Sorry about the delay in updating. It's been a killer week. Special thanks to Amy for your help and for keeping me on track!

Valentine's Day

Chapter 16

Joe was already seated when I walked into Pino's. I made my way to his table, stopping to say hello to friends as I passed. When I arrived at the table, Joe stood up and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Hey, Cupcake, what's up?"

"Well, I'm starving, for one thing! Have you ordered yet?" Joe knew my taste in pizza as well as I did. I wasn't surprised when he sheepishly nodded yes.

"So, Steph, what was it you needed?"

"Hey, can't I just want to have lunch with my friend?" I asked with mock indignation.

"Any time. You know that. But I have been wondering about what you needed from me. Can't you get any information you could possibly want from Rangeman?"

"Well, uh, usually. But this time, it's a little different. I'm trying to fly a little bit under the radar." I hated to admit I was snooping, but I knew Joe could see right through me.

"HA! I knew it! This is about Manoso, isn't it? That's why you need outside sources. Well, Cupcake, any help I can give you will be my pleasure. You know I think he's a loose cannon. This is going to be fun!" Joe stopped and glanced up at my face. My pissy expression must have clued him in to the fact that I was not appreciating his glee at Ranger's expense. "Sorry, Steph, I guess that might have been just a touch out of line."

I had to laugh at Joe's contrition. I could tell he was loving this. I can't say that I really blame him. Joe had always blamed Ranger for a lot of the problems between him and me. "Well, Joe, I hate to ruin your fun, but actually it's not Ranger that I'm interested in."

Joe gave me the raised eyebrow, skeptical look. I let out a bark of laughter. "Ok, so poor choice of words!" I defended myself. "I meant that I need information on somebody else. Does the name Aldo Pelaratti ring a bell with you?"

I watched as Joe's cop face slammed down. I had a feeling I wasn't going to like what he had to say. I was right.

"Stephanie, I don't know what you're working on, but you need to stay away from this one. Pelaratti is bad news, and there are a lot of meaner people than you looking for him. I don't know how this relates to Manoso, but please, I'm asking you as a friend, stay away."

This had always been a problem for us. Joe hated my job, and wanted me to quit. Short of that, he wanted to tell me how to do it. I was no longer his problem, though. I felt myself rushing to rhino-mode.

Joe seemed to see that, too. He reached out and put his hand over mine. He gave a squeeze and I raised my eyes to meet his. "Steph, I'll always love you, you know that. I just want you to be safe. There are some big, bad boys involved here. I don't know exactly what's going on, but I've heard some news on the street, and it isn't looking good for Pelaratti." He stopped to rub his face in that way that I always thought was cute. "I know you won't take my advice to leave this alone, will you?" He didn't even pause to let me answer. "Ok, I'm probably going to regret this, but I'll ask around and see what I can find. But you have to promise me that you'll be careful. I want you to call me if you need help. Promise me, Steph."

He looked so sincere. I wondered why he could never have been so reasonable when we were together. I guess it was harder to be reasonable with your girlfriend. Sad, in a way.

"Thanks, Joe. I knew I could count on you. And don't worry one bit: at the first sign of trouble, I'll call you."

The moment seemed awkward somehow. Luckily, our lunch arrived right then and we used that as a distraction. Nothing like a Pino's pizza to make everything right with the world.

After we had eaten and made our way to the parking lot, Joe surprised me by pulling me into a hug. I stiffened slightly in surprise, but felt my body relax almost immediately. He pressed his face into my hair and whispered into my ear, "Remember, Cupcake, you promised." With that he let me go, gave me a sexy little grin, and sauntered off. I stood watching as he walked away. The view was fine from where I stood. Suddenly, I felt my skin crawl in that uncomfortable-someone's-watching-me sort of way. I looked around the parking lot, but didn't see anything out of order. I hurried into my car, locked the doors, and wished I could call Ranger. I just needed to hear his voice. The rational part of me knew I could call him if I needed to. The hurt, emotional side of me knew that was playing with fire and I was tired of getting burned. With a sigh, I pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the Bond's office.

When I pulled up at the curb I parked behind a big, bad, black SUV. Guess Rangeman was visiting the office, too. I held my breath for a minute as I walked in. I doubted it would be Ranger, he was supposed to be out for the day, but you never know. I was relieved when I pushed open the door and saw it was Lester and Cal. "Hey, Bomber, where's my lunch?" Lester greeted me.

"Crap, Lester! I totally forgot to get your subs. Can I owe you one?" I couldn't believe I had forgotten. I've been a little distracted lately.

"No biggie, Bomber. Cal and I can just stop off on our way back."

"Thanks, Lester. Hey, Connie, got any skips for me, or did these two goons get all the good ones?"

Connie laughed, and handed me a couple of files. "Nothing too exciting, but then you seem to make your own excitement, so who knows?"

The guys made their leave, and I settled in on the couch to look over the files. As soon as I was sure the coast was clear, I got up and perched on the corner of her desk.

"So, Connie, any news for me?" I asked. Lula popped her head up from the filing cabinet and looked between the two of us.

"Nothing new since last night, no. But I do have my cousin checking on a couple of things, and you know how nosy she is. She's bound to come up with something. What have you dug up?"

"Nothing concrete yet. I'm checking up on a few things. Do you have any idea why Aldo would be living in D.C.? Seems like his uncle's business is all in Jersey, so that got me wondering?"

"Hmmm," Connie pondered that for a minute. "That does seem strange. Maybe they were trying to expand? But that's risky. I don't know, but I'll see what I can find out."

Lula added, "Is this the dude that was hooked up with Deb-whore-ah? I don't get some tight ass doctor chick hanging with a mob flunky. It just doesn't add up to me."

"I know, Lula, something seems off," I said. I had thought the same thing. It just seemed odd, but stranger things have been known to happen.

"Well, if there's nothing new, I better see what I can do about catching me some FTA's. Bills to pay. Shoes to buy. Talk to you later," I added, as I walked through the door. I scanned the street before walking to the car, but didn't see anything, and didn't get the creepy crawlies, so I guess the coast was clear.