Hi all, thanks to all who have kept up with my story and those who review are highly valued.

Would you believe I've hit 1000 reviews?! It's unbelievable and so wonderful, I've never had that before. Thank you especially to those who have reviewed consistently with my published chapters - you are so motivational! :)

BTW: Karaleejh66 was the one thousandth reviewer. Sending some virtual hugs!

Called Up

A week later, I walked into Plum Bail Bonds office and was more than a little shocked to see a large black woman wearing hot-pink spandex leggings and a fuchsia and orange puffer jacket standing at the filing cabinets. The visual assault was blinding. Then my eyes drifted down to bright yellow boots with faux-fur trim that matched the bright yellow streaks in her hair, and I had to blink. My mouth dropped open and I looked over to see Connie's smirk as she watched my reaction.

"Hey Steph," Connie drawled in amusement.

Lula turned around from the filing she was doing, and exclaimed, "White girl! Hey you! Lookit me, I'm a regular office girl now!" 'Regular' was not a description that sprung naturally to mind.

I could only nod my head and say weakly, "Hi Lula. It's good to see you." My voice trailed off for a moment until I caught my breath. I swear, that outfit was the definition of breathtaking. "Umm," I stuttered, "I brought donuts. Would you like one?" I managed to get out.

"Oh, hell ya, girl! I've been filin' my ass off over here. I need a donut or I'm gonna waste away." It seemed unlikely. That spandex was earning its' keep; I was more concerned that if it split, we were going to get a show of more than I wanted to see.

I put the donut box on Connie's desk and, instantly, Lula dove in and grabbed a couple of the sweet treats. After she backed away slightly, Connie took one of the jelly donuts, and I grabbed the last Boston crème. "How's everything going?" I asked Connie hesitantly.

"Great!" Connie replied, "Lula's been catching up on all the filing for the last couple of days and it's been a big help. Plus, she kneed Vinnie in his junk yesterday when he tried to corner her, so that was entertaining." Connie was laughing quietly. I couldn't help my own chuckle at that too; Vinnie deserved it and more.

"When did you start here, Lula?" I asked.

"Oh, two days after I talked to you," she mumbled through another donut. "I decided I was wastin' my talents on the street. Not that I wasn't a good 'ho, ya know? 'Cos I was a great 'ho! Just that I can do more than that. So, I came around and talked with Connie here, and ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom, I'm a filin' demon." She took another massive bite of her pastry and swallowed it down. "Gotta thank you, white girl, you did me a solid. I realised you were right when you told me I could fit in here. I even bought myself a professional wardrobe an' all."

I blinked again. She had bought new clothes? Why wasn't she wearing them? I looked over at Connie and she was looking highly amused again. I realised from Connie's expression that the clothes Lula was wearing must be the 'professional wardrobe'. "Oh," I said numbly, "Well good on you. You look really… colourful." I finished lamely.

"Yup," she said cheerfully, "I got excellent style. I'm the bomb." Lula finished off her last donut and turned back to continue filing from a giant stack of files. You had to admire her confidence at least.

I made eye contact with Connie, and I could see the laughter behind her eyes. I'd have to catch up with her another time to get the full story. "You said you had a file for Rangeman?" I asked Connie.

Connie nodded, "Yeah, this one came in this morning. Nasty one. Guy's wanted for sexual assault and statutory rape. His niece; she's sixteen, but he claims she wanted it." Connie grimaced, "I don't know why Vinnie insists on bailing out these losers. This one should've been left to rot in jail." I nodded in agreement, picking up the file to peruse it. Connie went on, "Bail's only seventy-five thousand, but Vinnie was hoping you would take on some more of the mid-level skips. He's not really happy with Beyers, and he was over the moon since you brought in Morelli so easily." The fact that Morelli had been brought in without any coercion, even seemed to come in with us willingly, had seemed to impress Vinnie for some reason.

I thought for a moment, "It should be fine," I said cautiously, "We've just taken on a couple of new contract staff, and I'm sure they'd like the work, so more skips would work out." I considered a moment, then gestured at the closed office door, "Is he in?"

Connie shook her head with a big smile, "He's home sitting on a donut pillow," she smirked, her eyes flicking back over to Lula. She must have done a number on his junk.

I grinned back, "Well, we've just got another skip yesterday from Sebring. But, like I said, we've got more capacity now. And several of our contractors are keen for the work, so I'm sure we can bring in mid-level skips."

Connie looked relieved, "I'll tell him tomorrow that you agreed. If he needs to negotiate with Ranger, he can call and make an appointment, but otherwise, we'll probably have at least a couple of skips a week for you. I'll call you when you need to come in."

"Ok," I agreed, "That should be fine. Ranger's going to Miami for three days next week, but he'll be back by Thursday, and I'll be here." Carlos was going down to Miami for his regular monthly appointment with his therapist. "And we've got three staff locally now, soon to be four."

"Who's Ranger?" Lula asked, obviously eavesdropping.

"Ranger Manoso," I replied. "He's the CEO of Rangeman; we're setting up an office here in Trenton. We'll be doing personal and commercial security as well as BEA work." I hesitated, before adding a little shyly, "He's also my boyfriend."

Lula's eyes widened, "Wait! That guy who talked to me before you about Carmen and Morelli, he called himself Ranger. That the guy?" I nodded and smiled, "Gurrlll!" she exclaimed, "He's fine! He's smokin' hot! He's sooo fine! Ya done good."

I laughed and Connie and I both had to agree. I took the file and called my goodbyes to Connie and Lula.

Back at the office, I briefed Carlos about the file and about Lula. Carlos chuckled at my description of Lula's 'professional' wardrobe and Vinnie's plight with the donut pillow. "Couldn't happen to a nicer guy," he smirked. I had to agree with that. I also explained about the increased skip load and Carlos nodded agreeably, "Sounds like a good idea, and with Hector, Bobby, and Manny, and soon to be Zip as well, we should have plenty of coverage."

I started the whiteboard for the new skip, Randall Jacobsen, adding the information from the file. I realised the skip lived near Mary Lou's grandparents, and decided to give her a call to see if her grandma had any Burg gossip to share. I had already put the details of the Sebring skip up. Mateo Alonzo was another definition of the ultimate creep. Multiple counts of armed robbery, assault, stalking, and threatening behaviour. Currently he was wanted for armed robbery, attempted murder, and assault; he broke into a corner store at 1am, and when the owner had come downstairs to investigate the noise, Alonzo had pistol-whipped him until he had passed out, almost killing him. He had nearly bled out too, as Alonzo had left him in a pool of blood, until the store owner had managed to crawl to a phone and dial 9-1-1, hence the attempted murder charge. All this for about four hundred dollars, which had been all that was in the register, and a couple boxes of cigarettes.

Honestly, as much as I was enjoying working for Carlos and Rangeman, it wasn't doing a lot for my faith in humanity.

I sat down at my computer to try and see what information I could dig up on Jacobsen, when Manny and Bobby walked in. Carlos had asked them to go and check on Alonzo's home address. The told me that the place seemed deserted, but they decided to go back and check this evening, to see if he might just be using the place at night. I nodded and added a note to the whiteboard.

Manny stood and studied the whiteboards for Alonzo and Jacobsen and commented, "You know, Steph, this is really good. Really lays things out clearly. I did part of my time in the Navy in logistics and planning, and this is the type of thing that would have impressed those guys." He flashed me a quick grin, "You would have been good in the Navy," he added.

We all jumped as Carlos' deep voice drifted out of his office to say, "Army would have snapped her up first." We all laughed at that, and I blushed slightly but truly appreciated the compliments on my abilities and planning.

Carlos appeared at his office door, and we began to talk about next steps with Alonzo, and what needed to be done to get started with Jacobsen. After about thirty minutes, Bobby and Manny headed back out to check on Jacobsen's address. Carlos went back in to continue work, and I picked up the phone to call Mary Lou.

"Hi Steph!" came her cheerful voice. "I haven't heard from you in like a week. How are things?" We chatted for a couple of minutes, and I made plans to have lunch with her next week.

Eventually, I asked, "Hey Lou, do you know anything about Randall Jacobsen? He lives two doors down from your nagy*."

"That creep!" came her emphatic condemnation. "The whole neighbourhood wants nothing to do with him! Did you hear what he did to his niece? If anyone ever did something like that to my kids, I'd rip their junk off!"

I didn't doubt it; Mary Lou was a true mama bear with her precious kids. "He's skipped bail," I explained, "So we need to find him and drag him back to jail. Maybe he'll get a cellmate who feels the same way?" I coaxed for encouragement.

Mary Lou laughed at that, "That would be sweet justice," she agreed. "I haven't heard anything recently, but I'll call nagy and ask if she knows anything or has seen him." Mary Lou went on, "Did you hear about what happened to Morelli?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. I hadn't spoken with Morelli since my last trip to the Trenton PD to finalise our bond recovery.

"He's apparently getting a commendation for what happened with the drug bust and Jimmy Alpha."

"You're kidding?" I asked incredulously. "He didn't do much. We did most of the work and made the bust. We found Carmen Sanchez! We found what Alpha was doing. And Morelli's getting the credit? Unbelievable!"

"Well, Eddie Gazzara told Shirley that the brass at Trenton PD is trying to appease Morelli, so he won't sue or anything. So, they decided to make out like he was a hero and just working undercover for the bust. So, he gave Rangeman the intelligence and you guys were the muscle."

"Unbelievable!" I said again. "What a bunch of asses," I sighed. The world was not fair.

"I know," Mary Lou sympathised. "Sorry Steph. But we know the truth. And so does Morelli. He owes you guys. Maybe you can call in the favour sometime."

"Maybe," I hesitated, "I'm not sure I want any favours from Morelli though."

Mary Lou chuckled and reiterated she would talk to her grandma as soon as possible. I thanked her and we say our goodbyes. I hoped the Burg grapevine would help; it really would be nice to drag Jacobsen's ass into a cell with a big friend called Bubba! I was beginning to regret that was no longer an option for Morelli.

The aftermath of bringing in Morelli had been interesting. He'd been held in lockup for three days while the Atlantic City and Trenton PDs had collaborated to gather all the evidence. On his lawyer's advice, Jimmy Alpha had rolled over on Ramirez for what he did to Carmen Sanchez. Apparently, Ramirez had raped and beaten Carmen until she was nearly dead. Nobody could fathom how she actually made it home and managed to call Morelli, but Alpha described Kulesca and Moon's actions as a 'mercy killing', given her state.

Louis Moon and Ziggy Kulezca had followed her back to her apartment to finish her off. Apart from the assault and rape, she had seen drugs at Ramirez' place and nobody was taking any chances. Alpha was blaming Ramirez completely for Carmen, but we all suspected Alpha was responsible for the decision to end her life. Ramirez was simply a mad dog, insane and violent. Ramirez had been difficult to bring in. He had resisted arrest, and with his fighting prowess and violent temper, several cops had been injured bringing him in. Eventually he had been dragged in, fighting all the way, cuffed, shackled, and bearing multiple minor injuries from his 'falls'. Resisting arrest and assaulting police officers only added to the charges against him, and I was grateful that it looked like he would go away for a long time.

Alpha had also rolled over on named members of the Jamaican Striker for the drugs, claiming he had been pressured into cooperation and blackmailed over Ramirez to help with the trafficking and distribution. Alpha was painting himself as the 'poor manager' trying to manage a desperate and impossible situation. It was a load of B.S., of course, but it had also meant that several members of the Jamaican mob had been identified and were being rounded up. The trafficking and distribution network was widespread, and it looked like the drug scene in New Jersey was going to take a major hit with the busts being made.

After the evidence was collated and presented, Morelli had been cleared of the murder charges and reinstated. Additionally, his information looked like he would be given some of the credit for the drug ring busts. He was happy with the results; instead of taking a massive hit, it looked like his career was going to get a boost. He had asked to transfer to homicide, since his profile in vice meant he could no longer undertake any undercover work in Trenton or surrounding areas. Scuttlebutt at the Trenton PD was that Mario Sonelli was pissed that he had not made his bust. If Morelli transferred to homicide, Sonelli would be even more pissed.

Trust Morelli to come out of this looking like a saint. He always did manage to land on his feet.

That evening, Carlos and I were preparing to cook our stir fry chicken and veggies, when my phone rang. I rinsed my hands and went to answer it.

"Steph!" came Mary Lou's voice, "You'll never guess what! I talked to my nagy and she said she had seen Randall Jacobsen yesterday! He came by the house with his brother, not the father of the niece, thank God, but his other brother. Though why anyone in the family would want anything to do with him…" she rambled tangentially, before focussing back on her story. "So, I thought you would want to know ASAP."

"Thanks, Lou!" I enthused, "That's great. What's his brother's name again?"

"Sandor," she returned, "Sandor Jacobsen. He lives up in South Brunswick. He's divorced, no kids, rumour is he used to beat his wife and she took off. Sounds like it all runs on the family," she finished disgustedly. The Burg grapevine was truly a goldmine of gossip.

I gushed over the information she provided and thanked her again, before saying goodbye. I practically skipped back into the kitchen, wearing a huge, smug grin.

Carlos looked up from the chicken he was slicing and gave me a smirk, "Go on, Babe. I can see you're dying to spill it."

I told him what Mary Lou had said and he looked impressed. "Do you have an address for the brother?" he asked.

I shook my head regretfully, "He lives in South Brunswick and my telephone directory doesn't cover it. I can call my friend at the DMV tomorrow, or we can try and find it online?"

Carlos considered this, "Really we should try and act on this now," he demurred with regret. "The longer we wait, the more likely it is the skip might move on. We should go back into the office and try and find an address tonight, if we can."

We both looked down at the food I realised we were not going to get to cook and eat. I gave a little sigh and started to get out some containers to store it in. Carlos was right, but I was hungry. Carlos gave me a nudge with his shoulder and a small smile as we packed up the food into the fridge, "Look on the bright side, Babe. We can order pizza to the office and eat while we try and find the address."

I brightened at that, and we grabbed our coats to head back to the office. As we drove back to the office, I rang a nearby pizzeria and ordered a large pizza with half veggies and half peperoni and olives to be delivered to the office. After I hung up, I thought of something, "Carlos, maybe we should get an internet hook-up at home? Stuff like this will probably keep happening," I ventured.

Carlos looked slightly taken aback, but responded, "That's an excellent idea, Babe. I should have thought of that." He glanced over at me and smiled, his special smile for me, "Proud of you, Babe. Why don't you go ahead and set that up tomorrow?"

I smiled back and agreed. It was nice to be valued so much. Whenever Carlos told me he was proud of me, it gave me a warm glow throughout. I reached over and grabbed his hand to bring it to my lips, "I love you, Carlos."

"Ditto," he answered. I rolled my eyes; that would teach me to make him watch Ghost last week.

*'nagy' = Hungarian term for grandma (courtesy of Google). Grandmother is 'nagymama' and grandfather is 'nagypapa', but Google tells me that the shortened version is more common for 'grandma'.

Please review if you can.

So, what direction would you like to see this story take from now?
More bounty hunting and exciting skips?
Opening Rangeman and setting up the business?
I can try and juggle both, but would love to know what you're most interested to read.