Chapter 10: Destiny

Ranger noticed that Stephanie was talking to Connie. After he finished talking to Vinnie, he walked up to Stephanie. "Babe, are you ready to go?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I have the three files here," Stephanie told him. "We will start with this one." Stephanie handed a file to Ranger.

He looked in the file. "Shawn Tomason. Breaking and entering, stalking, just to name a few. Right, let's go, Babe." Ranger said.

"I will talk to you later, Connie, and by the way, where is Lula? She was with my grandmother?" Stephanie asked.

"She said she was taking some time off. I don't know why. She did say now," Connie told Stephanie and Ranger.

"Right, call me if she comes in. Will you?" Stephanie asked.

"Sure will, good luck," Connie told her.

The two of them walked out of Vinnie's Bond and got into the SUV. Once they got settled with their seatbelts buckled, Ranger started to drive.

They drove to a dark part of the Burg, it was not South Stark Street, but it was starting to look like it was on its way to being the new South Stark Street. The houses became more derelict the further south you travelled. Stephanie suppressed a shiver as they passed a house covered in plywood and bullet holes.

Carlos parked the SUV, and they got out and walked down the street. "Stay close," Carlos warned. He shifted his gun to his hip as they walked down the road.

"I don't see him anywhere," Stephanie said louder than she should.

Carlos looked at Stephanie. "Patience, babe," he told her. He wanted to get this guy just as quick so he could get her home and spend time with her.

The two of them found his house. "Here we go," Stephanie muttered. She knocked on his door. "Bond's Agent, open up Shawn Thomason."

Both Ranger and Stephanie heard someone moving around inside the house. Stephanie walked around to the back of the house. "Crap!" Shawn said and then started to yell.

Ranger walked into the house and made sure it was clear. He walked into the kitchen. Through the window, he saw Shawn running away. Stephanie was chasing after him. Ranger just shook his head. Then he noticed Stephanie caught him, but Shawn tried to push her away. It happened all at once, almost in slow motion. Shawn had pushed Stephanie into the deep end of the outside pool. "Damn!" Stephanie yelled.

Stephanie noticed Ranger decided to join the party. Ranger ran toward Shawn and tackled him to the ground as he cuffed him. Stephanie went to the side of the pool and got out of it. "Well, that went well," she sarcastically said. Stephanie attempted to wipe the water off her clothes.

Ranger turned to look at his wife and just shook his head. The two of them went to the SUV and cuffed Tomason in the back of the SUV. Carlos went to the back of the SUV and took out a towel, and wrapped her in it. "Are you hurt?" Carlos asked with concern in his voice.

"I am dripping wet, but I am not injured," Stephanie told him.

"Right, okay, we will bring him to the station, and then we will go back to the house so you can get some dry clothes on," Carlos told her.

"Right. Show me the money," Stephanie told him. Carlos shook his head at her poor attempt at quoting Jerry Maguire. He opened the passenger side door and lifted Stephanie into the seat. Stephanie fumbled with the seatbelt until Carlos reached around her to buckle her up. She tugged the towel around her.

Carlos got into his seat and buckled his belt. Then he drove to the police station, where they collected the body receipt in exchange for Shawn Tomason. After collecting the receipt, they went to Vinnie's bond office to get the cheque.

"Hey, how did it go?" Connie asked as she saw Stephanie and Carlos come in. She noticed Stephanie dripping wet. "What happened?" It was not the first time Stephanie ended up messy from recovering a bond.

"He pushed me into his pool. Now I am going home to change, and then we will find the other ones," Stephanie said as she handed the receipts to Connie. Connie wrote a cheque to Stephanie to deposit into her account.