Chapter 4
Stephanie stayed in her Rangeman apartment for a few days before she returned home. She needed to start her new birth control pack. Bobby offered to get the injections for her, but she politely declined.
Bart Gianelli ran through the junkyard in attempt to outrun the bombshell bounty hunter. He climbed on top of an old bus with the jar of gasoline tucked inside his pocket. When Stephanie stood beside his location, Bart opened the jar and poured gasoline on the woman. While Stephanie was distracted, he jumped off the bus and ran towards the stolen car. He noticed a lighter in the console.
Stephanie chased Gianelli back to the entrance and quickly shed her jacket. She sighed in relief as she tossed the coat towards her car. The gasoline didn't penetrate the jacket. Stephanie's shoes weren't so lucky.
She was furious because the shoes were new. In her peripheral vision, she saw Gianelli run behind a row of Buicks. Stephanie chased after him. She pretended to run to the right, Gianelli ran left and knocked himself out when Stephanie opened the Buick door. She quickly cuffed him to the handle.
Bart Gianelli was in his late forties. His greasy black hair was combed straight back like an Italian gangster. He got caught stealing cars and taking them to the junkyard to scrap.
Helen answered the house phone when it rang, "Hello. You've reached the Plums."
"Hi, mom. Can I speak to dad?" Stephanie asked. Stephanie hoped her dad would give her a ride and bring the keys.
"He's out at the moment," Helen replied.
"Oh. I was wondering if he could bring my spare apartment key."
Helen rummaged through the junk drawer, pretending to look for Stephanie's key. "It isn't here," she stated.
"What happened to my key?" Stephanie asked when she called. Stephanie lost her keys while chasing Bart Gianelli. Somewhere in the auto junkyard, her keys fell out of her pocket. Stephanie only had her phone because it was secure in her purse.
"I must have misplaced it," Helen lied. Helen gave the keys to Joe, but he forgot to return them. She expected him to make a copy of the apartment key.
Stephanie was getting cold. "Great. I lost my keys, and I can't get into my car," Stephanie groaned. She could call Ranger, but she didn't want to bother him. He's been working a lot of surveillance shifts to locate Darin Carmichael. So far, Darin hasn't shown up at his usual haunts in Trenton.
Frank smiled when he saw Stephanie's number on his phone. "Hey, pumpkin. How can I help?" If Stephanie was calling during the day, he knew she needed his help.
"I'm at the auto junkyard. I've got Gianelli cuffed to an old Buick," Stephanie replied.
"Why aren't you in your car?" he wondered.
"Ya. I need some help. My keys fell out of my pocket. I can't get into my car," she answered.
"On my way," Frank replied as he turned his car around. He got to the junkyard twenty minutes after Stephanie called. Stephanie was standing over a man Frank didn't recognize. She was shaking from being underdressed and cold.
"Where's your jacket?" Frank asked as he took off his coat. He wrapped it around Stephanie's shoulders. She slipped her arms through the sleeves then zipped it closed.
"Buddy here decided to douse me in gasoline," Stephanie angrily stated. "I left my jacket beside my car." Stephanie pointed over her left shoulder to indicate the location of her car. "Can you give me a ride?" Stephanie's jeans got torn at the knee. Her leg bled from a gash above her knee.
"Sure, pumpkin," Frank replied. He looked at the greasy looking man cuffed to the Buick. Bart cowered when Frank stared. Frank pointed to Stephanie's knee, "Did you hurt my daughter?"
"No. I swear I didn't. She tripped on her own. I had nothing to do with it," Bart insisted.
"You had nothing to do with it," Frank repeated his words. "What were you planning to do after dousing her with gasoline?"
"Nothing. I just wanted her to leave me alone," Bart answered.
"CRAP!" the junkyard owner screamed after he tossed his cigarette.
Twenty feet behind them, a fire started in the rough location of Stephanie's car. Smoke billowed several feet into the air until the gas tank ignited. Frank quickly pulled Stephanie to the ground to cover her body with his larger frame.
"That better not be my car," Stephanie groaned. A few minutes later, Stephanie heard the sirens from the approaching fire truck.
Ranger was the first to arrive at the scene after Stephanie's tracker went offline. Stephanie felt Ranger before she saw him. He ran towards her and pulled her tight to his chest. "Babe," he whispered. Ranger was relieved to find her safe.
Lester ran up behind Ranger to hand Stephanie a jacket. She removed her dad's coat and replaced it with a Rangeman thermal one. "Thanks, daddy," Stephanie said as she returned the item.
"Do you need a ride?" Ranger asked.
"I'm good. Dad can drive me to the TPD," Stephanie replied. Her car was a smouldering mess. The firemen arrived to douse the flames.
Ranger took a closer look at Stephanie. He saw fresh blood staining his Babe's pants. Ranger used his knife to make the hole in Stephanie's pants larger. Babe needs stitches to close the wound.
Lester called Bobby. "Beautiful has a gash on her left leg. Get the first aid kit ready," Lester ordered. He noticed Frank had a few spots of blood on the back of his shirt. Stephanie didn't have an injury other than the cut on her leg.
Tank unlocked Gianelli's cuffs, then roughly dragged him to the SUV parked at the entrance. He was furious that Little Girl got injured chasing after the idiot. None of the men liked seeing Stephanie hurt.
Stephanie winced when she put weight on her left leg. Frank smiled when Ranger lifted her into his arms. Ranger carried Stephanie to the back of his SUV. The hatch was open, so he placed her in the cargo area.
Lester examined Frank's back while Bobby tended to Stephanie. Bobby bandaged Stephanie's leg to stop the bleeding. "You need stitches," he announced.
Stephanie mumbled, "I hate hospitals." Frank chuckled because he hated them too. His cuts were superficial and got bandaged by Bobby. "I need to wash off the gasoline."
"Babe," Ranger sighed. He reluctantly drove her to Rangeman to shower and change. Bobby changed her bandages after she soaked the others while showering. Stephanie looked at her leg while Bobby replaced the dressing. She knew the cut was deep and needed stitches. Probably tetanus shot, too, since her last one was ten years ago.
She gave Ranger her best Burg glare as the intern stitched her leg. He was amused at her attempt to intimidate him. Stephanie ignored the intern stitching her injury closed because she only had eyes for Ranger. After she received her tetanus shot, she got released.
Stephanie didn't hear from Joe, which surprised her. She went to the mall to purchase more jeans since the last pair got bloodied from her leg. As she entered the mall, she saw Joe exit the pharmacy. He was wearing dark jeans and a black leather jacket. Stephanie would recognize his ass anywhere. Joe may be a jerk and a horrible boyfriend, but she couldn't deny that his ass was sexy.
Hector accessed the tracker he put on Morelli's car and noticed Joe was at the same mall as Stephanie. "Do you care if I change your deadbolt to the one you can't pick?" Hector texted Stephanie.
"Go for it. Hang around my apartment until I come home," she quickly replied.
He went to Stephanie's apartment to swap out the lock. Hector's friend was watching the apartment the night of the distraction. Miguel told Hector the cop entered the apartment on Valentine's Day. He didn't know the apartment layout and wanted a walk-through. Miguel explained that he had to take his mom to New York for a few days and didn't have the chance to tell Hector what happened. He wanted to be sure of what he witnessed before taking action.
Hector had Miguel meet him, and they went through the rooms as Miguel explained where he saw the flash of light. They conversed in Spanish in case Morelli put listening devices in the house. Hector swept for bugs and didn't detect any.
"I saw the flashlight turn on and off at this side of the apartment. The light moved to the left, flashing on and off until the cop entered this room," Miguel stated. He pointed into Stephanie's bedroom. "I didn't stop the cop because I knew Stephanie was away."
"How long did the flashlight stay on?" Hector asked.
"A flicker until the light got turned on. I saw a shadow on the left side of the curtain," Miguel said as he pointed to the nightstand.
Hector opened the drawers. All he found was a box of condoms. He snickered at the size. "Not the boss's size. These are too small," Hector explained.
Miguel grabbed a condom from the box. He squeezed the foil package, and it bubbled. "I bet the asshole punctured these," Miguel suggested. He opened a package and filled it with water from the bathroom sink. "Asshole!" Miguel screamed.
The men recorded the process from removing the foil from the box to displaying the water leakage for Stephanie. She needed to be careful around the cop. "I'm putting them in the asshole's house," Hector growled.
"Let me help," Miguel offered. Hector changed the lock while Miguel planted the punctured condoms at Joe's house.
Miguel found more condoms in Morelli's nightstand and bathroom vanity. He punctured every single condom Joe had in the house. "Karma is a bitch, you stupid cop," Miguel thought to himself. Hector and Miguel realized Joe was trying to get Stephanie pregnant, so she'd be forced to marry him.
Stephanie came home after Hector returned with dinner. "Mmm. Mexican," Stephanie said as her stomach grumbled. Hector followed her into the bedroom, where she dumped the bags on her bed. "I'll put those away later. Right now, I need to feed the beast." Her stomach rumbled louder.
They ate dinner in companionable silence. Stephanie could see the wrinkle between Hector's eyes. When he's angry or frustrated, he gets this line that makes his eyebrows protrude, almost like Frankenstein.
Stephanie waited for Hector to start talking, but he remained silent and continued to brood. She threw the paper plates and plastic utensils into the kitchen garbage. Stephanie sat beside Hector, she grabbed his hand. She stroked her thumb along his finger. "Hermano, what's bothering you?" she quietly asked.
Hector's sad eyes looked into Stephanie's eyes as he said, "Morelli did something stupid that would have changed your life for the worse."
"What do you mean?" She looked into his eyes and moved her hand to touch his face. "Was Joe planning to hurt me?"
"In a way. He punctured the condoms you had in your nightstand," Hector quietly answered. Hector would never keep something this important from her knowledge. Stephanie released Hector's hand and pushed off the couch. When she stomped towards her bedroom, Hector stopped her. "Watch."
Stephanie watched the video of Hector grabbing a package from the box inside her nightstand drawer. He showed the camera the foil to prove it was the same brand in the box. Hector walked to Stephanie's bathroom and opened the foil. When he filled the condom with water and squeezed, Stephanie saw small jets of water leaking from the latex. "Where are they?" Stephanie whispered.
Hector queued another video Miguel just sent. Stephanie watched Miguel enter Morelli's unlocked back door. He quietly slipped upstairs to the bedroom. Stephanie could hear the shower running in the bathroom. Miguel took a pin from his pocket and quickly poked holes in the condoms. He added the already punctured ones to the mix.
When the shower turned off, Miguel slipped into the spare bedroom Morelli uses as an office. He found another box of condoms in the drawer. Stephanie raised her eyebrows, unable to lift only one. She never had sex with Joe in his office. However, she wasn't surprised. Joe walked past the office, oblivious to the man standing just inside the door. Miguel snuck into the bathroom and punctured the three condoms he found in the vanity. He quickly exited the house before he got caught.
Charmaine parked her car in the alley behind Morelli's house. She walked through the dark yard towards the house. A shadow moved past the garage. Stopping in her tracks, she took a closer look. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she continued her path to the patio door.
Miguel watched the emergency department nurse arrive at Morelli's house a few minutes after her shift finished. He used his phone to record her cheerfully walk towards the back door. Miguel hid in the dark shadows of the garage when Charmaine paused to take a closer look. He continued recording until she entered the house. Stifling his laughter, he ran to his car and went home.
Stephanie changed for bed and cuddled with Hector on the couch to watch Grey's Anatomy. "Who do you like more, Dr. McDreamy or Dr. McSteamy?" Hector asked.
"Hmm. If those are my only choices, then I'd have to say, Dr. McSteamy. Eric Dane is hot. Now, if Ranger was an actor on the show, I'd call him mine," she joked.
"You love the boss," Hector stated.
"I do, but there's nothing I can do about it," she confessed. "Whenever Ranger and I get really close, it feels like he's saying goodbye."
When Stephanie fell asleep, Hector carried her to bed, moving her shopping bags to the chair. He kissed her forehead and whispered, "I love you, Hermana."
"Love you too, Hermano," she mumbled.
Hector left Stephanie's apartment to meet his friend. He wanted someone to keep an eye on Morelli. Miguel and Hector returned to Morelli's house to install micro cameras to watch the patio door.