Recap: Stephanie tries to do her first capture, but eats some of Mooner's brownies, leading her to be high as a kite when she meets Ranger to go shooting. Ranger decides instead to go do a capture.

Stephanie

My first file was Clarence Sampson. He had a record that was long and unvaried. Public Drunkenness, DUI, and open container violations going back decades. Never violent, unless you count the DUIs. Ranger flipped through it. "Shouldn't be a problem. We'll try his place first."

"Got it." I said, trying to sound confident. I got into my car, turned the key, and groaned as it let off a horrendous shriek. It reminded me of a sound effect for a horror film taking place in a wood chipper factory. I pounded my head against the steering wheel. This was so embarrassing. A few seconds later I heard a tapping on my window. Ranger stood outside, beckoning me. I considered just staying where I was and hoping the earth would split open and swallow me. But Ranger didn't move. After a couple of breaths I turned and got out. Just my luck living in a geologically stable place where the earth very rarely swallowed people up and made them disappear. The mob, yes. But not the earth.

"We can take my truck." he said, tilting his head towards the alley. It didn't look like the safest alley, it looked like the alley at the beginning of a Law & Order episode. But oddly, I wasn't afraid of going in there. Something about Ranger screamed 'protector'.

The truck was massive. Ranger beeped it open, then watched as I scrambled into it, flopping around a bit. As he closed the door, I could have sworn I heard a slight chuckle.

Ranger

I had almost reached out to help Stephanie get into the truck, but froze, unsure if I should touch her or not. It was an unfamiliar feeling. Normally I wouldn't have given it much thought, but I didn't want to touch her without asking, and I didn't want to ask, lest she think I thought she was incapable of getting into the truck. So I just stood there as she struggled to get in, feeling like an idiot. As I closed the door I laughed at myself. 'Common, Manoso, stop acting like a scared school boy.'

We drove to Clarence Sampson's place. I explained more of the general rules and laws of bounty hunting, but also some of the secrets.

"Wear boots, preferably steel-toed. Once they open a door, slide your foot inside so they can't slam it shut."

"So they slam it shut a lot?"

Not for me. They tended to quake in fear at the sight of me. Her though? "It happens. And you don't want a door to break your foot. And remember, no matter how tough someone is, everyone has a weakness. 2/3rds of the time, it's their Mom. Convince her that her kid should come in, and that's half the bottle. Doesn't matter how tough a guy is, he's still afraid of his Mama."

That got me a look. "Are you scared of your mom?"

"Terrified. She's five-foot nothing and can wither me with a glance."

She giggled. "I'd like to see that. Can I meet her?"

A vision flashed in my head, taking Stephanie home to meet my family. Introducing her to all the nieces and nephews. It wasn't an unpleasant thought.

"Maybe someday. She lives in Newark."

I pulled into a parking space in front of the building. "Let's go. Watch me, I'll take the lead."

I knocked on Clarence's door, then stepped aside so Stephanie would be the one he would see when he looked through the peephole. I had a feeling she would have an easier time getting people to open their doors than I do.

There was no answer, so after a minute I knocked again. She started looking nervous.

"What if he isn't home?"

I actually didn't expect him to be. There hadn't been any lights on as we walked up. And it was only 7:30 at night, probably still happy hour. I decided to play professor again. "So, what do you know about him. Where will he be?"

She looked at the file she was clutching nervously. "A bar."

I nodded. "Probably. But we can't search every one in the city. Where should we start?"

She flipped through some more. "He's been arrested twice at the Painted Pony. So maybe we should try...no."

"No?"

"No. That's 2 miles away. He doesn't have a car listed in his assets, and his licence has been suspended. And 2 miles is a long way to walk, especially drunk."

I thought of a time I walked 23 miles in the jungle with Lester slung over my shoulder and a sprained ankle. Still, those were special circumstances. And not ones I'd pick for recreation.

"OK, so what bars are close by?"

"So here's the thing, I kind of hocked my smart phone a week ago to pay my electric bill."

I blinked at her. "You have a phone. I've texted you." Shit, she really was broke.

"Yeah, I had an old flip phone from 15 years ago. I figured if I didn't have electricity I couldn't exactly charge the iPhone anyway. And I put $10 worth of prepaid credits on this thing, so it isn't too expensive."

Fuck. I was tempted to just empty my wallet and give it all to her. $150 wasn't a lot to me, but for her it would be a fortune. But I figured she would be insulted. She needed a capture, some money she had earned. So I pulled out my own phone and an app. "There's 10 bars within a 3 block radius."

"What's the Painted Pony like?"

"I thought you said he wasn't likely to be there."

"Yeah, but he went that far out for a reason. Can you look it up? Why travel that much, especially if it wasn't special in some way?"

She might be new at this, but she was smart. Very smart. I found the place online. "Looks like their specialty is they play porn videos on TVs over the bar."

"Eww." She said. "So, he likes to look at naked women while he drinks." As if most men didn't. "Are any of the bars nearby strip clubs?"

I checked out the listings. "Yup. One."

She hiked her bag up her shoulder. "All right, let's go."

A strip club with Stephanie Plum. Well, this would be interesting.