Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money. I'm just playing.
Shadow Puppets
Chapter 4
Tank took a deep breath as he pulled his cellphone out and told himself that this was what Ranger wanted, even if he didn't know it. He just hoped that Ranger never found out what he'd had to do. After all, what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
"Hey Lu, can you meet me outside the bonds office in twenty minutes?"
"Sure thing, baby. I'll be there."
He went down to the parking garage, climbed into one of the RangeMan SUVs and went to pick up his girlfriend.
o0o o0o o0o
Lula was waiting on the street for him when he arrived at the bonds office. He reached over and opened the passenger door. "Get in."
She looked at him curiously and climbed into the passenger seat. As soon as the door was closed he pulled out into the traffic.
Lula waited for a couple of minutes then broke the silence when it was obvious that he wasn't going to. "Wanna tell me what all the cloak and dagger stuff's about?"
"I need your help, Lu."
"Name it."
"Can you find me someone who can get close to Bella Morelli?"
"Morelli? Like Joe Morelli?"
"His grandma."
"Damn, baby, I ain't Burg. How am I supposed to know?"
"You're Steph's friend. I hoped you'd know someone who could help us. And can keep their mouth shut. Oh, and who ain't afraid of her either."
"Damn." Lula lapsed into silence while Tank drove around Trenton picking turns at random.
After ten minutes she took a deep breath. "Okay, I thought of someone. But you ain't gonna like it."
"Tell me."
"Only one I can think of is Steph's grandma."
Tank winced. "The only one?"
"Like I said, I ain't Burg, but I've met her grandma and that crazy old lady ain't scared of nobody. She's old too, so they might go to the same places, and she'd help just for the hell of it. Now, tell me what the hell's goin' on."
Tank told her.
"You serious?" Lula was wide eyed with disbelief. When he nodded grimly she shook her head and looked out of the window at the Trenton streets passing by. After a few minutes she snorted quietly, looking down and gnawing her lower lip to try to maintain a straight face. Her shaking shoulders still gave her away.
Finally, after a few minutes of silent shaking as she restrained her giggles, she regained control. "Muppets. Hot damn. What does Ranger look like? Does he still look hot?"
"Mostly he just looks pissed off. Now, will you help me fix this before he starts shooting people?"
"No way I'm missing out on this one. Let's go see Steph's grandma."
o0o o0o o0o
Edna Mazur was waiting at the front door of Steph's parents' house when Tank and Lula pulled up outside.
"There she is," Lula observed, "and it looks like she's been waitin' for us. How'd you suppose she knew?"
"Old ladies are starting to give me the creeps," Tank muttered.
"Well don't you two make the cutest pair," Edna beamed as they walked up the path. "Like a matched set."
"Hey Mrs M. How's my favorite band buddy?" Lula greeted her.
Tank just regarded her impassively. "Mrs Mazur."
"Tell me, is he that big everywhere?" Edna whispered to Lula as she drew next to her.
"Now you don't really expect me to answer that, do you?" Lula said cheerfully, following it with a mouthed, "Later."
Edna beckoned for them to follow her in. "Come in for some coffee cake, and tell me how you need my help."
She went inside, leaving Tank and Lula to exchange glances and shrugs behind her back.
o0o o0o o0o
When they were seated in the lounge with cups of coffee and slabs of cake, Lula started. "How'd you know we needed your help, Mrs M?"
"I just did. It runs in the family. Those Hungarian gypsy genes make us more than just hot stuff between the sheets, you know," Edna answered, keeping her eyes fixed on Tank the whole time and winking at the end.
Tank's face didn't change but a barely perceptible twitch of horror ran through his shoulders.
"Your grand-daughter has a problem, Mrs Mazur," he rumbled, desperate to move the conversation to safer waters. "We believe that Bella Morelli is involved. Can you help us find her?"
Edna's eyes were sharp and assessing as she looked at him. "What kind of problem? Why isn't she here herself?"
"Would you believe she's been turned into a muppet?" Lula said weakly.
"You're not telling me that crazy old coot finally pulled off the big one?"
Tank nodded silently.
"I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I think I need to see her. Then I'll see what I can do. Just, whatever you do, don't tell her mother."
o0o o0o o0o
"You do realize that Ranger's going to kill me for this," Tank said as they pulled into the RangeMan building.
"Sounds to me like he ain't got many choices unless he wants to stay fuzzy. Suck it up and let's do this," Lula answered. "Let's go, Mrs M."
They followed Tank to the elevator. He took them up to the control room and left them there for a few minutes while he went to find Lester.
"Holy cow, would you look at all the hot man-flesh!" Edna cackled as she looked around. "No wonder Steph's always coming here. I've got to get a job here too. Do you know if they're hiring?"
One of the men on monitor duty looked up in horror before turning his attention back to the screens and studying them as if his life depended on it.
Tank returned and carefully ignored the wide berth that the men were giving the wrinkled old lady with the excited expression. "They're in the apartment. Let's go."
The two women followed him. Edna stopped occasionally to check out different RangeMan asses as they passed.
o0o o0o o0o
When they got to the apartment Stephanie and Ranger were both waiting for them. Ranger had managed to find a small Derringer that he could use and had it in his hand as he glared at Tank and his guests.
"Well will you look at these two," Edna said. "You didn't say that it had happened to the bounty hunter with the great package too."
Tank watched Ranger's hand tighten on his gun, but Edna appeared to miss it, continuing blithely, "You both look so cute."
Stephanie had apparently noticed the reflex action too. "Lula, can you and Grandma come with me? We need to talk."
"Sure thing. Nice boobs there, by the way, girlfriend."
The two women followed Stephanie's fuzzy form into the bedroom and closed the door.
"This was your solution?" Ranger scowled at Tank once they were alone.
"You told me to find someone with local contacts. This was the best I could come up with. Her family would have started looking for her soon anyway, so this way we have some control over that. Anyway, everybody thinks she's crazy, so damage control will be easier." Tank had been dredging up every possible reason for doing this through the whole of the journey back to the office.
"You'd better be right, because I swear, if she tells the whole of the Burg, I will hunt you down and lock you in a room with her – naked."
Tank swallowed. "Yes, boss."
o0o o0o o0o
Tank steadily ate all the cookies laid out at the back of the room at Stiva's while he nervously watched Edna work the room, chatting with friends and asking questions.
"I can't believe we're doing this," he grumbled through a mouthful of oatmeal raisin. Dave and Scooter were standing protectively by the coffin looking worried too.
"Relax, baby. She's workin' the room, not checkin' out the coffin. We're seeing' a whole new Edna now she's got herself a mission. Nothin's gonna happen. Have another cookie." Lula bit into another one herself, keeping her eyes fixed on Edna and praying that she was telling the truth.
Finally Edna finished and rejoined them. "Nobody's seen her in the last three days, but something's definitely wrong. The whole of the Morelli family's gone quiet. No-one could tell me anything."
It was the same story at the Clip 'n' Curl, the Bingo Hall and everywhere else they tried. No sign of Bella and nobody talking that had anything useful to offer.
Bella's house was closed and silent, giving nothing away. Lula and Edna sat in the SUV at dusk while Tank did a little B and E to see if there was anything in the house to help. Twenty minutes later he returned and got back into the driver's seat. "Nothing."
"Guess we're screwed then," Lula said, "'Cause I can't think of anything else."
"There's one Morelli we haven't tried yet," Edna pointed out from the back seat.
"Who?" Lula asked, before starting to shake her head slowly. "Oh no. You've got to be kidding me."
"The boy's eaten dinner at my house once a week for the last year. We all thought he was going to marry my grand-daughter. Of course we need to speak to him. Why would he not help?"
"How about because this whole thing is revenge because she hurt him?"
"Bella's revenge. Joseph wouldn't do this."
Lula shrugged. "Okay, I got nothing else. Let's go try Officer Hottie."
o0o o0o o0o
The desk officer confirmed that Morelli was in the station when they visited, and they were shown to an interview room to wait for him. After ten minutes he joined them, seeing and greeting Edna first.
"Hey Grandma, what can I do–" When he saw Tank leaning against the wall by the door his face shut down immediately. "What do you want?"
"Officer Morelli."
"We need your help, Joseph," Edna said. "Something's happened to Stephanie."
The shutters lifted again, leaving his face full of concern. "What's happened to her?"
"Your Grandma Bella."
He laughed. "Oh please. Don't give me that crap. My Grandma's powers are a myth from the Old Country. She's just an old lady."
"We need to find her, Joseph."
"No. If you believe this you're as crazy as she is. Whatever you're up to, just forget it. Steph made her bed, and she made it with Manoso behind my back. Let her lie in it."
"But I haven't told–"
The door to the interview room slammed shut, leaving the room silent behind it.
Lula broke the silence first. "So much for that idea."
o0o o0o o0o
When they returned to RangeMan to report their failure, Ranger was silent for a long minute before pulling the tiny Derringer from his miniaturized cargoes and putting a hole into the side of the couch.
"Move on to the witch angle," he informed them before stalking into the bedroom and heaving the door shut behind him.
"And find me some more clothes!" they heard him shout through the door a moment later.
o0o o0o o0o
Tank met Lester and Bobby in one of the conference rooms.
"Finding Bella was a bust. We need to start finding a cure instead, and we need to keep a lid on the number of people that know. We'll take two points, with one of us staying back to run RangeMan. I'm gonna take Lula with me to check out local magic shops and try to get some advice. Steph's grandma knows too much for us to let her loose now, so one of you will have to take her with you while you check out organised witchcraft. We pack for a week and stay out running down whatever leads we can find. The other one stays back to run RangeMan and provide office support."
Lester and Bobby both scowled at him before facing each other and shooting a round of RPS.
"Yes!" Bobby punched the air as his paper beat Lester's rock, "I call office duty. You get the road trip with Steph's grandma."
"Shit," Lester cursed, and stalked out of the room.
"You ever gonna tell him that he always shoots rock the first time?" Tank asked mildly.
"Are you kidding me? It's way too useful."