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Chapter 5. Visitors, both welcome and not

Mrs. Bestler was operating the elevator again.

"Second floor. Weapons and men's clothing."

Stephanie was a bit confused. When she got to her door she understood what Mrs. Bestler had meant.

"Beautiful," Lester said and gave her a hug.

"Bomber," Bobby said, hugging her.

"How are you?" Bobby asked.

"And we're really sorry about Edna," Lester added.

Steph could feel herself tear up again. Lester slung his arm around her shoulders.

"Oh, Beautiful. Come on. We'll order some food and talk a bit. It's been way too long."

Stephanie unlocked the door.

"Sit down. I'm just getting out of my funeral clothes. Feel free to order. You know what I like."

She went to her bedroom and changed into jeans and a plain t-shirt. Steph also made a short detour to the bathroom, removing her makeup, washing her face and just adding a single layer of mascara and lip gloss. Back in the living room she found Bobby and Lester on the ratty couch.

"We ordered some subs from Pino's," Bobby said.

"Come here, Beautiful," Lester said. They moved aside so that she could sit between them, and he put his arm around her shoulders.

"How are you? Edna, Ranger in the wind… It's been a tough time for you."

"In denial I suppose."

They both shot her a look and she hurried to add.

"Not about Grandma Mazur. But Ranger's been gone less than a month, and I must tell myself that he'll hopefully will be back in less than ten weeks. Have you heard anything?"

"No," Lester said. "But that's the usual drill when one of us is away on an assignment."

"You do know that we really miss you and that we love it when you come by Haywood even if Ranger's not around?" Bobby asked.

"I've been busy with the funeral," Steph said, a bit evasively.

Lester looked at her, and obviously decided to change the topic.

"I must ask you," he said. "Are there really hot pink coffins to buy off the shelf?"

Steph made a half giggle, half sniffle.

"No, but apparently people want to 'express themselves' even after death. Grandma Mazur only asked for a special colour. I mean, you could even get coffins with an airbrushed picture of choice. The undertakers fixed the coffin, we just had to specify the colour."

"I must say that I liked it," Booby said. "It really said 'Edna'."

Steph hugged them both.

There was a knock on the door, and Bobby opened it.

"Morelli, what are you doing here?"

"I believe the question is what are you doing in my girlfriend's apartment?" Joe said.

Les gave Steph a quick glance, and she shook her head. She got up from the couch and went to the door.

"You seem to be both hard of hearing and having a hard time understanding," she said to Joe. "I told you I am not interested in talking to you, seeing you and least of all dating you. I suppose you hijacked the order from Pino's."

"Are you doing all of the Rangemen now?" Joe snidely asked.

"Even if I was it's not any of your business. You've had your chances, I will report this to the TPD. Stop harassing me!"

Joe spitefully dropped the food on the floor and made sure to stamp on it before he disappeared. Steph got a hold of Bobby before he ran after Morelli.

"Don't. He's not worth it."

"What do you mean harassing, Steph?"

"He keeps coming around, although I've told him multiple times that I am not interested in seeing him even as a friend, much less being in a relationship with him. But even though we haven't been a pair for a long time he just doesn't seem to get it. And mum keeps inviting him to dinner. He's been persistent before, but never like this. It's gotten much worse since Terri Gilman died in that car accident in February. I've said that if he doesn't stop harassing and following me I will report him to the Trenton Police District, and ask for a restraining order."

Les was picking up the trashed subs from the floor in front of Stephanie's door.

"I think Chinese," he said.

Steph couldn't help a halfhearted laugh at that, and they went inside again. Bobby steered her over to the couch.

"I had no idea he was harassing you," he said. "You should have told us, we want to help."

"You heard him, he'll be spewing filth about you. And because he's a cop at least most of the Burg will believe him. Especially since it is more than possible that my mother will be backing him up."

"We don't care what he says about us. We care about what he says and does to you, Beautiful."

"Now," Bobby said. "Do you want to order take out or should we go to a restaurant?"

Les had gone to the window and looked down on the parking lot.

"I think I can see Morelli's car," he said.

"Let's eat out," Stephanie said. "And then I think maybe I should call Eddie Gazarra."

"Please do, Bomber. I don't like the way he acted."

They had a nice dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Morelli had been sitting in his car in the parking lot when they left for the restaurant, and had followed after them. When they left the car to go into the restaurant he had driven away. About ten minutes after they had ordered Stephanie's phone began to ring, and the caller ID said "Mum". She hesitated, and then turned it off.

"Morelli probably called her," she said.

"Won't she get pissed that you're not answering?" Les asked.

"Probably. But it would ruin my appetite to talk to her right now. Postponing the conversation will get her a chance to cool down."

"Has that ever worked?"

"Nope."

Bobby and Les gave each other concerned looks, and then let it go and concentrated on having a good time at the dinner. They mostly talked about Edna and her escapades through the years. There were a lot of laughter, and some tears from Steph, but she was adamant that they were the good kind of tears.

After dinner Bobby and Les dropped her off at home. Both of them followed her up to the apartment to make sure that Morelli wasn't lurking around. He wasn't at either the parking lot or the apartment, and they said their goodbyes to Stephanie.

"I meant it," Bobby said. "Please come by Haywood. Maybe you need to run some searches for your skips. Or just to say hi to us."

Stephanie didn't tell them that she no longer worked as a bounty hunter. She suspected that they would nag at her until she accepted work at Rangeman, and that felt too much like charity. I'll tell them later, she thought to herself.

Les hugged her.

"I'm staying in Boston for the foreseeable future," he said. "But please call me sometime and tell me how you are. Or come and visit."