All recognizable characters belong to Janet Evanovich, I'm just playing.
Chapter 9
RPOV
Steph breathes a sigh of relief as we pull into the parking garage at Haywood. She watches Hal and Zip in the lead car, and Cal and Booger in the follow car, drive past us to park as I slide the Cayenne into one of my designated spots. Ram silently parks Steph's POS in the spot that I leave open for her. With a head nod, he sets the keys on the hood and heads for the stairwell. I look over at Steph, who looks deep in thought. "Talk to me, Babe."
"Is this normal? For when there's a threat?"
I know she's asking about the escort from the guys. "Just when there's a threat. Are you going to be ok with that?"
She shrugs and blows out a sigh. "It feels weird, but I promised to go about things safer. You sure your entertainment budget is big enough for all this?"
She tries, and mostly fails, to make that last part a joke. We've had a lot of discussions over the last two days, trying to meet in the middle and make this work. She agreed to not ditch trackers and guards, as long as she knows about them, and they're warranted. I agreed to not go overboard or cut her out of the discussion. The situation with Vito has been sort of a test run. Tank was able to set up a meeting in Princeton for this morning, on neutral ground and away from the prying eyes of the Burg and the rest of Trenton. Last night, we drove Steph's car to a resort north of the city and checked in under an alias. As it stood, there was no reason to assume that Vito would place her at the cabin with me, and I aimed to keep it that way. The guys met us there for back-up, and after an argument and some creative negotiating, we agreed that I would take Tank and a few of the guys with me to the meeting, while Steph stayed at the resort with Ram until we had an all-clear. More than anything, I wanted to keep her off Vito's radar as much as possible.
We were in place in the backroom of a restaurant well before Vito and his guys showed. He came in full of bluster but made no mention of his missing guys. We felt each other out a bit before he demanded to know why I was looking into his dealings. His confused reaction to the laptop situation would have been humorous, had it not been for the deadly chain of events he put in motion. He tried to brazen his way through and threaten me, until Tank leaned forward with a few printouts of the ledger. Then he played a snippet of a conversation Fratelli recorded of Vito ordering him to set-up the son of a rival. At that point, Grizzolli went a little pale and leaned back in his seat, wisely choosing to listen instead of running his mouth.
"What do you want from me?"
"You stay in your lane; I stay in mine. Total hands off. I'll decline jobs that deal with the Families in the area, you stay the fuck away from me and mine." As a matter of principle, I've been declining most of those jobs since the Ramos mess, so it won't hurt Rangeman, or me, financially. Even if it did, it will be worth it to know that Steph is safe to go about her business.
He stews on that for a few minutes. I have him over a barrel, and he knows it. "You, your family, and your men. Sei al sicuro. Off limits. We good?"
"Stephanie Plum and her family fall under my umbrella. Anyone from your organization even looks at her sideways, we're going to have problems."
He nods his head. "And Joe Morelli?"
"I don't give two shits about him."
Vito's look is thoughtful, but he says nothing. His men surround him after he stands, forming a circle around him as he leaves.
It was the best outcome we could hope for. I reach across the console and squeeze Steph's hand. "Babe, that was a shit joke to cover the fact that I was willing to drain the company dry to keep you safe. Dropping you by name in the budget would just put a target on your back. Some stuff got slotted as training expenses or paid out of the account for my personal protection."
"Well, maybe now we can figure out how to not make your accountant cry on a regular basis."
"Sounds good. Feel like grabbing a late lunch at a place I know?"
"Yep." We share a smile as I pull her toward me for a kiss. Steph's getting bolder each day, and I like it. I like the confidence that's coming out at the most interesting times, love that she's willing to go toe-to-toe with me. At some point, she's undone her seatbelt in an attempt to get closer to me, and I pick her up and lift her over the console. My hand swats at the side of my seat until I find the lever and move the seat back to give her more room to settle in. The tinted windows give us some privacy, and we enjoy it until both of our phones ping with messages. When I finally pull back to answer my now ringing phone, Steph's hair is mussed, and her shirt is untucked. I imagine I have a similar disheveled look.
Tank's voice holds a hint of humor mixed in with a lot of exasperation. "You two planning to get out of the car anytime soon? 'Cuz the cop is in the lobby, raising hell about wanting to see Steph."
"Copy that." I end the call and kiss Steph again before running a hand through my hair. "Babe, Morelli's here to see you."
"Crap."
Her unhappiness at having to deal with him makes me happier than it should. I get the door to the Cayenne open and us out before gently setting her on her feet. "Come on, Babe. He was bound to pop up sometime."
"Yeah. Like the syphilis."
My laugh bounces off the walls of the garage, causing her to blush. She grumbles about taking the stairs to the first floor and as soon as we exit the stairwell, we can hear Morelli mouthing off in the conference room. Lester and Tank are waiting in the hallway and with a hand gesture from Steph, they precede us into the room and take up a position by the door. The cop stops talking when he sees us enter, and his trained eyes skim over the bruise on my face. My shoulder is sore, but I still have full range of motion, and I refuse to give him any more intel than necessary. He transfers his attention to Steph. "Where the hell have you been?"
Steph cocks her head. "We're not dating, so why is that any of your business?"
"We had dinner plans and you never showed. No one's been able to get ahold of you since then. I've been worried."
Most likely, he was worried that Vito's guys grabbed her after all. Steph shrugs. "Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. Something came up. I heard you were looking for me. Why'd you break into my apartment?"
And just like that, the arm waving starts. "I didn't break in. I have a key. You know, the key you gave me. Christ, Cupcake. How many times have we done this merry go round where you run and then come back? There's a reason we never do the key exchange; we just need a breather every now and then."
Everything in me stills. He's not wrong. They've been doing the back-and-forth thing for years, and I've slid in during the breaks and said nothing when she goes back. For all her desire to be Wonder Woman, she's still a girl from the Burg at heart, trying to conform to their expectations. Pulling her into my world is selfish, a recipe for disaster. Before I can get too far down the lane of self-doubt, she scowls and pulls a single key out of her jeans pocket and holds it out to him. He looks from her to the key and back again, confused. "What the fuck, Steph?"
"I meant to give this back to you but got distracted. No more merry go round, no more on. Just off. I'd like my key back, as well."
He doesn't take the key or make a move to return hers. Instead, he stands there, head bowed and pinching his nose. Even with his head down, he doesn't miss her dropping the key with a clank down on the table in front of him before walking back over to stand beside me. Being a cop, he's probably also catalogued her standing close enough to me to know that just friends was no longer the truth. He sucks in a few more breaths, and when he reaches his minimal level of calm, he turns on me. "You!"
The single raised eyebrow has the same effect on him that it has on Steph. When he takes a step toward me, Steph stiffens. I give her a head nod, silently asking her to step away in case he takes a swing. For once, she does what I ask and moves over to the table, out of his reach. Morelli doesn't miss the move and rounds on me after dismissing Steph. "This is all you, Manoso. What line of bullshit are you feeding her now? That she can do the job? That you're gonna stick around for longer than a night? Go fuck with someone else's girlfriend…."
When I say nothing, letting my smirk speak for itself, the vein in his neck throbs. He is not a happy camper. Fuck him. It's only because I promised Steph that I'd be smart about it that he's still breathing. I didn't tell her, but I'm reserving the right to handle things my way if he becomes a thorn in my side. I mostly tune out his rant, until he jumps from you stole my girl to I'm going to nail your ass to the wall for all the shit you think you get away with.
He's still in my face, spewing his nonsense and bullshit. From the corner of my eye, I see Steph's eyes narrow when he threatens to arrest me on some trumped-up charge he's pulled out of his ass. Having had that look aimed at me very recently, I know the cop is toast. If he's not careful, he's going to end up half naked in a trunk. She's playing with her phone now, and I have a feeling I know what's about to happen. Have at it, Babe. I've got your back. The cop's phone chirps on his belt, but he ignores it, too busy throwing around words like irresponsible, criminal, and cocky. When it chirps a second time without him looking at it, Steph breaks in. "Aren't you going to get that, Joe? It might be important."
Morelli grinds his teeth but finally takes a step back from me. He pulls the phone out of the holder at his waist, his eyebrows drawn in confusion. He looks at Steph, who's now calmly sitting at the table. "You sent me a text?"
"I did."
"Afraid to speak in front of Manoso?"
Steph rolls her eyes so hard I wonder if she's going to fall over. "Not at all. I just wanted you to see something."
The cop does his own eye rolling but opens the text. He looks confused for a second before stabbing at his phone. Voices fill the air, one of them obviously Morelli.
"Like I said, you do for us, we do for you—"
"Because you fucking blackmailed me with pictures of Terry and me together!"
"What can I say? Vito likes to keep track of his ducks. And when you went back to sticking your dick in his niece, you became one of his ducks. Nice tip about the raid at the restaurant in Ewing."
The asshole jerks his eyes to Steph while jabbing at the phone to get the video to stop. As soon as he does, Steph is ready, and the audio starts again from her phone. He takes a step toward her until Tank and Lester come off the wall and stand behind her like sentries.
"What's he want this time?"
"Manoso and his crew are becoming a problem. Vito wants him gone."
"Manoso's always been a problem."
"In the past, he's been neutral with the Families, but now he's asking too many questions and poking his nose into places. He knows too much and is too connected to different law enforcement branches. All of that spells trouble, and Vito wants him taken care of, and he wants you to do the honors."
Of course, Vito wants the cop to take care of me. Less blood on his hands and one more thing to hold over Morelli.
"No. You need me free to keep an eye on the investigation that'll surely follow. Manoso and I have a fragile working relationship, but because of Stephanie, if something happens to him, I could be questioned. You don't want anyone looking too closely at me."
"What do you suggest, then? Do you really want me to go back to Vito and report that you're not cooperating? That would displease him greatly."
"No. It's no skin off my nose if someone takes the prick out. That actually helps me. I'll set it up so that Manoso thinks Steph is in trouble. He can't resist playing the hero, and since she's always stepping in shit, he'll believe it. I'll make something up about why, as a cop, I can't get involved. We'll funnel him somewhere off grid, away from his minions. Then you guys can do your thing."
"Giving you a clear road to get Plum to the church, which gives you and Terry extra coverage. Smart. I like it."
Mother. Fucker. He had zero qualms about setting me up. Didn't even hesitate. I hate that Steph had to hear that, had to learn the hard way that he wasn't the man she thought he was.
"Keep Steph out of it! I'll take care of getting her out of the way this afternoon. I don't want anything to happen to her. And make sure you drop his body somewhere near Stark Street, so I don't have to listen to her worrying over where he disappeared to and if he's ok."
"Me and Joey will be over at Carmine's getting some lunch while we wait for your call that she's taken care of. Don't disappoint the bossman; it wouldn't end well for any of us."
By the time the audio stops, Les, Tank, and I are vibrating with anger, but Steph simply waits in calm silence. Morelli tries to cover his shock, but the deep breath and swallow he takes gives him away. He makes an amusing attempt to go on the offensive. "Nice hack job, Manoso. You pay one of your ex-cons extra for that shit?"
Steph smiles and cuts in before I can even respond. "Actually, this is the first time Ranger's heard the recording. That's 100% you and Bobby Fratelli planning Ranger's murder. You did it at your house, a little past one in the afternoon day before yesterday. Bobby walked in the back door and left the same way. You played with Bob, asking him how in the hell you got to the point of doing favors for the mob. Which, honestly, is a very good question."
I don't like the look he's pinning her with, but she holds strong. It's obviously his voice on the recording and I half expect him to say that he was setting up Fratelli. I'm shocked when he doesn't. They're in a silent standoff before the cop asks, "What the fuck were you doing in my house? Breaking and entering now, Cupcake?"
The serene smile she gives him has my balls ready to head for the hills. It's her I'm about to gut you but I'm so sweet you never saw it coming smile, the same one she aimed at me just before she told me to go rub one out in the shower. His attempt to intimidate her didn't work any better than mine did. "I didn't break in. I had a key. You know, the key you gave me, dipshit. How many times did we do this merry go round ride? Too many times, until I hopped off the ride and walked away. And that was before I knew about you sticking your dick in Terry. Not a good career move there, Joe."
"You think you're going to pinch me now, Steph? Blackmail a cop?" He's vibrating with anger, hands clenched at his sides.
She shrugs. "I was actually thinking I was going to give you a choice." The cop narrows his eyes, but Steph remains calm, her shoulders relaxed. "This is what I want. I want you to leave me alone. No more breaking and entering, no more going to my family. We are done, and I'm just somebody you used to know, someone you avoid at the station and in the field if at all possible."
The cop relaxes a bit. "Fine. It's not like there's not better fish in the sea."
"And you're going to leave Ranger alone. In fact, it's in your best interest that Ranger lives a long and happy life."
Morelli's sneer is made less effective by rolling his eyes. "Yeah, Cupcake? Why's that?"
There's that deceptively sweet smile again. It's actually a bit terrifying and makes me happy as fuck that it's aimed at someone else right now. "Otherwise, you'll have to choose." The dumb fuck looks confused, and I have to admit I'm not too many steps in front of him, until Steph finishes. "If something happens to Ranger or his men, you'll have to choose between taking your chances with the cops for being in bed with the mob and facilitating a hit, with the mob for failing, or," she pauses and points to the security camera tucked up in the corner by the ceiling. "With Rangeman for being an all-around douchebag. The cops would probably go easiest on you, but it's your choice, Joe."
I'm impressed as hell at how she's maneuvered him, and it's only thanks to the years of training I've had that shock doesn't show on my face. The cop isn't so lucky. His jaw has dropped and his hands clench at his side. "So, you are blackmailing me."
Steph makes an exasperated face. "No. I'm telling you what could happen if you don't go away and leave us alone. Whether or not something happens is entirely up to you. Now get out. You're making me late for a date."
Joe foolishly takes a step toward her, causing not only me to step closer to her, but the guys behind her to stand taller. Morelli wisely stops and shakes his head before turning to head for the door. "This is who you are now? Didn't take long for you to sink down into the shit with Manoso. Don't bother looking me up when he dumps you or leaves you hanging out to dry, Cupcake. That bridge is burned to a crisp and gone."
Steph crosses her arms over her chest. "The bridge is burning because I lit the match, Joe. Don't ever forget that."
Knowing he's been dismissed; Morelli gives her one last look before stomping out. Steph's nose is scrunched up in disgust. "Seriously? This is who you are now? Really? Has he never heard the phrase pot, meet kettle?" She stands up, disappointment bowing her shoulders. "How could I be so blind?"
I wrap my arms around her for a hug. "You see the best in people." She burrows in for the hug and we stand there a minute, both thankful this latest clusterfuck looks to be over and settled for now.
"You sure you want to sit on the recording, Beautiful?"
Steph blows out a breath and turns toward Lester. "I've been thinking about it, and yeah. Two reasons. Number one, I know how stressful it is, waiting for the other shoe to drop and wonder what someone's going to do. The waiting is torture in itself. See, I had this mentor who taught me that it's all about applying pressure." We all smile at that, until that little bit of happiness slides off her face and she pauses.
"And the second reason?" With fingers under her chin, I tip her head upward. "Babe?"
"Scrog."
Tank and Lester share a confused look with me over her head. "What about Scrog?"
"Joe was the lead investigator for the Trenton PD when Julie was missing. If he's outed as a dirty cop, then all his cases come into question. It's selfish, but I won't take the risk that Scrog could get out. I won't put you and Julie in danger again."
I hadn't even thought of that, but she's right. I hug her harder. Christ. We lost so much time, worrying about not being enough but trying to protect each other. "Your call, Babe, but we have eyes on Scrog at all times. He won't get near us again."
"Promise?"
I hate the wobble in her voice. I've always assumed she put Scrog in the rearview, but I'm going to have to keep an eye on that. I don't want her to ever worry about him again. "Promise." I reach for her hand and bring it up to my lips, kissing her palm. Lester and Tank's eyebrows go up, knowing that my little display of public affection is playing out on the monitors upstairs. Oh, well. Might as well alert everyone to the change in our status. As expected, Steph's eyes go soft with the move. "Are we staying at your place or mine tonight?"
She pretends to think about it. "You have a better shower." I smirk, already knowing that my sheets and shower are strong selling points for my place. She squeezes my hand and gets serious. "Besides, if we stay here, then no one has to hang out in the parking lot as back-up."
Fuck it. I tip her head back and hold back a smile when she leans in for the kiss. It's a lot tamer than what I'm feeling, knowing that she's thinking about our safety, but I don't want to embarrass her with all the eyes watching us. I hear Lester mutter, "Damn. Tank, stick a bag of popcorn in the microwave!"
Regretfully, I pull back. Steph's eyes are a bit glazed, but also questioning. I give a small shrug. "All in, no hiding."
Her smile is beautiful, and now it's Tank muttering, "About fucking time." Steph rolls her eyes, and I give the peanut gallery a mock glare. I turn to Tank. "Who's our shadow for the rest of the day?"
"Cal and Booger."
"Let them know we'll be leaving for lunch in Hamilton Township in twenty."
"Will do."
Lester and Tank head back up to five, leaving us alone. "You ok with everything that happened this morning, Babe?"
"Yeah. You think they're going to leave us alone?"
"It's in their best interests to, but we should practice avoidance, just in case."
She snorts and snuggles up against me some more, placing a kiss on the underside of my jaw. "Fine by me. Twenty minutes, huh?"
"Pulling the tiger's tail, Babe."
She just smiles, and I sigh. "Remember when you were afraid of me?"
She shrugs and then leans in close to my ear. "Not really. I've slept since then. Don't worry, I know not to bait you in front of the men." With that she backs away but levels me with a smile. "I need to check in with Connie and Lula this afternoon, see if I have any files. If I do, can I use one of the computers to run checks on them?"
"Absolutely. You know that, Babe."
"I do." She blushes a little at that, making me grin. Maybe, somewhere in the not-too-distant future, she'll think about saying that for a completely different reason. With a smile, she turns and heads toward the elevator. "I need to bring some more clothes over."
I lean against the back wall while she pushes the button to get us moving. "Plenty of room on your side of the closet, and we can expand the area if we need to." We'll move as fast or slow as she wants to; we've already established we're both a little crazy so why run from it?
She laughs. "Fine, but don't blame me when there's no room for your stuff."
I don't care how much stuff she crams in the closet, as long as she's in this with me. I'm looking forward to seeing what all-in encompasses and where the craziness takes us.
