Round Robin

Chapter 20 (Girliegirl1179)

RANGER

"Please tell me someone has her!" I yelled into the coms.

The only responses were negative.

We raced towards the parking lot, and nothing seemed out of place, several cars were moving in and out of the busy parking lot.

I let out a frustrated sigh. Hal walked up with Officer Gaspik following close behind.

"I really don't understand why you won't just answer my questions. I'm a TPD officer and obviously, something happened."

Hal ran his hand through his sandy blond hair.

"He didn't answer your question because you don't work for RangeMan and this is a need-to-know situation," I answered in a clipped tone.

"Okay, so you are the CEO of RangeMan. Would you like to explain why you and your guys are running around here like something really bad happened and let me help, or are you going to keep acting like I'm not an officer with the TPD?"

I could tell him what was going on. The fact that he was standing in front of me greatly diminished the possibility of him being the stalker unless he had an accomplishment. "Stephanie Plum has been kidnapped."

He had his phone out and was calling PD.

Tank came running up to me.

"Ranger, we've got something."

I turned on my heel and took off towards Stephanie's booth. Lester was comforting an older woman, who was crying.

Tank bent down in front of the older woman. "Mrs. Bestler, I need to you tell me again what happened. Do you think you can do that?"

She blew her nose and handed her used tissue to Lester. His disgusted face was almost enough to make me laugh if the situation wasn't so dire.

"I was walking up to Stephanie's booth. She makes the best jellies and jams in the county, you know?" She paused waiting for us to answer her.

My temper was starting to get the better of me. "Ma'am, yes, we all are aware of Steph's talents, but she is in extreme danger. I need you to tell me what you saw as quickly as possible."

"A man walked up to her and said something to her. She was scared. You could see it in her eyes. He looked so familiar, but I can't remember his name. He stepped around the booth and started dragging her towards the parking lot. She was trying to pull away and was desperate, you could tell. He seemed to get frustrated with her and bent over, picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder. I tried to yell at him, but he just ignored me. By the time I got to the parking lot he was tossing her inside a white car with dark windows. It was a Ford but I'm not sure the kind."

I pulled out my phone. "I'm going to show you three pictures. See if any of the pictures is the person that took her?"

I scrolled to the picture of Gaspik and showed it to her. "Oh, that's Brian. He's such a nice man. He's here but he's not the man."

I showed her Steve Olmney.

She shook her head before replying. "No, that's not him either.

I slid my finger across the screen pulling up the picture of Mickey Bolan and she gasped.

"That's him! He took that sweet girl!"

Tank was already on his phone with the control room telling them to rerun everything we had on Mickey Bolan.

This gave us something to go on now we just had to get to him before he did something to hurt Steph.

Several hours later…

I slammed my hands down on the table sending a water bottle flying. "Dammit! How in the hell do we still not have anything about where Mickey Bolan is with Steph? We have the most sophisticated research programs in the country. He shouldn't be able to hide this well. We have to be missing something. Run through his history again."

Ram started reciting off facts. "Mickey Bolan. Born February Fifteenth, Nineteen Ninety-five He was an only child, born to a Maureen Bolan. She was twenty-two and his father is not listed. His mother fell down the stairs of their house when he was eight. She passed away in the hospital ten days later, leaving him to be raised by his elderly grandparents. Mickey Bolan went to the same high school as Steph but graduated two years ahead of her. He got an associate degree at the local community college in Criminology, joining the police academy shortly after graduation. He has been with the department for four years."

"How does he go from cop to stalker? How did he pass the Psych Eval?" Lester injected.

Hal came running into the room. "I found something."

He handed over a picture of a girl who looked a lot like Steph.

"Who is this?"

"It's Boland's ex. They were engaged two years ago. She lived in Princeton. He walked in to find her with another man."

Two years ago, was when the tailgate market from today started and Steph started selling Jams and Jellies at the farmers market.

"So, you're telling me he's been stalking her for two years!"

"Seems that way," Hal said in frustration.

We had searched Boland's house. Not finding anything of use. He had to be hiding somewhere that we weren't finding, an angle that we weren't tapping into.

Steph always told me that the Burg was secular, and everyone always knew everything. I had an idea. I looked over at Eddie.

"Was Boland considered 'Burg'?"

He nodded before answering. "He grew up in the Burg but wasn't really considered a part of it because he didn't have a traditional family."

"What do you mean by traditional family?" Bobby questioned.

"Think old black and white classic TV shows like Leave It to Beaver reruns on the AMC network. Stay-at-home mom and a breadwinner dad. Typical nineteen fifties family."

"Who in the Burg would I go talk to that knows everything about everyone?" I asked while standing ready to roll as soon as he said a name.

"Steph's Grandma, Edna."

I hit the door to the stairs with Tank on my heels seconds later. I flew out of the garage barking at the tires of my truck as we meet the asphalt.

We pulled in front of Steph's parent's house minutes later and ran to the door banging on the screen.

Frank Plum threw the door open yelling, "What the hell!"

He saw me standing there. "What happened to my daughter?"

"Sir, she was taken. I need to speak to Mrs. Mazur, please."

Frank bellowed. "Edna! Get in here. Hurry!"

Helen came in fussing from the kitchen. "Frank, why are you yelling? What will the neighbors think?" She looked up and saw me standing there. "Oh no! Mother!"

Edna Mazur might be an elderly lady, but she moved pretty fast for her age, and she made it to the room seconds after her daughter. "What on Earth is going on?"

As soon as I saw her, I started asking questions. "Mrs. Mazur, Steph has been taken. Eddie told me that you know everything about everyone in the Burg. I'm hoping that you can help with some information about the man who took her. Mickey Bolan."

Helen gasped. "But he's an officer with the TPD. Why would he take her?"

I didn't really have an answer to that question. "I assure you he did, but I don't know the why. We know that his former fiancé looked like Steph, but we don't know the why."

Edna realized that this wasn't helping get her granddaughter back. "What do you need to know, Ranger?"

"We've been to his house and there is nothing to give us any clue as to where he has taken her. We are trying to figure out friends, family, anything that might lead us to where he could hide with her. We know his grandparents raised him after his mother died. We know there is no dad listed on his birth certificate and there is nothing we could find about who his father may have been. Anything you remember even if you think it's insignificant tell us and it might lead us to where they are."

"Mickey's mother, Janice. God rest her soul. She was shunned by The Burg because she got pregnant young by an enforcer in the Grizzoli family. His name was Tito Rossi. He died in a shootout with the Ramos family. Janice was heartbroken her mother refused to let her give Mickey Rossi's last name because she didn't want him his name to get him into the life. I heard Alexander always had a soft spot for Mickey and tried to look out for him. He told him about his dad and gave him some money and property that his dad had bought before he died."

That was the connection we were missing. I glanced over at Tank who already had his phone up to his ear. I wasn't going to waste time waiting for the searches to completely finish running. I glanced down at my watch. It had just turned nine at night. We were going to visit the Register of Deeds and drag her ass back to work at gunpoint if necessary.

"Mrs. Mazur. Thank you so much. We've got to go."

Frank hollered following us out of the house. "You tell me when you find her."

I nodded as I shut the door and started the truck.

Less than five minutes later we were walking up to the city of Trenton Register of Deeds home and knocking on her door.

She answered the door in her night robe. "May I help you?"

"You're coming with me. I need you to look up a property record."

"Excuse me!" She bellowed as I drug her out the door.

TBC…