Argh. My head felt awful. What had happened? I remembered opening the door, thinking it was Ranger and - oh no. I opened my eyes in panic.
A girl sat on the bed next to me. I blinked, trying to get everything into focus. She had dark brown hair, brown eyes and looked like a mini Ranger. We were in a mobile home. I couldn't see out the window, so I didn't know what time it was, but my stomach said it was morning.
"Julie?" I asked her.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Stephanie. I'm a friend of your dad's," I told her. Her eyes lit up for a second, then she looked at the floor.
"I'm glad that you could come here and join me and my dad," she said. I was confused for a few seconds and stared at her in puzzlement. Then it clicked. The Other Ranger must be making her call him dad.
"Are you okay?" I asked her.
"Oh yeah. My dad has been looking after me. Although I'd really like some fruit to eat. Dad mostly gets food from convenience stores and they don't have much fruit," she said, then whispered to me, "His name is Edward Scrog. He makes me call him dad."
I put my hand out to her and squeezed her hand. Then I noticed that she was chained at her ankle and tethered to a ring in the middle of the floor. I looked down.
"I can reach the bathroom," she told me. "He did that after I kicked him real hard and tried to run for it."
Yep definitely Ranger's daughter.
"Good morning my princesses," a voice called, and the door opened. Scrog stood there with candy bars in his hands. "It's breakfast time."
Now I'm a big fan of chocolate but I wasn't sure that I could stomach a candy bar first thing in the morning after a big night of being tasters, kidnaped and given my enormous headache, possibly drugged too.
He handed me a bottle of water that I took hesitantly, wondering if it was drugged. Julie took hers and started drinking, so I guessed it was okay. I took a big swig to try to rinse my mouth out. Ugh.
"You don't dress like a lingerie designer," Scrog said to me. I flicked down at what I was wearing. Jeans, shirt, hoody since I'd been taken at night time and I was cold.
"How should a lingerie designer dress? Lingerie goes underneath your clothes," I told him.
"I thought you'd be wearing sexier panties," he said, and the implications of what he'd said dawned on me. "I had to make sure you weren't wearing a wire or any trackers," he said.
Ew. Gross. Now I was no longer afraid. I was angry. This creep had kidnapped Ranger's daughter, impersonated Ranger, made him wanted with the police, kidnapped me, and then had a good look at my underwear. Luckily I was a Jersey woman, and dealing with creeps makes us productively angry.
"Well my lingerie designer clothes aren't practical when I do my second job of bounty hunting. These are my bounty hunting clothes," I told him.
"They don't look like bounty hunting clothes. Ranger – I mean I – like wearing all black for bounty hunting. Those are just normal clothes."
"These are disguise clothes. I sneak right up to people since they don't realise I'm a bounty hunter," I said.
"I know all about sneaking and disguises. I'm good at that. I dressed up as a woman and got right up close to Ranger and he didn't even realise that I was there. I could have shot him right then but I needed to get you first to make our family whole," Scrog told me. It was official. This guy was a loony.
"Our family?"
"Of course. Everyone in the know says that Ranger Manoso's woman is Stephanie Plum. He doesn't let anyone else drive his cars. I'm Carlos Manoso, and now I have you."
Remind me to have a very pointed talk with Ranger once I got out of this pickle.
"Anyway, I don't think that you know much about being a bounty hunter," he told me.
"Of course I know about bounty hunting. It's called Plum Bail Bonds, isn't it? It's a family business. I was raised bounty hunting," I bluffed. Scrog looked doubtful.
"I thought you were a lingerie maker," he said.
"That's my day job. But my real love is bounty hunting," I told him.
"Well that's even better, because then we can be bounty hunters together once we get to Mexico," Scrog said. Mexico. Huh.
"Mexico's a long way away. How are we getting there?"
"We're going to drive. I'll rob convenience stores for money along the way," Scrog said.
"Huh. That sounds risky. You know what, why don't we get our bounty hunting career happening early? I was in the Bonds office the other day and I heard of a big bond going. Lonnie Dodds. He's worth a lot!"
"Nice try," Scrog said. "You think I'm what, going to walk into a police station to collect the bond? Or let you do it alone? I'm not stupid."
Oh. Right. I'd assumed he was, no one who was bright would kidnap Ranger's daughter.
"Oh. Right. I hadn't thought of that. I'm not used to being a fugitive on the run. Ooh I know! Lonnie Dodds robbed a bank and took all the cash. We could rob him!"
This plan was sounding better. Probably Lonnie Dodds would shoot Scrog for trying to rob him.
"Do you know where he lives?" Scrog asked.
"No. But Joyce Barnhart does. I hate Joyce."
"We're not getting anybody else involved. This is a family matter," Scrog told me. "I'll just stick to convenience stores. I'll have the money soon."
Ugh. I did not want to go to Mexico. And I thought of poor Rachel, not knowing if Julie was safe. And of Ranger. He had been calling to warn me, I now realised. He would be blaming himself. I had to get us out of here. If we went out in public we at least had a chance of being spotted. Scrog was too good at disguises, even Ranger couldn't spot him. But Julie and I would be harder to disguise.
I had a headache.
"Do you have any coffee?" I asked Scrog.
"No."
"Doughnuts?"
"No."
I sighed.
I wondered how Carmen put up with Scrog. He was annoying and had no idea what a woman on the edge needed.
Carmen always seemed a little out there herself though. Which gave me an idea on how to approach Scrog. He was used to Carmen. She looked enough like me that it was possible that was the reason he had picked her. Damn Ranger for lending me his car. Although I guess it meant I now had an opportunity to rescue Julie. Which I was trying hard not to screw up.
Focus, Steph. Shake off the headache and get a plan. Step one - get out of here, into public. Then work out step two.
I sighed again.
"What? I'll get coffee later when I go out to another convenience store. Geez."
"No it's not that," I told him. "It's just..."
"What?"
"Well I didn't want to bring it up before because I thought you wouldn't like the idea of being a kept man," I told Scrog. "I keep money in the safe at work. I don't trust banks. My cousin Marilyn works in a bank and boy, the stories that she'd tell me. Also a bank manager at local branch was involved in a money stealing scheme that lead to the death of my Uncle Fred. You can't trust banks. No one can," I babbled.
"What are you saying?" Scrog said.
"All my company's money is sitting in the safe at work," I told him. It was true enough. There was a safe. There was money in it. And since all profits were reinvested back into the company or went towards paying Mary Lou and I a small wage, that $500 in the safe that we used as petty cash money was pretty much all the company money. I'd have to think of something else when we got there.
"Also there's a coffee machine at work so we can make decent coffee," I finished off with. My head hurt. I couldn't think. I was hungry. I needed coffee. And I needed Scrog out of my life.
And if I was going to Mexico, it would be to sit on a beach and relax at a resort, not to start a new life with the Ranger wannabe.
Scrog shut the door and locked it behind him. I guess he was having a think. I ate my candy bar and drank my water. Julie drank her water. We didn't talk but I tried to convey confidence to her. Stay strong Julie, your real dad is on his way and he is pissed that someone took you. I suspected that Liam Neeson has nothing on Ranger. I'd feel sorry for Scrog except for the whole impersonating Ranger, kidnapping a child, and then kidnapping me business. Scrog deserved what was coming to him.
Half an hour later, Scrog opened the door. He was dressed as a woman, wearing a wig and looked pretty darn good. His make up was perfect. I was envious over his eye liner. If he wasn't so crazy and hadn't kidnaped me I would have asked him for a lesson.
Scrog took Julie and I outside. From the light it was still early morning.
"Get in the trunk," he said.
"You're kidding, right?" I asked. He gestured with the gun towards the trunk of the car.
"You're going to put our own wife and kid in the trunk? For real? What kind of husband and father are you?" I said, letting my voice rise. "First you stun me, then there's no breakfast, and no coffee, and now you want me to get in the freaking trunk? What are you going to do, keep me in there all the way into Mexico? I don't think so. I'm not getting in the freaking trunk!" I yelled at him.
Julie, the mini-Ranger, raised her eyebrows slightly at that. It seemed she was impressed with my tantrum having. She'd probably never even had a tantrum in her life. I could see her in kindergarten, bemused at the other children's lack of control over their emotions.
"Fine. Get in the car. But if you make a run for it or try to attract attention, I'll shoot the kid in the head."
"You'd do that to your own daughter?"
"You want to test me?"
I didn't so I got quietly in the car and stayed quiet the whole ride. Although Scrog's trailer looked quite isolated, it wasn't, and it was only a 20 minute ride until we were at Plum Lingerie. I'd looked in vain for a Trenton unmarked car on the way over but there wasn't one. Where was Joe when I needed him? Or Eddie? They'd better not be eating doughnuts. My stomach growled at the thought.
"I need some coffee. We have a coffee machine in the kitchen area. I'll make us some. And I'll find us some snacks," I said.
"What about the safe?" Scrog asked.
"I'll get to that after my coffee. Geez. Are you always so pushy?" I asked him. I put a capsule into the coffee maker and pressed the button, and waited. I opened the fridge to get the milk out and found a small bottle of milk, and yoghurt. I got a spoon out of the drawer and handed the yoghurt to Julie. Scrog watched me carefully while I opened the kitchen cupboard, and looked for snacks. I found some pretzels, a fruit cup that I handed to Julie, and a package of cookies. There was also a container of muesli that I didn't remember being there before. Ranger, now would be a good time to come back for all your stuff, I told him silently.
I took the coffee and put a second cup on for Scrog. He watched me suspiciously. I gestured for him to take it.
"I'm sure that I have Tastykakes here somewhere. It feels like a Tastykakes type of morning," I said.
"You eat a lot of junk food," Scrog told me. "You should eat better."
"Well maybe if I wasn't rummaging in my desk drawer for enough food to make up breakfast for our family, I'd be eating healthier. You ever thought of that?" I told him. Keeping him slightly defensive seemed to be working.
I walked over to my desk and opened the second drawer. I knew that was a Tastykake in here somewhere. But even more than that, I knew there was a panic button in there. I hoped that it was still being monitored back at Rangeman and had battery life left but there was no way to tell.
I made a show of moving things around in the desk, stealthily pushing the button when Scrog's gaze flicked over to keep an eye on Julie, then held up the Tastykake in triumph. "Found it!" I yelled, then ripped the package open.
Oh glorious Tastykake on a hungry morning. I sipped my coffee and ate my treat, pondering what to do next. I guess I've gotta open the safe and say that my assistant stole from me. But then Scrog would want her address. I couldn't go to Mary Lou's house. What about Val and Joe in the hopes that Joe would be home? Maybe I could give him Joyce Barnhardt's address, I was pretty sure she would happily shoot any strange men who showed up at her demanding money, especially if they were with me. And she knew Ranger so would realise that something weird would be up. Joyce it was. I hoped she liked early morning surprises. I was almost looking forward to it.
"Now open the safe," Scrog soon as soon as I'd finished chewing.
I sighed. "It's in the back office," I told him.
I could hear a noise at the front door. I froze. It was too early to be Mary Lou, thank God. Bringing my pregnant best friend into this was the last thing that I wanted to have happen. That meant that it was someone looking for me, or someone Rangeman checking out why the panic button went off. Probably not Dickie, he'd have no reason to come here on his own. But who would it be? Lester? Bobby? Hal? I needed to save Julie, but which one of my friends had I just summoned to die?
Afterwards I thought that I should have known for sure. But at the time I was panicked, and wasn't thinking clearly.
"Get back. Don't make a sound or I'll shoot the kid," Scrog warned me, pulling out his gun.
I moved and grabbed Julie, pulling her behind me.
The door swung open and Ranger stepped inside. His hands were held up. He was clear eyed, and I realised that even if I'd have yelled a warning, it wouldn't have mattered. Ranger knew what was about to happen, and he was expecting it.
He opened his mouth to talk, but Scrog shot him. Ranger fell to the ground but Scrog kept shooting, then moved closer.
"Now it's time to end this," he said, pointing the gun down and aiming at Ranger's head. Julie pulled herself out of my arms and launched herself at Scrog. The gun went off again.
"Julie!" I screamed, and ran forward. She seemed unharmed, but Scrog was rolling on the ground. Julie picked up the gun and aimed it at him, and shot him in the leg. She stood over him holding the gun. I was afraid that she was going to keep shooting.
I dropped down beside Ranger and tried to see where he was bleeding. I could see a neck wound and leg wound. I put my hands over the neck wound and hoped that someone was coming soon.
The door burst open and the police came in. I recognised some of them. They called back for the paramedics, and Lester ran in ahead of them.
"Julie, it's Uncle Lester," he said, gently reaching forward and taking the gun off her. That seemed to break her concentration and she took her eyes off Scrog.
"Ranger!" she yelled out. He tried to move his head to see her.
"She's okay. She's safe. She's not hurt," I told him.
The paramedics swooped in and I was gently pushed aside. Julie and I were quickly checked over while Ranger was prepped and moved on to a stretcher. Scrog was also checked over, and cuffed to a stretcher.
Julie pushed the paramedics aside and grabbed hold of Ranger's hand. Her expression was determined.
"That's my father and I'm staying with him," she said loudly. Lester swooped in and picked her up.
"We'll meet them at the hospital," he reassured her. We walked outside, and Tank rushed in and grabbed Julie in hug, checking her over. He hugged her again, then they got into a black SUV and they drove off after the ambulance.
Dickie rushed in and grabbed me.
"Stephanie!" he said, sweeping me up into a crushing hug. I could see Morelli over his shoulder. Morelli looked wrecked, like he hadn't slept in days. Given what I knew of baby Bella's sleeping habits, it was possible that he hadn't. He was looking at me and rubbing his hands over his face, likely thanking his lucky stars that Valerie was nothing like her sister.
Dickie let me go and I stepped back to reassure him that I was all right. Then it struck me what was different about Dickie compared to Ranger, Lester, Tank and Morelli. Dickie was freshly shaven and smelt freshly showered. I suddenly imagined him at home, getting a few hours sleep, showering while practising his speech to give either way.
Was that too cynical?
Dickie had taken media training and knew there'd be photos taken at this moment. Likely knew that these photos were going to follow him for the rest of his political career. He smoothed my hair down and tucked a stray curl behind my ear. Caring husband comforts wife after horror ordeal.
"I need to go home," I told him.
"I'll take you home as soon as we can," he said.
Morelli came over and grabbed me too.
"You scared the shit out of us. Ranger's men worked all night and we couldn't find you. Never do that again," Morelli told me.
I flashed a thumbs up sign at Morelli. Duly noted. Never be kidnapped by deranged man who was trying to become Ranger ever again. Gotcha.
I needed to sit down, and not from the stress of what had just happened. I'd had a realisation, and it wasn't a good one. I was terrified when Ranger stepped into that room. I thought that I was going to lose him. I was a bit afraid to examine my feelings too closely because I suspected that if I did, I would find that I was falling in love with Ranger Manoso.