Jeanne Ellen sat on the couch in her Rangeman apartment. Her feet were sore, and her ankles had swelled. "How are you?" Melody asked after taking Jeanne Ellen's blood pressure. Melody recorded the results on her phone.
"Grumpy. I don't care for these restrictions," Jeanne Ellen replied. She didn't enjoy getting confined to her apartment. Jeanne Ellen would rather be at home, but Suki didn't want her to use the stairs. "Valerie and I are glad you're here. How did everything go with Dr. Struthers?"
Melody shrugged and sat beside Jeanne Ellen. "I don't care," Melody answered honestly. "I left my resignation letter on my desk. She left for a medical conference last month. It wouldn't surprise me if she cancelled the appointments for the next few months."
Surprised by the announcement, Jeanne Ellen gasped. "Why would she do that?"
"It would take Trisha that long to hire a new receptionist. God forbid she handle the patients on her own. Trisha would have to contact a temporary employment agency to find a replacement. I know it took her three months to hire me. None of the nurses I know would work for her. I'm surprised I tolerated her for two years. My friend warned me that Trisha was a complete bitch to her employees and neglecting patients by withholding information. I never believe what other people have to say," Melody explained.
"Ah. You're like Stephanie in that manner. She prefers to find out for herself, too. However, if you prove the rumours true, you don't deserve her friendship," Jeanne Ellen said.
Melody already knew how Stephanie worked. Stephanie explained why she gave people the benefit of the doubt. Too many women in the Burg spread half-truths about her for years. Melody heard those lies and never believed they were true. Stephanie and Melody talked for hours after Melody started working at Rangeman. The women got along, which helped Melody transition into the company. Stephanie worked on Melody's self-defence.
"What you're doing for Stephanie and her husband is amazing," Melody said. "I'm not sure I would be so selfless."
"How could I not? Without Stephanie's help, I wouldn't have Mica." Melody raised a brow, urging Jeanne Ellen to continue. "I'm these babies' aunt. You already know that Carlos is my brother. You know Jordan and I had to use a donor, right?" Jeanne Ellen asked. Melody nodded. "Davin Ramsey is her cousin." That was news to Melody. She wondered why they were so close.
The apartment door opened when Melody asked, "Wow. How does he feel about being a biological father of a child another man is raising?" Melody had a crush on Ram. She got flustered whenever he trained her on the weapons.
Jeanne Ellen smiled at Melody. "He feels pretty awesome because Jordan's the dad," Ram replied, entering the apartment with Jordan and Mica. "How are you, Mel?" Ram asked.
"Fine," Melody replied, blushing. She thought Ram was gorgeous. Her body hummed whenever he was close. "Um. I'm going to go." Melody felt the need to check on Valerie. She got hired at Rangeman to conduct the medical examinations for the female staff when it got awkward for Bobby. Suki helped in the past, but with her taking on Dr. Struthers' patients, she didn't have time.
"Did I say something wrong?" Ram asked, staring at the apartment door.
"Melody must like you. Do you like her?" Jeanne Ellen teased. Ram rubbed the back of his neck. Jeanne Ellen grinned. Stephanie told her about Ram's tell for when he liked someone. He was displaying his feelings for Melody by touching his neck. "Jordan, can you reach my phone?"
Jordan gave Jeanne Ellen her phone, then went to the bedroom to put Mica in her crib. Jeanne Ellen sent Stephanie a text telling her that Operation Ram Dates Melody got initiated. Stephanie instantly replied with a happy face emoji.
"How are the little ones doing?" Ram asked, pointing to Jeanne Ellen's expanded belly. She was stretched more than during her pregnancy with Mica.
Baby A was growing when Jeanne Ellen got put on restricted movements after Suki tested Jeanne Ellen for gestational diabetes. She passed the test with flying colours. Jeanne Ellen and Stephanie were happy with the news. Changing doctors was the correct decision.
"Melody checked Baby A. The ultrasound print is on the fridge. I already sent a photograph to Stephanie and Carlos," Jeanne Ellen replied. "He grew." Jeanne Ellen couldn't stop grinning.
"I bet you hate getting stuck here all day," Ram said.
"It's not too bad. I get visitors all the time. Stephanie has me trolling the newspaper archives for cold cases involving women. Hector or Peter drops by to collect the printed articles and photographs. I went through two cartridges of ink in the past few days." Jeanne Ellen pointed at the desk behind the kitchen table, where the printer got placed. "Do you want to see and hear something really strange?" Jeanne asked when Jordan sat beside her.
"What's that, my love?" Jordan wondered.
"Ram, may I have the laptop?" Ram leaned over to grab the computer for Jeanne. He placed it on her lap. She typed in the name of the San Diego Times. "Oh. Really?" Jeanne asked, rubbing her belly.
"Um. What?" Jordan asked.
"The babies are guiding me where to look," Jeanne Ellen explained. "I know they're only twenty-four weeks. But I feel a tingling sensation when I'm on the right path. It's how I found so many women in the past few days. Watch and learn."
Jeanne selected a year. She waited, then picked another one. Jeanne continued until she stopped at the current year. Furrowing a brow, she changed the months until she got to the previous week. Her hand shook as she selected Friday. On the front of the newspaper was the announcement that Dr. Trisha Struthers was found on an abandoned boat, dead. The medical examiner recognized her from the convention they attended at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront earlier that day. Local cops had searched the room, finding nothing. Her personal belongings were missing. The article mentioned Dr. Struthers had attended a few other conventions in Austin, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona, before visiting San Diego, California. Authorities are searching for witnesses or anyone who may have seen Dr. Struthers outside the hotel.
"Wow. Does Steph know you could do this?" Ram asked.
"Yes. She told me to trust whatever the universe is sharing through her children. Stephanie needed to explain how her spidey sense worked to me before I caught on to what she meant," Jeanne Ellen replied, rubbing the baby bump where each baby was lying. "Thanks, babies. Jordan, press the panic button. It will call the core team and Stephanie."
Jordan followed his wife's instructions. It took less than two minutes for everyone to arrive at the apartment. Jeanne smiled when Hector and Tito appeared. They collected the baby bottles and other supplies needed to watch Mica. Jeanne Ellen knew Hector had a portable playpen in his apartment for Mica to sleep in. She loved how he loved her daughter.
Once Hector and Tito cleared the apartment, Jeanne Ellen explained what she had found. Stephanie gasped, "Struthers would never leave her laptop behind. Has anyone located it? Or checked her bank accounts?"
"According to the newspaper article, Struthers left nothing in her room or rental car," Jeanne explained. "I can ask Melody if she could access the offline server." Jeanne Ellen sent Melody a text with the request. She arrived a few minutes later with Peter Gazarra.
"We found one copy of the backup," Melody said, "the other versions are gone. Whoever took her laptop has everything about her patients. Only a few files, like Stephanie's and yours, are unavailable because Ranger insisted I delete them from the backup."
Melody grabbed the pad of paper and a pen. She jotted down a few names from the backup file of single women who got artificially inseminated to have a baby. Those women were from New York. They preferred to handle the procedure out of state. "Do you think this connects to those murders you're investigating?" Melody asked, passing the list of names to Stephanie.
"Yes," Stephanie replied. "We were trying to determine how he gathered intel on the single women raising children. It took Dad and Mom some digging and creative questioning, but they learned a few fertility doctors had their patient files stolen after speaking to Claudia Forester or Kelly Carrothors. After showing them a photograph of Claudia, the doctors recognized her as the woman they met."
"That murdering asshole just upped his game," Lester said. He was furious.
"Her bank accounts have a zero balance. I'll scour the convention website for photographs of the attendees. Hopefully, we'll find Patrick Huntington or Phillip O'Connell. Maybe, we'll get lucky and uncover another alias," Peter said. "I'll get Silvio and Rodriguez to help."
Ranger nodded, signalling they had his approval. Peter took off to get to work.
~~~~~
Marty got Valerie to sit at the dining room table. He rubbed her shoulders before placing a kiss on her crown. "I'll grab the food," he said. Marty removed the trivets from the cupboard, then dropped them in the centre of the table. He brushed his hand along Valerie's shoulder as he walked past.
Angie and Mary Alice grinned at their mother. Marty was always finding a way to touch their mother. He was aware the girls were watching and kept it tame. When Marty had Valerie alone in their bedroom, all bets were off. He couldn't keep his hands off her, which was how she found herself pregnant. Well, that and a broken condom.
Valerie was expecting another girl. She was disappointed, but Marty wanted to try again after their daughter was born. Angie and Mary Alice couldn't wait to have another sister. They even offered to help Valerie with the chores.
"How was work today?" Valerie asked.
"Not overly exciting. You know how boring surveillance shifts are," Marty replied. Valerie giggled when she remembered covering a shift with Stephanie and Lester. They spent most of the time snacking on contraband foods and telling dirty jokes. It surprised Valerie when Stephanie told the dirtiest ones.
"I don't know," Valerie said, "mine wasn't too bad. Then again, I only went once."
Marty snorted, "I heard about that one. Lester said your face was bright red the entire time. Stephanie and Lester purposely told those jokes to see how red it could get." Marty shook his head, then sat at the head of the table. Valerie had already figured that out.
"I believe that's why I only went that one time," Valerie replied. Valerie thought it was strange for Stephanie to have a male best friend.
Angie held her plate toward Marty, who served the chicken and vegetables onto her dish. Smiling, Angie gave that one to Mary Alice before holding out the second plate for another serving. Marty smiled at Angie when she gave it to Valerie. Shaking his head, he grabbed Valerie's plate to serve Angie her food.
Marty stopped Angie from giving it to him, "Ang, you take that one. I love how you're taking care of your sister and mother, but I can wait a few seconds for my meal."
"Thank you," she mumbled.
"Have you heard from your parents?" Marty asked. Frank and Helen Plum were travelling around the country, investigating the murdered women in hopes of finding the missing children. They wanted to stop the man responsible from ruining more lives and capitalizing on selling the young boys and girls.
"Mom and Dad are in California. LA, to be exact," Valerie replied. She checked her watch. "They should be arriving in San Diego any minute."
~~~~~
"Son, has anyone caught onto your plan?" Kent asked, transferring his share of the money to his offshore account.
"No. Nobody has been the wiser," Patrick replied. "How's Mom?"
"Unbearable. She wants to hire a private investigator to find Sandra and Colin. I reminded her that we don't have money to waste. That woman spends it faster than I can earn it," Kent said. He shuddered as he thought about raising his grandchildren. Kent barely tolerated raising his son. It took a lot of convincing to stop Samantha from leaving her estate to Sandra and Colin, her biological grandchildren, in her will. Kent promised their grandchildren would receive an inheritance. Of course, it was a lie, but she didn't need to know that.
"Has she figured it out?" Patrick asked.
"Definitely not," he replied. "Your mother refuses to see what's in front of her eyes." Kent laughed sardonically. He wondered how Samantha would handle his extra-marital affair with her brother. Kent only remained married to Sam to have sleepovers with Tom. Samantha took pills to help her sleep.
During their forty-year marriage, Samantha never suspected Kent and Tom of being a couple. Sam had her dalliances with other married men. Kent made his wife believe he fucked the secretaries in his accounting firm.
It wouldn't be much longer before Samantha's father passed away. Harvey planned to leave his multimillion-dollar estate to his son and daughter. That was Kent's goal - getting his hands on Harvey's money. Kent didn't love Samantha or Tom. He loved money. Heck, Kent would sell his son if it meant making money.
Patrick had no idea what Kent had in his plans.
~~~~~
"Got you, fucker," Hector mumbled.
"What are you watching?" Tito asked, wrapping his arms around Hector's neck.
"Kent Huntington moved his money to an offshore account. I believe we found the puppet master."