The characters belong to JE. I receive nothing from this, but it sure is fun.

Chapter 7

Joe's POV

If Manoso thinks that I'm not going to do everything in my power to make him look bad in front of Cupcake, well he's just plain stupid. I need to use this body switching thing to my advantage. I'm sure I can find out something that will scare Cupcake away from him forever. The first thing I need to do is find his office and go through his files.

I remember Cupcake telling me that when she works at Rangeman that her cubicle is on the fifth floor, so I decide to start there. Since I've never been passed the second floor, I wasn't sure what to expect. I always assumed that it was set up similar to the Trenton P.D. with really old metal furniture and chair that looked like they were about to fall apart. I certainly wasn't expecting something that looked like it was a cross between a high class corporate office and the Starship Enterprise.

I found it strange that no one that everyone was concentrating so hard on their work that only a few people glanced at me and nodded my direction. Each morning when I enter the station, I'm greeted with a chorus of 'Good Mornings'. I'm usually stopped on the way to my office at least a half dozen times with people filling me in on the latest gossip.

On my left were a bunch of monitors that looked like were used to monitor accounts. I've never understood why someone would hire a couple full of Thugs to protect their home and businesses. Two of Ranger's men were watching the monitors. They were probably just checking to see if anyone had anything worth stealing in the homes and businesses that they were supposed to be protecting.

Directly in front of were rows and rows of cubicles. I need to remember to try to find Cupcake's cubicle. In case I need to plant evidence of any illegal activities that Manoso is involved in.

To my right was a hallway that led to what were probably private offices. I decided to go that way first. When I reached the first door, I looked for a name plate. Not finding one, I took a chance and opened the door. Bingo! This office was unbelievable. My office at the station is in a room so small that my desk barely fits in it. The furniture is large and expensive. There's even room for a couch and coffee table.

I decide to start with the computer on the desk, but couldn't get into the computer because it was password protected. I decided that the next best thing to the computer was the file cabinet located behind the desk. There had to be something in there that I could use to turn Cupcake against Manoso. I had just opened the top cabinet drawer when I heard someone clear his throat.

"Need help finding anything?" Tank asked.

"No, I'm fine." I answered.

"You're obviously looking for something. Just tell me what it is I can find it quicker than you can." He said crossing his arms in front of his chest and leaning against the door frame.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because it's my file cabinet." Tank laughed. I didn't know that any of Manoso's employees knew how to laugh. They're always walking around with that blank face painted on. The only emotions I've witnessed from a Rangeman employee is calm and pissed off.

"No, I found it!" I said a little too loud, grabbing the first file I could.

"You need my power of attorney?" Tank asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh…no. I just wanted to make sure it was still here." I said, shoving the file back into the cabinet and closing the drawer.

"Are you feeling okay, Rangeman?" He asked.

"Great. I'm great! I'll just head to my office." I said attempting to walk passed Tank. He had to step out of the way since both of us couldn't fit in the door way at the same time. I was hoping that he wouldn't follow me, but no such luck.

"You sure about that?" He asked as I reached the next office.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Just headed into my office. Why is something wrong?" I asked. Maybe he can tell that I'm not Manoso.

"Yeah, there is. You're going into Lester's office, instead of yours. Maybe you should go back up to seven and rest up for tomorrow morning." Tank suggested.

"Why what's going on tomorrow morning?" I asked.

"You're being called to the mats at 0500 tomorrow." He told me.

"The mats? What are we doing yoga or something?" I never picture Ranger or his men as the yoga types.

"You're kidding, right? Listen Ranger, you're like a brother to me, but I got to warn you. Everyone here loves Bomber like a little sister and we're tired of you and Morelli upsetting her all the time. There's not much we can do about Morelli's part in this, but you're a different story. You need to rest up for tomorrow because everyone that is scheduled to work tomorrow is calling you to the mats. It's going to be a long day, starting with me." Tank said as he turned around and walked back to his office.

I still wasn't sure what 'being called to the mats' was all about but I knew that when tomorrow came around that I was in for trouble.

I finally found Manoso's office was the next office I came to. I knew it was the right place because of the Batman paper weight that was on the desk. I've heard Connie and Lula call Manoso Batman on numerous occasions. I decided to start with the file cabinet, but I never could find anything incriminating. I decided to look through the desk to see if I could find a password written anywhere so I could get into Manoso's computer. I've learned over the years that people can never remember their passwords so they tend to write them down within reaching distance of the keyboard. I opened the desk drawer and found that it was completely dedicated to my Cupcake. There was a file that listed every skip she ever picked up, starting with me. Another file was dedicated to all of her stalkers, including their current whereabouts. What surprised me the most were the two framed photographs. One was of Cupcake smiling at the camera. The other was of Manoso kissing her in what looked like the alley next to the Bond's office. I had heard rumors about people that claimed to see them kissing in the alley, but I never wanted to believe it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised after talking to Manoso earlier. The last thing in the desk drawer was a velvet jewelry box. It looked old. I opened the box and found a necklace with a pendant shaped like Angel wings.

"When are you going to man up and give that to Beautiful, cuz?" I looked up to see Lester standing in the doorway.

"Huh?" I asked. Did he just call me 'cuz'? I didn't know that he was related to Manoso.

"I asked when are you going to man up and give Abuela Rosa's necklace to Beautiful?" He asked again.

I knew it! Manoso has another woman! I need to see if I can get Lester to slip up and say her other woman's name. Introducing Cupcake to Manoso's other woman would be the only way she would believe me.

"Which Beautiful are you referring to?" I asked.

Lester gives me a strange look as he unclips his cell phone from his utility belt. "Bobby, come up to five. There's something wrong with Ranger. I think he has a concussion or something." Once he hung up the phone he walked over and sat in one of the chairs away from Manoso's desk. "You and I both know that there has been only one Beautiful. Heck man, once you met Steph, you became a hermit. I know that you think that you've been hiding you feeling, but there's not a person in this building, with the exception of when Steph is here, that doesn't know that you're in love with her."

"Joe is in love with her. She needs to give up on this bounty hunting nonsense, settle down, get married, and have some kids. It's not like she's really cut out for this job anyway." I argue, completely forgetting that I'm supposed to be acting like Ranger instead of myself.

"Man, what's gotten into you! Morelli doesn't love her. He loves the idea of what he wants her to be. She deserves better than that. Beautiful doesn't want to give up her job, settle down, get married and have kids. At least she doesn't want that with Morelli." Lester argued. "She would have already married him if she wanted that kind of life with him."

"Lester's right." A guy said walking into the office, carrying a medical bag and setting it on Manoso's desk. I think Cupcake once told me his name is Bobby. "And as far as 'not being cut out for her job', do you realize that you just sounded like Morelli. He's always saying that kind of crap to her. If it wasn't for Bomber, Morelli would be sitting in a prison cell right now if it wasn't for Bomber. And I know I don't need to remind you that she helped clear your name during the Ramos situation or how she helped you when Julie was kidnapped. Now shut up before you say something else stupid and let me examine you."

I rolled the desk chair back so that Bobby could shine his penlight in my eyes.

"You don't have a concussion, but there's definitely something wrong with you. You never let me examine you without an argument." He said turning the penlight off and putting it in his shirt pocket. "Maybe it's the stress of not knowing where Bomber is, which you and Morelli deserve by the way for acting like you did at the scene and her apartment."

I finally gave up trying to find anything on Manoso in the office. I decided that I need to search his apartment. Maybe I could find something there. The entire time I was upstairs, Manoso's phone kept ringing. Someone either had a question about an account or to see if I wanted to with them to pick up a FTA. It was real hard to turn down the skip that was spotted going into the strip club, but I really wanted to find some dirt on Manoso.

I finally gave up at ten minutes to six and decided to drive around Trenton to see if I could find Cupcake. I have to admit that I enjoyed driving Ranger's Porsche Turbo. I finally gave up and picked up a pizza from Pino's to take back to Ranger's apartment. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to eat it. When I got back to Rangeman, Tank met me in the garage and dragged me to a jewelry store that someone had attempted to break into and a scene of an attempted residential burglary. I hate to admit it, but the security features that Rangeman had installed at both locations kept both attempts from being successful.

When we got home it was four in the morning, and I think Tank took pleasure in reminding me that I had an appointment on the mats in an hour. I hope that I can find the gym.