Teamwork

Ch. 1

"Shit!" Joe slammed the phone back in its cradle so hard the desk and walls rattled.

Feeling his blood boiling in his veins, Joe looked over at Carl Costanza.

"Did you know about this?" Joe asked Carl.

Carl had his suspicions regarding the nature of the phone call. Only one thing could have Joe this enraged. He wasn't supposed to have found out, but it seemed to be too late for that now. Still, Carl was pretty sure this was a conversation he didn't want to be having with Joe and decided to feign innocence.

"About what?" Carl asked, voice innocent.

Joe glared at Carl. "Don't play stupid with me Costanza, it's a waste of my time. That phone call was about some notes that have been coming to the station. Know anything about them?"

Carl simply nodded, not wanting to say anything that might incite Joe further.

"When the hell were you going to tell me?" Joe hissed out through clenched teeth.

"Honestly…I wasn't Morelli." Putting up his hand to forestall the tirade from Joe he could see coming, Carl forged ahead. "The Captain doesn't want you working on this Joe. You're too close. You know what emotional involvement does to a cop. It takes away your perspective and objectivity. Makes the job more dangerous."

Joe clenched his fists together, then released them, trying to relieve the tension that had bombarded him from the moment he received the phone call. His voice low with barely controlled fury, Joe snarled "I have a right to protect what's mine."

Nothing about Morelli's reaction surprised Carl, but he would have loved to have seen the look on Steph's face if she could have heard Joe just now. She would probably have a few things to say about it. Regardless, Morelli was in no mood to be schooled on political correctness at the moment, and Carl figured his best course of action for getting out of this discussion in one piece was to take the defensive…and maybe offer some reassurance in the process.

"Jesus Morelli, you're not the only good cop on the force. Let us do our job too."

Joe scowled at Carl's words. "Screw that. I'm sorry, Carl, but I'm in on this case one way or another, so you may as well spill what you got so far." Joe hesitated for a moment. "After I call Steph and tell her not to expect me."

Joe inhaled a few deep breaths to try and calm himself before calling Steph. Damn, but she was getting too good at reading his moods and he didn't want to worry her before he had all the facts. He dialed Steph at the house, and when she answered, he allowed the sound of her voice to reassure him for the moment. Long enough to get the information he needed to figure out what he was going to do to keep her safe, anyway. He didn't stay on the phone too long, and after disconnecting from Steph, he turned his attention back to Carl.

"Alright, now spill. How long have these notes been getting sent to the station, and exactly what have they said?"

"I still can't believe you expect me to discuss this with you against Captain's orders."

"And I still can't believe nobody was going to tell me. If one of these damn notes hadn't accidentally gone to the front desk instead of directly to the Captain's office, I still might have no idea that a psychopath had targeted my wife. Fortunately, Sue was looking for some clarification on where the note should be directed and I was lucky enough to answer the phone."

Lowering his voice, Carl said, "Joe, if it makes you feel any better, none of the notes have named Steph directly."

Joe tried hard to conceal the smile that was threatening to erupt from hearing Carl's statement because he figured now he was getting somewhere. Carl was slipping despite his best intentions. By revealing what little he knew, perhaps he could trick Carl into revealing more information to him.

"According to Sue, the note she received stated that I took something of value from him and now he wants to return the favor. I'm assuming this valuable something is some scumbag I helped put away?"

"Thomas Leslie. The notes are coming from his father. But again, Joe, they aren't stating any specific threats against Steph."

Joe didn't care about that. He knew better. Ignoring Carl's statement, Joe continued with his questioning.

"What do the notes tell us about this guy's current location?"

"Well, they don't. They're being sent from various locations across the states. Obviously, the guy is well connected enough that he has different people sending them out from all over. He could be anywhere."

"Dammit!" Carl flinched when Joe cursed and slammed his fist against the desk. "What the hell am I supposed to do about Steph? There isn't another damned thing that psychopath could take that is as valuable to me as she is. He has to be referring to her in the notes. And if I can't figure out where he is, then I guess I'm going to have to take it upon myself to make sure that he can't figure out where she is either."

"Joe, be reasonable," Carl argued. "You know Steph isn't going to let you lock her away somewhere. She's way too stubborn for that. You just need to stand back and let us do our jobs. We'll find this guy and put him away with his good-for-nothing son."

"And how long is that going to take, Costanza? Huh? How damn long?" Joe demanded. Do you really think that I'm going to let Steph walk around that whole time, leaving her as a target for the guy that wants to take her away from me? As you said, not only could he be anywhere, but he's connected all over." Shoving his hands through his hair, Joe blew out a long breath. Lowering his voice, trying to contain his rage, he muttered "Thanks, but no thanks, I'll handle this my own way."

"Look, I can't say how long it's going to take, but we're working on it and…" his words trailed off as Joe stalked from the room. Unwilling to listen to anything more Carl Costanza was going to say.

Sitting in his truck, Joe called Ranger and apprised him of the situation. As he'd already assumed would happen, Ranger readily agreed to house Steph at RangeMan headquarters. Steph had stayed there once before when she was dealing with the Slayers, and Joe knew the security there was near to impossible to breach. They worked out all the details of getting Steph to the RangeMan offices undetected, and what they were going to do to quell the impression that that was where she was. It took a while to do, but when they were through Joe was feeling much better knowing a plan was in place. Joe went back into the station and arranged everything that he and Ranger had discussed. Now, it was time to go home and tell Steph everything. That wasn't going to be easy. Even harder than that, though, was going to be convincing her to go along with his plan to keep her at Ranger's. Glancing quickly at the clock, Joe realized how late it was. Most likely, Steph would be sleeping and he could put it off until morning. Maybe inspiration would strike in the night that would help him convince her.