I use them for fun and not for profit.

Chapter 12

"Tommy Hicks just reported his girlfriend missing and Helen and I thought you should know being as you're looking for his brother." Grandma Mazur's voice held a note of excitement as if she was imparting the breaking story on the six p.m. news.

Her news was a breaking story as far as Stephanie was concerned. She was in her office at RangeMan with access to all the search programs that were legally in existence, not to mention a few that were just the other side of legal. Life experience told her not to be surprised that the Burg grapevine could deliver a story she didn't know. Stephanie checked the lower right hand of her monitor. It was barely nine thirty. The Burg came to life early.

"That is interesting news," Stephanie said. "Was anyone else reported missing with her?"

"No, and the police aren't taking it seriously, because she hasn't been missing long enough. Tommy's real upset though. He says she's there every morning right as rain to give him his medicine. And today she wasn't there."

"Is she a nurse?" Stephanie asked.

"No." Grandma Mazur's tone was hushed as though she was getting ready to impart top secret information. "She's a witch doctor."

"A witch doctor," Stephanie repeated.

"Yeah," Grandma Mazur continued. "She does spells and everything. She uses smoke and herbs and potions. Tommy's got the arthritis and she gives him a treatment every morning."

"Do you know her name or what she looks like?" Stephanie asked her grandma.

"Her name is Mary Black. That's kind of funny her being a witch doctor and all, because she probably uses black magic."

"What does she look like?" Stephanie asked. She was cataloging her grandma's comments away to be pulled out later for speculation.

"Well, she's tall and skinny. I've seen her in Giovichinni's before. She was buying heart and liver. They sell organ meats, but they don't put them right out front. You have to ask for it."

"Does she look like Olive Oyl, from Popeye?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment. "Come to think of it, she kind of does," Grandma said. "There's more to this story though. Tommy said his car is missing, too."

"Where'd you get all this information?" Stephanie asked.

"From Melba Fridley. She knows all about Mary Black. She's seen her in her witch doctor robe. Mary is a good witch though, because her robe is white, so probably her magic is white, too." Grandma sounded disappointed at the thought.

"Thanks," Stephanie told her grandma. "I think you've given me some useful information."

"No problem," Grandma replied. "But if something exciting happens, you need to let me know. I'm going crazy in my room, but your mother won't let me go to Bingo or the hair parlor for another week, until my hip is better. She says it's doctor's orders. If they find Mary Black maybe I'll call her and let her witch doctor me."

Stephanie disconnected and leaned back in her chair. She was tired and sore. The tired was because she hadn't slept well after Rock left and that was entirely her fault. She'd acted without thinking and then spent the rest of the night wondering if starting what would surely be a short-term relationship with Rock was a wise decision. This is what being old was like, she realized. You had to think about everything. Twenty years earlier, she'd have woken up in the morning with a warm man next to her and her sore muscles would have been from a night of hot sex, and not from sitting in a car all day waiting for something to happen. At twenty, there'd been the morning after guilt. At nearly forty-one, there would be a clear-cut decision before she jumped.

Who the hell was she trying to fool? It was Rock who had pulled back, not her. She was glad he had, because it gave her plenty to think about. He was attractive and smart, and the kisses had been great. She was feeling warm and tingly and with a little care and nurturing that tingle could turn into a nice orgasm. The affair would be short and sweet, because Rock was just at RangeMan temporarily. He would be her transitional man and after that, what?

Would the short swim in the sea of sexuality make her confident enough to look for a longer term relationship? Would it enable her to be emotionally equipped to deal with an occasional one-nighter? She was a normal woman with normal needs that had been buried for two years while she and Morelli lived out their pseudo-marriage. Joe hadn't buried his needs. Why had she?

Sometime during the middle of the night, probably during its darkest hour, she thought ironically, tendrils of a new plan had worked their way into her mind. Last night the kisses had been good, but the night before, when Ranger had kissed her, it had seemed as if the whole world had tilted sideways. After he'd gone it had seemed like she was walking on glass on her short trip across the apartment to the bedroom. Her whole body had become a giant nerve ending. Now she was wondering, could Ranger be her transitional man? Could she use the man she was still in love with to get her back in touch with her own sexuality? There was no problem with getting involved in a messy relationship. It wasn't in his vocabulary. Maybe she should just surprise him by letting him find her in his bed some night. He wouldn't kick her out. She was sure of it.

Stephanie stood and walked from her office to the break room. A glance down the hallway told her Ranger's office was dark. He didn't apprise her of his day to day schedule. Usually she knew what he was up to from the weekly briefing with the core team. They all met and explained what particular project they were working on and Ranger updated them on the inner-workings of the other divisions of RangeMan. That meeting was still two days away. She was fine with Ranger's absence. Mostly they just nodded to one another when they passed in the halls. He had avoided her for so long avoidance was now the norm. He'd been acting differently toward her since Julie's arrival, more approachable. Could she find the courage to approach him to be her transitional man?

She tucked that thought away as she entered the break room. Lester and Bobby were deep in conversation. They both nodded to her, but didn't stop talking which made her curious enough to eavesdrop. She was disappointed to learn it was business which had them so conversationally enthralled. She opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a bottle and a nice red delicious apple. She'd depleted her hidden sugar stash, but she wasn't even hungry. She'd left her office in an attempt to get her thoughts back on track. She took a big bite of the apple and chewed thoughtfully as she made her way back to her office.

In the short time she'd been gone people had tried to get hold of her. The rapidly blinking light on her desk phone indicated at least two new calls. They would have to wait. Something was blinking at the back of her mind and she had to think for a moment. It was something to do with Mary Black. She let her mind recreate the scene they'd seen last night when Tinley and Mary had left the apartment. If Mary was missing, she and Rock could have been among the last people to see her.

It came to her all at once. Grandma said Mary was a good witch. Mary was not a witch at all. If she was involved with Tinley, it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to imagine her as a follower of Naldo Montara. Both Ranger and Rock agreed Montara was indulging in his own fantasy world of Santeria. She pulled her chair closer to her desk and clicked on her saved searches.

Two minutes later she had her "ah ha!" moment. Montara claimed to be the Santerian saint known as Obalata, and he wore only white. Was there a connection between Mary and Naldo? It seemed likely. She closed the file and picked up her phone to call Rock, hesitated, and decided to listen to the messages before she called him.

The first was a message from one of her part-time researchers telling Stephanie she had a schedule conflict and wouldn't be in. The second message was from Julie, asking her if she was free for lunch.

Stephanie called Julie back first. She was working in the bonds office until noon and then was free until her class at three. Stephanie made plans to meet her downstairs at noon. The kid sounded lonely and Stephanie once again promised herself to spend time with her.

She took a deep breath before she called Rock. It might be a little awkward.

"Hey, Angel, what's up?"

"I have some interesting news," Stephanie said. "Where are you?"

"I'm back in front of Tommy Hicks' building."

"Can you see the parking lot?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Is the blue Honda missing?"

"Yeah, it is. Everything is quiet here. I haven't seen any evidence of our lovebirds. Think they're still out nesting?"

"I don't think that was the plan," Stephanie said. "We heard the woman say they'd be back before Tommy missed them. That's part of why I called. I've got an ID on the woman. Her name is Mary Black. She's Tommy's girlfriend and he called the police this morning and reported her missing."

"No shit? Are the police looking for her?"

"No. Tommy told them she'd only been gone since last night. The PD didn't think that was significant, but Tommy did. It seems Mary is a witch doctor and every morning she treats Tommy for his arthritis with potions and herbs. Not to worry though, she's a good witch, because she dresses in white robes."

Rock was quiet for a while, ingesting the words and playing over the significance. "So the connection between Tinley and Tommy might not be just about their being cousins," he said thoughtfully. "The connection might be Mary and Naldo. We'd be better off following Mary."

"Yeah, if we knew where she was." Stephanie said. "Are we still on for this afternoon? I've got a couple of hours of work to do here and I just made a lunch commitment."

"Yes," Rock said. "I have some things to tell you, things you don't know, despite the fact that you are a top-notch cyber-investigator. How'd you get the info on Mary Black?"

"I'd like to tell you it was through brainstorming and sophisticated search engines, but my Grandma told me."

Rock's laugh was loud and long and pleasurable in her ear. "Call me as soon as you are finished with lunch. We'll have a good talk this afternoon." He disconnected with no further conversation and Stephanie thought he was becoming acclimated to life at RangeMan.

Stephanie spent the rest of the morning working uninterrupted and she was ready to meet Julie for lunch a little early. She made the trip down the flight of stairs to the first floor and looked forward to a little time to talk to the girls. When she walked through the door to RangeMan Bail Bonds, Stephanie saw Lula and Connie as well as Julie. Julie was at the computer, probably doing data entry. Lula and Connie were studying a picture. They all looked up at her entrance.

"How's the bounty hunting going?" Lula asked. "You get your man?"

"Not yet," Stephanie said. She didn't want to let them know they'd seen him or there might be questions as to why there'd been no capture. "We've got some good leads though."

"How does it feel to be back out on the street?" Connie asked. "Cause we got a guy here you might be interested in bringing in."

Stephanie walked over to look at the picture and drew back immediately. It was a black and white 8 X 10 glossy shot of a naked man with an enormous…package. It was grotesque. "Who, or should I say what, is that?"

"That's Peter the Great. He's the new male stripper down at the Snake Pit, and he's FTA."

"The Snake Pit is still open?" Stephanie was amazed. The place was a dump years ago and she couldn't imagine it would have aged well.

"Just reopened, under new management," Connie said. "It's a strip club for women now, and Peter was their opening act. He got in a fight with some patron's boyfriend and got arrested. He missed his court date yesterday and now he's FTA."

"And we have to get him rebonded and back out on the street," Julie said with a grin. "Because Aunt Connie and Aunt Lula are going to take me down to watch him dance. Do you want to come along Aunt Stephanie?" Julie was laughing outright now and Stephanie was starting to reconsider the decision to let Julie work with these women.

She turned on Lula and Connie and said, "You can't take Ranger's daughter to a strip club!"

"Why the heck not?" Lula asked. "She's a married woman. She knows what goes where and why, I imagine."

"I imagine she does, too," Stephanie said. "But she's eighteen. It's illegal."

"Well, hell, she looks twenty-five," Lula replied. "Maybe we shouldn't have let you look at this picture of Peter," Lula said to Julie. Again Julie laughed and Stephanie was pleased to see she was enjoying her work, but she was worried at the same time.

"Don't worry about it, Stephanie," Connie said. "We won't corrupt Ranger's little girl. She could probably teach us a thing or two."

"I don't know about that," Julie said as she picked up her purse and prepared to leave. "I will say I've never seen anything like Peter and his, uhm…greatness."

They went to Pino's by Julie's request. Her first meatball sub had been so delicious she wanted to try it again. They were halfway through their meal when a shadow fell over the table. Stephanie looked up to see Joe.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey, yourself, mind if I sit for a minute?"

Stephanie scooted over and let Joe take a place next to her on the seat of the booth. "This is Julie Freeman, Ranger's daughter," she told Joe.

"I remember," Joe said. He smiled and extended his hand across the table to shake Julie's. "I'm Joe Morelli," he told her. "We met on a very bad night quite a few years ago."

Julie nodded solemnly, "I remember."

"Welcome to Trenton. Stephanie tells me you're working at RangeMan and going to school."

"Yes," Julie said. "I'm majoring in criminal justice, but I'm just a freshman."

"Criminal justice," Joe said thoughtfully. "Do you want a career in law enforcement, or maybe you're planning to go to law school?"

"I'd like to work for the FBI," Julie said. She blushed a little, as if she was letting go of a long held secret.

"That's admirable. Working at RangeMan, even in the bonds office will provide some good experience for you."

"I think so, too," Julie said, warming to her subject. "I'm hoping eventually to get some field experience, but I have to be twenty-one first."

Good luck with that, honey, Stephanie thought. She couldn't imagine Ranger ever putting his daughter in harm's way. She sat and watched as Julie and Joe carried on a friendly conversation. It was the Morelli magic she knew. Joe had a way with women, even women he had no interest in bedding, like Julie Freeman. It probably made it hard being a one-woman man when there were so many women interested in being that one woman. Stephanie hoped Maria was that woman. Joe's cell phone chirped and he pulled it from his pocket and frowned.

"I've got to run," he told them. "I'll tell you something because it will be in the papers tonight. Trenton has a serial killer and he's upping the ante. There have been two victims this week. I caught the case of the young girl found down by the warehouse district earlier this week and there was another this morning. This one was different, but there are enough similarities to make us think it's the same guy."

There was a thickening in Stephanie's throat as if she had to swallow, but couldn't. She was almost choking when she forced out, "Different how?"

"Older, for one thing, and found in a car. Most of the victims have been young girls. All of them mutilated and some…" he stopped as he heard the indrawn breath from across the table.

"It's okay," Julie said. "I'd like to know."

"They were all young except today's victim," Morelli told her. "We can't place these women from a particular part of Trenton or socio-economic class, but several of them were students and there is evidence of sexual activity prior to their death, although no evidence of rape. I'm not trying to scare you, Julie, but take care. Don't put yourself in risky positions."

"Today's victim," Stephanie said. "Was she found in a blue Honda and is her name Mary Black?"

Joe turned on Stephanie. His phone chirped again and he looked away for a moment to check the text message. "Shit, Stephanie. That hasn't been released. How'd you know?"

"I'm doing a little skip tracing. Not much really. I'm orienting a new guy to the Burg and our skip is Tinley Hicks. Grandma told me Tinley was probably staying with his cousin Tommy. And this morning she told me Tommy Hicks reported his girlfriend and his car as missing."

Joe stood at the edge of the booth and looked solemnly at Stephanie. "So, you're back in the field, and you're after Tinley Hicks? The dweeb that was in my class?"

"Just temporarily," she said. "In the field, I mean. I like my desk job, and yes, Tinley, the dweeb you graduated with."

"I've still got Maalox in the cupboard at home. I don't think it's expired." He smiled down at her. "Look at it this way, Cupcake. After this story breaks, the Burg grapevine will retire the story of you and me." He bent and dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head and gave Julie a little wave as he walked away.

Julie watched him walk away. "He's nice," she said. "When I found out you were marrying him I was upset. I hoped that you and my dad would…well, I know Ranger cares about you."

"I know he does, too," Stephanie told Julie with a little shock to realize it was true. She mostly didn't think about Ranger in those terms anymore.

"I'm sorry about you and Joe," Julie said. "I was happy when I heard you were divorced, but he's a nice guy and I'm sorry."

"There is no need to be sorry. Joe and I are very close, but we work better as friends. I'm not unhappy about the divorce."

"Do you think now that you are single again, you and my dad might…"

Stephanie's smile was tinged with sadness. A fact she was unaware of, but something Julie saw clearly. "No, Julie. I don't."