Steph looked through her last three files. She decided to go for Margret. She was listed as living in an apartment complex a couple blocks over from her own. She was a 68 year old retired seamstress. Steph pointed her truck in that direction and took off. Finding parking only halfway back in the lot she headed for the lobby. Margret listed that she was in apartment 1C. Steph figured her luck might be looking up, fairly good parking and not having to take the stairs. Margret answered the door on the first knock and was more than willing to head down to the police station with Steph once she realized that Steph was related to Grandma Mazur. Steph dropped Margret off at the station after arranging to have Connie come bond her back out and got her receipt than headed back to her car. It was close to noon now and she was getting hungry since she lost her breakfast earlier thanks to Johnny.

Steph figured she would stop at her parent's house for lunch. As soon as she pulled to the curb in front of their house she knew she should have just gone to McDonald's. Her mother was standing on the porch with her hands on her hips. Not able to think of what she did wrong this time she got out of the truck and headed to the house. "Hi mom how are you exams going? Are you finished the semester yet?"

"Don't Hi Mom me, you missed dinner last night and I have been waiting for you to come over and explain yourself, now get into the house before you cause anymore attention on this family."

Steph entered the house not sure what her mother was hinting out. "Mom I did not know I was suppose to come to dinner last night, and what have I done now?"

"Don't you take that fresh attitude with me? What is this about you holding hands and kissing that bounty hunter fellow in the park yesterday? I heard you were having sex out in public."

"Mom you can not listen to everything you hear. You know how this town works on rumors."

"So you were not in the park yesterday with this guy?"

"No I was with Ranger in the park yesterday. We were walking around and talking, when did that become a big issue? People talk in public all the time, and I held hands with boys since I was sixteen."

"Were you kissing?"

"We did kiss but we were not having sex in the park. I still do not see why it is anyone's business what I do and with who I do it. Mom I am thirty three years old. I went a way to school; I have been married and divorced. I believe I can make my own decisions and discover my own mistakes without someone pointing them out every other minute."

"Well what will Joseph think when he hears of you kissing this bounty hunter guy? If you keep this up he might never ask you to get married."

"Mom, Joe and I have not been together in almost five months now. And this bounty hunter has a name, his name is Ranger, he has come to dinner before and you have met him."

"What kind of name is Ranger anyway?"

"If you don't want to call him Ranger than he won't have a problem with you call him Ric or by Carlos."

"I guess I can do that. Is he an option for you to get married? You know you are not getting any younger."

"Mom if and when I get married is my decision. Now please can we be done with this? I stopped by for lunch if you still have any leftovers since I have been out working all morning and I still have a few more skips to still go pick up."

Steph took a seat at the counter and a few minutes later a plate filled with an Italian roast beef sandwich and potato salad filled the plate. She also had a glass of ice tea to go along with it. After finishing everything on her plate she took the plate to the sink where her mom took it out of her hand. "Go get to work; I want to get some more studying done before your grandmother gets back from her trip to Atlantic City with the senior citizens."

Not waiting to be told twice, Steph headed back out to her truck. She had two more skips to go. Frank was a 23 yr old college student that apparently got kicked off campus after he took his chemistry experiments to a whole new level. She headed over a few blocks from the police station to the address listed. She pulled up across from his house since that appeared to be the only available parking. She grabbed her bag and checked that all her ammo was still on her utility belt before knocking on the door. Jacob opened the door holding a flask of some type of liquid in each hand. He said he would be willing to go with her but he would not be able to put the liquids down because he had to monitor them very carefully. Steph figured at least he was willing to come and if he wanted to carry flasks of liquid around it was fine with her.

Frank got into her truck and Steph walked around to the other side. Before Steph could start the engine one of flasks started to make a weird noise and started to bubble all over Frank's hand and the interior of her truck. Frank screamed like a girl when the liquid came in contact with his skin causing him to drop both flasks. Frank screamed "get out, run the truck will blow" Steph did not hesitate, she grabbed her bag barely got the seatbelt off and out of the truck before the entire cab was engulfed in fire. Steph took a breath, looked over at Frank and said "Do you have a car?" He nodded timidly and pointed to the white Pontiac sitting in the drive way. "Good we are going to take that to the station, lets go before the cops and fire trucks get here and block us in." When they got to the car Steph put her hand out for the keys indicated that she was going to drive. She backed out of the driveway and was about three streets over when the first police cruiser when flying past them. After five more police cars and two fire engines passed them Frank looked over at Steph and said "You weren't kidding when you said that they would come and we would have been blocked in. How did you know they would respond that fast."

"Let just say you are not the first person to blow up my vehicle. It seems to happen quite often but I am on a tight schedule today and could not wait around."

"Sorry about that, I did not know that the liquids would have responded that quickly. I thought I had another couple hours, I must of timed something wrong."

"No problem, like I said I am used to it now."

Steph pulled up to the police station and parked in the lot across the street. She handed Frank back his keys so he would have a ride home later. They walked into the station and over to the clerk. Steph did not recognize the young kid working the desk this time. She handed over the required forms and signed her required documents and was handed the receipt and on her way. She figured that everyone was probably back at Frank's house exchanging money but she wondered if she should feel sorry that she did not stay to explain what happened. She shrugged her shoulders figuring half the time they don't care if she is okay only who won the pot of money. Making up her mind that she did not care, she walked out of the station and called Lula on her cell to come pick her up.

Lula arrived not even five minutes later. "I was just on my way to get me some chicken when you called. Do you want some? And what happened to your ride?"

"No thanks I just had lunch at my parent's house and I got stranded that is why I called. Do you think you can drop me back at my parent's, I need to see if I can borrow Big Blue?"

Sensing that Steph did not want to talk, Lula just headed over to Steph's parents house. "You know you will tell me later right?"

"Yeah I will stop into the office in the beginning of the week for lunch, my treat." Steph responded.

"Is everything else alright white girl? You don't seem like your normal self today?"

"Yeah Lula I am ok just got a lot of things going on. Thanks for the ride." With that Steph hoped out of the car and headed inside her parents house. She found her mother at the kitchen table with a mound of books scattered around her studying. Steph's mom looked up "I thought you were going to work, is everything okay"?

"Just wanted to see if I could borrow Grandma's car."

"Keys are in the same place as normal. Do I even want to know what happened to your truck?" Her mom asked as she returned to her books.

"No you don't. Thanks" Steph headed out to the garage and hopped into the car. She looked at the last remaining file she had and pointed the car in that direction.

On the way over there she pulled out her cell phone and called Ranger. The phone rang a few times before it was picked up. "Hello"

"uh is Ranger there?"

"Hey Steph its Bobby"

"Oh hi Bobby, I wanted to see how Ranger was doing?"

"We just left the hospital, he defiantly has a concussion. We are heading back to Rangeman now."

"Can you ask him if he is going to feel like still having dinner like planned or we can just postpone it to a later date."

Steph could hear some shuffling around than Ranger was on the phone, "Babe we are still having dinner, don't think a little concussion is going to stop us. Do you mind meeting me at the apartment though, I might need you to drive depending how my head feels"

"Yeah I can meet you there, what time?"

"7:30 should be fine, I am going to push the reservations back a little if that is okay with you?"

"That is fine, I am really sorry about your head. Are you sure you are up to going out tonight?"

"Wasn't your fault and yeah I will be fine. I see you tonight."

Steph looked at the phone realizing that Ranger hung up. I guess that was as close as a goodbye as we was going to get.