Erica seemed disappointed when I only needed the strong medications for last night. She tried to push the heavy drugs, but I needed to get back on the case. It wasn't going to solve itself. Besides, the pain wasn't as bad this morning, so I couldn't complain about having her at the apartment. She made breakfast and coffee while Carlos and I took a sexy shower. Erica wisely avoided Ranger, and he avoided her.
Ranger had to leave the apartment to conduct business. Yesterday, he rescheduled his meetings with the agent for the Haywood building and potential clients to open a Rangeman branch in Trenton. We couldn't have a security company without businesses and residents to secure. I hoped the others could build clientele without Ranger's help. If not, I would move to Trenton or stay with my in-laws in Newark with our children and hire a tutor for their schoolwork.
I tucked a loose curl behind my ear as I poured myself another coffee. The springy curl would bounce free in a few minutes. That lock of hair never stayed in the elastic. Carlos's lip would curl slightly as he gently moved it behind my ear. He would trail his finger down my neck before pulling me into a heated kiss. God knows how much I loved my husband.
After doctoring my coffee with cream and sugar, I carried it to the dining room table, where I left my laptop. I sat in the wooden chair and raised the lid. The chair didn't match the others. My apartment contained an eclectic collection of furniture. Only the mattress, protected inside a stain-resistant cover, was new.
An early morning show played on the television. I ignored the discussion on the newest products to smooth wrinkles. Facial moisturizers containing a high SPF were my preferred routine. My makeup contained enough sunscreen to protect my skin from drying out. The products weren't overly expensive but unaffordable for those on a tight budget. How could Erica stand watching those shows?
"Ugh, that product stinks," Erica complained. "Why are they pushing it on the consumer? Does the network own shares in that company?" I watched her point the remote at the television to increase the volume. She carefully set the remote on the coffee table and left the room, walking past the table to reach the hallway for the kitchen. I was sitting at the table with my back to the window so that Erica couldn't see the laptop screen, but I could see her approaching me.
Erica respected my boundaries and avoided entering my space without announcing herself, giving me time to lock the computer screen. I didn't have loose papers in the apartment since I didn't trust the locks to keep people out. Only honest people would see a locked door as inaccessible. Alex and Jillian could pick through the useless lock on my door. My children would hardly call it a challenge.
I never wanted my children to learn how to pick past various locks, but with Ranger's special ops and my undercover missions, we had to teach our children how to escape confinement in the off chance someone kidnapped them. The children never go anywhere without a safety pin or two bobby pins attached to their clothes.
Mateo needed to meet Ranger this morning regarding signing contracts to work as bond enforcement agents with Les Sebring and the other bail bonds company. Many Trenton criminals jumped bail. It wasn't the safest job, but it had high earning potential. We could use the capital to finance the Trenton branch and leave our savings alone. Carlos and I had more money than we could spend in a lifetime. I only worked hard to solve cases like my current undercover mission.
Reading medical reports was tedious work. I preferred reading hard copies to highlight pertinent information. Marking up copies I created on the laptop had to work for now. I had to maintain confidentiality and redacted the subjects' names on the documents in case I had to get Erica to explain medical things I didn't understand. The preliminary report on the saliva and hair sample matched the cells on the condom Al recovered from the apartment on Stark Street. Terry Gilman, Vito Grizoli's niece, was having sex with Detective Morelli. The other woman Morelli seduced was Carmen Sanchez.
Thank you, Al and Mateo, for collecting the evidence. Al had asked Mateo to get the proof from Morelli's apartment. I incorrectly assumed he gathered it. Why did Morelli have old used condoms in his trash? It was a rookie move by leaving potential evidence behind. Morelli should have asked his mom or grandmother to clean his apartment before going on the run. Leaving the garbage, even for a few weeks, could be the biggest mistake of his life.
"Steph, are you able to talk?" Al asked.
"It depends if you can ask yes or no questions," I replied.
Al chuckled. I imagined him rubbing his stomach, a motion he does without thinking. It started after he married my sister, Valerie. "I can do that. Are you upset I asked Mateo to help collect the samples?" he asked.
"No," I answered with a laugh. "I couldn't have done it without dry heaving. I'm not a fan of digging through garbage for evidence. Couldn't you handle the worst part?"
"You know I can, but it was impossible to be in two places at once," Al explained. "Mateo was in that area, watching Morelli's house to see if his mother dropped by to clean."
"When was the last time?" I cryptically asked. I couldn't guarantee Erica wouldn't pick up on the discussion by listening to my side. At least she wouldn't know the context of our conversation. She might if she heard my comment about digging through the trash.
"A few days before he jumped bail. He never thought to take out the trash," Al said. "His oversight was a goldmine." I cringed. It was gross. I was glad Mateo had to deal with digging through the trash because I could not assist Al without risking infection. I could have handled the garbage with my nose bandaged because I couldn't smell it. Secretly, I was glad it never came down to that unpleasantness.
"Stephanie, it's time to take your antibiotics and a mild pain pill," Erica called from the kitchen. She could have exited the kitchen with a glass of water and a pill bottle, so waiting until I said she could come to the table was unnecessary.
I rolled my eyes and locked the screen. "It's safe," I called back. Erica carried the glass in her left hand, the pills in her right hand, and she had a bag over her right shoulder. She waited until I swallowed the pills with a mouthful of water to check my nose. Erica carefully pulled away the bandage to check the swelling. I never noticed the first aid kit and other supplies when she brought my medication. Those must have been in the bag she had over her shoulder.
"I'll have to change these," Erica said, peeling them off my nose. She dropped them on a plastic tray, which I never noticed she had removed from the bag. The bandages were barely soiled. "How does it feel?"
"It doesn't hurt as much as last night," I replied. "How long do I need to wear the bandages on my nose?" They were messing with my sense of taste. I missed smelling my husband's sexy aroma mixed with his shower gel.
"Up to six more days. It depends on how fast you heal. You can't return to normal activity for another week or two," Erica explained. "No heavy lifting either. That includes groceries."
"Why?" I asked.
"It could increase the likelihood of your nose bleeding, which will land your ass in the hospital for reparative work," she explained. Yikes. I didn't want to go through another surgery. One was bad enough. The thought of the doctor giving me another injection inside my nostrils was unappealing.
"I could always ask Mom or Grandma to grab my groceries if I was desperate." Carlos already ensured I had enough in my refrigerator and cupboards to last at least a week.
"I can grab groceries for you," Al said in my ear.
"You know I have enough to get by for a while," I said, addressing both Al and Erica's concerns about my grocery situation.
Erica left the dining room to sit on the couch. She picked up the television remote and settled down to watch a movie. The volume was too high, much higher than when she grabbed the medication, but I took it as her way of giving me privacy to exchange information with Al quietly. She must have heard more of what I told Al than I would have wanted.
I curled my lips in disgust as I read the report on Morelli's semen. Without checking the DNA composition, the technician was ninety-nine percent confident the ejaculate belonged to the same man. The condoms were the same brand and contained the same percentage of spermicide. "Erica, what do you know about semen?" I asked loud enough for her to hear over the television. I retrieved the redacted documents for her to review while protecting my mission.
"What do you need to know?" she asked, turning down the volume so I didn't need to shout.
"Does all ejaculate contain the same minerals?"
"From the same man or different men?"
"Different," I replied.
"It depends. Not all men secrete minerals or other substances in their semen. Most ejaculate, even from the same man, contains different sizes of sperm. The semen would likely contain the same minerals, vitamins and glucose content," Erica explained. It went over my head. I tried looking for the information in medical journals, but they made less sense than Erica's explanation.
"How can the lab technician indicate, with one percent error, that these two samples belong to the same man?" I asked.
Erica reviewed the reports. Smiling, she said, "The viscosity is identical. He should test for sexually transmitted diseases because the colour is off."
"It was old sperm," I explained. "Found inside a condom that man used a week ago."
"Wasn't the sample dry?" Erica asked while reading the report. I motioned for her to move away from the screen to retrieve Mateo's notes on the collection.
"The man had tied them off before tossing them into the trash," I replied.
"Why didn't he flush them like other men?" Erica mused. "Speaking of birth control, you need to take precautions having sex with your husband. Antibiotics counteract the effects of the birth control pills."
"Thanks for the warning, but it's unnecessary. I had my tubes tied," I replied. Erica didn't need to know Carlos got snipped, too.
My landline rang before Erica could tell me it could sometimes fail or comment on sterility and not having children. Bones knows Carlos and I had children. It didn't seem like Erica knew, and providing that information wasn't pertinent to the nose surgery I needed. Erica reached for the phone. "Don't answer it," I ordered. "I'm not expecting any phone calls."
"Stephanie…," the falsetto voice said, "the champ wants to play." Ramirez grunted as the sound of flesh banging together filled the room. It sounded like he was masturbating over the phone. I curled my lip in disgust as Erica motioned gagging herself with a finger. "The champ will spend time with you," he said, his voice sounding husky until he grunted in release.
Erica and I were grateful when Ramirez ended the call. "That was creepy. Has it happened before? Who is the champ?" she asked.
"Never. The champ is the boxer who did this," I replied, pointing at my nose.
"You need to report the assault," Erica said, referring to the message Ramirez left. I shook my head. The cops couldn't do anything about a crass phone call. "How many people talk about themselves in the third person?"
"It depends if my friends are being weird," I replied, thinking about the time Lester talked about himself in the third person to get rid of an overbearing woman. She said he belonged in a mental institution. "We can't prove Ramirez called me. He could claim someone set him up. I don't want the hassle right now." Erica scoffed but didn't argue. She wasn't getting harassed. It was my business. I would shoot Ramirez if he came after me… after Carlos and the guys beat him to a pulp.
I returned to my work after dismissing Erica. She sat on the couch to watch some talk show with whining women. Erica giggled when two co-hosts argued. It was distracting until I uncovered something about Ramirez and his manager, Jimmy Alpha. Once I filed the assault charge against the boxer, other women, including Shaniqua Brown, claimed Ramirez sexually and physically assaulted them. It seemed everyone knew about the charges. Someone must have leaked it from the precinct, which pissed me off more than anything. I know Eddie didn't tell anyone.
Using Rangeman's search programs, I accessed the medical reports filed with the assault claims. It was as bad as Lula claimed. The women were lucky to be alive. In a few cases, it would have been better if they had died. Ramirez preferred the hookers since they were high risk by working on the streets.
The boxer didn't seem smart enough to dispose of the women. Who else was involved in the crime? Which detective had those cases? I searched the documents for the man assigned…and stopped cold. None of the women in Morelli's cases survived. Every single woman was found dead within two months of reporting the crime against Benito Ramirez. Shit. I painted a bigger target on my back by pressing charges. Who would come after me? Ramirez? Alpha? Or the flat-nosed man? Was he the person responsible for disposing of the dead women? Did he kill them too? My spidey sense said there was more to the story. I wished it would give me a clue.
"Steph, I'm sending you the results. The DNA samples match the suspects," Al jubilantly said.
"It confirms they had sex," I quietly replied.
"Detectives aren't allowed to fraternize with their confidential informants or people involved in crimes like the mob," Al said. "I have a copy of the documents Morelli signed when the Trenton Police Department hired him. He violated the terms of his contract by sleeping with his informant and the mob princess."
"And we have proof," I said.
"We have evidence, which I collected following proper protocol," Al agreed. "The Grizollis are people of interest in the DEA's case. Morelli was working as a liaison between the DEA and TPD. His career as a detective is over."
Joseph Morelli might not have lost his job by sleeping with Terry Gilman. It depended on what information he gave his lover and his level of involvement in the case. Sharing confidential information or dropping charges against her and her family are grounds for dismissal and arrest. Morelli wouldn't be that stupid. Would he ruin his reputation for the mob princess? Al interrupted my thoughts, "He would if it paid enough. Having the best ass in town and the sexy smile only gets you so far."