I own none of the lovely Janet Evanovich's characters. I have borrowed them, made some slight alterations and created some other characters to hang out with hers. The basics of the story (i.e., character history, job, etc.) is hers, the storyline is my own. I am in no way tangibly recompensed for my contribution.
We had reservations for Mama Melrose but at the last minute Karen, our liaison offered us either Mama Melrose or 50s Prime Time Café. I thought I'd had enough unusual food for a while and talked Ranger into the 50s diner. Not only that, I'd heard the waiters and waitresses give you a hard time for things like bad manners. You know, just nodding and not speaking…that sort of thing. I had a feeling they'd be all over Ranger.
Mitch and Ali knocked on our door just as we were getting ready to walk out. We wandered down the hall and to the water taxi that would take us to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We weren't exactly avoiding talking about the case, but it wasn't the subject on our lips. The main subject was how Ali was settling into Trenton.
"So," Ali smiled as we looked over our menus. "You do know that Diesel contacted me about teaching you how to use your thing?"
"Shut the front door," I blinked at her. "You're unmentionable," I whispered the last word as a group of tourists passed our table.
She laughed, "Yep. It totally does run in families Steph. Your baby is bound to be one."
I sat back with a frown. "Great. Coz you know, I just freaking love my abilities."
She grimaced, "your baby probably won't be a shit magnet. Her father isn't a shit magnet."
"Why do you people insist on referring to our unborn child as a she," Ranger said with a huge sigh. "Nobody knows whether we're having a boy or a girl. It could be a boy. I already have a girl."
"Yea, and look how much you've changed between then and now," Ali grinned.
"She has a point," Mitch nodded.
"I'm not out screwing every strange piece of tail that passes my way," he glowered at us. "I am a married man with a wife and a daughter and a second child on the way. I'm not a dog."
"But you have been," Mitch reminded him and smirked, "Naughty, naughty!"
He turned to me and sighed dispassionately, "are you sure I can't kill or fire him?"
"I'm sure," I patted his thigh without taking my eyes off the menu.
He sighed and picked his laminated menu up. "She won't be around to protect you forever man."
Mitch just grinned and sipped his beer.
"Hi, I'm Mom and I'll be taking care of you," the heavy older woman smiled at us over her glasses. "Son, you need to keep your elbows off the table," she scooted Ranger's elbows off the table with her order pad. "We've taught you better manners than that."
I fought the urge to laugh till I cried.
"Now, I see everybody's got something to drink but you darling," she smiled at me. "They wouldn't let you have anything?"
I sighed, "I'm pregnant."
She picked up my left hand and then looked at Ranger, "did you do this in the right order son?"
Bright red color effused through his face.
"I'll take that as a no," she said drily. "Darlin, what are you allowed to have?"
"May I have some ice water," I said with a smile.
"Of course," she smiled. "Would you kids like some appetizers?"
"Yes ma'am," Mitch said with a smile. "Ali…Stephanie, why don't you go first."
Ali smiled up at the lady, "I'd like the chicken noodle soup."
"Good choice," she nodded. "And you sweetheart," she beamed at me.
"I think the Shrimp Cocktail," I smiled.
"Son," she raised a brow at Mitch.
"The Blue Claw Crab Cakes," he said with a smile.
"And you Mr. I can't keep it in my pants," she raised a brow at Ranger.
"Er…Caesar salad," he said softly.
"Okay," she nodded. "I'll be right back."
"Was that really necessary," Ranger sighed.
"That's what this place is known for," Mitch grinned. "You better eat all your vegetables too."
"Like that's ever been an issue."
Eventually their appetizers were delivered and 'Mom' scolded Ranger about using his cell phone while out to dinner at the restaurant.
He sighed, but didn't threaten to kill her a single time.
"So…I know you think either Aurora or Ariel are a problem," Ali said softly over her soup. "Do you actually think one of them could be our doer?"
"I think it's possible," I nodded. "Small hands tried to strangle her to death. I just think it's likely to be someone she'd let close to her, you know?"
"Good point," she sighed. "That sucks."
"We're going to interview Ariel…Amanda tomorrow. Jake will be back tomorrow too and we're going to put a tail on him. We'll rotate watching him. It's likely that he's a loose end that either the rapist or the murderer will need to tie up," I said grimly.
"Okay, so in the last year…how many murders have you been involved with," Ali raised a brow.
Ranger winced, "well, there's this one of course."
"One," Mitch nodded.
"Our last case nobody got killed," I reminded him.
"Not specifically," Ranger reminded me.
"Two," Mitch nodded grimly.
"Then before that was Dickie," I sighed.
"Three," Mitch nodded.
"Before that were the boys on the boat for Tank and Lula's wedding."
"Plus four," Mitch agreed, "that makes seven."
"Then Brian's mother and brother, plus Delores," Ranger frowned.
"Oh and of course the DA that started it all," Stephanie reminded him.
"That's eleven," Mitch raised a brow.
Stephanie sighed.
"While I was in Chile you had Morty and his father," Ranger said.
"And the assistant," I nodded.
"That's fourteen," Mitch ticked off.
"Then before that were the two models and the photographer at Sizzlin," Ranger said thoughtfully.
"What about the girl Lauren stole the identity of in the first place," I asked.
"That's before we had the case," he frowned.
"We still solved it."
"That's eighteen," Mitch said resolutely.
"And before that was Ramon and the two underbosses," I frowned. "Did anyone else die that time?"
"No," Ranger shook his head. "But we did lose two of our guys with George," he said sadly.
"Shit, I forgot," I sighed. "I can't believe I forgot them."
"You never actually met them," Mitch reminded me. "That's twenty-three."
Ali winced, "I'm not sure it's good for my health to hang out with you guys."
"I'm not sure it is either," I frowned. "Really, what was Daddy thinking?"
Ranger shook his head.
"He knows I can handle myself," she said smugly.
"Probably," I agreed with a sigh.
"He knows that you can too now," Ranger reassured me with a kiss at my temple.
I nodded.
"All right," Ali sat up straighter, "let's go over what we know."
I leaned forward. "We know for fact that there were a minimum of two people around Sandy in the last hour of her death. We know for a fact that one of them was a man with liver issues and slow swimmers and the other was smaller than him, possibly a woman. The smaller person is the one who initiated the kill even if he or she didn't finish it."
"Oh," Ali said with a slight frown, "I didn't think of that."
"Me either," Mitch frowned. "I just assumed that if the one with the smaller hands started strangling her and couldn't accomplish the feat with lack of brute force that he or she had used a belt or whatever to finish the job themselves."
"And that makes sense," I nodded, "but it's not a fact we know."
"True," Ali nodded in agreement. "Okay, we know that Sandy had a sexual relationship with Jake. We know that Jake wanted more than that. We know that Jake and Sandy had sex several hours before her murder. We know that he didn't 'contribute'," she raised a brow and emphasized the word, "to the last DNA deposit in her body."
I frowned, "oh man, you're right. Just because he didn't leave one of the later deposits, that doesn't mean that he didn't kill her."
"Well, finish killing her," Mitch reminded her.
"Yea, he has pretty big hands," Ranger said in agreement.
"Yea," I frowned thoughtfully.
"We know that someone was making her life uncomfortable in some way because she'd retreated from her normal life," Ali said.
"We don't know that," I sighed. "I mean we know she changed her life, we don't know why."
"We know she was receiving menacing phone calls," she pointed out.
"Also true," I nodded. "However we have no direct correlation to those menacing phone calls and her change of lifestyle. We have no proof. That's all supposition at this point."
"True," Ali groaned.
"We know that the person menacing her was drunk on several occasions during the calls," Mitch pointed out. "That doesn't prove he was our last donor, but it does put him high up on the suspect list."
"Agreed," Ranger nodded. "We also know that all of the menacing phone calls were made from the parks, from payphones in the parks, while Sandy was on stage which leads us to believe, although it's not fact," he glanced at me with a slight smile, "that he person threatening her knew her schedule and recognized her in costume."
I sat up straight, "and Jack Margolis told us he didn't recognize her when she was in costume."
"He said he seldom recognizes any of the entertaining cast when they're in costume. He said they really go out of their way to turn them into the prince or princess they are portraying."
"If that's true…I mean someone with her every day would know it was her."
"Jake would know," Mitch said softly.
I sighed.
"So would Joanna and Amanda," Ranger pointed out, "and I have to tell you I don't trust Amanda. She lied to us. I could see it all over her face."
"Me too," I sighed, "but once again, no concrete proof."
Mitch sat back in frustration, "that's the whole problem with this case. There's not enough concrete evidence and far too much speculation, supposition and inconclusive bullshit."
Ranger leaned back with a rueful grin and ran his hand through his cropped hair, "yea, in the past we've had the advantage of continual evidence popping up."
"I'm not sure I'd call being shot, blown up, kidnapped, cut, or terrorized an advantage," I said with a raised brow.
"Well," he grinned, "maybe not on the outset."
"Again…why am I here," Ali blinked.
"It's always interesting though," I leaned forward and kissed Ranger's chin softly.
"Yea well, I'm interesting enough all on my own without hanging out in the danger zone all the time," Ali shook her head.
"It's the suck zone," Mitch corrected.
"Excuse me? The what," she blinked at him with wide eyes.
He laughed. "Okay…Diesel explained it to me like this," he cracked his knuckles. "You know that Pine Barrens have…power."
"For lack of a better word," Ali nodded.
"Well, unmentionables are naturally drawn to power and the Pine Barrens are one of a few places in the US that are…power points."
"Where are others," I asked with an interested frown.
"Oh…the Grand Canyon, some mountains in Montana and a little stretch off coast on the gulf of Mexico in Texas are pretty big. To a lesser degree there's some coastline in Oregon, South Carolina and then of course…Tennessee."
"Tennessee," she frowned.
"No coastline," he grinned, "but in Middle Tennessee…near Nashville, they've got their own troubles."
"No kidding," I shook my head.
"Trust me they make the Jersey Devil look tame."
"Yikes," Ali shuddered.
"And naturally…Salem…"
"Oregon or Massachusetts," Ranger asked.
"Massachusetts," the other three of us chorused together.
"Of course…witch trials," he smiled faintly.
Mitch nodded, "but to continue."
"Please," Ranger motioned with his hand.
Mitch nodded, "the Pine Barrens attract unmentionables, and unmentionables unfortunately attract…er…"
"The dredges of society," I sighed.
"Right," he beamed at me, "so basically, the path to the barrens is…"
"The suck zone," all of us but Ranger finished together.
"Ranger, what's your talent," Ali asked him.
"How do you know I have one," he raised a brow at her.
She laughed, "I can feel it rolling off of you. That's part of my talent. I can feel someone's truth. From you I can feel your power and your love for Stephanie."
He nodded, "I can get in anywhere."
"Anywhere," she raised a brow.
"Anywhere with a door or window big enough for me to fit through," he grinned. "There is no lock that can keep me out. I just wave my hand and the lock's tumble…even electronic ones."
"Fascinating," she nodded.
"What's mine," I grinned.
"Love for your husband and well…you seem to be attracted to crime…to resolving and righting wrongs to be more precise."
"No, I'm a shit magnet," I grinned.
"Not exactly," Mitch laughed.
"But you said…"
"I know," he grinned. "I was just trying to make you understand, but the truth is what Ali said. You resolve things. You know like when you have a skip, you not only bring them in, but you make their lives better. It's what you do. Unless someone's done something really wrong to you, you usually become friends with people you are responsible for bringing to justice. You know, like Manuel," he grinned.
"Not a shit magnet," I frowned.
"Not exactly," he grinned. "It's not that they're attracted to you as much as you're attracted to fixing things. You're a fixer."
"That's interesting," Ranger's eyes narrowed on me.
"Oh hey now," I glared at him. "I did not fix you."
"Hell no you didn't," he said and got to his feet, "let's go out and tear this park up so I can show you just how fixed I am."
I rolled my eyes and followed him. Of course I had fixed him. Who was he kidding?