Chapter 16

The week rolled slowly by. I spent most of it at Rangeman. I hovered over the computer for hours each day searching out information about Jeanne. Nothing. It was as if she hadn't existed before her death. The rest of the time I spent thinking. I paced the floor, I went running at the park, I used the gun range and the gym. I felt like I was letting everyone down by hiding out and knocking my head against the wall. I wanted to talk to Ranger. He always made me feel stronger and more capable. He always knew what to do.

I went down to the police station twice. I wasn't allowed to see him. Only family and his lawyer could get in. I called the bonds office. Connie asked me to stop by. Vinnie wanted to talk to me about something but she didn't know what it was about. She'd tried a couple of times to call me, but the phone went to voice mail. She said there wasn't a whole lot of skips to pick up, but I should come in once in a while. She missed me, and mentioned that if I needed someone to talk to, I knew her number. I loved my friends, Connie was tops.

I checked my phone. Come to think of it, I hadn't heard it ring for a few days. I had five messages. The phone hadn't made a noise. I checked the ringer. It was off. I reluctantly called in to my voice mail. The first message was from my mother. She wanted to know why I hadn't called or come by. She said that her phone hasn't stopped ringing for over a week. First, about me shooting out the roof of the bonds office and then about me being involved in a murder. She said she was hoping this had nothing to do with me, especially if it was about the Manoso/Burrows case she kept hearing about. She told me to be a good daughter and call her once in a while so she didn't worry that I was dead in a ditch somewhere. I rolled my eyes. Jeez! I wondered if all mothers acted like that. The next message was also from her. She said I should come over Sunday. They were having a nice pot roast. My sister had some good news to share with the family and my grandmother needed to talk to me. She also said that I should bring along my new boyfriend she kept hearing about. She said it was nice to hear I was seeing someone new. I groaned. Yikes. If she knew it was Ranger, AKA the scary guy that came to dinner once, also known as AKA the Manoso man in the news, I don't think she would be as quick to invite him over for Sunday dinner.

The rest of the messages were from Joe Morelli. The first two were polite. He was asking if I would please call. I needed to come to the police station. He wanted to talk to me about what had happened the night of the murder. By the third message, he was a little tense. He sounded like he was talking to me from inside a tunnel. The date on the message, yesterday. He said he was outside Rangeman. The security guard at the entrance refused to let him in. He wouldn't let him leave a message either. Joe said Rangeman was a fortress. He sounded pretty pissed off. Joe also mentioned he was off the case, and he needed to get me in for the interview before they totally took him out of the game. When he hung up, he was swearing in Italian. I thought Joe could wait a little longer. I wasn't really sure there was anything I wanted to share with him anyway. It didn't matter to me if it was the cops or the FBI handling the case. I had a murder to solve.

I picked up the keys to Ranger's Porsche and I drove to the bonds office. I wanted to see what Connie could find out about "Tony the Tool". He was still an itch I couldn't scratch. It felt like he was part of this somehow.

Connie was hanging up the phone when I walked in to the office. She smiled when she saw it was me. "That was Lula." Connie said, exasperated. "She is skipping out on me again. I think her work ethics are way off."

"Maybe she's sick." I said, as I plopped down on the new leather couch. It was nice and soft. I think I could just hang out here for a while. Maybe I would throw some ideas at Connie about Jeanne. Maybe I could think better away from Rangeman. I grabbed an outdated issue of People from a stack of dog-eared magazines that sat on a wood coffee table. It was so outdated, David Hasselhoff was on the cover sporting his Baywatch shorts and no shirt. I started flipping through the magazine looking for something interesting to read.

"She is not sick. She is shacking up with that missile guy."

"The missile guy?" I was lost.

"You know, that guy that works with Ranger."

"You mean Tank?"

"Yeah, that's what I meant. What kind of name is Tank anyway?"

"It's a nickname. He's sort of built like a tank."

"I never thought of that." Connie said. "Well, I think he has a lot to do with her absenteeism. She's only been here three times this week. I might as well be working here alone! I told her not to tell anyone else that we will get them out of the pokey again, either. What a disaster. I should call her back, make her come in and fix the ceiling."

I looked up at the hole. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't know what else to do."

"The way I see it, you had no choice. I just froze. All those people came in at once, like a mob. It caught me off guard. If Lula had been here like she is supposed to be, it wouldn't have ended up like that."

"It could have ended up a lot worse if Lula was here, Connie. You might want to rethink that one."

"Well no matter what, I am going back to the gun range today after work; I froze up at the sight of all those angry people. I've never done that before. It's all this business suit crap. It's making me soft. The sooner I can turn this office back over to Vinnie, the better. I don't like all this responsibility. I was totally thrown off with the Michael Miller thing."

She stopped talking and looked towards the back door.

I heard a car pull up out back.

"Don't mention the ceiling. Vinnie hasn't seen it yet." She whispered.

I heard the backdoor shut. Vinnie walked in and stopped short. "What the hell happened to the ceiling?" He was looking up at the hole above Connie's desk.

Connie looked at me. "Here we go."

He gave Connie a menacing look. "Tell me that isn't a bullet hole!" Vinnie paused, taking a closer look. He raised his voice pointing up at the three-inch hole in the ceiling tile. "Tell me this isn't a bullet hole in my ceiling, Connie!"

"Ok, it's not a bullet hole in your ceiling." Connie's bubble gum popped as she looked at him.

"Christ! If that went through the roof, someone's gonna pay for it, and it aint gonna be me!"

He cast his sallow sleep deprived eyes my direction. "So, what happened?"

"What happened with what?" I said, flipping through the magazine trying to keep my head down.

Connie jumped in quickly before I had a chance to screw myself into owing him money for the roof. "We had a situation." She said. "For one thing, I am here alone in the morning. Who said you can come in anytime you like? We got a business to run. You need to be here when it opens."

He stared back at her. He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "You're not here alone. Stephanie's here. And..." he looked around, "Where's fatso? She is supposed to be here. It's your job to get her to come in now, not mine." He tapped his foot. "Are you gonna tell me what happened or not?"

"We decided not to bail out any of the skips again, right?" She said to Vinnie.

"Right. Fuck 'em. I'm sick of chasing around a bunch of douche bags."

"Well, Lula decided to bond out Michael Miller."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, word got out. Now everyone else wants equal treatment. What do we do? I've been telling them no. A big mob of people came in demanding we bail-out their loved ones because we bailed Miller out. I told them no way. When I did, it started getting out of control and a gun went off. I don't know what to do to keep these people from freaking out on us."

Vinnie thought about it for a moment. "That's easy, I got a solution. Next time anyone comes in with papers on a double skip, you tell them "no problem". Then write the bond, but make sure you tell them there will be a twenty percent markup fee because they are a risk. Every time we have to come get them, the price goes up."

Vinnie smiled. "What's good about it is that half of the people we picked up won't be eligible for bail anyway. At least forty percent of the ones that are, won't be able to come up with the extra dough. We look like the good guys, and no one gets hurt."

"I guess that would work." Connie said.

"Course it will work. How do you think we've stayed in business this long?"

Vinnie slid his oily stare at me, pointing his long, thin finger my direction. "You owe me two hundred bucks." He put his hand out.

I pointed back to myself. "Me?" I feigned innocence. I didn't have two hundred bucks. If I did, I wouldn't give it to him.

"Yeah, you. My team found all the skips on our list, first round. You had one left. You never picked up Bernie."

I had been concentrating on things that mattered. I had totally forgotten about the bet and the two hundred big ones. Damn it! My appointment with Mr. Alexander was tomorrow. Crap. I had forgotten about that too. "Bernie who?" I tried to act dumb. I had taken Bernie Horowitz file and slid it into Vinnie's pile for the second round of skips we were working on. He was Grandma Mazur's boyfriend. I didn't want anything to do with picking him up.

"Bernie was in your first stack." He said, glaring at me with his little beady black eyes.

"What? No, He wasn't." I made my eyes open as wide as I could. It was a desperate, pathetic attempt to get myself out of this. I was a terrible liar. But I had to try.

"You see, Stephanie. That is what I hate about our family, especially Grandma Mazur. You're all sneaky. You get that from her. Your name was on that file, you used white out to cover it up. He was yours."

Shit! "Ok fine. I will give you the two hundred. You pick him up."

I'll find another way to pay for Mr. Alexander tomorrow. I have money coming in from all the work I did for the office. I can afford it now.

"Oh no, That's not how it works." Vinnie said happily. "You pick him up." He pointed at me again. "You still owe me the two hundred clams. It was a bet, you lost. Plus, Bernie plays cards with me and the boys. I can't pick him up."

"He plays cards with you? Pick him up after the game. It would be easy."

"No can do. Bernie is having a good streak of bad luck. It would be unwise of me to pick him up when he's paying out. Plus, the boys would have my head. I can't do it."

"What a guy!" I said. "And, you're full of crap. Bernie is broke. He told me so."

"Ha! You see, I knew you were lying about Bernie!"

I slid further into the leather couch. Damn. I was caught. "Well, I don't want him. It's not right to take Grandma's boyfriend away from her. I'm not doing it. Give me one good reason that you can't just pick him up."

"Ok, fine." Vinnie said. "How's this for a good reason. Grandma Mazur threatened to take me out of the will if I took him in. And Bella, she threatened me with that eye thing. I don't need any more bad luck. He's yours. You can't pawn your crap off on me."

"Couldn't Santos and Nick pick him up? I don't want him."

"No. As a matter of fact they can't. You know why?"

I was positive he didn't care if I wanted to know why or not, he was going to tell me.

"Cause your boyfriend screwed everything up. Sebring called and asked for them back. I just got them trained and poof! He takes them back. He said he has a gaping hole in his time card since Jeanne was killed. We're both blaming Ranger for this, by the way. He's good for it. I don't even care why. I'm pissed. The only real bounty hunter on the payroll is in jail for whatever stupid love triangle he had going on. It's down to you and me doing the pickups, Sweet Cakes."

Great, I was hoping to slowly remove myself from bond enforcement. I was thinking the job at Rangeman would be a nice change. I can't leave when it's just Vinnie doing the take downs. Which reminded me, I had almost forgotten about what Mary had said. His attitude made it all come back.

"What is Joyce doing back in town?" I said looking at him as casually as I could, but I was scowling inside. The thing with the website still chewed at my subconscious. I was trying to hold back. I was waiting for Ranger's lawyer to look into it. I had to act calm. Joyce being back in Trenton was like a thorn in my foot.

Vinnie's mouth dropped open at the mention of her name. His face paled. Maybe he felt the same way I did.

"Joyce? She's in Scottsdale." Vinnie looked at Connie. "She is, right?"

"Nope." Connie said. "She's back. She came in here the other day, I thought you knew."

Vinnie swallowed hard. "What did she want?"

"Beats me. She came in and took pictures, then left."

"Huh." Vinnie was quiet. "I didn't know she was back."

He looked lost for a moment. I looked at Connie. She shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes turning back to her nail polish.

He looked back at me. "You owe me two hundred big ones. Bring in Bernie. He's yours."

Vinnie walked into the back office. I burned a hole in his back with my stare as I watched him walk off.

"I wonder what that's about?" Connie said. "Vinnie doesn't usually go white at the mention of that tramp. He usually looks all flustered when she is around. This is new."

I waited till the door shut. "When did you let that slime ball take over the back office?"

"I didn't, he just did it anyway. It's ok. Like I said before, the sooner the better. I want out of the business suit."

I sat on her desk, contemplating my next move.

"Do you think it's possible that Tony the Tool took out Jeanne Ellen?"

Connie opened the top drawer of the desk and picked out another one of her niece's nail polish and shook it up. "It's possible that he was here for her. I don't know what the hell she could have done to piss off the mob though. Wasn't she Les Seabring's baby bonds girl?"

"Yes, but she had some other deals going on too. She was working for the FBI."

"You're kiddin' me, like a spy or something?"

"I think more like an informant."

"Informants are spies. Maybe she was like James Bond."

I shrugged. I doubted anyone was as cool as James Bond, but she was pretty close. "I talked to a guy that said Jeanne was always on someone's hit list. A lot of people wanted her dead."

"Then it could be possible that Tony was in Trenton for her. I know he wasn't here for you."

I looked seriously at Connie. "I need to know if he got his mark."

"I'll see what I can find out, but I haven't heard anything. All I've heard so far is that Ranger's good for popping Jeanne. Who ever shot her was a pretty good shot, too. Right between the eyes." She put her index finger up to her forehead for an effect I didn't need. I already knew most of the grisly details. "I haven't heard anything about Tony for weeks. I thought he must have left."

That wasn't what I wanted to hear. I picked up Bernie's file from her desk and shoved it in my bag. "Do you think Ranger did it?"

She looked at me. "Ranger? Personally, I don't think he's that stupid. He has worked here a long time. He doesn't do stuff like that."

I wish more people felt that way.

I walked back to the car. Bernie Horowitz's file was burning a hole in my pocketbook. Only a week left. I had to pick him up. And what was worse, parked behind the Porsche was an ugly Crown Vic. I groaned. It was Joe.

He was leaning on his car, talking on his cell phone. I stopped short before he saw me. I knew he would have questions about the information I had given him. I just didn't know if I was ready to share. I wanted to have more evidence to support another shooter before talking to the police. Before I got a chance to sidestep into a back alley, he spotted me. Damn! He used his index finger to motion for me to come over. I looked down, trying to figure a way out of this. I walked up to him ready to give him some lame excuse. He gave me the one finger wait signal.

I shrugged my shoulders and leaned next to him against his car. I listened intently to his conversation. He was arguing with someone. It reminded me of when he argued with me. It was in the same tone and context. I bet it was Trisha. He was talking to her in a low voice, trying to get her to understand something. He saw me listening and he walked towards the back of the car away from me. I edged a little closer, wanting to hear.

Joe hadn't learned much. That tone he was using on her, never calmed me down. The conversation abruptly ended when I heard him say "Hello? Hello!?" He swore under his breath and threw the phone into the car. His attention was now focused on me.

He folded his arms and heaved a great sigh. "You've been avoiding my phone calls."

"No, my ringer was turned off. I didn't know it. I got your messages this morning. If it makes you feel any better, my mother is also mad I haven't returned any calls."

He glanced at the Porsche. "Is that the newest present ?" His tone was teetering on "jerk".

"No, It's a loaner. You still have my Jeep in custody."

"The Jeep is evidence in a murder investigation if you remember correctly. You should be happy. If you had it, it would probably be in car heaven by now."

I glared at him.

"What about the Buick?" he asked.

Now I folded my arms. "What about it? Are you my father?" This conversation was going south in a hurry. He knew how I felt about the Buick! The Buick was a monster. I had no intention of driving around in it again if I could help it. Now that I am back in Trenton, that little drawback was going to end. I would walk or use public transportation before I used the Buick. Hell, I'd learn to ride a skateboard for that matter. Why couldn't I use the Porsche? What business was it of his, anyway!

Joe held up his arms. "Ok, settle down. I was just asking."

I took a deep breath. I shouldn't let him get to me anymore. "So, what was so important you called me three times?"

"Did you listen to the messages?"

"Yes." Sorta

"Then you know."

"If this is about coming down to the station to answer questions, I'm busy right now. I'll come down later."

Joe reclined against the car. "You had lunch yet?"

"No." I looked at my watch, it was noon. I hadn't even thought about eating. My stomach woke up when he mentioned it. I heard it growl at me.

He leaned into the beat up Crown Vic and pulled out some paperwork. "Look, I will take you to lunch and you can answer all the questions for the investigation at Pinos. Deal?"

I thought about it for a moment. My stomach growled again at the mention of Pino's pizza. It was hard to resist.

Joe opened the passenger door for me. "I will even buy you a beer, and if you're nice, a meatball sub. It would get me off the hook, and make me look good at work too."

Now I was curious. "Off the hook with whom?"

Joe scratched his head. Mulling over what he had said. I could see it in the uncomfortable way he shifted around.

I smiled. "With Trisha?"

"Yeah, with Trisha. She seems to think Ranger isn't good for this, and she is pestering me to find out why you feel the same way without actually calling you up and inviting you over for coffee. Personally, I find you two having coffee together inside my house frightening."

Ha! I had an ally.

Pino's would be good, and it would get me out of finding Bernie for at least an hour. I could use a meatball sub to help me think. I took the keys to the Porsche out of my pocket. "I'll follow you over."

"Oh no. You'll change your mind and take off. I don't want to pound on the door at Rangeman again. The guard told me he would use force if I didn't quit. It's funny, usually they say they will call the cops, but since I am the cops, he had to have a new line."

I thought the security team at Rangeman was much more frightening than a cop being called to ask him to leave, But I let him go ahead with his dream.

I got in the car, and we motored over to Pinos. On the way, I called Rangeman. I asked Hal to have someone pick up the Porsche. I didn't want Rangers car to get stolen. I was trying to be more responsible.

Joe found an empty booth over in a corner away from other people. I watched him as he went up to the counter to order. He was sexy in his jeans and work shirt. There was not a whole lot to not like about Joe Morelli. I noticed at least three women at the bar felt the same way. He looked happy. He was sure of himself and in charge of his life. I doubted he was drinking antacid everyday now that we were not seeing each other. That was good. There was no doubt he was hot. A year. It had gone by so fast. As I watched him, I realized I was over pining for him and how much I loved Ranger. I hugged myself. I needed to end this bullshit and get him out of trouble. I had a chance to convince Joe that it was possible he didn't kill Jeanne Ellen. Especially if Trisha felt the same vibe I did. Ranger didn't do anything wrong except turn off the security system at Jeanne Ellen Burrows. This was my chance to make him believe it.

He brought two beers over to the table. He took the folder and dropped it on the table, slidding into the booth. Joe took a long drink of his beer and opened the file. "Ok," he said. "I am sharing this information with you because I know how you tick. You're not about to give me anything I can use unless I spill some facts for you. So here it goes. This is confidential." He looked at me to make sure I understood.

"We have security footage of Ranger, aka Carlos Manoso pulling up to Jeanne Ellen Burrows building the night in question. It shows him walking over to some kind of pole on the property and climbing it. Then the security tape goes blank."

"How did you get the tape?"

"We contacted her security company. They sent it to us. They said the system and her phones were out after that. It was all they had."

"Didn't the security company wonder why the cameras went off?"

"No." They said they were under contract with Miss Burrows only to record what happens at her residence. They did no monitoring of the tapes. It was the way she wanted it."

He placed a picture of a gun in front of me. It was sitting on a tile floor next to a numbered marker. The gun was black, and it looked like a Glock.

"This is the murder weapon. It is registered to Carlos Manoso of Rangeman Inc. Fingerprints on the gun match his. Fingerprints on the door also match his."

"What about the rest of the apartment. What other fingerprints did you find?"

Joe sat back. "None. We found some of Jeanne's in the other rooms of the house, but nothing in the bedroom."

I leaned forward toward him. "How can you be in a room and not leave fingerprints? There had to be some of Jeanne's in her room. Even if you clean, there will be something."

"That's the thing. We found nothing. Her fingerprints were in the bathroom, in the kitchen, and around her apartment. The bedroom was wiped clean."

"So your saying Ranger walked in and shot Jeanne Ellen Burrows. Wiped the entire room down, and then left his gun and his fingerprints on the door?"

He shrugged. "Maybe he panicked. Maybe he was so shocked he had done such a horrible thing, that he freaked and ran."

"After he wiped the scene down? Does that make any sense to you?"

Joe studied me for a moment. "No, it doesn't. We have Ranger's prints on the box that knocked out the security too."

"Yeah, you have testimony from him stating he did that. You have testimony from him about all of it except the murder and his gun."

"We have him at the scene. We have the murder weapon, we have his fingerprints. And we have motive."

"That's not enough. From what you just told me, he could fight this and win."

"Ok, how about this. We have a statement from Ranger saying he killed her."

I paused. My heart beat fast in my chest.

He shook his head. "Yeah."

"He didn't do it, Joe. He is devastated that he took out the security, he is blaming himself."

"Well that blame has him locked up and under surveillance. For a while, we almost put him on suicide watch."

That was a blow I wasn't expecting. Suicide watch? I sat back. "I want to see him."

"No can do, Cupcake. The FBI has informed us that they are taking the case. Only his lawyer is allowed in, at least for now."

"I need to get in to see him. Isn't there something you can do?"

"As romantic as that sounds, it is out of my hands."

I took a deep breath. "Ok, so what else do you have?" I asked.

He closed the folder. "Your turn. You need to tell me what you know."

Our meatball sandwiches arrived just in time. A pretty blond with big blue eyes leaned over as she put the sandwiches on the table. Joe didn't disappoint me; he looked right down her shirt just like I knew he would. She saw him do it and gave him a wink and sauntered off. He looked at me. "What?"

I opened my sub and started eating. I was hoping with food in my mouth, I wouldn't feel the need to slap him across the face. His girlfriend is pregnant with his kid and he is flirting with the waitress?

"They were right in front of me. It was a reaction!"

I wanted a moment to collect my thoughts, he was such a scoundrel sometimes. Instead of thinking about Joe being.. Well Joe. I thought about what he had said. Ranger had told them he killed her. Shit. He said Ranger was so devastated, that they almost put him on suicide watch. Ranger? It seemed impossible. I looked over. Joe was waiting. I took another bite of my meatball sub. Pino's made the best meatball subs. I tried hard to think only of the sandwich. It was so good. I wanted to get lost in thoughts of marinara sauce and spices. I chewed slowly. Joe moved the sandwich away from me. I finished my bite looking sadly at the sandwich. I took a long drink of my beer. He crossed his arms. He was growing impatient. He brought me here to eat, what did he think I was going to do?

I put the beer down. If I wanted his help, which I did. I would need to cooperate. "Ok, I know why the FBI is so interested in the case." I had his attention. "Jeanne Ellen was working for them."

Joe's eyebrows raised and he took a bite of his sandwich. "You know this, how?"

"I talked to a guy who worked with her."

"What? How did that happen? Did he just happen to run into you, and tell you all the information out of the goodness of his heart?"

"No, I asked a certain person to find someone in the FBI who would be willing to give me some information."

"So, you bribed an FBI agent?"

"I needed answers. I got them."

"How do you know he was really from the bureau, and what makes you think he was telling the truth?"

"I saw his shield. My source seemed pretty reliable. I don't think they would have sent me to a fake, and it adds up. I talked to one of the guys at Rangeman. He said they knew about it. Turns out, I could have just asked them."

Joe was stunned. "So what was she doing for the FBI? I thought she was working for Les Seabring?"

"Yeah well, she was. But, she was moonlighting for the bureau. According to my source, she had been doing it for a long time. I think the job for Les was more of a cover, than a career. She was an informant. From what he said, she was pretty much at the top of the Mafia's most wanted list. Everyone they sent after her ended up in a ditch somewhere."

"So she had a hit out on her?"

"If what that guy said was true, definitely. Jeanne Ellen didn't care. She watched her back. Usually picked them off before they had a chance to kill her."

"So, Ranger knew about this when he started seeing her? He knew she was an informant?"

"She was his mentor. She knew him when he was a kid. She would have him run surveillance for her, and he did some recon work for her too. She would use him to spy on people. Gangs, mob, or anyone she told him to look for. They have known each other for over twenty years."

"So Ranger gets his training from Jeanne to be the person he is today. I talked to his family. They believe Jeanne Ellen is some kind of saint that saved him from a life of crime. They also said he would never hurt her." Joe took another swig off his beer, finishing it. He motioned for the waitress to bring him another. "Want one?"

"Yes, thanks." I did want one. This conversation was turning personal. I didn't know how far I wanted it to go or how much it would help for him to know everything.

"What kind of childhood did he have then? He gets into trouble, and then he meets Jeanne Ellen, when he's what? What age would this have been?"

"Twelve or thirteen, I think."

"Christ, I was a bad kid at that age. No wonder his mom thinks Jeanne is a saint."

I rolled my eyes. A saint. Yeah, in a molester Catholic priest sort of way. I took the last drink of my beer and picked at the sandwich. Joe was studying me. I could feel his eyes.

"You don't think she was doing a good thing?"

"No, I don't. I think she involved him in things that could have gotten him killed. I don't think she cared if she did. I think she would have moved on to someone else if he disappeared one day."

"But she did get him away from a bad life. The street pulls you in. It may start out as simple stuff, petty theft because it's easy pickings, then you start hitting up harder targets till you're too stupid to stop. You may get picked up, thrown in juvy, but then you can pretty much assume someone you know will be in there with you, and you make contacts. Pretty soon, jail isn't such a bad thing. You get deeper and deeper into it till it is a way of life. I think she did a good thing, getting him out of it when she did. It sounds like he was heading down a dangerous path and she stopped it."

He opened the file and flipped a few pages. "He enlisted in the army at seventeen. Looks like she pushed him in the right direction. It was a recommendation from family members, and from her that got him in. So his mentor turned into his lover when he got out of the service?"

I looked at him. "No."

"What do you mean, "No?"

"I mean how else do you turn a thirteen year old kid away from his hoodlum ways and get him to fly straight when you are as stubborn as Ranger is?"

Joe looked at me for a moment. "Is this confirmed?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"So, he was seeing her for over twenty years? Sweet Jesus. Thirteen years old. Holy crap. She was what? In her twenties?" He smiled. "Shit. It's like a wet dream for a thirteen year old kid."

"Its statutory rape, Joe."

"Yeah, but shit. Can you imagine the things I could have learned with that kind of…"

My eyes were burning holes in his. "Think of it this way, your niece is about thirteen. How would you feel if a grown man started sleeping with her?"

"His smile turned to a frown. She's just a little girl. She still plays with Barbies and shit. Ok, that's more than a little messed up. Let's move along."

He looked back at the paperwork. "So, lets move back to the present. He starts seeing you, and that is when the trouble starts with Jeanne Ellen?"

"The moment we came back to Trenton. She was on his jock."

"You were with him in Scottsdale?" His voice broke a little when he said it.

I took a deep breath. "No. Well, yeah sort of. I was in Scottsdale."

I stopped for a moment. The cabin was off the map. I wanted it to stay that way.

"He was somewhere else. I hadn't heard from him since I had left Trenton. Then, I had all this drama happen at the office in Arizona. Tank came and picked me up. Ranger sent him. He wanted me out of Arizona because it wasn't safe anymore."

"Ok. So where were you when we were on the conference call? It looked like a cabin or safe house or something."

I leaned in. "It was like a safe house."

"Where was it? In Arizona?"

"It's a secret, and it doesn't matter."

"I thought you were still in Scottsdale."

"Ranger can't go to Arizona. He has legal trouble there."

"Legal trouble? So where were you?"

I looked at him closely for a moment. "The Batcave."

Joe grunted. "Really?" He smiled. "Okay, whatever. So when did the trouble happen with Jeanne, let's get back to that."

"When we came back to Trenton. She knew we were back. She started harassing him and then me."

"Explain. How did she harass you? What do you mean?"

"She stole my battery the night I found the dead guy in the dumpster at your baby congratulations party. Ranger had to come over and replace it."

"How did you know it was her?"

"Because Ranger said it was. He came clean and told me that she would have problems with him ending things with her."

"Ok. So then what happened?"

"She got mad, and she broke into Rangeman. We had to call the police to get her out of there."

He opened the file. "That explains this." He reviewed a police report about the night Jeanne had to be taken out of the building.

"Who called the police?"

"Tank or Hal probably called. Tank thought it was the best idea. We didn't want any problems."

"Why didn't Ranger make that decision? I thought he was into all that control shit."

"That's a personal question. I called Tank, they took care of it."

Joe focused on me for a moment. All kidding was aside now. "It was that personal, all this with her, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was. He cares deeply for her."

"What happened that night she got murdered?"

"Off the record?"

"Yeah, this is all off the record, just tell me what the fuck happened."

"I went bowling with Mary Lou. We went to the bowling alley off Third. She goes there a lot with Lenny. She wanted to know what was up with me and what had been happening in my life. It had been a year. We needed to catch up. We stayed till closing."

"When was that?"

"About two in the morning. When we came out of the bowling alley, my Jeep was gone."

"Did you call the police?"

"No, I knew who took my Jeep. I knew it was Jeanne Ellen."

"So who did you call?"

"I called Rangeman dispatch, they told me to call Ranger."

"Did you think that was strange? Is he usually up at two in the morning?"

"A little strange, yeah. Ranger works days. He should have been asleep."

"So what happened? Did you call?"

"Yeah. I did. He answered. He said he knew where the Jeep was, someone would come pick me up. He said that this was something he needed to deal with, and that he might as well do it now. Then, he said he loved me."

"Did he sound angry?"

"No. He sounded normal, a little sad."

"Did you worry he would do something stupid?"

"Ranger doesn't really do stupid. I have seen him angry, but he doesn't do stupid things. He is always in control. The guy doesn't eat sugar. I mean, that's control as far as I'm concerned."

"So what is your take on what happened?"

"The way I see it, Ranger went in and told her it was over. He left. When he did, someone else came in and shot her. Pure and simple."

"What about the gun?"

"When he was inside, the guy went and took it out of my Jeep."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because that's not Ranger's gun. Ranger's gun looks different. That gun was probably under the seat in my Jeep. Did you find a gun when you searched the Jeep?"

"No. There was a place for one, though. We figured either you had it, or it was never there to begin with."

"It was there. Ranger has his own guns in his car. Why would he go to the Jeep and take mine to blow Jeanne away?"

"Maybe he wanted the significance of it being your gun."

"It wasn't my gun, it was a Rangeman gun. I have a Sig. There was no reason for Ranger to take that gun."

Joe leaned back in the seat. "Did you see him when you got back that night?"

"Hal picked me up and told me Jeanne had disabled the security at the building and had them running around like ants. He said Jeanne was a thorn. After we dropped Mary Lou off, we went back to Rangeman, but I didn't see Ranger. I was told he hadn't checked in. He wasn't back yet."

"Did you go to sleep?"

"No. I stayed up and tried to wait for him to get home."

"When did he get home?"

"Sometime the next morning. That is what he told me. I fell asleep at the gun range."

"They have a gun range at Rangeman?"

"Yeah, and a gym too."

"So what time was it when you woke up?"

"Ranger woke me up. It was about noon."

"He didn't get home till noon?"

"He told me he had gotten home earlier, but he let me sleep."

"How sweet of him."

I rolled my eyes. "You want me to finish or not?"

"Yes. So what happened? Did he tell you how the night went?"

Yeah, He told me he disabled the security and walked in on Jeanne Ellen. She was waiting for him. He said she knew he would come for the Jeep. He told me she was naked."

"Did they have sex?"

"He said no."

He looked at the report. "He was telling the truth, it doesn't say Jeanne had intercourse before she died. So they just talked?"

"He said he told her to back off, to leave us alone. He told her if she didn't, he would make sure everyone knew what a sexual deviant she was. He told me he left her there and she was very much alive. Ranger was happy, smiling when he told me. He said it felt really good to tell her to fuck off."

"What did he say happened?"

I touched the heart pendant around my neck. I held onto it. "He told me he got in the car and started driving. He needed to clear his head. He said he drove all the way to New York and he bought me this pendant."

Joe looked at it closely. "It's beautiful. He has good taste."

I looked down. "It was an important and personal moment for both of us. How could a man kill someone and then go buy his girlfriend a present like this?"

"People are strange, Stephanie. You never know. But it doesn't really fit, does it?"

I nodded. "No, it doesn't."

He paused for a moment. He pushed his sandwich away, and took a drink of his beer.

"Ok, so." He opened the folder. "From that point, we are basically up to date. The body is found, we immediately have a murder weapon and fingerprints within hours. We arrest Ranger; he confesses that he killed her. Then, you alert me to the possibility that she is pregnant, and that Jeanne has a secret girlfriend who tells you that Jeanne had a boyfriend. Mary Maggie confirmed all this, as impossible as it all was, and also claims that the boyfriend probably wasn't Ranger. At least she didn't think it was. We got the report back, she was pregnant. DNA is still unconfirmed as to whose baby it was."

My heart pounded. She was pregnant. What if I was wrong and the baby was his? I felt sick.

Joe reached across the table and took my hand in his. It was warm. It felt good and reassuring. He squeezed it. "He means a lot to you doesn't he?"

Tears started welling up in my eyes. "He does, Joe. He means everything. I have to fix this."

"What if you can't? What if he's guilty?"

I looked at him, at his face. He was so unsure of Ranger's innocence, even after our conversation. "He's not. Joe." I thought about what Ranger had said to me at the cabin. Ranger had said "I'm not working with doubt, Babe." I took a deep breath.

He squeezed my hand again, and looked deep into my eyes. "If he means this much to you, I will do what I can to find out who did this. You deserve to be happy, Steph."

We sat there for a moment. He looked at his watch. "I'm late. Do you want a ride somewhere?"

I shook my head. "No thanks. I think I will sit here for a little while. I need to think."

Joe got up and paid the tab for the food and walked out. I put my head on the back of the booth. I felt tired. I kept picturing Ranger sitting in jail, furious that someone had taken someone away from him, keeping him from his life. I had to do something.

I called Lula to pick me up in front of Pino's. Soon, I heard the thumping of the bass, it was distant, but I knew it was her. A pearl white Firebird pulled up in front of me. The car was a step up from the red one that blew up a few years before, but there was no denying that it was Lula. She kept the car immaculate. The tinted glass window slid down, and the music blasted out. I covered my ears.

She looked at me funny, turned the stereo down and unlocked the door. "Why am I pickin' your ass up this time?" She said as I opened the door. "Where is your Jeep? Don't tell me something happened to it." She picked up a diamond studed animal print piece of fabric from the seat so I could sit down. "I even got a sparkly do-rag to wear to make me look good when the top is off."

"My Jeep is evidence." I said sliding into the passenger seat. "I had lunch with Joe. He wanted to ask me questions about Jeanne Ellen's murder."

She clicked her lips together. "Jeanne Ellen deserved to die. You can't walk around every day looking like catwoman. Shit is going to find you."

"I don't think anyone deserves to die." I said.

"Well no, but she was too hot. I wanted to shoot her a few times myself. Burst her bubble. Humph!"

She Looked back at me. "So, Joe just left you here? What is wrong with him? He is all kinds of rude."

"I didn't want to ask him for a ride home. It would have been.. weird."

"Why? Why would it have been weird?"

I sighed. Did I really need to explain this? "Because he has a girlfriend, and she's pregnant. I don't want her to think that he is cheating on her or something." I paused, thinking about it. "I don't know, pregnant women are weird. I would be pissed if I was pregnant and he was taking his ex to lunch. He needs to have some boundaries." I winced. I used Ranger's word. Did I really feel that way? I guess I did.

"Boundaries?" She said, looking at me confused and surprised at my attitude.

"Like drawing a line in the sand." I told her. "Don't cross that line. You know, boundaries."

I tried to pretend I had thought that one up all by myself. Ranger made it seem like it was a plausible thing. I almost believed him.

"Well, I don't need no boundaries marked in any sand. No man is gonna tell Lula who she can and can't see… Humhp."

I looked at her for a moment. "If you found out Tank took his ex-girlfriend to lunch, you're saying it wouldn't bother you?"

"Hell ya it would bother me. But, still. Ok. I get your point. Where are you taking me to eat? Don't even say Pino's. I am not about to eat here anytime soon. No way. The dead guy thing is still giving off the cootie vibe around here. I'm starving too!"

I groaned. I just finished eating. Maybe I would just get dessert. One thing for sure, I could always rely on Lula to keep everything from getting deep.

Lula decided she wanted Mexican food. We went to Federico's. It was the closest thing we had to a real Mexican cantina, and I liked the margaritas. Since I wasn't driving, I had one. Lula got down to business. She wanted to know what in the hell had happened after I had dropped her off the other night. I went from Ranger getting arrested to the talk with Carmen, to the interview, Mary Maggie and all. I was tired of repeating myself, and I was hoping that it would be a long time before I had to regurgitate it all again.

"Damn girl." Lula said, raising her eyebrows. "Nothing like Stephanie Plum back in Jersey. I knew it had to be real crazy shit going on. Tank's been acting really strange."

"Strange how?"

Lula's eyes got big and she leaned over the table to me. "I think he's going to propose."

I sat back in my booth. "Lula, remember what happened last time?"

"No, for real this time. I mean last time I thought it was real, but no. Listen to this. He came over last night. He was actin' all fidgety."

"All fidgety?"

"Nervous. You know, uncomfortable."

"Yeah, but Lula look at what just happened. The whole business is up in the air."

"Yeah, I know all that, this was different. So he sits down, right?"

"Ok, right."

"He starts asking me all these questions." Her eyes are wide, and she is serious.

"What kind of questions?"

"Relationship questions." She said sitting back, and taking a drink.

"Like?" This was interesting, and it sounded real. Last time Lula had Tank believing he proposed to her. It was a mess. This sounded different.

"Well, like if we ever did get married, where would I want the wedding to be? Then he asked me about my family."

Ok, she had my attention. "He said that to you?"

"Yeah. He also said that he didn't know if he wanted kids. That was easy since the doctor said I couldn't probably anyway. Then he asked me if I really was serious about getting married."

I was flummoxed, to put it mildly. "So, what happened?"

She sighed. "He got a call from Rangeman. Stupid assholes. They couldn't find something. They needed him to get them something or other. I don't know. But before he left, he kissed me. Like really kissed me, then he said he would come back if he could, and he left."

"This was last night?"

"Yeah. I don't know what to think. I don't want to get all freaked out about it. Remember what happened last time?"

"You need to keep me calm. Maybe he was just thinking out loud."

"Maybe, but, It sounded like more than that. I just don't know. Maybe he is freaking out over all this Ranger shit. I decided I am not going to go out picking dresses this time. No way. The last one was expensive. I ended up selling it to a transvestite. I got a good price, though."

"Well, what about your family, Lula? Are they here in town?" I had never asked her. I actually knew very little about her.

She thought about it. "I don't know. I was an orphan. I never told you that?"

I shook my head "no". She had never told me that. Wow! An orphan. I was feeling kinda crappy for never asking.

"I grew up at Lakeside Children's Home. I think my mom was a crackhead." She said looking over the menu like it was no big deal.

I had no idea Lula was at Lakeside. I thought about Tank. Maybe everything that had happened made him think about his future. It would be nice if something good came out of all this.

"So what's next?" Lula asked after she ordered. "Where do you go from here? How are you going to get that man of yours out of trouble?"

I hadn't a frickin' clue. Everything was up in the air. I shrugged, and looked out the window. I'm really not sure."

"You know it's up to you." Lula said. "No one else is really looking, if you ask me. Until you shove it in their faces, they don't even check on clues. I think the police want it to be Ranger."

The police don't have control of it anymore, the Feds do."

"The FBI? Shit girl, more of a reason to find out more on your own, The FBI is as slow as molasses."

I want to go talk to Les Seabring." I said as the waitress came by and gave us a basket of chips and some salsa. We started digging in.

"Les with the Legs, Les?" Lula said between mouthfuls of dipped chips.

"Yeah." I nodded. "He worked with her for a really long time. He may have an idea of who her doctor might be, and maybe he would know something about her. If she was that dedicated to her job, someone should know her. He might know who was seeing her. Someone has to know something. You can be secretive, but you still make mistakes."

We sat and ate in silence, both of us deep in thought. Lula had just had a life changing event happen to her, and I had a murder to solve. To say we had a lot to think about was an understatement.

"Lula, did you know that Joyce was trying to get a book deal?" I pushed the chips away from me. If I kept eating, I would need to buy the next size up in jeans. "She wants to write a self-help manual for future bounty hunters. Tell them what to do and not to do. She wants to use my exploits and takedowns to show people what not to do."

"Are you serious?" Lula said, wiping salsa off her shirt. "That woman has balls. She really does. Why does she love to pick on you so much?"

"I always wondered that." I said. Maybe I stole her boyfriend in the 3rd grade, or maybe she just has chemistry in her body that despises me. Whatever the reason, that woman is a disease. "I was talking to Mary Maggie at the book store." I continued. "She said we should steal her ideas and write our own manual. She said she would help us."

The food came, and Lula dug in. "I always wanted to write a self-help book. 'Course, I always thought it would be about things I knew more about, like sex. Now sex, that would be the book I could write." She said with authority in her voice. "We could wing the bounty hunting thing. We would have lots of tips for the "What not to do" part. It's the "what to do" that we need assistance." I think we should do it." She was excited now.

Lula's cell rang. It was Tank. When she hung up she was smiling ear to ear. I was glad they were hitting it off. Me, I wanted my Jeep back. I wanted my happy ending, damn it. She said Tank was going over to her place. We motioned for the waitress and she got a box for her food. I wanted her to drop me off at the police station. I had her stop at Paulo's Sports Bar on the way, and I ordered a large order of hot wings.

When I walked in the station, Eddie was working the front desk.

I sauntered over to him. He smiled at me, but it was guarded. "I want my Jeep. You guys can't keep it anymore."

I had to think of a reason.

"It's against the law to hold onto it." (Yeah, that's it.)

I dropped the box of hot wings on the counter. I could see his nose twitch at the smell of fresh warm hot wings. I knew I caught him at the right time.

He looked at the box. "Are those what I think they are?"

"You get my Jeep released, these are all yours."

"From Paulo's?" He looked around for a moment. "Ok Stephanie. Let me see if they are finished with it." He picked up the phone.

I knew Paulo's had the best wings in Trenton. I also knew they were Eddie's all time favorite, and something his wife would not let him eat anymore. Within minutes, a man came down from the second floor. He handed me the keys.

"We called the bonds office, and left a message that we didn't need it anymore. I wondered why it was still sitting here." He said.

I took the keys from his hand. I instantly felt free to do whatever the hell I wanted to. Hot damn! I loved my Jeep. It was mine. It was shiny. And it had a warranty. I almost skipped out of the station. My next stop was back to the office. I was curious. I wanted to see if Connie had gotten a message from the police yesterday about the Jeep. I really think she would have told me if she had.

My phone rang. I looked down at the display and cringed. It was my mother. I debated letting it go to voice mail. I thought about Lula and Tank, and my happy ending. I let it ring.