Stephanie sat in the waiting area of the police station. She watched as Ranger left and came back inside several times. He was on the phone with Tank several times that she had been aware of. Her phone rang and she answered it.
"Oh my god, you'll never believe this. This is so unbelievable. I can't understand why we never heard about this sooner." Mary Lou said.
"What?" Stephanie asked.
"Get this; Lacy Ramono during our sophomore year was seeing Jason Wilson. I know because I checked some of my old slam books. I got curious and dug out my box of high school things I kept." Stephanie could hear her flipping pages. "Okay, on page ten of my slam book the question was: If you ever had a child who would you want the father to be? She put Joe's name as her answer, and underneath it, she also wrote that Joe got her pregnant."
"What?" Stephanie exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me this back in high school? I would have remembered that."
"That's just it; I never could read the pages. I was looking through this, when my son came in with his light and said it wasn't working right. It was a black light, I had the slam book and took it with me to his room and hooked up his black light again. And the ink, someone else wrote on the page, so I didn't think anything of it. She wrote all through my slam book in this ink that only shows under the black light."
"Oh my god. No wonder no one knew any of this."
"That isn't all." Stephanie felt a hand on her hand, and Ranger tugged and he took her outside the station. Mary Lou went on. "She also wrote that she knew that Sarah was pregnant by Joe and that Joe would never know. That Jason had a plan to keep Joe's unborn child away from him for good. Steph, it says it right here in my slam book, but I don't know what the plan is. It says to see another slam book. It's like reading a confession. She said Jason is sick and twisted, but I don't have that stuff. According to my slam book it's in other slam books, they have to be tracked down to get the whole story, and that's just my sophomore slam book. That's the easy one to read. You should read my junior and senior year slam books. She did the same thing in those."
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Mary Lou, you have to let me come get them. Joe has to know this." Ranger stood in front of Stephanie with his eyebrows raised in question. "I'll tell you in a bit." Stephanie said to him.
"Come and get them. But I want every juicy detail since I found this. I can't believe I had the answers the whole time. All those slam books though. How many hold so much information? I never knew it, and all the initials she has, I'm not sure who they all might be though."
"I'll be over to get them. This is too good. See you in a bit." Stephanie hung up the phone. She looked at Ranger. "You have to let me drive to Mary Lou's. Keys, keys, keys, please."
"Babe, exactly what does Mary Lou have?" Ranger asked.
"Answers to the questions everyone wants to know. And a trail to get more answers." Stephanie said. "I wonder if I have stuff written like that in my own slam books."
"A slam book? Babe, silly stupid shit was written in those things. Girls were crazy back then asking questions to know your likes and dislikes and shit like that. What could possibly be written in something like that, that makes you think you can solve who Alex's mother really is, or what really happened?" Ranger asked.
"Because it was written in ink that only shows up under black lights. She hid what she wrote, so no one really knew." Stephanie said.
"I'm not giving you my keys. Let's go, we'll do this together." Ranger said.
"What happened to Joe figuring this out on his own?" Stephanie asked as she followed Ranger back to the SUV.
Ranger looked over at her, "I'm curious as to what she wrote. I'm not telling Morelli any of this. I want to figure out why Morelli doesn't know he has a kid, and why no one in the burg ever figured it out before now."
"It blows my mind away. I want the juicy story now. Because I have to know how all of this happened." Stephanie said.
"Let's go slam book hunting then." Ranger said as he got to his SUV and opened the door for Stephanie and then got in on his side.
Joe stayed where he was looking at Lester. Take it, leave her alone. She doesn't need you right now. What she needs in her life is me. She needs her father in her life more than she needs a boyfriend. And one that is almost twice her age. I don't like this. Joe thought.
"I don't plan on hurting her," Lester said. He moved away from the wall and walked over to the bars. "I'm not stupid Morelli. She needs to learn that she can trust you. I'm not taking your place in her life. Her trust in me has nothing to do with you."
"Is that a no then?" Joe asked as he moved away from the bars.
Damn it Santos. Don't fucking do this to me. I need to get her to trust me and you're my ticket into that wall she's built up. Joe thought.
He saw Lester turn back around and rub the buzz cut on his head. "No it's not a no." He watched Lester spin back around. "I'm not going to cross that line. Christ Morelli! She isn't ready for that." Lester went over to the bars where Joe was and lowered his voice. "As to the person who crossed that line with her, that's a fresh wound Morelli. It hasn't healed yet. I'm not backing down on her trusting me. She has to trust me as long as she's under my protection as court ordered. I have no intentions of bedding Alex, she doesn't need that. What she needs right now is you. Pushing me out of her life right now isn't going to help you Morelli. I'm the only one she trusts at the moment, and even what I have with her is on shaky ground. Pushing me away is the last thing she needs right now."
I can't believe I'm actually having this conversation. I thought when and if I had kids, I would be talking to some little punk whoever my daughter thought about seeing or dating, not a full grown man. I never pictured having a daughter growing up away from me either. Joe thought. He turned around and walked the length of the little cell Lester was in. He looked at the man. He almost killed someone for Alex, so his feelings run deeper than what he's letting on. He understands her trust issues a little better than I do at this point. At least he knows Alex needs me. Hell, I really have to give him credit for that one. And he knows that her wound is recent, and her trust is very unstable right now. Hell, I can't risk shaking what little trust she has in someone at this point. She'll end up blaming me for this. It will more than likely be my fault. I can't stand by and watch him come in and take her away from me. I haven't even gotten her yet, I never knew.
Joe walked to the cell door and pulled out the key in his pocket. He leaned on the door and looked at Lester who was standing on the opposite side. "I won't push you away, but you got to give me the chance to step in and gain that trust she needs in me. She needs her father more than she needs a boyfriend at this point in her life."
"I'm not looking for boyfriend status with her at the moment. Friendship is what she needs right now from me. I'm not stepping past that line with her. She needs both of us right now and you'll just have to learn to live with that." Lester told him.
Alex leaned back in Joe's chair as she moved out of the way of the paperclip that had came sailing over Antoine and Joe's computer. She tossed it back over the computers at Antoine. Then she pushed the chair back and went under Joe's desk in the compartment for the legs and feet. Antoine was laughing as he felt the hand grab his right ankle.
"You little shit." Antoine said and pushed back from his desk. "I'm going to get you for that."
Alex moved out from under the desk and Antoine was around his and Joe's desk and he had the toy gun of Morelli's and shot her in the chest with the toy dart.
"No fair. I had to put that up, you can't use that either." Alex told him.
"Yes I can. I wasn't told to leave it alone."
Alex grabbed the dart. "I have the ammo for the gun now." Alex went back under the desk and then flattened herself on the floor and moved over to Antoine's side when she heard the voices.
"Where's Morelli?" The deep voice came out with a slight rasp.
"Morelli's in the prison area, why? What can I do for you two?" Antoine said.
"We just wanted to show him the court order for protection that was signed. We heard that Lester Santos was picked up; he had one Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono in his care. We are here to pick her up."
Alex heard the deep voice again and stayed still and quiet.
"Oh, you came to pick up Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono huh?" Alex could hear the amusement in Antoine's voice. She heard him walk back around to his desk and she saw him sit down and move closer in to where she was. She saw the toy gun in his hand as he was pushing it in towards her. Alex took it out of his hand.
"Yes, we need to get her now. Where is she?"
"She's not here at the moment." She heard Antoine tell them.
Alex's heart rate sped up. She saw him move his chair so he could give her more room under his desk, his chair was now sitting sideways and she could hear Antoine shuffling through the papers on his desk.
"We have information she is here." Alex heard the other male speak she hadn't heard his voice before.
"Where did this information come from? And I assure you, Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono is not here." Antoine still said in that amused voice.
"It doesn't matter where it came from. Don't be a hard ass with us; you are playing on the wrong side of the playground." The deep voice rang out.
"No," Antoine laughed. "The wrong side of the playground? Dear me, and here I thought I was swimming with the sharks and I ended up with bullies. If you want Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono, I suggest you go to Twelve Lincoln Way, slot seventeen boys."
Alex saw Antoine's hand come back under the desk. It found her left cheek; she felt the caress he gave. Twelve Lincoln Way is the city cemetery for people who can't pay to be buried. The real Alex is dead. Alex thought. Jesus, that is what they solved, I'm not Alex.
"Don't be stupid, she isn't dead."
Alex heard the laugh that Antoine gave out, it was loud and boisterous, full of mockery. He didn't take his hand away from her cheek. "That court order is not worth the paper it's written on. The person you are trying to protect has been dead for over fifteen years." She heard Antoine's voice change to a deep growl on what he said next. "Now get the hell out of here. I'm not giving you shit, after you came in and took my cases. I gave you what you wanted. Not my fault that one is dead."
"Come on, let's go."
Alex heard the two walk away. She felt Antoine's hand move away and then she saw Antoine looking under his desk.
"You okay kiddo? I know Joe didn't want you finding out about this yet. And this is a shitty way of you finding out like that." Antoine said.
Alex pulled her knees up to her chest. "Who am I then?" She asked in a real small voice.
"We don't know yet." Antoine moved the chair back and squatted down. "You want me to go find out what is taking Joe so long?" He asked and he reached and caressed her cheek again. "I'm sorry you had to hear all of that. But I couldn't let them take you. Joe would have killed me if I did."
"Yeah," Alex said and closed her eyes. She felt his hand linger on her cheek for a little longer and then she heard him walk away at a brisk pace. Alex stayed where she was under Antoine's desk.
Dead! The real Alex is dead. So what does that make me? A replacement? A consolation prize for bereavement? Who am I? Why did it have to be me? Why me? Alex thought.