This is a stand-alone story that's basically from a dream I had in the wee hours between New Year's Eve and the following morning. It takes place sometime after Twelve Sharp at a point when Stephanie's love triangle with Joe and Ranger is well-established but isn't aligned with any particular book in the series.
Disclaimer for this entire story: the Stephanie Plum characters belong to JE and I make no profit, although this story is mine. Also, brands and trademarks belong to their acknowledged owners. This story is purely for entertainment, so please be patient with errors.
Starting with Chapter 2, it's kindly being betaed by rmt335. If you like something, you can be certain that she helped. Remaining goofs and things you don't like are all mine, with apologies for characters who behave badly.
Chapter 1: Suspicious Eyes
Gazing at herself in the double-wide, mirrored closet door in Joe's bedroom, Stephanie knew that this was the most elegant dress she'd ever owned. She smoothed her hands down the shimmering fabric. A color that hovered between burgundy and sangria, it was like liquid suspended in the shape of a gown.
Going for minimal elegance, she'd accessorized with the simple, solitaire diamond pendant she'd had since graduating college, a slim tennis bracelet, and the diamond teardrop earrings that had been a gift from her Grandma Mazur. She was ready, except for her hair and the final touches to her makeup, which Mary Lou should be arriving any minute to help her complete.
She turned to see her silhouette. It wasn't the type of look she usually wore, not even to a New Year's Eve party, but tonight was special. It was the first time she and Joe would be out with friends since he'd proposed and she'd accepted, for real this time. They were finally a truly committed couple, with a date and venue set, and "hold the date" cards at the printers.
In honor of that fact, Joe had gotten tickets to the fancy New Year's party at the new hotel downtown. It featured a special menu, a live band, and a view overlooking the river where fireworks were planned. She should be excited. She should be downright giddy.
Instead, she felt like the calm before a storm, with the cold winds of déjà vu ruffling through the leaves of her memories. What a difference a few minutes could make.
She pursed her lips, looking at her only other item of jewelry for tonight, which was her engagement ring. A gold band set with a lovely, iridescent opal that was ringed by small, twinkly diamonds, it had been Joe's great-grandmother's engagement ring. Something special and meaningful, according to both Joe and his mother. Special it might be, but for the first time it dawned on her that she had an engagement ring for which Joe had not needed to shell out any money to buy.
The doorbell rang, startling her even though she'd been expecting it. Shaking her head, she headed downstairs, still wearing her slippers instead of her heels. Normally she'd be tangled in Bob the dog by now, except as a token of tonight's exceptional nature, Joe's cousin Mooch had the dog for tonight. She wasn't sure which one got the worse deal.
She swung open the door and there stood her best friend forever, Mary Lou. Clad in a puffy peach and white winter coat, she was shifting back and forth in her tennis shoes and flapping her elbows like a pastel Happy Feet penguin.
"Whew, it's cold out here," she said while bustling through the door with a makeup kit in one mittened hand and an overnight valise of hair supplies in the other. Stephanie took the two items from her girlfriend, transported momentarily back to girly afternoons spent in highschool getting ready for dances and dates. It was like yesterday. At the same time, it felt like almost a lifetime ago.
After a couple of stomps to knock snow off her shoes, Mary Lou gave in and bent down to take off her wet footwear. Leaving shoes and socks on the doormat, she looked up. "I thought all the streets and sidewalks were cleaned off by now, but I should definitely have worn boots anyway."
While taking her bestie's coat, Stephanie toed off her slippers, "Here, put these on. I pre-warmed them just for you." Seeing her friend's hesitation, she added, "I can put on my real shoes after we go upstairs."
"Okay," Mary Lou said. This is just like old times, Sweetie." Hugging Stephanie first, she then took her makeup and hair kits back. Having been to Joe's place before, and comfortable in her best-friend manners, she headed directly toward the stairs without needing to wait for an invitation. She totally knew the drill. "So how long do we have? When is Joe coming back to pick you up?"
Stephanie found herself following her girlfriend as though pulled by the magnet of their lifelong relationship. "His shift is over at around five, but he usually stays until around six thirty. HIs clothes are already laid out, so probably we'll leave before seven." Then, blinking, she stopped about half-way up the stairs realizing that she'd spoken by rote, without even thinking.
"Plenty of time," Mary Lou gushed. "Okay, Engaged Lady. Bathroom or bedroom?"
"Bathroom. Lots of places to plug stuff in." She waved her hand, vaguely. "You know."
Her friend paused, squinting a sideways glance in her direction, but then moved into the bath and set down her tools of the trade. "Let's see. A good-sized mirror, some counter space, a chair we can pull over…," she inventoried while pulling over the wooden chair that Joe used to hold his fresh clothes during a shower. "Take all of that and mix in a heaping spoonful of girlfriend magic, and we'll have you all set in no time."
She turned to Stephanie, who'd sat down in the chair, knowing all the steps to the dance of makeup and hairdo. After she'd fluttered a gray smock over Stephanie's shoulders to protect her dress, Mary Lou paused, glancing at her friend in the mirror. Then she turned again to catch her eyes directly in her gaze.
"Stephie, that dress complements your complexion perfectly. You hardly need any makeup. And, your hair just needs a little taming. What I mean is, you look beautiful. Well, you always do, but today you're like Audrey Hepburn with Shirley Temple's hair. And the combination really works. You'll be the woman that everyone sees in whatever room you're in."
Stephanie shifted her eyes to look at her friend and managed a smile.
Not fooled, Mary Lou leaned down with her elbow on the counter. "The thing is, Sweetie, you don't look happy. And no amount of hair and makeup magic can fix that."
Stephanie's eyes darted back downward.
Before she could reply, her best friend forever leaned further down and asked, "What's the matter? Tell me. I know you Stephie, and you're never silent when things are bugging you. Heck, we're from Jersey, so the louder the better, right? Just tell me what's going on."
"I'm still trying to figure out what I'm thinking. But it's not good."
"Big girlfriend ears, here," Mary Lou pointed to her earlobes in a gesture from their childhood that finally managed to elicit a real smile from Stephanie.
"Okay," she agreed. "So, you know how I'm nosey, right?"
"I do. Everyone who knows you is aware of this. Are you changing the topic already?"
"Nope," Stephanie said while rising from the chair. The makeup smock billowed from her shoulders and fell into the seat like a fog retreating before the morning sun. "Follow me," Stephanie said, walking toward the spare bedroom at the far end of the hall, which Joe used as an office. "It started with today's mail. Usually, I just leave it for Joe. But since we're engaged and promised to start sharing our finances, I opened it today." She handed a credit card statement to her best friend.
"I don't understand," Mary Lou said with a line wrinkling between her brows. "What am I looking at?"
"Check out the charges from three weeks ago. Right around when I finally agreed to Joe's proposal."
"Hmm, Alibi Lounge, Big-O Liquors, Victoria's Secret, and Motel 6. Is this from that sting you mentioned he was working on?"
Stephanie's lips pressed together. "I don't think so. Supposedly it was already wrapped up by then, which was why he felt it was okay for us to officially be engaged. Beyond that, he used his own credit card. Cops working undercover use cash cards. Or they get debit cards with their alias name. Not their own cards."
"But you said this was just a sting, not an undercover job. So maybe he didn't need to hide his identity. Maybe the Victoria's Secret purchase is for you, like a sexy surprise, so that's why he didn't tell you about it." More gently she added, "If you're going to marry Joe, you need to be ready to believe him." While she spoke, Mary Lou settled on the corner of the desk.
"Maybe. Although that's the motel where I caught him jumping out a window that time when Terry Gilman was in the room with him. His highschool sweetheart and the daughter of a 'made man' was supposedly working with him on a sting in a motel room. So, possibly I still have some doubts."
"Yeah, I get that. But I remember the jumping thing. At the time, you decided to take his word that it was another sting," Mary Lou reminded her. "Perhaps they have "frequent sting" businesses where the cops know the layout and the management knows to leave them alone while they work." At Stephanie's skeptical look, she shrugged. "Hey, I'm not a police officer but I imagine that could be convenient. It's like having Gary at the butcher's already know the cut of brisket that Lenny likes, so he brings it out for me without any questions."
The line between Stephanie's brows became more pronounced as she thought for a moment, but then she nodded. "I'm not sure about your example, but I guess having a set of "frequent sting" businesses is possible." She mused that she, herself, had returned to the same bar for a couple of different Rangeman distractions, so maybe repeat sting business was a "thing" and she simply hadn't figured that out before.
But yet, she still had doubts, reinforced by the last hour's worth of digging through Joe's desk. She began leafing through envelopes that she'd left spread out on the blotter before lifting up another statement. "So, let's assume that maybe those other charges are part of a sting," she conceded, tipping her chin to the papers still in Mary Lou's fingers.
She held out the one she'd just plucked from the stack. "This one shows that he goes to Gino's Pub, O'Leary's, or Donnie's Drop-In about four times a week. At first, I thought maybe it was a quick beer with the guys when they went off duty. But then why wouldn't he tell when he's obviously been going to these bars for more than a month? Maybe longer, but I stopped looking for statements after this one."
Mary Lou just shrugged with open hands in a "don't know" gesture. Then she reached for the credit card statement as though seeing it with her own eyes would reveal the true story. "I've never even heard of those places. Not that I bar hop, but the guys who work with Lenny aren't too shy about their drinking and partying, so I've heard a bunch of bar names."
"Not surprising. I had to look them up. They're little hole-in-the-wall bars. One is down by Stark Street and the other two are down by the tracks. They're not cop bars and not ones I would go to either. Well, not unless I had a skip to pick up there. And even then, I would've gone with Lula. Or Ranger."
"Okay, I'll agree that you've found something that's suspicious. And you guys definitely need to talk about this, because if nothing else this could mean he's hiding an alcohol problem. And that's no laughing matter. But you just found this stuff today, right?"
After a pause, Stephanie nodded.
"That means you still don't know his side of it," Mary Lou cautioned. "He's not hiding his activities very well, so maybe they're innocent."
Stephanie inhaled deeply and then reached down for one more envelope. "True. But here's my final discovery. This is where I had to stop for a moment in the standing-up version of my thinking position before you got here." She opened the envelope and slid out the stationary page from inside. She cleared her throat, then started reading. "Joseph, I'd offer my congratulations but even though I'm not always honest I won't lie to you. We're both ruled by our families and obligations. Which means we can never be together at night, so we'll continue to meet when we can. Our stolen moments. You'll always be my Italian Stallion. With all my love."
Stephanie sniffed, adding, "It's just signed with X's and O's."
"Are you even kidding me?" Mary Lou exclaimed in indignation. "That's a load of bull shine," she added in mom-speak.
"Not kidding. It's obviously recent. It even still has a faint scent of perfume. And Joe's obviously trying to hide it from me." She shook her head. "I mean, it was duct taped between a piece of shirt cardboard and the underside of that drawer." She pointed to where Mary Lou was lightly kicking her swinging, slippered heels. "I mean, doesn't he even know me? The underside of desk drawers is prime real estate for secret papers."
As she spoke, her girlfriend quickly pushed off onto her feet. She looked back at the part of the desk to which Stephanie had pointed as though it were something left by Bob that shouldn't be discussed in polite society. Then she took the letter from Stephanie's hand and sniffed. "Yves Saint Laurent, Black Opium. And you're a total Dolce Vita girl."
"Yup," Stephanie replied with a popped "p." She snorted. "See, you know me."
Mary Lou put down the letter on the desk. "Sweetie, you should have started your tale of doubt with that letter!"
"It makes me too mad. If I started there, I wouldn't have gotten any further despite the fact that someone else's love letter to Joe is their rudeness. On the other hand, those credit card charges are totally Joe's."
"I guess I understand that, Stephie."
"The thing is: I don't know what to do next. I just found this stuff within the past hour. And, with all the 'being grown-up' changes I've been trying to make…. Well, it's confusing."
In truth, beyond being unsure of what to do tonight, she worried about her future. If her worst fears were true and she pulled back from Joe this time, their relationship was over for good.
And then what?
She'd already cashed in her last bounty-hunting check and told Vinnie she was out of the business for good. It was part of growing up, she'd explained; one of the compromises that you make with your significant other to forge a new life together. Vinnie had yelled, calling her an idiot. She'd told him he was a jerk, also at a volume that could be construed as yelling. She'd quit; he'd fired her. Yada, yada, rinse and repeat. Probably they'd heard the whole thing all the way to Italian People's Bakery, which meant that everyone in a fifty-mile radius knew.
With an inhale, she recalled also telling Ranger that she couldn't work with him anymore. It was something she had to give up to fit herself into her new lifetime couple-hood. He'd been stoic but if she didn't know better, she would've imagined that the brightness of his eyes was from an unexpected well of unshed tears. Of course, this was Ranger and she knew better.
He'd reached his finger up to trace her jawline from her chin to the corkscrew tendrils of hair by her ear. "I guess your 'someday' has a Morelli in it, hmm?" he'd asked with a smile that hadn't reached his eyes. She'd nodded; in a single day had given up bounty hunting; kisses in the alley; and dinners and more in Ranger's penthouse. She hadn't seen him since.
They had been difficult steps but she'd seen that they were necessary if she was going to marry a cop and try to start a family. But that meant she had no income and, as of next week, she had no apartment. She'd burned her bridges and made her bed.
And it looked like she maybe shared it with another woman, yet again.
"Stephie," her girlfriend interrupted her guttering thoughts. "Are you planning to go to this party and pretend you didn't see any of this? Because if you are, I'll just remind you that you're crap at hiding things and lying. So, if you go, you'll probably have an explosion on the dance floor to rival the fireworks outside. Which I'm not saying is bad, but just something to consider."
"Way to go for the 'comforting girlfriend' thing. But you're right," she agreed while the hint of a scheming smile lifted her lips. Then she exhaled. "But this is so confusing. Joe and I have talked and planned so much. We've both admitted things we didn't want to and accepted so much. It feels like we're really both in this together. So, I guess there's a chance that I'm jumping to conclusions."
She turned toward Mary Lou. "I guess the question is whether I want to create an explosion that would likely end everything with Joe after all this time without knowing for sure. With Dickie, I had my suspicions but at least waited until I found him and Little Dickie riding Joyce Barnhardt in the dining room."
"Okay, that sounds like an adult game of Clue mixed with Bonanza, and I totally don't want to go there." Mary Lou shook her head. "Could you just ask him?" As soon as the words left her lips, she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay, that's a dumb idea. He'll say he's not cheating whether he is or not. But just for the record, I think the evidence is pretty strong."
Stephanie crushed the note in her fist. Exhaling, she said, "This 'being adult' thing sucks. But I guess bounty hunting has taught me that, while my gut instincts are solid, things aren't always as they seem. Even though it's taking almost everything in me to give him the benefit of the doubt, you were right earlier. I have to try to believe in him if we're going to be married."
"Hmm. Okay, it's clear there's something he hasn't told you. Figuring out the answer to a mystery isn't showing lack of faith. It's finding the truth." Then, with a gleam in her eyes, she said, "That's it, Stephie. You need the truth. Well, you're a bounty hunter. You find people and facts that nobody else can. So, go out and find that truth."
Her girlfriend looked at her wristwatch and then crossed her arms. "You say he finishes work at five but then doesn't get home until six thirty, right?"
"That's what he says," Stephanie agreed with righteous anger in her eyes. "And he has repeated, unexplained bar bills on his work days."
Without pausing, Mary Lou effortlessly followed the direction of her thoughts. "If he's going to one of those bars after work tonight, which is New Year's Eve for Pete's sake, you still have time to find him and see what the heck he's up to."
Suddenly her girlfriend-date had delivered the start of a plan far more important than any primping or polishing could be. Stephanie darted back to the bedroom where her shoes were waiting. She grabbed her strappy heels to put in her purse and then pulled a pair of flats out to wear while walking. Hopping a bit, she didn't even wait to sit down before pulling them over her stockinged feet.
Straightening, she turned to her life-long best friend who'd followed her to the bedroom she shared with Joe Morelli. "How do I look?"
"Like righteousness in an evening gown. With that burgundy color, I'd say Xena, ready for anything."
"No, seriously," Stephanie insisted. With her high-heels still dangling from one hand, she fisted the other on her waist.
"Really, you look good," Mary Lou said. But if you have time for a couple clips in your hair and a quick brush-up of eye color and mascara like we used to do in the highschool bathroom, I'll take care of that right now. You can take a makeup bag with you in case you do end up at that party, after all."
Deciding that putting on a quick application of war-paint around her eyes was exactly the right idea, Stephanie led them back to Joe's bathroom. In a matter of minutes, Mary Lou's expert touch-up was done. Stephanie caught her own gaze in the mirror and was pleased by the unabashed, fierce woman looking back at her with her best friend's hands resting on her shoulders. Maybe this was the "being adult" thing for which she'd been searching.
They both smiled at the same time. Stephanie was ready.
After helping Mary Lou repack her hair and makeup bags, they both headed downstairs.
Stephanie donned her long coat, added her heels to her satchel-style handbag, and then picked up her keys.
By then, Mary Lou was all puffed-up in her parka and back in her slightly dryer shoes. With her own keys in hand, she said, "Okay kiddo. I'm heading back home for dinner and a little New Year's party in front of the TV with Lenny and the kids. But call if you need anything, okay?"
With a quick hug, she said, "I will. And, thanks for being here today. You helped more than you know."
"Any time," Mary Lou said. "Girlfriends forever. Go get him, tiger."
To be continued…