Chapter 11

"Why didn't Edna leave the treasure with you?" Manny asked.

"She could have, but we have too many construction workers accessing my house. Diesel and I are securing our valuables at Rangeman until construction is complete," I replied. "Dad has a safe hidden at home to store grandma's treasure. I didn't want to take the risk of losing it."

Monday morning, my dad arrived earlier than I expected. I had to start my shift at Rangeman at 0700. The construction crew was due to arrive at 0800. Vince and Zero volunteered to watch the construction crew today. They had the day off work and offered to help me.

Zero was sanding the drywall compound in the upstairs hallway. Dad said Zero meticulously sanded and added additional coats of the plaster to the joints. I was lucky to have so many of my friends help while Diesel was away.

If he's away for two months, the renovations should get completed by the time he returns. Dad and the men have everything under control.

The scent of cinnamon and Christmas cookies filled my nostrils as I felt him kiss my lips. It's the first time he visited me since he left. I smiled as I made my way towards the stairs. Lester invited me to his Rangeman apartment for lunch. He had some information to share.

"Babe?" Ranger said as I ran down a flight of stairs. He seemed to be heading in the same direction.

"Ranger?" I sassed. He kept looking at my chest. When I crossed my arms, I started laughing. "Diesel stole my bra again."

"When?" Ranger asked as he rubbed his temples. He always gets a migraine when Diesel's around.

"Um, around a minute ago," I replied.

"It explains the pounding headache," Ranger groaned.

He followed me to Lester's apartment. We knocked on the door and waited for Lester to answer. "Hey, Beautiful, cuz," Lester greeted when he opened the door. "Come in. Beautiful, I have something in the bedroom for you." His eyebrows waggled as he stared at my chest.

I tapped Lester's cheek as I passed him to get to the bedroom. When I closed the door, a lingerie bag was hanging on the hook attached to the back. A beautiful blue lacy bra was in the bag. The fabric was soft, and I knew it would be comfortable to wear. I removed my shirt to slip into the bra. As I suspected, it felt silky on my nipples. A note fell from the bag as I hung it back on the door. "Sorry. ~D."

"Thank you, my love," I said as I put the note into my pocket. My man always steals my bras but never used to replace them. Diesel has excellent taste in lingerie. I wonder if he visited Lester earlier. If he couldn't let me see him, his case must involve me or someone I know.

"Now that your breasts are covered, we should have no distractions." Someone knocked on Lester's door. Ranger opened it to let Ella enter the apartment. She pushed a food cart into the room, then kissed my cheek before leaving. "Well, almost no distractions," Lester added.

My stomach growled as Ranger placed the food on the table. "Eat first?" I asked.

"Yes," Lester replied. "I don't want your stomach to consume us."

Ranger ate his salad with grilled chicken. Lester and I ate macaroni and cheese. It was a healthier version, but I still like my comfort food.

After eating, I dropped my fork onto the plate, leaned back and patted my stomach. "That should hold me for a few hours. Okay, Les, what news do you have for us?" I asked.

He exchanged a look with Ranger before saying, "Joe has been visited daily by his mother-in-law."

I should be angry, but I wasn't. My mother's behaviour regarding Joseph Morelli stopped surprising me years ago. "Is he still in the TPD holding cell?" I asked.

"Yes. Joe doesn't know his cellmate is Diesel's friend. Helen is Joe's eyes and ears outside of his cell. Your mother has been tracking down witnesses for Morelli's defence," Lester replied.

This behaviour is precisely why Helen Plum will never win the mother of the year award. "Unbelievable," I sighed. "Something tells me there's more to the story." I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"There is more, Babe," Ranger stated. "Your mother is a witness in Joe's defence."

The other shoe has dropped. Colour me surprised. I knew my mom was fascinated with the Morelli men, but this was something else. All of my life, mom was grooming me to marry Joe. She claims to love me but never respects what I want. I married Dickie to make her happy. We all know how that relationship ended. I was too dumbfounded to talk.

"Joe stupidly gave Helen names," Lester added. "He filed a countersuit."

"Countersuit?" I asked. "Is he accusing me of B or assault?" Lester passed me the summons to read. "Wow. Here I thought Joe couldn't sink any lower."

Joseph Anthony Morelli was charging me with breach of promise. He claims I accepted his marriage proposal. His family placed non-refundable deposits for catering and hall rental for our wedding. He was demanding to have me repay his family the thousands of dollars they lost. Joe said I broke our engagement through an email and never returned the ring. My mother joined his lawsuit to retrieve money she spent too. "Unbelievable!" I shouted.

Morelli and I were never engaged. If his family and mom lost money from planning a wedding, that would never happen, it wasn't my fault. I'm washing my hands of this mess.

Mom crossed the invisible line when she chose Joe over her daughter. Helen Plum can have Joe all to herself. I'm over it. I bet dad has no idea mom was doing this to me.

The case was going to trial next month. I had just over four weeks to collect evidence. "We need to find that email Joe claims I sent," I stated.

Lester, Ranger and I sat in Lester's apartment searching for the elusive email. Hector arrived to assist. We checked every email address I own without finding it. Hector was able to retrieve every email deleted from the exchange account. I only have two email addresses. We checked my Rangeman one of S.Plum at Rangeman dot net and purplepumpkin at google dot com.

Our Rangeman lawyer arrived with a letter to share evidence. I had nothing to hide, so I willingly complied. Morelli's lawyer got ordered to reciprocate.

A few weeks later, I received a hard copy of the email. The email address had my blood boiling. Joescupcake at google dot com was used to send the email. It wasn't my account. "It was sent during one of my sessions with Ronnie," I stated.

Jamaica is only an hour behind New Jersey. The email got sent at 1300 hours Jersey time, which is 1200 hours Jamaican time. During that week, I was in daily sessions with Ronnie from 1130 to 1330. Hector checked the time it got created. "The email was composed at 1245 hours," Lester announced when Hector showed him the email.

"It couldn't have been me. I don't own that email address, and I was indisposed during that time frame," I stated.

"Do you have proof?" he asked.

"Yes," I said as I called Ronisha Walsh. "Hey, Ronnie, you're on speaker," I greeted when she answered the phone. "Are you available this afternoon?"

"Sorry, Steph. I have appointments scheduled. What do you need?" she asked.

"Receipts to prove our session times," I replied.

"Sure. Should I send the receipts to you?"

"No. Send them to my lawyer," I answered before giving her my lawyer's email address. "Thanks, Ronnie."

"Not a problem. Let me know if you need me to testify on your behalf. My next appointment just arrived," Ronnie said before hanging up.

"Is there a way to reveal the owner of the email address?" I asked. Hector nodded.

His friend works in Google's IT department. He contacted Ramon for information. When Hector pinged the IP address, it listed Joyce Barnhardt's home address. Ramon was collecting the data and sending it to the lawyers. The warrant indicated all correspondence from the email address got requested by the courts.

A few hours later, Karl Manning, the Rangeman lawyer, brought the email details to the office. He asked if I recognized any of the email addresses. I was disgusted when I saw my mom's email address. "Pathetic," I mumbled.

"Isn't this Joe's email?" Lester asked. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Yup. The one he was assigned at the TPD," I confirmed.

"Can you confirm your whereabouts at the time of these email exchanges?" Manning asked.

"I can, but the location is top secret. You'll need top military clearance to learn the details," I stated.

"My clearance is as high as it can go," Manning stated. "I'm bound by military law to protect the secure location."

Before I would reveal the location, I grabbed my secure phone to call. "Hi, Viper. I'm at work with Karl Manning, the Rangeman lawyer. He claims to have high military clearance. Can you confirm?" I asked my grandfather.

I passed the phone to Manning so he could relay his details. He returned my phone, and Viper permitted me to reveal my location.

Lester scrambled the cameras and devices in his office so I could reveal the location. "I was in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, visiting Viper," I stated.

Karl was shocked, "How do you know Viper?"

"He's my Nonno. His location needs to stay protected," I reminded him.

"Small world," Manning stated. "Viper was my father's CO."

We collected all the evidence and had proof I wasn't in the country when the emails were created or sent. I wonder how they would weasel their way out of these accusations. If they could orchestrate this web of lies, what else have they done? Watch out, Morelli, Joyce and Helen. You have messed with the wrong woman.

When everything was ready, I called dad to meet me at Rangeman. He needs to know, before the hearing, what my dear old mother has done. I know dad will be angry. Hopefully, it doesn't cause their marriage to end. Mom probably got wrapped up in the whole marry-off Stephanie issue.

I want to be mad at her, but I know this whole debacle got engineered by Joe and his mother, Angie. She needs to stop meddling in her son's life. Mom and Angie Morelli are best friends. Both women wanted to solidify their relationship by having Joe marry me. If he was the last man on earth and our future depended on us procreating, I still wouldn't marry him or bear his children. Trenton has enough Morelli spawns.

Dad arrived after asking Uncle Joe to keep an eye on the construction crew. I thought it was funny dad called in backup. My Uncle Joe is the mayor.

Joe Juniak and dad were best friends since they were children. Uncle Joe is also my godfather.

"Hi, Daddy," I said when Binkie brought him to my office. "Uncle Joe doesn't need to watch the workers. Zip and Junior are on duty today."

"The crew work better with one of us watching. What's going on, Pumpkin? You said it was urgent," Dad asked.

Lester and I went through all the evidence we gathered. We uncovered a plot to trick me into marrying Joe Morelli. Dad was not happy with mom's involvement. "I told her to cease," he growled.

"Are you saying you knew Helen was doing this?" Lester asked.

"I knew she was trying to match Joe and Stephanie, but I told her to butt out. Helen knows I don't like Joseph Morelli," Dad replied. "Pumpkin, you deserve better than what Joe could offer you."

"Thanks, daddy. Where did mom get the money for the deposits?" I asked.

"Not from me. All of our accounts are joint. I'll check with the bank," Dad replied. I thought he muttered, "And I'll remove Helen from every one of them."

"She needs access to at least one of the accounts, daddy or it's financial abuse," I reminded him.

Dad called the bank manager and removed Helen from all the accounts except the one she originally owned. He arranged to have a set amount of money transferred from his chequing account every week to cover grocery expenses. Once a month, he would give her a few hundred dollars for her hair, nails and clothing stipend.

The manager sent us all the expenditures for the last year. Mom never made sizeable purchases, withdrew money or electronically spent money to the florist, hall or caterer. Her credit card showed her typical expenses too. Since dad was the primary cardholder, he lowered the credit limit. If a purchase exceeded 300, Helen needed approval.

After dad ended the call with the credit card company, I said, "Sounds like the restrictions you placed me on in college."

We filtered through the documents from the bank. I called Karl Manning to convey what we discovered. He was meeting with the judge to have the bogus charges against me dropped.

Dad looked irritated that mom involved herself with a false lawsuit. The money she claims to have spent was grossly exaggerated. If she lost money, it wasn't significant.

"Thanks for your help, Daddy. We have enough evidence to blow this case out of the water," I whispered while hugging him.

"Anything for you, Pumpkin. I love you," he whispered before kissing my cheek.

I escorted him to the garage, where he parked his car. Using the button on the wall, I opened the gate for him to leave. He gave me a salute wave before leaving.