided our perspective of the kidnapping," I replied. "I sent you a copy."

He checked his emails on his phone. "Excellent," he replied before stowing his phone. "Did either of you have anything to do with the kidnapper's murder?"

"No. When we returned to Rangeman, we showered, ate dinner and spent time with our friends until Julie went to Ranger's apartment for the night. I had no contact with anyone outside of Rangeman besides my children, who I spoke to on video chat. Julie spoke to my children as I took a shower. I talked to them as Julie showered. Neither of us had cellphones," I explained.

We continued the banter until Morelli lost his temper and threw a chair. I used my phone to contact Manny. Speaking English, I asked, "Did you catch that?"

"I did. Good job," he said before hanging up.

"I apologize detective. Please proceed," Enzo addressed Morelli.

After an hour of questioning, Morelli still didn't know who ordered Scrogg's death. Lorenzo terminated the line of questioning when it was apparent we had nothing to do with Scrogg's death. Neither Julie nor I knew anything about his death until we were informed this morning.

I asked Eddie, "Are we permitted to go home?"

"You're free to leave," he quickly replied. "We have everything we need."

"Don't leave town!" Morelli barked.

"Why? So you can coerce a confession from me or Julie for a crime we did not commit?" This man is something else. I wonder how many innocent people he bullied into confessing.

Hector entered the room with a laptop. He showed me the information on the screen. I wasn't surprised. "Huh. So this is why the assault charges were dropped?" I asked our lawyer in Italian.

He responded in Italian, "Definitely. The ADA is a second cousin and the judge is Bella's nephew. This isn't the first time they intervened to drop assault charges against the detective. I'm demanding an investigation."

I read the information and closed the laptop. "Are we done here?" I impatiently asked.

"I have a warrant to search Ranger's and your apartments," Joe said cockily while slamming the paper on the table.

Lorenzo Barcelona read the document and dropped it to the table. "Don't comply. He has no grounds of wrongdoing," Enzo stated. "Justice Marconi signed the order. I'm having this overturned." He grabbed the paper and left Rangeman to take the document to the district attorney.

"Come on, hija. It's time to go home," I said while grabbing Julie's hand.

Julie reached back to grab Ranger's hand. "Come on, papa. We're going home," she said.

Ranger drove us to the private airfield where Riker was waiting to fly us back home. "Hija, I have a few things to wrap up here, then I'll come home," Ranger told Julie.

"Don't take too long, papa," she replied. She sat between me and Michael on the plane ride home. When Riker permitted us to move about the cabin, she sat on my lap and buried her face into my neck.

"It's okay, Julie. Everything will work out just as it should," I said to comfort her.

"Mom's going to be a complete bitch," she said against my neck. "Make sure you record her reaction, uncle Mike. You could use it to help dad regain his parental rights."

"If she's a complete bitch, I will not let you stay with her," I stated. I know what it's like to have an unsupportive, unloving and abusive mother. My Julie deserves so much better. I could only hope she was exaggerating.

We arrived at the private airfield where we originally caught the flight. Rachel Martine was waiting for Julie to disembark. Michael walked down the steps to the tarmac. He sent me a text to indicate he was ready.

I held Julie's hand as we walked down the steps. It didn't take long before Rachel started berating Julie. This woman is the Cuban version of Helen Plum. I heard some of the familiar words from my childhood. "… ungrateful little bitch. You probably organized your kidnapping for attention. Why do you always have to draw attention to yourself? I bet you fucked the men at Rangeman. You're nothing but a little whore. When we get home, Ron's going to whip you until your ass bleeds. I expect you to bare your ass so it would hurt more," she shouted.

"Enough!" I yelled. "Michael, contact Rangeman's family lawyer. Julie's coming home with us tonight." I used my phone to call child protection services.

"You can't take my daughter," Rachel screamed. "She has to catch up on the chores. The laundry hasn't been washed in a few weeks. There are dirty dishes and garbage all over the house for her to clean." The more Rachel talked, the more she dug a hole for herself.

I had Miriam from CPS on the phone listening to Rachel's rant. As quietly as possible, I gave Rachel's address to the caseworker. She was dispatching a team to investigate the condition of Julie's home. "Keep her with you," Miriam stated.

Slowly, I approached Rachel. "Are you okay, Rachel?" I asked. She did reply, so I tried another approach. "You must have been very worried about Julie. Did you know I was the one to find her?" Rachel shook her head no. "We formed a type of bond nobody could comprehend unless they experienced something similar."

She didn't notice I was within arms reach. I continued talking and moved closer to Julie. When Rachel loosened her grip on Julie's arm, I pulled Julie behind me. Riker stood between Rachel and me.

Rachel lunged forward. Riker stepped in her way to catch her. "You wouldn't want to do that ma'am," he said while gently restraining her. "Y'all could lose custody of yer other lil' ones."

I could tell he was getting through to her. She collapsed in his arms. "I don't want to lose the other kids. If Ranger gets custody of Julie, we'll stop receiving the money he sends. Ron wanted me to ask for more. Julie's kidnapping threw a wrench into our plans. I knew he didn't kidnap her, but I was angry when he said he's paying directly to the source for her needs," she confessed.

"When did Carlos tell you?" I asked.

"After you rescued her." Rachel looked defeated.

"Was it always about the money?" Julie asked. I could feel her heartbreaking when Rachel answered, yes. She wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her face into my side.

"You're coming home with me, hija," I whispered into her hair. I felt her nod.

"I love Julie, in my own way," Rachel started.

"But you love your children with Ron more," Julie finished. "I get it, mom. Ron only adopted me to stop Ranger from having access rights. When he visited before I started school, you and Ron didn't have enough money to send me to a private school. At least that's what I heard you tell dad. It wasn't until the others started school when I heard you brag to Marsha about getting extra money. You had more freedom to travel."

A woman was approaching from behind Rachel. She placed her finger over her lip so she could listen to Rachel's response.

"I only kept her because I knew Carlos' plans for his future. He wanted to become a Ranger. They make loads of cash as mercenaries so I just had to bide my time until the cash started flowing," Rachel admitted. "I forced him to relinquish his rights. If he didn't make it as a Ranger, I was planning to have someone else adopt her." Poor unsuspecting Rachel just put the final nail in her coffin.

"I'm Deanna Stiller from Child Protection Services. I assume you are Rachel Martine, current custodial parent of Julie Martine?"

"I am," Rachel admitted.

"So you're admitting to coercing Julie's father into signing over all parental rights. You convinced him to pay support and tuition feels when he isn't legally financially responsible. Then you confirm you never wanted to have Julie in the first place. I've heard enough. Julie will be placed in a foster home," Deanna snapped.

"Would Julie be permitted to live with me and my husband, Michael until Carlos can file for custody?" I asked. Deanna raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Stephanie Ramsey. The man next to me is my husband, Michael. This young woman clinging to me is Julie Martine. Michael and I are close friends of Carlos Manoso."

"Please, Miss Stiller. Could I live with Steph and Mike?" Julie begged.

"I will need to do a background check first," she stated.

"Check with the family court. My background check should be completed by now," Michael offered.

Deanna held up a finger as she placed a call. She asked to confirm the background check and received an email verifying the person of record. "I need to see your ID," she asked Michael. I gave her mine as well.

She snapped a photo and returned our ID. "May we take her home with us?" I asked.

"Yes, you may. Expect someone to arrive within the next 24 hours to check the living conditions," Deanna stated before asking us to sign the temporary custody documents. "I always keep a few forms with me."

"Efficient," I commented.

"It helps in this case," she said with a smile. "We need to talk about your next steps, Mrs. Martine. Please follow me."

We watched as Rachel and Deanna walked towards the parking area. I held Julie's hand as we walked towards the Rangeman helicopter. She sat beside me as we travelled towards Rangeman. "Ella has clothes for you," I said while reading the text.

"New or consignment?" Julie asked.

"New, of course. Your father would never want you wearing consignment clothing," I replied.

"Mom bought my brother and sister designer clothes, but I always wore consignment," she confessed. I wasn't impressed. She would use Julie's clothing allowance to buy clothes for the others.

When my children were younger, I didn't have too much money, so my children had to wear consignment clothes. Once I started working, I was able to afford new clothes for my children. I would never purchase designer clothes for one child and consignment for the other.

"Your dad will purchase anything you want to wear. We can change your school if you wish," I stated.

"Can we see how everyone reacts when I return first?" Julie asked.

"Absolutely. We'll play it by ear," I replied.

"How long can I live with you and uncle Mike?" she asked.

I smiled when Michael answered, "As long as you like. If Ranger isn't granted custody, we could always adopt you."