Chapter 6
January 5, 2014
Tank drove the men back to Trenton, New Jersey. He dropped off Ranger and Hector at Stark and Comstock, a block away from the apartment. Ranger led the way to his home. "You can stay as long as you need," he had told Hector.
"Thank you, boss," Hector replied. Hector thought Ranger was an attractive man. He appreciated beauty in both men and women. The gang thought Hector was gay. It couldn't be farther from the truth. At least, he didn't only prefer men. He liked men and women equally.
Ranger pulled out the bed on the sofa. He grabbed the sheets to make the bed. Before he could climb into the sofa bed, Hector pushed him towards the bedroom. "I'll take the couch," Hector stated.
"Goodnight," Ranger called before he went to his bedroom to go to sleep. It had been several days since he'd got a good sleep.
In the morning, Ranger told Hector the plan for Rangeman Trenton. He wanted to build a database to hold all the intel they gather on their skips in the region. "Only a database?" Hector asked.
Ranger wanted more than a database. He wanted Hector to write a program to report data into the databases. Using his military clearance, Ranger could access several sites to gather intel. Hector grinned when Ranger explained what he hoped to achieve.
"I have a programmer, Emmet Silvio. He will help you write the program," Ranger suggested.
Hector agreed to work with Silvio. Ranger knew that the two men would get along. He felt confident the business would grow. "Did you purchase a building?" Hector asked.
"The black building on Haywood," Ranger answered. "I want security cameras installed before it opens for business."
June 7, 2014
Stephanie drove to her parents' house for dinner. She was getting desperate for a job. The temp agency ran out of companies where Stephanie could work. If she'd work at a kennel, there would be plenty of work. It's not that Stephanie didn't like animals. She didn't like cleaning up their excrement. Changing Rex's pine shavings was the most she could handle.
When she looked into her rearview mirror, she saw Lenny Gruber a few cars behind her. She jumped out of her car at the red light to convince him to let her go for the night. "At least wait until I get back home," she begged.
"Fine," Lenny reluctantly agreed. He planned to repossess the car after she went to bed. Lenny would let her keep the car for another week if she traded sexual favours, but Stephanie didn't take the bait.
"Hey, mom," Stephanie greeted. Her mother, Helen, and grandmother, Edna Mazur, were waiting for her to arrive.
"You look nice," Edna stated. Stephanie was wearing a baggy top and black spandex bike shorts.
"Oh, thanks, grandma." Frank groaned when Edna said she should get those types of shorts. Stephanie laughed when Edna showed her knees, claiming that her legs still looked good.
Unfortunately, grandma Mazur had sagging, wrinkled skin. She had lost forty pounds after her husband died a few years earlier. Stephanie imagined she'd look like her grandmother when she got older.
Helen didn't like what Stephanie wore. "Would it kill you to wear a dress?" Helen asked. Stephanie noticed her mother wore a dark grey skirt with a neatly pressed white blouse. She had a thin gold chain around her neck, and her hair got pulled into a low French twist.
"Probably not, but I didn't want to wear one," Stephanie replied. "I'm comfortable."
Ignoring her daughter's comment, Helen said, "I ran into Mrs. Kuntz at the market today. She said that Bernie got divorced. He's looking for a nice girl like you."
Stephanie rolled her eyes. "I don't want to date Bernie," she replied.
"Nonsense," Helen said. "You're thirty. If you don't get married soon, you'll never have children."
"Mom, I was married before, remember? It didn't work out for me," Stephanie said.
"Dickie was a horse's behind," Edna added.
"Don't remind me," Helen said. "Your divorce is still the talk of the Burg."
Stephanie dropped her head into her hands. "Great. I'm glad everyone finds my life amusing," Stephanie sarcastically said.
"You look too skinny. Is everything okay?" Helen asked. She had gone from disapproval to concern within a second. It was enough to make Stephanie's head spin or give her a migraine.
"Um. Not exactly. I lost my job six months ago. I had worked temporary jobs for the past few months. Nobody wants to hire people from EE Martin," Stephanie confessed.
"Your cousin Vinnie is looking for a file clerk," Frank stated.
"Oh. I'll go there in the morning. Thanks, dad." Stephanie appreciated her father's assistance.
"Can you help me with dessert?" Helen asked.
"Sure, mom," Stephanie replied. Helen Plum looked like Stephanie but older. Her hair wasn't as curly, but it had some waves. Frank Plum kept his hair short because of the tight, unruly curls.
"I heard they were hiring at the feminine protection plant," Helen said.
"Mom, I don't want to work in a factory. I'd fall asleep on the line," Stephanie replied.
Helen put large dollops of whipped cream on top of the pineapple, upside-down cake. As always, Stephanie ran her finger through the cream and licked it off her finger.
Helen snapped the spatula, rapping Stephanie on the knuckles. "One minute, Steph," Helen said.
Joseph Morelli couldn't believe his life was going sideways. He responded to a call from a confidential informant. Carmen said that Benito Ramirez had beaten and assaulted her. However, when he arrived at her apartment, a man with a flat face and Ziggy Kulesza were there. Ziggy pulled a gun, and Morelli acted in self-defence, shooting him in the forehead with a hydro shock bullet. The mess it left was unbelievable.
When Morelli attempted to enter the apartment to go after the flat-faced man, he got hit over the head by a Good Samaritan neighbour. It wasn't until the story got released in the Trenton Times that he learned it was a six-pack of beer. Joe felt humiliated.
To make matters worse, he had seen Stephanie Plum driving around town. He heard rumours that she returned to Trenton but had not seen her until someone told him she was back. It was as though thinking her name had made her appear. Stephanie was still sexy. She had no clue how appealing she was to the male population. Since the day she started school, the boys fell partially in love with her. Stephanie had always been kind, loving and generous.
Joe did not want to go to jail. The prison was not kind to ex-cops. The last time an officer got incarcerated, he lasted one week before an inmate shivved him. Joe shivered as a bead of sweat rolled down his back. He had missed his court date on Friday. It was a matter of time before someone from Vinnie's bail company hunted him down. He prayed it wasn't that new bounty hunter named Ranger Manoso.
A thought popped into Joe's mind. He laughed as he thought, "Stephanie Plum, BEA extraordinaire." The mere thought of Stephanie working for Vinnie got him laughing hard. "She couldn't catch a fly with honey." Joe had no idea how wrong he could be.
June 8, 2014
Stephanie arrived at her cousin's bond company to learn that the filing position job got filled. She was disappointed until Vinnie let her become a bounty hunter. Vinnie didn't actually give Stephanie the job. She had blackmailed her cousin. Her excitement was short-lived when she realized Joseph Morelli was her first case.
As she grinned, Stephanie drove towards her first FTA's home. Operation "payback Morelli" was in place. He was going to be surprised when she brought his sexy ass back to jail. Joseph Morelli had the finest ass in Trenton.
She parked her POS in the lot then exited her car. When she looked into the windows of Morelli's first-floor apartment, Stephanie discovered him not at home. Stephanie retreated to her car feeling discouraged. As she thought about her next move, Mooch Morelli arrived. He jumped out of his truck and ran through the breezeway to the apartment entrance. Stephanie patiently waited to see where Mooch had disappeared. Mooch returned to his car, carrying a black duffle bag.
"Mooch grabbed clothes for Joe," Stephanie surmised. She followed Mooch at a safe distance. Her piece of shit Nova chugged along as she stepped on the gas. The car lurched before closing the gap. Mooch parked in a lot behind an apartment building. She waited until Mooch left before making a move. He exited the structure a few minutes later, empty handed.
Stephanie entered the building and read the names on the mailboxes. Every mailbox had a name, save an apartment on the second floor. She assumed it was where Morelli was hiding. Stephanie climbed the stairs in her heels. "Note to self, next time, wear sneakers," she mumbled. She braced herself before knocking on the door. Morelli's eye appeared in the view hole.
Joe peeked through the peephole to see none other than Stephanie. He leaned his forehead against the door, praying she wasn't the BEA sent to capture him. "Shit," he whispered. What the fuck was Stephanie Plum doing here, Joe wondered. Most importantly, how the fuck did she find him? "Can I help you?" Joe asked when he opened the door.
"Hi. Is Joe Juniak here?" Stephanie asked. She tried to hide her surprise at finding Morelli so fast.
He knew it was a lie the second the words crossed her luscious lips. Joe remembered the time he pressed his mouth against her pliant lips. She responded to his kiss, moaning from the pressure. Her kiss tasted of chocolate and honey. Sweet like a cupcake. It wasn't the only place to taste sweet. His cock twitched as he remembered sex with the responsive woman. He took her virginity. To let everyone in the city know she belonged to him, he wrote about their night together on Mario's sub shop restroom wall, the stadium washroom and Pino's. There were more locations, but he couldn't recall them at the moment.
"Juniak doesn't live here," Joe snapped.
Stephanie giggled, uttering the cute noise he loved. "Sorry, I must have got the wrong place," she sweetly stated.
Joe refused to let her get away with the lie. He had confronted her before he quickly realized she got assigned the case by Vinnie. Outraged, he yelled, "Didn't you fuck up my life enough?"
"I don't know what you mean," Stephanie sweetly replied.
He squinted his eyes and snarled, "You're not going to bring me in." Joe brushed past Stephanie. She tried to keep up with his stride but slipped down a few steps. Her heels got scuffed on the stairs, and she bruised her hands.
"I'll get you, asshole," Stephanie yelled at Joe's retreating back.
She got frustrated and returned to Vinnie's office. "Did you find Morelli?" Connie asked.
"Yes, but I didn't capture him. I'm afraid I need help," Stephanie confessed.
"We have another BEA who owes me a favour. I'll call him," Connie replied. She contacted a man named Ranger. "Meet him at the dinner at two. Don't be late. He's a second-generation Cuban-American, ex-special ops and attractive."
Stephanie felt her heart flutter and race when Connie mentioned Ranger was Cuban-American. Rick was that nationality. She quickly suppressed the hope of finding the man after all this time.
Her spidey sense was on high alert as she approached the diner. She noticed a black Mercedes parked in the lot as she parked her car. Stephanie saw a man sitting in the back booth, staring at his hands. Her hand reflectively touched the back of her neck as the tingling sensation moved down her spine. "It can't be him," she whispered.
Ranger's eyes immediately looked at the woman entering the diner when the bell chimed. She looked familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd seen her before. As she walked towards the table, tripping on her heels, the memory entered his mind. Shelly.
Stephanie saw the older version of the boy from New Year's Eve. She couldn't believe he was here, now. Tamping down her emotions, Stephanie approached Ranger. "Hi, are you Ranger?" she asked.
"Yes. Did Connie send you?" Ranger couldn't believe the gorgeous woman sitting across the table was Shelly.
"She did. I'm Stephanie Plum. Connie said you could help me?" Stephanie replied.
Both Stephanie and Ranger pretended they didn't know each other, afraid that the other didn't recognize them. Ranger helped Stephanie select a gun and get the equipment she needed to do her job. He gave Stephanie a business card with a phone number. "Call me if you need help, babe," Ranger said before closing her car door.
Ranger watched as Shelly, aka Stephanie, his babe, drove away in a piece of shit, Nova. Pussy got painted on the side in neon pink and green. After all of those years, he finally knew her name. He grabbed his phone to call his first in command, Tank. "Yo," Tank answered.
"Get Silvio to find out everything he can about Stephanie Plum," Ranger ordered before hanging up.
When he got home, he opened the email from Silvio. Stephanie Michelle Plum was born October 12, 1984, to Helen Michelle Mazur and Frances Stephan Plum. Younger sister to Valerie Helen Sutton, born on April 15, 1982. Ranger skipped over the rest of the familial information.
Stephanie Michelle Plum graduated from Douglass College in Business Administration. Her GPA was 4.0 until her final year, when her marks dropped, causing her to graduate without distinction.
Silvio managed to find the fake ID she had used during college. The photograph of Stephanie with straight brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes stared at him from the screen. "Shelly, I wish you remembered me," he whispered. "Someday, Babe."