Ranger forwards the photo with details from Julie to Rodriguez and Hector. He hopes the men will confirm the child belongs to Stephanie Plum. If the child is in danger, Ranger wants to be close enough to rescue him.
"Dad," Julie interrupts. "He wants you to help him find his birth mother."
"Are you sure? He would have given you his birthdate," Ranger says.
"His parents only celebrate his adoption day," Julie says. "I never thought to ask about his birthday. He doesn't have social media either. I have his phone number. Do you want it?"
"Yes," Ranger replies.
"I'll send it after our call," Julie promises while yawning.
"You should get to bed. I'll call you later," Ranger says.
"Bye, Dad," Julie says before hanging up. She hopes Giuseppe isn't in trouble. It's unlike Ranger to call her about something trivial. After sending Ranger the phone number, Julie realizes the soccer tournament was a diversion. She's kicking herself for giving Ranger the information without thinking about how it will impact Giuseppe.
Julie sends Giuseppe a message to apologize. It bounces back as undeliverable. She worries about him being in danger and calls the number. The telltale beeps before the woman's voice indicate the number is no longer in service. Julie has Stephanie's phone number and calls the one for her home. Nobody answers. She doesn't leave a message and hangs up. Julie calls Stephanie's mobile number, which goes directly to voicemail. She leaves a message. "Hi, Steph. I need some advice. I'm unsure how to fix my mistake." Julie sighs before continuing, "I told Dad, Ranger, about a boy I met during the soccer tournament. Dad has Giuseppe's information because I gave it to him. I tried to message and call Giuseppe, but his phone was deactivated. Does that mean he's in trouble? Please call me back, Stephanie. I hope telling Ranger about Giuseppe didn't put him in danger."
Stephanie feels the overwhelming desire to check her messages from the phone she left behind. She calls the number associated with the voicemail and listens to Julie's pleas for help on speakerphone. "Diesel, is there a way I can call Julie without her realizing I'm not on my phone?" Stephanie asks.
Giuseppe raises a brow, something Stephanie is incapable of doing. "I know how to do that," he says, extending his hand for the phone. "It's the same concept I used to deactivate my phone from tracking. I'll have to call Mom and Dad to let them know I'm safe before they contact the police."
"I'm afraid it's too late for that," Carl says, reading the news. "Your parents said you went missing from Georgia. Someone saw you get on the train, but nobody saw you exit the train station in Miami. They think someone kidnapped you from there."
"Okay. I'll call my parents first," Giuseppe replies.
"Let me call Grandpa," Stephanie says. Grandpa will tell your dad." Giuseppe modifies how the number is displayed on the phone and returns it. Stephanie calls Julie first to reassure her that she did nothing wrong. Since Stephanie's using a burner phone, Ranger can't track her location despite monitoring Julie's device.
Julie anxiously waits for her phone to ring. The iPhone buzzes in her hand, and she drops it. She fumbles and tries to connect the call when she recognizes Stephanie's mobile number. "Hi, Steph. Thank you for calling me. What should I do?" Julie asks.
"Did your friend ask you for help?" Stephanie asks. Giuseppe nods.
"Yes, he wants to find his birth mother. Giuseppe cannot request information about his biological parents until he turns eighteen. Dad has ways of finding the information, but I don't think it's legal. He probably has his workers hack into the government databases," Julie replies.
"Julie, you did nothing wrong," Stephanie says. "He asked you for help, and you gave Ranger the information to check."
"What about his deactivated phone?" Julie asks.
"I don't know what to tell you, Julie. Was it a new device?"
"The latest iPhone, which costs a lot," Julie replies.
"Maybe he dropped his phone, or someone pickpocketed him, and they disconnected the service to sell it to someone else," Stephanie says, giving Julie more to think about. "It doesn't necessarily mean he's in danger." Stephanie knows differently but doesn't want Julie to worry about Giuseppe or get involved.
"You're right. Thank you for making me feel better. Do you think my dad will find my friend's mom?"
"Anything is possible," Stephanie replies. "If, for some reason, he can't, it isn't your fault, and you're not failing your friend. Please stay safe, Julie. It will kill your father if anything happens to you."
"I know. You need to stay safe, Stephanie. Dad loves you even though he's too chicken to tell you. It will kill him if anything happens to you, too." Julie says goodbye and hangs up the phone. She smiles and places the iPhone on her nightstand. Julie feels better after talking to Stephanie. As she closes her eyes, a thought pops into her mind. Why isn't Stephanie at home? Is there something wrong with Stephanie? Where is she? Julie rolls over to face the door. There isn't anything she can do until the morning when she can call her dad.
While Julie falls asleep, Ranger arrives at Rangeman. He goes to his apartment to review the intel from Hector, Rodriguez, and Lester. Ranger opens the file on Wolfram Braun from Lester. His face pales as he reads everything the man has done and lets his twin brother, Anselm, take the blame for the mistaken identity. Anselm isn't an unmentionable and easy to kill. Someone with Wolfram's abilities should be nearly impossible to kill. "How did the committee miss this?" Ranger asks aloud, comparing the photographs of the brothers. The differences are striking. Anselm, before his death, looked older than his twin. Nobody is inside his apartment to answer the question.
Needing to see Stephanie, Ranger retrieves the photographs on his laptop and sends the picture of Giuseppe from his phone to compare the images. Finding his parents would be nearly impossible without his surname, Giuseppe, a typical Italian given name.
Ranger opens the photographs, enlarging them until each half of the screen shows one image. He immediately notices that the nose, eyes, and cheekbones are identical. Even the eye color is almost an exact match. Giuseppe is Joseph. Ranger wonders if Morelli was the child's father. Is this why Stephanie didn't want children? She has one with Morelli, and Ranger can't fathom why Stephanie put the child up for adoption. His intuition indicates Stephanie is the child's biological mother. He runs the image of Giuseppe through the program to determine the likelihood of ancestry. It returns an 85% match. Ranger finds a stock photograph of Morelli and plugs it into the program. It's only a 5% match, which is negative. Without second-guessing himself, Ranger puts Anselm's photo from Lester's file into the program. It returns a 75% match. The program outlines the face shape, chin, ears, and hairline, indicating those features belong to the biological father, who is not Joseph Morelli.
"Shit!" Ranger says, slamming his fist on the desk. Stephanie is in danger. The intel on Wolfram proves he's a dangerous and sick man. "How did Stephanie get involved with him?"