Stephanie's POV

Marie LaPard lived in a small duplex in the Burg. The house was partially obscured much of the year by a tree planted in the sidewalk in front of the porch steps, but soon the brilliant red and yellow leaves would fall, leaving nothing but depressing bare branches. I parked two doors down and rang the doorbell.

I didn't know Marie well, she had been a couple years younger than me in school, but she'd always seemed pleasant enough. The woman who came to the door bore only scant resemblance to the teen I had vaguely known. Her hair was in a rat's nest, her eyes were sunken, and she looked like she hadn't slept in a week. She was wearing a nightgown and ratty bathrobe. Both she and her clothes looked like they hadn't been washed in a week.

"Marie? It's Stephanie Plum from High School. You missed your court date, you need to come with me to reschedule."

It was my standard line for first time offenders. Sometimes they even believed me.

Marie looked at me with confusion, "Stephanie? I thought you looked familiar. I'm sorry, but I can't leave the house like this."

I couldn't blame her. I wouldn't want to go out in public looking like that either. "What happened?"

She looked like she was about to cry. "Come in, I don't want anyone else to see me."

Normally I would avoid going into a skip's house if I could help it, but I was pretty sure Marie wasn't violent, just embarrassed and cold. I stepped into her living room, which was a carbon-copy of my parents. Except my mother would claw out her eyeballs rather than have a house that looked this bad. Newspapers were laying around, dirty dishes were stacked on the coffee table and couch. Random junk was scattered so thick on the floor I had to be careful where I stepped.

Now, I'm no household Goddess, but this was really bad. And Marie didn't do anything to deserve to be seen in her present condition, and be the butt of jokes for weeks in both the TPD and Burg gossip mill.

Marie valiantly tried to play proper Burg hostess and cleared a plate that was growing something fuzzy off the couch, as well as two books and an umbrella. She sat down on the recently cleaned cusion and offered me the spot on the couch that had recently been the only clear space in the room. She stared at her hands for a moment, then the story burst out of her.

"I guess you know what I was arrested for?" I nodded quickly, hoping that we could get this over quickly so I could meet Lester, capture Carlin, and then go back to Rangeman to train. "Well, the bag of candy that broke open, I was holding it next to my body by putting it in, well, my underwear. And not all of them fell down my leg, some stayed there."

I winced. I had a feeling this would be an unpleasant story.

"So when I was arrested, I had to sit for hours at the police station until I could find someone to bail me out. And the chocolate melted and oozed out of the wrapper and stuck to my skin. So I was sitting there, absolutely mortified, and I had all this goo on me. I was so embarrassed, but I couldn't get properly cleaned up, so I just sat in it. And now even hearing about chocolate brings me right back there and I completely freak out. And normally I'd eat some chocolate to help deal with the stress, but obviously that's out of the question. So now I'm so messed up I can't function, and I've lost my best way to cope!"

I couldn't help but feel bad for her. I imagined what it would be like if Boston Cream donuts started causing me stress. I might implode too.

"What you need is a different stress reliever. How about this, I'll come back in an hour or two, that will give you a chance to shower and change clothes. And I'll bring you some TastyKakes. They always make me feel better. Then we'll go to the courthouse to get you rescheduled."

Marie looked at me with what might have been hope. "No chocolate, right?"

"No chocolate. Butterscotch Krimpets. And if you promise to come without trouble, I'll throw in one of those little peach pies." A brilliant idea struck me. "In fact, I can even have them personally delivered by a really hot guy." That might help ensure that she was actually here when I got back. Frankly, her bond was worth so little I was more interested in getting my caseload clear than the check. I didn't think she'd leave town, but she might decide it was a good time to go see a movie.

I pulled out my phone and flipped through the pictures from my birthday party at Rangeman the week before. Soon I found the one I was looking for. Lester Santos, laughing at a joke Bobby had told him. He was nearly as good looking as Ranger (not surprising, since they were cousins), but he smiled a lot more, and looked much less intimidating unless he was working at being scary. I showed the picture to Marie, who looked at it slack-jawed.

"Is he single?" she asked, intrigued.

I hadn't spoken to Lester in more than 24 hours, so I had no idea of his current relationship status. He went through women at the speed most men went through boxes of their favorite breakfast cereals. He was never cruel, and he never gave the impression he was planning on sticking around. He just had the attention span of a goldfish.

"I'm not sure, but I know he'd be happy to come meet you." I looked around the room. There was no way she could get both it and herself clean in just an hour or two. "How about you meet us at the curb when we get here."

She blushed as she took in the mess. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Call me when you are close. I have to go get cleaned up." She practically bounced up off the couch and walked me to the door.

When I got back to my car I called Lester. "Slight change of schedule. We're going after Carlin, then coming back for Marie. I'll text you the address."

"No problem, Beautiful. I'll see you soon."

"Oh, and Lester? Wear something sexy but not too intimidating. I have a special job for you once we drop Carlin off."

I swear I could hear him grin on the other end of the phone.