Joe Morelli and Ricardo Carlos "Ranger" Manoso came together on the jet bridge at Newark Airport.

"What's going on with Stephanie" the two men said in unison.

"You don't know?" Again, in unison.

Then Ranger held out his hand to stop Joe's next comment, saying, "I just returned from a job in … well, outside the country and I have dozens of test messages and my voicemail is full, but I haven't gotten thru all of them yet."

Joe shook his head "Same here. I just got back from my month-long honeymoon and turned on my phone to a hundred test messages and a full mailbox" He ran his hand through his hair. "Stephanie is in jail; Vinnie couldn't bail her out. The charge is Murder 1, according to Eddie."

"Tank reported that they wouldn't let her go to the hospital until after she was booked by Trenton PD. He said she was beaten worse than he had ever seen, multiple broken bones." Ranger was doing what he could to stay in control of his anger.

Joe continued, "The responding detective wasn't going to arrest her, he was treating her as the victim, until somebody higher up insisted on the arrest with detention. He had to fight to have her seen by a doctor after booking."

"The detective was the one to call Tank, to try and get Stephanie a lawyer. He said she would not say a word after she was Mirandized." Ranger clenched his fists. "She wouldn't even tell the doctors what happened."

"Because only an idiot would talk to a cop without a lawyer present." Joe responded. "I have told her that a hundred times. At least she listened to me this time."

Both men were silent. They both let Stephanie down. Joe, who cheated on her and got his now wife pregnant. Nancy warned Stephanie to stay away from her fiancé and Stephanie happily complied. That was over ten months ago. Nancy insisted on waiting until after the baby was born to marry Joe. She wanted to be sure he wasn't marrying her just because they were having a baby.

Ranger let Stephanie down when she showed up at RangeMan just after Nancy warned her off. She wanted Ranger to join her for a trip to Punta Cana. Ranger declined, and advised Stephanie he would be leaving on a long-term mission. He had resigned a government contract. He chose his work as a mercenary over her. Again.

It was in Punta Cana that Stephanie met and fell in love with William Ransom III, a lawyer with a large Manhattan firm. Their romance had lit up the Burg gossip with reports of her move to a secured building north of Trenton, her role in opening a satellite office for his law firm in Trenton, and the huge diamond he had presented her with six months earlier when he asked her to marry him.

Now Ransom was dead and Stephanie had killed him.

The two men who loved her looked at each other.

"We will need to work together to save her." Morelli held out his hand.

Ranger took it. "Agreed."