Interesting vote. Saturday, it is.

Chapter 11

Hector was standing in the hallway as Ranger and Stephanie stepped out of the room. She was looking at Ranger wanting more information and the papers in his hand must be showing something for him to just allow a change in rooms so quickly.

Hector handed some sheets to Stephanie.

"We found these in an envelope on Mr. Morrison."

In his hand were more 8x10 pictures.

Stephanie looked at the pictures, then wordlessly handed them to Ranger.

There were four pictures in all. The first one showed a baby laying in a large laundry basket wrapped in the blanket they had seen before. The rug the basket was sitting on at first glance was rather frayed and beaten down giving the impression of a well-worn look.

The second picture showed the baby, once again in the blanket being nursed. There were no other features except of the mother and baby feeding.

The third picture showed mom and baby looking out a window and their silhouette was captured by the camera. The girl seemed slight in appearance and she was wearing a simple dress from that era. Her hair was about shoulder length but she had it tied up with some kind of elastic band.

The fourth picture showed the front page of a newspaper stating that a man had been arrested for a murder.

Stephanie looked at Hector.

"Did you find the article and if so, what are we dealing with here?"

Hector looked at her before speaking.

"Chica, that newspaper article was a few years after you were given to Frank and Helen Plum. It's dated December 21st, 1984 and I uploaded the article to your station for you to see."

He looked at Ranger then continued.

"In a nutshell, it says that Charles Benjamin Morrison was arrested and charged with the drive-by shooting of a fellow employee in Philadelphia. I delved into it and he was convicted and sentenced to life. An article in the same newspaper reported almost a year later there was a riot in that portion of the prison he was assigned to and that he died from an injury inflicted by another inmate."

He looked at them and continued.

"I happen to know that if inmates were targeting a fellow inmate, inciting a riot is a good way to inflict injury on someone to cover up the incident."

He walked away and into the stairway, no doubt heading back to his computer room.

Stephanie stood there and the blood had drained out of her face. She was shaking slightly but stood firmly on her feet.

Ranger looked at her and she spoke in a very tiny voice.

"It kind of looks like maybe my birth father was in trouble with the law. My birth mom ran away to get away. Maybe she knew or saw something? Maybe she was afraid for me and gave me away so that I would be safe. It appears Charles moved to Philadelphia at some point, maybe to get away from a situation, or to help his parents. Maybe…"

Ranger took her in his arms and cradled her to his chest.

"Babe, even if your first few weeks of life were kind of rough, Frank and Helen raised you to be a wonderful, caring, kind person. Sperm doesn't possess evil and it looks like your birth mom tried to shield you from danger. We'll get to the bottom of this, and hopefully this mystery will be solved soon and you can learn where your mom fled to. I think we will find out that she did it out of love, the very best thing a mother in danger would do to protect her child at the time."

Ranger handed more papers to her.

"Here's the information on Larry Michael Morrison. He's 55 years old, separated from his wife, Nancy Marie Morrison. They have two boys, Evan and Edward, age 16 and 14 years old. His wife is living in Sheridan, Wyoming with her elderly mother.

Larry Morrison is currently living with his mother, Mary Margaret Morrison. His father, John Edward Morrison passed away six years ago.

He's currently unemployed and laid off as a painter from Karl's Painting and Stucco, Key West.

He's never been arrested and is currently on a veteran's disability."

He looked at Stephanie as she perused the sheets.

"I'm assuming that you will have a lot of questions for this man, and I encourage you to find out more of your birth family, but Babe, you don't talk to him alone. I still don't trust him entirely."

Stephanie nodded her head as she read. Ranger could see that she'd probably only absorbed part of what he'd said. He made a mental note to advise the men guarding the door about the escort inside.

They headed back to five and Stephanie veered to her cubicle. She wanted to see the article that Hector had uploaded.

Ranger strode to his office and closed the door. He had some contacts in Philadelphia who owed him a favor and he was calling one in now.

He checked his contacts and pressed the number. There was a momentary lull as if a number was being routed.

"Hi Ranger, how's it hangin'?"

Ranger growled over the phone.

"Better than you, probably. I got married."

Hannibal Gibson laughed. In the two years he had spent on Rangers' team, he had never settled down. He acted like a player, much the same as Rangers' cousin, Santos. When the itch had needed to be scratched, it had always been for pleasure only. He intended to never settle down.

Hannibal responded, "Congrats man. I hope she's unconventional as hell and made your normally regimented life turn completely upside down."

Ranger grimaced, but muttered. "You have no idea, but I love it just the same."

Hannibal pressed on.

"Why did you call?"

Ranger muttered.

"Giggles, I could use your help on a matter."

Hannibal sighed. Nobody in town knew him by that nickname, but Ranger never forgot a name, or a face, or anything, come to think of it."

Ranger told him some of the story.

"We have someone who might be trying to harm my wife. His name is Larry Michael Morrison, 55 years old, separated and out of work, living with his mother, Mary Margaret Morrison.

They live in your city and I need some more background on the whole family. I'm not sure right now what the entire reason they are targeting Stephanie is, but I want to get to the bottom of it and have it stopped."

Hannibal nodded his head. If Ranger was worried, well, there was cause to be worried. Ranger had the best instincts he had ever known and had literally saved many asses out on jobs.

"I'll get right on it and give you a SITREP as soon as I can, Ranger. Meantime, look after your woman."

Ranger nodded his head, knowing that that last remark was just to remind him that he needed to keep his Babe safe, at all cost.

They both hung up the phone without voicing good-byes. Wasted words, wasted time.

Hannibal got on his computer to do his own search information. Hmm. They lived in a tough area of town. He Google Earth'd it, noticing an old Chevy Nova in the driveway. The yard looked unkept, but surprisingly the fence and the house had a fresh coat of paint on it.

Hannibal headed to the safe in his bedroom and began to arm himself. Picking up his keys and his phone, he headed out the door.

~~~o0o~~~

Taking a deep breath, Stephanie opened the file from Hector. She moved to the newspaper article and noted the details. She knew that Hector had already been working on it, but, well, this was her life.

She brought up the information Hector had provided of her birth father, Charles Benjamin Morrison. Skimming the information she read that he had been in trouble with the law for a number of years with quite a criminal record. She put that thought aside for the moment and continued.

She read the article that he had been arrested, the newspaper articles about how the murder trial was progressing and the article that he had been convicted and sentenced.

Looking at the report about his death on the attack, she then read the obituary. Printing it off, she read again the names of his mother and father, and older brother. There was no mention of either a wife, girlfriend, or child.

~~~o0o~~~

Stephanie had lain down in her favorite thinking position, spread-eagled on top of the king-sized bed. Her hair was unleashed from the ever-present ponytail and she was staring at the ceiling. The pad of paper and a pen lay beside her. Gradually she was adding to her list the questions she wanted, no, needed to ask the man downstairs.

Not wanting to browbeat the poor guy, she was marshalling her thoughts on how much to ask him, and when.

She had phoned down and Taylor had answered the phone, mentioning that Larry was currently sleeping. She would have to wait.

Sitting up and leaning against the head board, she pulled the pad closer to her.

Which questions to ask? Where to start?

Taking the pen from between her teeth, she wrote down.

Questions I need to ask.

Where was I born?

Is my birthdate really October 12, 1981?

Do I have any siblings or half siblings?

She paused.

Did you like my birth father?

Was my birth mother a nice person?

Did you like my mothers' family?

She paused again.

How long have you been staying in Trenton?

How are you doing?

What is going on with your life now?

Have you seen your wife and boys lately?

If you could, would you move to be closer to your family?

Stephanie stopped.

Her head hurt from everything that was happening too fast.

But, she needed to ask that one question that was uppermost in her mind right now.

Are you, or any member of your family out to do me harm?

~~~o0o~~~

Stephanie sat in Rangers' office letting him read over this latest information and she had questions. It appeared by the camera feed that Larry Morrison was sleeping again. He did have an off-color pallor to his face that might have contributed to an unhealthy diet but with Ella providing a well-balanced and nutritious number of meals, he probably would look better soon. On the other hand, did he have a medical condition they needed to address?

"I do want to talk to him but I want to figure out what questions to ask him before I bombard the poor man," stated Stephanie.

Ranger agreed with her but he let her talk.

"I just want to know as much as he can tell me so that I have some idea what happened."

She looked at Ranger.

"I want Michelle to be living a safe and happy life somewhere far away, but at the same time, I fear that her life ended tragically, since absolutely nothing has ever surfaced."

Ranger wrapped his arms around her and held her to his chest. There were just too many things coming at his Babe in such a short period of time. He was confident of her willpower to face whatever was happening and was about to happen.

At the same time, he vowed that he would be there to pick up any pieces.

~~~o0o~~~

Ranger nodded at Taylor to let him in the door. He was well aware that the man was asleep and he wanted to catch him in a moment of drowsiness, on purpose.

Watching through the small window as Taylor unlocked the door, he saw Larry jump at the sound of the key turning and the door opening. He noticed the look of momentary terror cross his face. This man was no hero, certainly not very strong, emotionally or physically. Ranger wondered if he was being abused at home by his mom.

Larry jumped to his feet, almost standing at attention as Ranger walked in.

"I have some questions to ask you before my wife comes down. Your answers will let me decide if she can come and see you here with her own questions or if I'm going to move you back to the other room before she arrives.

Larry looked at Ranger and he could almost see the resignation in his eyes. This man was a beaten man, both physically and mentally.

"I promise to not hurt your lady. I'm just so relieved that I'm here and not having to field those phone calls demanding to know what's going on, and telling me what I should do next."

Ranger motioned for him to sit down in the chair and Larry sat down, sitting stiffly.

Ranger began. "Were you here to do harm to Stephanie or just to watch her?"

Larry shook his head. "Mom told me to find her, watch her and phone her back for more instructions. Now that she's found her, it looks like she's obsessed with trying to get her back."

He almost muttered to himself. "I think I will remember that day for the rest of my life. Michelle went for a walk with the baby and came back home without her and wouldn't say what happened to her."

He paused as if to replay the painful time in his mind.

"I got a call in the morning saying that Michelle had disappeared in the night while everyone was asleep. Chuck had been out and came home to no baby and now no girlfriend either. He and mom scoured the neighborhood knocking on doors and asking if anybody had seen her."

His voice shook.

"They didn't want to alert the police because it might have made someone suspicious that a new mother was missing for no reason. Instead, Chuck got all his gang buddies using their contacts to check here and there. Nothing, no sign of her. It was almost as if she had some kind of inner evasion ability. We checked the bus station since she had a bit of money to get baby stuff that day. Nobody could even say with a possibility that they had seen her. Her hair was so distinctive and those eyes would have given her away in a heartbeat."

He paused, looking sideways at Ranger. "I actually saw her before Chuck and wanted to date her, but I was two years older than him and she was only 15 at the time. Jail-bait for sure. I was in the same grade as her older sister, who was one of the most popular girls in school. I dropped out soon after Michelle disappeared and got a job."

Ranger looked at him and he shrank back. "I was a gentleman man, but obviously Chuck and Michelle had sex early on, since she became pregnant pretty soon after they started to go out. I never got over those eyes though. I called her Babe because of those eyes. She hated it because she said it made her sound like a big ol' ox."

Ranger stood back. He looked to the door then back at Larry.

"Things got worse after that and Chuck was involved in a lot of gang work. He seemed to want to take it out on whoever was near. I personally thought that he belonged in jail, but he had a lot of gang friends who managed to keep him out. They threatened anybody who would come close to crossing him."

He stopped again and then looked up.

"Dad got a new job a few months after Michelle left and Mom and Dad sold their house and moved to Philadelphia. Chuck knew it was getting too hot for him to stay in Key West and eventually moved there too. He was trying to get a fresh start, but, well, trouble liked to follow him and once again he got mixed up in some bad stuff. He had a run-in with a co-worker who had some contacts from Florida and he tried to blackmail Chuck saying that he knew about his past. Chuck wasn't going to take that laying down and laid in wait for him one night and killed him. The police suspected him all along and he was charged, convicted and sent to prison."

He looked at Ranger.

"Back then, they didn't separate gang members like they do today. We received the phone call that there was a mini riot in the prison and Chuck ended up dying from a shiv to the abdomen."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Mom was never an easy person to live with and he was her favorite. After wallowing in his death, she turned into an even bigger shrew and began starting to hassle Michelle's parents, right up until their death, demanding to know where her granddaughter was. There was never any mention of Michelle.

They were adamant that they had no idea where she was and hadn't heard or seen her since she left. They never got to see their first granddaughter before they died."

Ranger looked at the man. He looked like one of those people who had never had a backbone in life and was completely controlled by his demanding mother.

"Where are you living now?"

The man shook his head sadly. "I sent my wife and kids to live with her mom. She was tired of the wicked witch disguised as my mother and took them to her home town. I didn't want my mother to get into their lives any more than she already had, so we have been separated for a couple of years. I'm not seeing my boys growing up either."

He sighed and continued. "I lost my job, and my apartment and unfortunately with no money or job opportunity I had to move to Philadelphia and live at home with her."

Ranger looked at Larry.

"Stephanie will be coming down soon. I ordered that she not come in to talk to you alone, so there will be an employee in the room also. Just to let you know, any and all conversations are automatically videotaped. After we figure out what's going on, then we can discuss your future plans."

Ranger stepped to the door, knocked, and walked out as soon as the door opened. The door closed and the lock turned.

Larry sat at the table and looked toward the door.

There was a knock at the door, the knob turned and Stephanie Manoso stepped in. Behind her was probably one of the largest men Larry had ever seen in his life. He was big, and bald and looked like he could bend him into a pretzel if he wanted.

Larry sat very still.