I arrived at Rangeman about an hour before my meeting, I wanted to give myself plenty of time to run Marvin Estes through the search programs. My newest car was a blue Honda Fit I had begun calling the Scooter. It was a pretty small 4 door but very spacious on the inside, not to mention a Honda is one of the more reliable cars on the market but the best part was the price range. I reminded myself of this as I pulled next to Ranger's Porsche but the side-by-side comparison left me feeling a bit forlorn. It had been a few days since I had seen Ranger and I played Dr. Phil to myself, I found that I missed his presence. He and Tank had to go out of town to Boston for new recruit training, but he was coming back today. I rode the elevator up, fluffed my hair out a little, and walked out on the control room floor. I waved to the boys in the booth and went straight to Ranger's office, a charming smile across my face that soon went flat when I saw he wasn't in his office. Well, damn, my next stop was Tank's office, my brow went even lower when I saw he too was not at home. Hal happened to be walking by on his way to the monitors and greeted me shyly, "Hey Steph," as he glanced down at his feet.

I immediately felt my brow come back to its natural location when I saw the sweet and gentle Halosaurus. I have such a sweet spot for him. He really seems to channel the good guy from every Hallmark movie I've ever seen. I gave him a small hug and told him I thought Ranger and Tank were due back today. I was informed they arrived back early this morning but had a meeting with an unnamed agency and should be back very soon. I couldn't get more details than that and from the way he averted his eyes, I assumed it was an agency that knew where Hoffa was buried.

I blew out a sigh, I'll just have to wait a little longer to see Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome. I had been looking forward to the next time we would see each other ever since I had my moment of realization. I didn't want any further wasted time to go on between us but it seemed I was being taught some patience this morning, I made my way to my cubicle to begin my searches. Of course, the elusive Rodriguez had left me the leaning tower of files in my tray. There had to be close to 50 and I thought Rodriguez was at least smart enough to leave them when I couldn't catch him. I began my search just as Lester and Hal made their way to my cubicle.

"Hey there Beautiful!" Lester roared and giving me his trademark smile when he saw he successfully startled me.

Cal gave a more subdued greeting, "What's up, Steph?"

I leaned back in my chair, bringing my hands together in my lap, "Oh, a little of this and a little of that, probably more that than this." I grinned.

Cal chuckled at me, and Lester said, "you've got to watch out for the that, Bomber," he giggled, "but I have a surprise for you, Beautiful." I raised my both my eyebrows since one refused to do anything without the other, he had my interest. "We've been waiting for you to get in," he waved his hand between himself and Cal, "I know you have been watching a lot of cooking shows lately and you are all about that one chef with the crazy blonde hair, right? Well, I got reservations to that restaurant you were drooling over with the humongous cheeseburgers and fresh cut fries. You, me and Cal, Beautiful." He beamed. "One hour."

"I even made an appointment at a cardiologist for after, Steph," Cal stepped up to joke.

Uh oh, I didn't want to tell anyone about Marvin Estes or my executor duties until at least I understood them better. Why did this have to happen today of all days? This restaurant was featured on The Food Network, and I had mentioned a couple of months ago trying to get in, but the wait list was so long. Their burgers were about the size of my head and the combinations were beyond anything I had ever heard of before. Ranger and I were watching this particular episode where the Mac Attack Burger was featured, it was an all-beef patty topped with 4-cheese macaroni and cheese and bacon. Ranger made a face of disgust as I told him this was my dream burger. This would certainly raise suspicions if I turned this down. Lucky for me I have a lot of experience with lying and I also know the lie that would probably keep the guys from pressing me too hard.

"Can we change the reservation for another day?" Lester's face dropped; Cal looked like he had just put down his dog. "I'm so sorry but I've got to meet Grandma Mazur for lunch, so we can go over….um, swatch samples." I mentally slapped myself for the swatch samples line. While I am a talented liar, my brain does also crack under pressure at times which allowed me to feel minimal guilt usually. I hoped the look on my face didn't reflect the horror I had at myself for the botched story. I noticeably swallowed and felt my body temperature go up as the guys just stared at me for what felt like minutes.

Lester broke the silence, "well, sure Beautiful. You wouldn't want to miss a lunch like that." His voice was laced with distrust, but Lester and Cal thankfully departed to parts unknown. Now I could get back to my task at hand.

…

"Marvin Estes, now I've got it!" My search took nanoseconds before a whole history came up on Marvin but when I saw his face, I immediately remembered him as one of my first skips when I was brand new. He was dressed in a heavy raincoat that was wrinkled beyond belief, but it was nothing compared to his crinkly slacks and t-shirt. I had found him at a flea market, disheveled hair and all, he was walking out of the men's room. My first thought when I saw him was, he was homeless. He was arrested for disorderly conduct, apparently, he became upset when he was refused use of a coupon at the grocery store. The cashier was new and mistakenly told Marvin he did not purchase the correct item, he yelled at the cashier and assistant manager, threatened to call the corporate office but ended up staging an in-house protest sitting at the end of aisle 12. He refused to leave and was stopping every customer to tell them about how his rights as a consumer were being violated. He managed to get the support of a few of the housewives, in the end there were 8 people sitting at aisle 12 opening bags of potato chips and chanting, "Hell No, We Won't Go." You didn't mess with people when it was triple coupon day.

His file had said he lived on a yacht that was docked at a nearby lake that usually catered to the rich, I looked at him and then at my file picture and at him again. He was so much tidier in his booking photo, his hair was slicked back, he was wearing what I could see was a smart suit. He was a handsome older man that was clean shaven in the photo, nothing like the messy and grimy man before me. Geez, he was only arrested 3 months ago, I wondered what happened to him to go for the hobo look, all he needed was a long stick over his shoulder with a sack tied on the end to complete his look. I walked up to him and gave my spiel of taking him to reschedule his court date and he immediately began to freak out.

He was scared and angry all at the same time, talking so fast that I couldn't understand him. He turned to walk away from me and I made to grab for him and he screamed, an honest to goodness little girl scream. Needless to say, we had everyone in our vicinity turning their heads to us. He rambled about germs and how could a bathroom have no soap?! He was on the verge of tears, and I felt my heart squeeze for him. "It's ok Marvin," I said in my best soothing voice, "wait right here and I'll fix it for you." Now Ranger had told me to never turn my back on a skip but he had never come across Marvin Estes before. I found a custodian, I explained the situation to him and he was in no hurry to refill the soap so I snatched it from him and made my way back to the bathrooms hoping Marvin hadn't run off. I saw him standing by the door staring at his hands and holding them away from his body. I checked that the bathroom was empty, and I tugged at Marvin's jacket to bring him in with me, popped the front of the soap dispenser pulling out the empty bag, putting the full one in its place. I snapped the front closed and with a reassuring smile said, "All good to go!" Marvin gazed at me and a smile began to form on his face, it was similar to the one my niece made when she went to Disneyland. I wish soap made me this happy, whatever floats your boat I guess. He began washing his hands, mumbling about how kind I was, it really made me feel embarrassed. I'm not used to compliments. I handed him some paper towels and he said, "Ms. Plum, this is the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a long time," I told him to call me Steph, "well, Steph I am going to make you executor of my estate!" My eyebrows shot up my forehead, "um, thanks but how about we just get you rescheduled, and we call it even?" On the drive to the jail Marvin explained how he had become a little afraid of germs after a nasty staph infection as a child, the wound returned for years, the other kids ostracized him but that was nothing compared to the discomfort it caused. I had noticed that he fidgeted a lot in his seat, clicking his seatbelt closed 3 times before stopping, moving his air vents 3 times before directing it where he wanted. It seemed Marvin had developed some OCD behaviors over the years, but he seemed content with himself. That was it, I took him to the jail, and he was re-bonded by Connie within the hour, and I never heard or saw Marvin Estes again, that was 2 years ago.

…..

I made my way into the bustling café called Rise, they exclusively served souffles, savory and sweet. I mentally patted myself on the back for selecting such a delicious place to meet with Mr. Purl. I walk a few feet inside the café and I am sure I have found my lunch companion, he was in his 50's with slicked back dark brown hair that was forgettable but he was wearing a polished light gray suit that was anything but forgettable, possibly a Tom Ford? A pronounced wrinkle was on his brow as he was speaking to the waiter, he seemed to have a unpleasantness to him but it was something that came naturally to him, no effort seemed required. I walked toward the table, the waiter was walking away rolling his eyes, I said, "Are you Mr. Purl? I am Stephanie Plum."

He extended his hand toward me, "I am, please have a seat." I noticed a small lisp to his speech and noticed his voice was a little more nasally in person than on the phone. As I made myself comfortable in my chair, he began first, "As I told you on the phone, Marvin Estes has made you executor of his estate, quite a sizable estate in fact."

"Wait a second, like I told you on the phone I don't know Marvin Estes but I was able to trace back to my one and only time of contact with him. I met him when he missed his court date, I took him to get rescheduled. What happened to him, you said he committed suicide?"

"Mr. Estes lived on his yacht at the marina, he had a very unpredictable routine and did not like to ever be interrupted. However, the security guard he employed became worried after not hearing or seeing any activity and he boarded the yacht. He was found by unresponsive in his lounge, there was an empty pill bottle near him that contained oxycodone. That is a very strong pain reliever, something he was not prescribed. There was no note found but the coroner ruled it a suicide."

"Mr. Purl, I only met Mr. Estes for the matter of a few minutes, I helped him get hand soap and then got him re-bonded for court, I just did my job. I really don't have time or know how to be anyone's executor, isn't there perhaps a family member that can do this? I am at a loss of why he chose me, he did say something about making it up to me but I was thinking more of lunch, this is kinda crazy."

"Mr. Estes was a very eccentric man, as for family, I'm afraid he is estranged from most of them. The few he did have contact with were his employees. To be frank with you, he wasn't a likable man, he was demanding and stubborn and very lonely. He had no children, his parents are deceased, his 2 siblings haven't spoken to him in years. He requested to be cremated but left the details of the service arrangements up to his family, they've already let me know they intend to have no service. I'm not surprised that Marvin would do what he did."

I thought back to my time with him and could see how he was "eccentric," my mother would have just called him a weirdo. It made me sad to think of him as a lonely man, he seemed nice but just a little different. None of his family wanted to even have a service for him, in the Burg that would be unheard of, even the old men that cheat and beat on their wives were sent to the pearly gates with a 8-piece orchestra. I guess I could do this, divvy up a few things, maybe make some calls, this couldn't be that hard. I gave an audible sigh, "Ok, what do I have to do?"

"An estate executor is a person or institution appointed by a court or designated by the deceased who is responsible for carrying out the terms of a Will and overseeing the administration of an estate. You will be responsible for paying any bills or taxes from the estate, but I have gathered here everything that is owed, that part is essentially taken care of. Your primary role will be in making distributions to any beneficiaries or heirs. Marvin Estes was a wealthy man, all self-made, he manufactured a new type of cylinder that is used in most engines. The money he made from that allowed him to dabble in other businesses that were more of a hobby for him. He left his entire estate to a woman named Melanie Ford, it is your job to notify her of this but the problem is my office has been unable to locate her, what little information we know of her is also in this file." He pulled a red file out of his briefcase and placed it on the table. "That is going to be your problem now but at completion you will receive 4% of his total estate."

I thought of the backlog of skips Vinnie has been on my back about, just yesterday he threatened to use the Spawn of Satan, AKA, Joyce Barnhardt. I'd agreed to help Ranger with all his searches, the dangerously high stack of files teetering in my tray back at Rangeman popped in my head. As bad as I felt for the late Marvin Estes, I just didn't have time to play some sort of Legal Beagle.

I cleared my throat, "Look, I don't have time to go around finding some woman, if you can't find her then she will just have to miss out on th….," Mr. Purl interrupted me mid-sentence, "Your percentage totals to $2 million dollars." My mouth dropped open and I think some drooled slipped down my chin, I'm sure my eyes were as large as saucers at this point. I felt myself swaying in my chair and all sound in the café became muted as though my head was underwater, the surrounding conversations, clanking of silverware, cheesy French music playing in the speakers overheard. When I found my voice, I progressively became louder and louder, "holy shit….. holy shit….HOLY SHIT!" Half the café turned and looked at me, all conversation stopped for about 5 seconds and then it was back to business as usual, this was Jersey after all. A whimsical laugh escaped my throat and the biggest grin I've ever had appeared on my face, I probably looked a bit like Jack Nicholson's Joker but who cares?! I did a couple of deep breaths while Mr. Purl sat watching me in horror, an eyebrow raised and his mouth slightly open. Given his facial features it made him very similar to a mounted bass. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, when I opened them I said in a very calm and dignified voice, "On second thought, I would be pleased to find Ms. Ford "

We concluded our meeting, Mr. Purl looking thankful I was finally leaving after I shook his hand for the third time. I was making sure the red file with that contained the information of my new best friend, Melanie Ford, was securely in my bag as I made my way toward the exit. I looked up to see Lester and Cal sitting 2 tables away with big grins on their faces, arms crossed over their expansive rippling chests. Cal had a beautiful smile, but Lester's dazzled, and I couldn't keep the grin from appearing on my face. I did manage to keep it small, though.

"Well Beautiful, I couldn't help but overhear part of your conversation there. Want to fill in the blanks?" Lester said. Cal just raised both eyebrows waiting for me to spill my guts. I groaned and said, "not here guys, let's go outside."

We traipsed outside to the sidewalk, making it a few feet before I sharply turned to the boys. "What exactly are you doing here? You two do not look exactly like lovers of souffle." I narrowed my eyes. "Did you follow me here?"

"Don't be mad Steph, but you weren't acting like yourself before and we got a little worried and curious what you were up to. When have you ever turned down cheeseburgers and fries?" Cal said, he did have a point, me turning down a juicy cheeseburger with golden crisp fries was tantamount to the Pope saying he didn't feel like praying. Lester nodded his head in earnest agreement.

"What did you hear?"

"Nothing really," Les shrugged his shoulders, "it was pretty loud in there so it was hard to make out much. I think I managed to catch something about suicide, estate executor, need to find some Melanie chick and a bunch of holy shits," Lester laughed.

"Don't forget the 2 million dollars, Les." Cal chimed in smugly.

I slid my arms through each of the guys and was leading them back to Rangeman. "Fellas, I noticed your table was empty back there and I hate you are leaving on an empty stomach because of me. But I have just the thing for you two." I hold up my fists as they looked curiously at them, "knuckle sandwiches with extra knuckle, hold the mayo." Lester and Cal let out huge laughs and took off running back to Haywood.

Always the showoff, running backwards, Les called to me, "Have to catch me first, Beautiful!" I surprised them both when I took after running after them, I am pretty sure I heard a little scream and I smiled.

By the time we reached Haywood, I was panting, on the verge of wheezing and the guys were breathing as effortlessly as ever. I was kinda looking forward to when I would start bettering myself physically. While I was running after the guys there was an old couple power walking that passed me. The wife gave me a thumbs up and said not to give up, nothing like being physically surpassed by a senior citizen to give you some perspective.

When we reached the floor I was back to breathing normally, thank goodness. My eyes searched around the floor for any sign that Ranger was back. I didn't see him and said, "Damn, where is he?" Les and Cal laughed at me and walked to the breakroom. I never did get to give them their knuckle sandwiches, but these were leftovers that would never spoil. I started some more searches, but I really wanted to go through the information Mr. Purl had given me on Melanie Ford. I almost couldn't believe this was happening to me, I had the slightest doubt I could do this but then I realized this is no different than skip tracing. In fact, it should be easier because Melanie wasn't wanted for a crime that had missed court, she should just be a woman that was about to inherit a moderate sized fortune.

I had already started thinking of what to do with my 2 million dollars, I hoped Ranger would help advise me of ways I could invest some of it. That was probably the responsible thing to do and I am a responsible adult now, I had promised Rex. I definitely would buy some clothes, I really loved fashion, but I hadn't been able to afford anything substantial since the Dick. I was thinking of all the dresses and shoes I had saved in my Pinterest and which could be my first purchase. Of course, I would need someone to take me out in these beautiful dresses and that is where I hoped Ranger would come in at.

As I sat at my desk staring at the gray puffiness of my cubicle wall, I heard strange music playing but that couldn't be because Ranger didn't allow music on the floor, it was like 70's disco but for rich game show, I knew I had heard it before. I was feeling more and more confused and then I heard a distinct voice and accent. "Stephanie Plum, also known as the Bombshell Bounty Hunter, is now living in the lap of luxury with champagne wishes and caviar dreams," Robin Leach's voice echoed above me. "Owning properties across the globe, often going on holiday with the Royal Family, even seen here dining with The President of the United States. Most days she can be found lounging at the pool by her 24 room mansion in Barbados, the sunlight dancing off her gold and diamond bikini, her maid Joyce keeps her glass full of champagne. "Stephanie, you own properties all over the world, have had love affairs with Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp, and now there is talk of you being on the first shuttle to space when it opens to civilians. Tell me Stephanie, what else is left for you to do?"... Babe? I thought that is a little fresh of him to call me babe but he is Robin Leach so I can go with it. Steph?...Stephanie?..."

"Stephanie!" I feel myself being aggressively shaken as I rapidly blink my eyes, clearing out the cobwebs and wondering what the hell happened to my champagne, I look up into eyes that are the deepest chocolate and I melt. Ranger.