Two weeks after meeting Claudia Jenkins, a ten-million-dollar harassment suit got filed against Stephanie. Claudia's goal was to permanently shut down Rangeman and take every cent possible without seducing Carlos. She was willing to settle out of court for twice the amount. Stephanie was furious.
Victor Tatum, the Rangeman lawyer, laughed when he received the document. He shook his head, thinking the woman was delusional to think she had a case. Everything got recorded inside Rangeman. Claudia Jenkins was about to learn what happened when you messed with Carlos Manoso and his family.
"I'm glad you find this humorous," Stephanie snapped. "I never called the bitch after setting up the initial meeting. How can she accuse me of sending threatening emails, texts and calls?"
"Everything can get cleared up with the phone records. Rangeman keeps track of all outbound and inbound calls," Victor explained.
"What if she claims I used a burner phone for the calls?" Stephanie countered.
"Did you?" Victor asked, playing the devil's advocate.
"No!" Stephanie yelled, throwing her arms above her head. "Why me?" Stephanie shook her head. She was beginning to sound like her mother. Stephanie roughly sat on the chair in her husband's office. She wondered if the forensic electronic team found anything in her email.
"They requested your emails and voice messages," Victor said after reading the court order to provide the data.
"I know," Stephanie replied. "None of my email addresses contain my married name. Every account I own has Plum somewhere in it."
"Even your Rangeman email account?" Victor asked. Stephanie nodded. She wrote the three account names on the notepad, ; ; , then pushed it toward Victor.
"These are my email addresses. I don't have others," Stephanie replied.
Victor shook his head, then contacted his partner to get copies of the evidence submitted for the case. The source of the harassing emails was . He prepared a countersuit for defamation of character, extortion and blackmail. Victor explained why he added extortion and blackmail to the counterclaim. Claudia was attempting to get a sizeable payout for not going to court.
"So we're calling her bluff?" Stephanie asked.
"Absolutely."
Stephanie loudly exhaled, pleased Victor wanted to go after Claudia. The woman shouldn't be allowed to get away with those actions. Stephanie wondered if Brent knew about her active social life. Rangeman ran a background check on Brent but didn't delve too deep into Claudia's past. It wasn't part of the protocol when meeting potential clients. Stephanie planned to change that oversight. Potential Rangeman clients must agree to an in-depth background check prior to meeting the Rangeman sales team.
Peter Gazarra received the request for an in-depth background check on Claudia Jenkins. He got Rodriguez to check specifics such as debt, bank account balance and other assets in her name. Peter dug into her childhood and education. Claudia Jenkins was Claudia Milner before getting married. Her brother, Douglas, was the only family she had left. He was serving back-to-back lifetime sentences for murdering their parents.
"Hey, Rod. Can you take a look at this?" Peter asked. Rodriguez looked over Peter's shoulder. As Rodriguez read, his eyebrows rose higher. "Am I reading this right?"
"It seems you are. Does her husband know?"
"I doubt it," Peter replied. He forwarded the details to Victor Tatum, sending copies to the core team. "Claudia, you are going down."
~~~~~
Claudia screamed as the door of her house got kicked in. She attempted to hide behind her husband, Brent, but he wasn't having it. "What have you done?" Brent demanded, hoping she would confess.
"Nothing," Claudia cried. "I'm innocent." Brent didn't believe her. Claudia was a liar and conniving bitch. She married wealthy men to access their clients or other wealthy men at charity gatherings and business conventions. Brent met Claudia at a benefit for children's cancer research. He donated to the cause after losing his young daughter to leukemia. His ex-wife, Cora, divorced Brent within a year of Eva's death.
The accountant at Jenkins Clothier mentioned money got spent on phantom fabric orders, forcing Brent to conduct an inventory audit. It wasn't the only area of the business Brent had someone look into. He got the FBI involved with the investigation, who determined Claudia had a man on the payroll who wasn't an employee. Brent wondered where Claudia had met him.
"You, my dear, are not innocent," Brent argued. "How do you know Phillip O'Connell?"
Claudia's face blanched, realizing Brent discovered her secret. She didn't think Brent knew about the fabric orders. The invoices got created on her laptop and issued to the accounting department. Thousands of dollars got transferred to her account in Miami.
It was Claudia's idea to open a second shop in Trenton, New Jersey. His research showed the demographics were wrong for his clothing line. Brent thought expanding was the right decision, but not into Trenton. Keeping his business in Philadelphia was the obvious choice.
Brent watched an agent copy the files from Claudia's computer. It was useless since she kept everything on removable flash drives.
"Sir," Agent Morrison said, getting Brent's attention. Morrison realized Claudia Jenkins didn't save anything to her hard drive. "Where does your wife store her files?"
"In the locked drawer," Brent replied. Morrison ordered his partner to grab the keys. Claudia's purse got emptied onto the table. She laughed until Morrison approached her. He caught the chain around her neck and tugged. The key fell to the floor. Morrison retrieved the key, then returned to the desk containing the drives.
He plugged one into the computer. Morrison's gaze hardened when he realized what he uncovered. "Pack it all up," Morrison ordered.
The police arrived to remove Claudia from the house. She hung her head in defeat. Agent Morrison felt horrible about the situation, but they had to arrest Brent Jenkins. "I'm the one who called you," Brent reminded him.
"I know. Are you aware of your wife's illegal activities?" Morrison asked.
"My accountant mentioned the phantom fabric orders and the man on the payroll. That's when I called you. I don't know about anything else," Brent replied. "I want to call my lawyer."
Morrison let Brent call for legal representation for himself. The lawyer agreed to meet Brent at the precinct.
~~~~~
Stephanie read the intel gathered by Peter and Rodriguez. She wasn't surprised Claudia got mixed up in horrible shit. Something about the woman, when they met, set her spidey senses into overdrive. "I'm faulty," Stephanie mumbled.
"Babe?"
Sighing, Stephanie replied, "My spidey sense indicated something was wrong, but I never imagined it would be something like that."
"We've changed the protocols for potential clients," Tank said. "Peter, Rodriguez and Silvio would run deeper searches moving forward."
Stephanie kept digging into Claudia's education and employment. How does Claudia link to Phillip O'Connell, a man who doesn't exist? Tapping a finger against her bottom lip, Stephanie had a thought, "What if Phillip O'Connell was an undercover name?"
Carlos generated an email to his FBI contact. He heard back within a few minutes. They received evidence of a child trafficking ring in the States. It was an ongoing investigation for the past decade. The FBI lost the trail until they raided Brent Jenkins's home office.
"Babe, check Kent Huntington's background," Carlos suggested. She smiled lovingly at her husband, then searched his accounting firm.
"Woah," Stephanie said. "Claudia Milner worked as a summer intern for Kent Huntington. She was there at the same time as Patrick. I bet my ovaries that Patrick is Phillip O'Connell."
"Your ovaries, Babe?" Carlos asked. His lip curled into an almost smile.
"I wouldn't bet our babies," Stephanie replied, defending her statement. "Do we help the FBI close down the trafficking ring?"
"Not unless they ask. We'll keep an eye on his activity. Claudia Jenkins inadvertently supplied us with banking information. For Patrick to move the money, he either has to visit the branch or transfer it electronically. Lester, get Hector to monitor the account and see where it gets moved," Carlos replied. Carlos wanted to keep tabs on where Patrick moved around. Eventually, someone would take notice and order the military to remove Patrick Huntington from existence.
"Hopefully, Huntington gets sloppy, and we can capture him before more children go missing," Bobby said. Stephanie nodded. She chewed her lip as she concentrated on Claudia's background.
Why did Claudia help? What did Claudia get from helping Patrick? Did Claudia kidnap the children while Patrick concentrated on murdering the women? She might have been part of everything from the beginning.
"Carlos, I believe Claudia was helping Patrick from the beginning. He needed someone to watch the children until he found homes," Stephanie said, sharing her thoughts with the others. "But that's the part I can't figure out. How did he find families for the children?"
"Babe, most sales in human trafficking happen on the dark web. I can get Hector to troll the chat rooms for intel. However, we can't move to stop the sale without permission from the FBI or other government agencies. We have to operate in the grey area of the law," Carlos replied.
"But morally right," Stephanie added. Carlos nodded that she was correct. "Could you keep track of the children or send a message to the FBI?"
Carlos had a better idea. He dialled the person he trusted to have his back. "Talk," the man ordered.
"I require your assistance," Carlos replied.
"Rangeman?"
"Yes."
"Ten," the man replied, then hung up. Stephanie wondered who Carlos talked to using a total of five words.
Binkie arrived ten minutes later, escorting General Frank Plum. "Daddy?" Stephanie asked. "You're the man Carlos called?"
"Yes, Pumpkin," Frank replied, then sat in the chair Carlos offered. "What do you need, son?"
"We have a lead on the child trafficking ring," Carlos replied. "I'm getting Hector to troll the deep web for intel."
"Have your man forward anything he finds to me. I'll get the correct people on the trail," Frank said, offering the assistance Carlos wanted.
Stephanie glanced at the men in the room. She had to know. "What's the catch, Daddy?"
"Ranger and his men get deployed to capture the asshole," Frank replied. "It's the price of doing business with the military."
"I want to help," Stephanie said. Frank grinned at his daughter. He expected nothing less from Stephanie. She would want to help the children. Frank couldn't wait until his grandchildren were born.
Carlos shared the intel with Frank, including everything Stephanie uncovered during the in-depth background on Claudia Jenkins, nee Milner. Frank remembered hearing about the double murder in Miami. It made the national news. He wondered what had happened to the girl. She got placed into foster care after her brother got arrested. It seemed the woman got herself involved in a child smuggling ring.
"Stephanie, where did Claudia go after her brother's arrest?" Frank asked. Stephanie raised her eyebrows, but modified her search results in Florida to include foster homes. She was stunned. Claudia got placed in a lawyer's home with access to her law books and expertise.
"Oh," Stephanie said, shaking her head. Stephanie wiped a tear from her eye. A few weeks after Claudia moved away from her foster mother, she started working with Huntington. The lawyer, Sonja Carlisle's son went missing. Sonja was found dead in an alley. She got stabbed and beaten. Her three-year-old son had blond hair and blue eyes. He was a handsome boy. People claimed Claudia babysat the child, but she wasn't with the boy the day he disappeared. Claudia had proof she was working at Huntington's accounting firm. Nobody reported the child as missing. Sonja's ex-husband wasn't the boy's father.
Lester moved closer to Stephanie to read the information. "That's like your dream," Lester said. Frank snapped his head in Stephanie's direction. "Steph, Sonja used her maiden name of Kowalski for her law firm. Sonja Kowalski was the lawyer's name on Sadie's adoption papers."
"It was obviously a forgery. Sonja died before Sadie's birth," Stephanie replied. Lester helped crack the case wide open. Stephanie wondered if there were other players involved that they couldn't see.
"Pumpkin, what do you remember from your dream?"
Stephanie repeated her dream for the hundredth time. Frank agreed with Stephanie's thought about it being a premonition instead of a dream. He didn't like the idea of his grandson being a potential target. "Daddy, my son helps us capture the criminal. I feel the dream is telling us how to trap Huntington. I'll let you know if the dream changes."
"I should go to brief the others," Frank said. "Carlos, I'm counting on you and your men to keep my grandson safe."
Frank knew there was something odd about Claudia Milner. His gut said she was the one responsible for murdering the women and her parents. Douglas Milner, Claudia's brother, confessed to killing their mother and father.
Carlos got his buddy, Alex Garcia, in the Miami-Dade Police Department to send him copies of the autopsy reports for the Milner double murder, Sonja Carlisle and the unsolved murder of the single mother, Gemma Brown.
Alex promised to send the photographs of the injuries for comparison. He thought it seemed odd the injuries inflicted on the women was identical to those on Claudia's parents. Douglas Milner was in prison at the time of the other murders.
Stephanie and Carlos examined the crime scene photographs and the injuries inflicted on the victims. A small nick near the bellybutton stood out to Stephanie. The medical examiner assumed the injury got caused by the murderer using the knife to cut the waist of the pants. It seemed more deliberate to Stephanie.
"I don't think I can stare at this anymore," Stephanie confessed. She passed the magnifying glass to Carlos to look.
"What am I looking at?" Carlos asked.
"The nick in the bellybutton. It's the same on all the women. Do we have an orange?"
Hearing her unusual request, Hector brought Stephanie the fruit. Stephanie smiled at her friend. "Babe?"
Stephanie reached into her boot for her serrated knife. It was her favourite two-inch blade, which was easy to conceal. She quickly whipped it from its harness and jabbed it into the orange. Carlos raised a brow. Hector pointed to the mark on the bellybutton. It appeared to be the same. "They assumed a hunting knife with a hook got used to create that injury. My blade cause the same tear in the orange. The chest wounds were from the hunting knife," Stephanie explained.
"Without finding the weapon, it's challenging for the detectives to properly identify the type of blade used," Carlos explained.
"True, but the medical examiner never considered the injury to the bellybutton as significant. They determined the other injuries between victims were similar. But I believe the navel injury is the killer's signature."
Carlos pulled Stephanie into a passionate kiss. He broke the kiss and looked into Stephanie's eyes. "Line up the navels and we'll send a copy to Garcia," Carlos ordered.
"I think Daddy's right about Claudia being involved with the murders, but she doesn't have the physical strength to inflict some of the chest wounds. However, on these two victims, most of the injuries were to the stomach, neck and arms. Those are similar to the women. The chest wounds are shallower where it hits near the bone." Stephanie needlessly pointed out the differences between the victims' injuries. Once she determined the similarities, the differences were obvious.
Trying to find anything worth pursuing from the photographs was nearly pointless. The detectives and investigators got nowhere with the clues. Claudia was in custody. There was no telling how much the woman would confess or if she would admit to the crime.