I keep forgetting to acknowledge Janet Evanovich for letting us use her characters. All mistakes are mine.
Chapter 25
Stephanie's hands shook a bit as she typed.
'You don't know me.'
She stopped and grimaced. Well, that would certainly be one way to make someone hit delete and block her after a sentence like that!
She back-spaced and chewed on her pen, then put it down and placed her fingers back on the keys.
'A friend of mine gave me your name and suggested that I try to find a way to contact you. By any chance did you have a sister named Michelle who disappeared about 36 years ago? Don't faint, but I might be the little baby that your sister, Michelle, gave birth to.'
Well, that didn't sound too good either, but she wanted to write it out first then come back and fix it.
Stephanie looked back on the note and hit send before she lost her courage and erased the whole thing. Sure she could have added a bit more here and there, but if there was any interest on the other side, well, she'd give more details later.
Stephanie waited for a reply but after five, then ten minutes, she shut down the link.
~~~o0o~~~
Vinnie met Frank at a coffee shop on the edge of the Burg.
He was sitting with his back to the wall way in the back of the shop as Frank came in the door.
He walked over and noticed the carafe of coffee sitting on the table. Good, that meant that the serving staff wouldn't keep bothering them to refill their coffee cups.
Frank sat down across from Vinnie.
They were distant cousins and quite frankly they hadn't spent much time together as their parents had not been close.
Vinnie didn't mince words.
"I hired someone to get something from a home in Philadelphia a couple of days ago. He did the job but at the same time, he sent me picture copies of a room in that house that could come back to bite Stephanie and certainly affect you and Helen if it ever gets out."
Frank listened and said nothing.
Vinnie continued. "I gave the guy a song and dance that the woman was working on a human interest story on The Bombshell Bomber. I hope that's where all it stays, but I thought you might like to know."
Frank looked at Vinnie.
"So, what do you want to do with this?"
Vinnie shrugged his shoulders.
"As far as I'm concerned, I never saw the photos or know about that room. I can show you the pictures if you want and I'm willing to erase the whole thing and forget that it ever happened."
He held out his phone and Frank tentatively reached out and took it. He paged through the pictures then back. He passed the phone back to Vinnie and cleared his throat.
"If these get out, there would be a lot of questions and it could get pretty nasty for everyone concerned."
Vinnie nodded and in front of Frank, he erased the pictures, then turned the phone around to show Frank that they were gone.
Vinnie finished his coffee and stood up. He looked down at Frank and spoke.
"Mom told me about you two coming back with a newborn that didn't look anything like either you two. She didn't believe the explanation of the Italian genes, but well, who cared back then. You two were good parents and you raised her right. What else needs to be said?"
Frank nodded his head and stood up. They shook hands and both left the café, a nice tip sitting on the table.
~~~o0o~~~
Bobby handed Stephanie a stick with some cotton on the end.
"Rub it up and down the inside of your cheek, twirling the swab so that it's really coated."
She did so and held it out to him.
Bobby put the swab in a plastic container and sealed it shut.
"I'm getting it fast-tracked and we should know fairly soon what ancestry you really are."
He smiled at Stephanie as she left his office.
Bobby was hoping to turn the whole event out OK for her. She deserved some good news.
~~~o0o~~~
Stephanie came back from the gym. Even after a shower up on seven and a new uniform on, she still felt sweaty. Her legs felt rather rubbery after the workout Cal had put her through. She'd cursed his name both during the workout session and even up on seven later. He'd laughed at her new definition of him, promising that the next time they worked out, he would even be tougher on her.
While she had sneered at his taunt, she realized that he was only trying to get her better at her job. Who knew when the training would come in handy? While she wasn't chasing skips anymore as a bounty hunter, it never hurt to be aware of her surroundings and to get out of a situation suddenly gone wrong.
Stephanie slumped into her chair at her work station. She powered up the system and noticed a little red mark in the corner stating she had a message.
Stephanie opened the alert and sat there.
A message from Patricia Wilson. With trembling hands, she paged down, reading the long note.
'Dear Stephanie. A friend let me know that you were looking for me. Since I am not a fan of social media, I am somewhat reticent to give a lot of personal details this way. What I am prepared to write here is known by both family and friends and is therefore not confidential.
My mind went back to 1981 and I remember when Michelle let my aunt and then my parents know that she was pregnant. To say that they were surprised and of course very hurt that their 15 year old was pregnant was an understatement. They were very devout Christians and we had been brought up in an extremely religious household. My aunt had offered to take us in when our parents headed out on their mission trip. Michelle started to go out with Chuck Morrison a number of months after they left. He was the consummate bad-boy and ran around with a really bad group of guys. I have no idea why Michelle chose him and I think that she became a bit of a gang groupie. When she became pregnant, my aunt told her that she was no longer welcome in her home so she moved into Chucks' home. That's when we kind of lost contact because Michelle quit school and I didn't see her much anymore. She phoned me that she had had the baby and I came to the hospital to see you, but I couldn't stay long as Chuck didn't want anyone to see either of you. He was very jealous and I suspect that he thought that I might try to convince her to leave and with you to move back into our family home. I could have looked after you until Mom and Dad came back. The night she disappeared, my aunt received a phone call from Chucks' mom demanding that we return Michelle and you to her home. She tried to explain that we hadn't seen you and you two weren't there but she snarled that we were lying and wouldn't believe that. Mom and Dad arrived back home just a few days later and never got to see you since you were both already gone.
Unfortunately Mrs. Morrison hounded my parents' right up until their deaths demanding news and the whereabouts of either of you. It got so bad that they were forced to contact the police and Mrs. Morrison was charged with uttering threats. As the estate was being settled the house was sold and the money bequeathed to the church as they wanted since I didn't want to live in the family home. I quite frankly didn't want to live anywhere near that woman.
We live in Florida and I would love to see you if you are ever in the area. I have a couple of photo albums that I think you might want to see. I am so very happy that we have finally connected. I always wondered what happened to my niece. Unfortunately I have had no news about my sister.
Sincerely Patricia Wilson nee Lawrence.
Stephanie stood up on shaky legs and almost stumbled to Rangers' office. His door was open and he was working at his desk, papers everywhere.
He looked up as she appeared in the doorway and jumped up, almost racing around his desk and scooped her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hung on tightly.
Ranger kicked the door closed with a booted foot, and he headed to the couch sitting down with her in his arms.
He had no idea what was wrong but waited for her to quit shaking.
Finally looking up, she spoke.
"I think I found my birth mothers' sister, my birth aunt. She lives in Florida and says she wants to meet me."
Ranger looked down at his wife.
So much had happened over the past couple of weeks. He had known the emotional toll she was going through.
Stephanie took out her phone and brought up her Facebook account. Turning the phone around, she handed it to Ranger so that he could read the note.
Ranger looked at Stephanie. "You've got very impressive search skills Babe, so do you want to search this out or do you want Hector to do it? He's impartial and is only wanting the best result for you."
Stephanie chewed on her lip. "How about Hector takes this on. I'm too in shock to properly get all the proper angles."
Ranger called Hector on his phone and asked him to come to his office. He hung up and less than a minute later, Hector was knocking on the door.
Stephanie looked at her husband and groused, "He didn't need to drop everything and run!"
Ranger shrugged and spoke. "I asked him to come. He came."
Obviously that was the end of the discussion and Ranger spoke, "Enter."
Hector walked in and closed the door behind him. He stood by the door waiting for further instructions.
Ranger looked at Stephanie and she motioned that he should explain why he was being summoned.
"Stephanie received a Facebook communication from a woman who says she is Michelle's older sister. We need confirmation that we're not being scammed. This Patricia says she lives in Florida."
Hector looked at Stephanie sitting on Rangers' lap.
"I get back to you."
He looked at Ranger in case he needed something else but Ranger shook his head. Spinning on his heel he turned around and opened the door, slipping through, closing the door softly behind him.
Stephanie looked at the closed door and dryly remarked. "I assume that Hector has probably already broken into my Facebook account and is going to be reading all the girly stuff I posted."
Ranger laughed. "Well, when he does, you'll probably have him making his own suggestions and recommendations, Babe."
~~~o0o~~~
Patricia Wilson sat down in her favorite chair and placed her tea cup and saucer on the table to her right. Her hand was shaking slightly and she took a deep breath.
She had a Facebook account but really didn't go on it very much. She had been very surprised to get a phone call from her best friend from high school, Amy Morgan. Amy loved to be on Facebook and was helping with the reunion booked for next year. She had passed on that someone was looking to connect with a Patricia Lawrence from their school.
Patricia had a photo album on her lap and she opened the cover. There was Michelle staring at her with her shy smile. Michelle had never been the vivacious type. She had stood back, assessing the situation then had joined in when she was comfortable.
Pat remembered the day that she had come into her aunts' house and announced that she was pregnant. Their aunt had left the room, closing the door to her bedroom and stayed in there for a number of hours.
Coming back out, she approached Michelle and told her that she had debated the situation going back and forth and just in all honesty she could not allow Michelle to stay in her home. She admitted that she had talked to her pastor and together they had made the decision.
Michelle had packed up that evening and having already phoned Chuck, he came by in his beat-up car and carried out her clothes and anything else she wanted to take. He'd driven to his home and she had moved in.
Pat remembered that she had heard Michelle had experienced a difficult pregnancy and wound up dropping out of school before the school year ended and therefore hadn't even graduated Grade 10.
She remembered the phone call from her sister that she had given birth to a baby girl and that she was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. Pat remembered kidding her that that was the expected remark from a new mom.
She remembered seeing the baby for the first and as it turned out, the only time. Chuck had been so jealous of anybody coming to visit and had made it very obvious that he wanted her to leave.
Michelle had not been emotionally strong enough to stand up to him and every time he glared at her, she cringed, as if she was afraid of what he would do to her.
Pat remembered her parents coming home early but never seeing either their granddaughter or their youngest daughter again.
Deep down, Pat had hoped that Michelle had found a safe place to hide and was happy raising her daughter.
It now appeared that she had literally given her away to protect her, and then stole away herself that evening.
Unfortunately, nothing was ever heard about either of them and eventually they had given up hope of ever seeing their daughter, her sister again.
~~~o0o~~~
Frank found Helen in the kitchen. He had tried to figure out how to broach what he had just seen on Vinnie's phone.
He sat at the kitchen table and thought about what to say.
Helen stopped stirring the pot on the stove and walked over, sitting down in the chair across from her husband.
"What did Vinnie say?"
Frank looked at his wife.
"I just saw some pictures that may give me nightmares tonight, Helen. Vinnie had contracted someone to go into a house for something that he didn't elaborate on and send it back to him. At the same time, the person took some pictures in a room and sent them to Vinnie."
He looked at Helen. "I saw them and then Vinnie erased them. There was a whole wall of pictures of our Stephanie, taken fairly recently. What is concerning to me is that whatever male was standing close to her had a very large X on their bodies and a picture of a man's face pasted over the top of them."
Helen had her hand over her mouth.
"I told you that the work she was doing was too dangerous and she should quit."
Frank looked at her and shrugged. "She's trained now and Ranger will never let her get in over her head if he can help it. You and I both know that she is her own person, and trying to tell Stephanie not to do something, sure as shooting will drive her to do just that."
Helen shook her head. She really did not understand her daughter. Dangerous things should be left to the stronger sex. She believed in that and tried to coach her daughters to believe the same thing. Valerie followed that reasoning, but Stephanie….
Helen stood up and headed back to the stove.
Supper was at six and she needed to finish supper.
