Chapter 10

         Amanda stood on the sidewalk staring blankly at the charred remains of Lee’s car while a million anxious thoughts tumbled through her head; the first and foremost being that her husband was going to go nuts when he saw what had happened to his precious baby.  She was thankful that she hadn’t been in the car at the time, or Stephanie or Francine or Lula, for that matter, but no matter how many times she thanked God that everyone was okay, her thoughts kept rushing back to what her husband was going to do.  She knew someone had come to stand beside her, but couldn’t force herself to look away from the remains of the silver sports car to find out who.

         Stephanie saw the distant look on Amanda’s face, and knew exactly how the other woman felt.  Although she’d lost more than her fair share of cars in a catastrophic blast, she still remembered how she’d felt the first time it had happened.  Granted the first car had been Joe’s, but that just meant that she had an even deeper understanding of what the brunette next to her was going through.  “After you lose more than one car to a fiery demise, you learn not to get sentimentally attached to your vehicles anymore.”

         “Yes, but this wasn’t just any car, this was Lee’s, he’s had it for almost five years.   It’s survived bullets, garbage cans and car chases,” Amanda watched as another flame shot out from where the hood used to be, “but one afternoon with me, in a strange town, and poof, it’s gone.” Her eyes suddenly grew wide and she tore her gaze away from the debris. “Joe’s Grandma Bella was right.  She warned us that something was going to happen to Lee’s car, but everyone said she was crazy, so I dismissed it as some ramblings of an old woman, and I’m sure after listening to Joe, Lee did too. If only…”

         Stephanie reached out and placed a hand on Amanda’s shoulder. “I’ll admit that sometimes Grandma Bella has a scary knack for being accurate ninety percent of the time, but that’s usually only with people she knows.  She’d never met you before, so it was highly unlikely she’d be right.” She smiled apologetically. “Guess we shouldn’t be so quick to poo-poo her ‘visions’ in the future.”  Starting to feel a little warm, she gave Amanda’s arm a slight tug. “Come on, it’s probably not a good idea to stand so close to the fire, besides I can hear the emergency vehicles getting closer and they’ll just tell us to get back anyway once they arrive.” 

         Feeling a bit uncomfortable herself, Amanda nodded a bit reluctantly and began moving to where Francine and Lula were standing with a very subdued Tommy the Sleaze.  “I can’t understand how this happened though.”  She glanced once more towards the burning rubble.

         Stephanie shrugged. “Who knows, could have been faulty wiring, after all you did say he’d had the car for five years, maybe it was just its time to go.” She didn’t want to tell Amanda that she had a very strong feeling that it wasn’t a faulty anything, that someone had most likely planted a bomb on the car, but the question was who.  The only case other than Tommy that she was working on was this one with the agents, and it wasn’t even her car that went up in flames.  So chances were that if it was a bomb, it was probably directed at one of the agents.  A fact that, if Amanda and Francine were really good intelligence operatives, they probably would have figured out anyway. She turned towards the brunette. “You know what I could go for right now, I could go for some cake.”

         Amanda stopped midstride and stared at the bounty hunter in astonishment. “Cake?” She let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “We could have been blown to pieces and you suddenly have a craving for cake?”

         Stephanie smiled. “Cake always makes me feel better, especially right after my car’s blown up.  I know this great bakery that sells day old birthday cake that no one’s come to claim, real cheap.” She gently nudged Amanda. “It’d be my treat.”

         Amanda laughed again, a little more jovially this time. “Tempting, but I think I’ll pass.” The idea of eating day old cake, though probably still slightly fresh, just didn’t really appeal to her, especially not right now. Sighing sadly, she glanced briefly at the wreckage then back towards Stephanie. “So, how many cars of yours have actually ended up like Lee’s?”

         Stephanie twisted her face in thought as she ran down the list in her head. “At last count, I think I’ve been in possession of about six cars that have either been blown up or smashed into a pancake.” The image of the Rangeman Porsche blowing up and then being flattened by the garbage truck was a memory she’d never forget. “Oh wait, I forgot about the garbage truck, although I never drove it or anything, it did blow up because it fell on the Porsche Ranger had loaned me, which had exploded because of a bomb. So, I guess the count should probably be seven. But,” her expression turned serious, “none of them were really my fault.  They just had the misfortune of being around my bad karma, which I fully blame on my job.  If I knew that the life of a bounty hunter was going to be so dangerous, I never would have set foot in my cousin's office and begged him for a job.”

         Amanda groaned. “Somehow I don’t think that telling Lee that his car is now a pile of molten metal because it happened to be around your supposed bad karma is going to make him feel any better about the loss of his baby.” She turned around and stared at what was now nothing more than a smoldering skeleton of her husband’s precious sports car. “He loved this car.  Granted it’s been in the garage for repairs more than it’s been out, but when it wasn’t being fixed, he really cherished it.”

         Lula sauntered over to where Stephanie and Amanda were and sighed audibly. “I should learn to start bringing some marshmallows and those metal stick things to put them on whenever I go out with you, girlfriend.” She turned towards Stephanie. “We’d never go hungry, since your cars always turn into barbeques.” She looked up at the sun, which was no longer directly overhead, but starting its slow descent towards the horizon, and shook her head in disappointment. “Guess we ain’t goin’ to the beach. I was really looking forward to working on my tan, too.  It’s a good thing we didn’t contact that Mrs. Benton ahead of time, ’cause now we don’t feel obligated to call and tell her we ain’t gonna make it after all.”

         Amanda turned towards Francine. “You know, you and Stephanie could head over there if you wanted to. It’s not like any of you can do anything around her anyway. I’m the one who needs to wait for Lee.”

         Lula nodded her head enthusiastically. “We could pile into my car, since Amanda won’t be going with us, there’s enough room to put Tommy in the back and haul him back to jail, then we can just high tail it to the beach.  There’s definitely enough daylight that if we go now, I could still get a pretty decent tan.”

         “I think Seaside Heights is going to have to wait till tomorrow.” Stephanie glanced over at Lula and then back towards Amanda.  “I know you’ll probably say we don’t need to stay, but the truth is that I know almost all the cops and emergency personnel, so it’ll make things a lot easier on you when they start questioning you about what happened.” Not to mention the fact that she wanted to be present to personally tell each and every one of them that she had nothing to do with this car exploding.

         Francine, who was still firmly holding the cuffed Tommy at her side, turned towards her friend. “I agree with Stephanie, Mrs. Benton can wait until tomorrow.” She moved a little closer to Amanda and lowered her voice. “Besides, if it means that I don't have to spend another second with miss-absolutely-no-fashion-sense, I can stand waiting one more day to get any more leads on Adam.” She noticed the perplexed look on the brunette’s face and frowned.  “If I have to spend one more minute alone with that Lula person, Amanda, I swear on what’s left of Lee’s car that I will jump off the next bridge I see.”

         “She’s not really that bad, Francine, she’s just overly eager.” Amanda had to admit that although her language was a bit colorful, she found Lula to be a bit of comic relief, and right now, she needed something to keep her mind off of their current situation.

         “Trust me, she is that bad.” Francine was about to explain to Amanda just exactly how horrible Lula was, when the first fire engine rounded the corner.

         Stephanie watched as one of Trenton’s finest turned onto the street right behind the big red truck, and came to a stop in the middle of the road, effectively blocking any more traffic from rolling past the scene.  The passenger side door opened, and forgetting momentarily that her boyfriend was undercover at Pete’s, she half expected to see Joe emerging from it, since he usually arrived moments after the emergency vehicles.  However, she wasn’t the least bit surprised to see Carl Costanza’s head pop up over the roof of the car instead.  She and Carl had known each other since school and had even dated once or twice. Although nothing serious had ever developed between the two of them romantically, they had managed to remain friends.  “This wasn’t my fault, I swear to that, Costanza.” She pointed towards the wreckage as a grinning Carl approached.

         “It never is, Steph and yet you’re almost always present at the disaster.” Carl looked over at the cuffed Tommy the Sleaze and then at the bounty hunter’s disheveled appearance. Stephanie’s hair was mussed and traces of leaves and twigs were stuck in between various curls.  There was dirt on her face and a nice big rip in her jeans and Tommy didn’t look much better. “FTA related explosion?” He asked, not even bothering to hide the amusement from his tone. “I told Big Dog,” he pointed towards his partner who was now directing traffic away from the scene, “that I should have put more of a wager on the fact that we’d find you here.”

         “Wager? On me?” Stephanie glared at him in mock annoyance. She knew that she was the running joke around the station house and that any time a call came in for a fire or explosion, everyone at cop central was placing some bet or another that she was involved.

         “The minute the call came in that a car had exploded in the ritzy district, we all placed bets that you were somehow involved.” Carl grinned from ear to ear. “Looks like I won the bet, though, I wish I had bet more.  Ah well, three hundred bucks isn’t bad.”

         “Three hundred!” Stephanie scrunched up her face in disgust. “Isn’t it illegal to gamble? I mean you are paid to uphold the law, not break it.”

         Carl shrugged. “Not when it’s you we’re betting on.  Heck, even the Captain gets in on the wagers.  Besides, we don’t really call it gambling or betting…we call it entertainment.” He grinned jokingly at Stephanie, as he playfully pushed her shoulder.  His expression turned slightly serious when he noticed his friend’s eyes widen at the thought of all the cops getting in on the action. “Don’t worry, Morelli’s never in on the game. It’s no secret that he’s not thrilled with your career as a bounty hunter, but the rest of the force,” his lips turned up into a grin again, “is behind you one hundred percent. Our lives were extremely dull and boring until you came along and livened things up.”

         Stephanie rolled her eyes. “Glad to know I provide a service for the boys in blue.”

         “So whose car did you kill this time?” Carl asked as he pointed at the wreckage.

         Amanda had only been half listening to the banter between the cop and Stephanie, and focused the majority of her attention on the firemen hosing down what was left of the fire engulfing Lee’s car.  She turned, however, when she heard officer Costanza’s question. “Stephanie didn’t ‘kill’ anything.  It was my…fiancé’s car and the truth of the matter is that it just exploded all on its own.  We were all a good hundred or so feet away.”  She then turned towards the brunette. “I wish I knew how to get a hold of Lee.  I’m not looking forward to seeing his reaction to this, but he really does have a right to know about it.”

         Stephanie smiled knowingly at Amanda. “Don’t worry about it. I can almost guarantee that he’s heard about it and is already on his way.” She sighed at the agent’s puzzled expression. “The one downside of dating a cop, or upside depending on how you look at it, is that the minute disaster strikes me, all the emergency personnel, from paramedics to a firemen, are calling Joe and since Lee’s with Joe…you can bet that they’ll arrive any minute now.” She glanced up and saw Joe’s truck right behind the third fire truck to arrive on the scene. “See, what did I tell you?”

         Amanda felt her stomach bunch into knots as she followed Stephanie’s gaze.  She cringed inwardly when Joe pulled up to the curb and barely had time to turn the engine off before she caught sight of her husband jumping out of the passenger side. She took one look at the distraught look on his face and her heart sank.  Assuming that his expression was a direct result of what was left of his car, she put on her best sympathetic smile. “I'm so sorry about the car, Lee.”  She said as soon as he was within earshot. “But look on the bright side, at least you won't have to worry about Phillip messing up something under the hood anymore. I know how much it stressed you out every time you caught him anywhere near it.”

         Lee had noticed the worried tone in his wife’s voice and, in two long strides, he was at Amanda’s side. He immediately pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her. “I don't care about the car.  I'm just glad you're okay.” He pulled apart a little and looked her up and down, assuring himself that she was, indeed, unharmed.  Not seeing any visible signs of injury, he pulled her closer, reassuring himself that she really was safe. “You are okay, aren’t you?”

         Amanda nodded. “I’m fine…but, Lee, your car…I’m so sorry.”

         Lee shook his head and pulled back slightly, fixing his wife with a very serious expression. “Amanda, the car's replaceable…you're not.”

         Amanda managed to smile as she wiped a stray tear from her eye.  She really did love this man. “Thank you, Lee. But you don’t have to say that just to make me feel better.  I know how you felt about the Corvette.” She took a deep breath as she gazed into her husband’s eyes. “Can you honestly stand here and tell me that you’re not even a little upset about the car?”

         Lee sighed and placed a kiss on his wife’s forehead.  “Fine, if it’ll make you happy, then yes, I’m going to miss the car…but there are other cars out there, cars that are ten times better and faster than this one was.” He nodded his head towards what remained of his silver sports car and smiled. “In fact, I’m actually looking forward to going out and buying a new one. I think I’ll even let Phillip help me pick out the next one, it just won’t be silver.” He smiled, trying to lighten the mood. “Silver seems to have bad luck.” Noticing that his attempt at humor didn’t seem to lighten his wife’s mood, he wrapped his arms tighter around his wife’s waist, his expression turning serious again. “Right now, however, the only thing I care about is the fact that you’re safe.  I mean that, Amanda. You could have been seriously injured, or worse killed, and I’m just happy that you’re okay, and I really could care less about the current condition of my car.”  He sighed contentedly as he felt his wife relax in his arms.  He then smiled at Morelli who was making is way over to them.

         Joe approached the group and looked directly at Stephanie with a slightly bemused expression. “How’d it happen this time?”

         Stephanie crossed her arms in front of her and glared at Joe. “Honestly I had nothing to do with it. I was nowhere near the car with anything flammable when it blew up. We were all chasing after Tommy, who, by the way, I finally caught, hence the holes in my jeans and the crap in my hair.”  She commented as she pulled another twig from her hair.

         Lula bounced with excitement. “You should’a seen her. She tackled him, and they started rolling around in the dirt.  If they hadn’t been swinging punches at each other, you might have had cause to get jealous.”

         Joe glanced speculatively at his girlfriend. “So you caught Tommy and somehow the car magically exploded.”

         Francine had had enough of everyone picking on Stephanie.  Still clutching Tommy tightly to her, she moved in front of Joe. “That’s exactly what happened.  Forensics will probably find a bomb strapped to the car somewhere, because that’s the only explanation for the random explosion.”

         Lula nodded in agreement “Craziest thing I ever saw, we’re all traipsing back with Tommy in tow and we get about four cars away and wham, the Corvette just goes up in flames.” She shook her head in disappointment. “Such a shame too. Beautiful car.”

         Lee wrapped his arms around his wife’s shoulders. “Thank God no one was inside at the time.” He leaned over and placed a loving kiss on his wife’s cheek. “I mean that with all my heart,” he whispered in her ear to try and put all her fears to rest.  He knew his wife well enough to know that she was still quite worried that he’d be upset about the state of his car.  Truthfully, he was going to miss it, but it was just a car and, as he’d told his wife a long time ago, you don’t love a car, you can get attached to it, but you never love it; at least not like you love a person.  Nothing could or would ever replace the fulfillment he got from loving Amanda and being loved by her and by being a part of a family.  His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an unhappy groan from Morelli.

         “I told Big Dog to keep all the riff-raff out, we don’t need any more people attending this little party, and that includes the press.” Joe glared at the brown sedan that had just pulled up behind his truck.  “I bet you even money that guy’s looking to get his very first by-line, featuring my girlfriend the accident prone bounty hunter.”

         Carl smiled. “I’ll take that bet.”

         Stephanie narrowed her eyes. “You would. I think someone needs to tell your wife about your gambling problem, Costanza.”

         Lee scrunched his face in thought and shook his head. “I don’t think either one of you is going to win that bet.” He glanced over at Morelli. “I don’t think he’s with the press.  That’s a federal car, and I’m almost positive I saw him at Pete’s, which means he’s probably FBI.”

         Lula whistled and leaned towards Stephanie. “I don’t care if he is a fed, if he’s single, I’m claiming him, cause he is f-i-n-e…fine. Mmmm…mmmm.” She smacked her lips together and began fluffing up her hair.

         “FBI!?” Stephanie ignored Lula and glanced at Joe with an accusatory glare. “Why would the FBI be at Pete’s, and why did he follow you here?”

         “Well isn’t this an interesting little gathering.” The tall, dark-haired agent said as he approached the group standing not far from the wreckage of a burning car. “I had a feeling the gentleman posing as a Texas buyer wasn’t really from Texas, especially when the two of you,” he pointed between Joe and Lee, “appeared to be a little chummier than two men who’d just met.  That was quite a show you put on with the blonde, Morelli.”  

         “Who the hell are you? And how is it that you know me, and I don’t know you?” Joe glared at the stranger, he had no idea who this man was, but he didn’t appreciate him letting that cat out of the bag. He didn’t have to look at Stephanie to know that she was getting ready for a fight.

         “Who cares who he is,” Stephanie gritted her teeth and stepped directly in front of Joe, “were you really working a case at Pete’s or were you working your moves on Terry Gilman.” She crossed her arms in front of her and glared. “Just how far down your throat did she have her tongue?”

         Joe took a deep breath and lowered his voice. “This is neither the time nor the place for this, Stephanie.”

         “The hell it isn’t.” Stephanie pointed towards the small group around them. “They’re my friends and I don’t keep secrets from my friends.  I want to know what the hell you were doing with Terry Gilman at that bar.”

         “Exchanging information.” Joe balled up his fists and forced himself to keep his arms at his side.      

         “It looked like you two were exchanging everything but information if you ask me.  I was almost embarrassed enough to suggest that you two go get a room somewhere.” The dark-haired stranger then looked closer at the face of the brunette and realized that he had probably said way too much. “Sorry, man, didn’t mean to get you in trouble with the missus.”

         Stephanie turned her anger onto the stranger. “Oh don’t worry, I’m not his missus, and I don’t think he has to worry about me ever being the little missus.”  She turned her back on Joe and walked over to take Tommy from Francine. “I think it’s time that we put him somewhere safe.” She yanked the cuffed man from the blonde’s grasp and walked over to Carl. “Can you put him in the back of your squad car? I don’t want him getting away.”

         Carl nodded and took the bedraggled man from his friend. “No problem, Steph.” He gave a short wave goodbye to the group and then led Tommy away, thankful to be getting far away from the growing hostilities.

         Stephanie kept her back to Joe, and went over to stand beside Francine. She really didn’t want to be near Lula right now, afraid that her friend might say the wrong thing, and she needed to be near someone who was as fed up with the opposite sex as she was.

         Lee had noticed the look on Morelli’s face and knew that the cop was probably one step away from beating the stranger to a pulp for his little commentary. “We seem to have gotten sidetracked.” He said as he let go of his wife and moved between the two men.

         The federal agent dug into his jacket and pulled out his government identification. “Daniel Petrakis, FBI”

         “Oh my gosh!” Amanda brought her hand to her lips in shock and then smiled brightly. “Daniel Petrakis. I can’t believe it’s you.” She made her way over to where her old friend was standing. “I thought you looked familiar, but it’s been so long since I saw you last, so I wasn’t sure, well not until I heard your name.”

         Daniel turned and grinned at the bubbly brunette, instantly recognizing the familiar ramble, he grinned. “Amanda West, is that you?” He let out a laugh. “What am I saying of course it’s you, I’ve never met anyone else who could fit so much into one sentence the way you do.”

         Amanda nodded. “It’s Amanda King now.”
         “Well it has been almost twenty years since we saw each other last,” Daniel nodded and sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re married, and that you married Joe King either. I always knew that you two would end up tying the knot.  How is Joe these days?”

         “I guess you could say he’s doing well.” Amanda gave him a small smile. “We got divorced a few years ago, and he’s happily remarried now.” She was just about to say that she was happily remarried as well, but quickly stopped herself, since Francine was the only person in this gathering that knew about her and Lee’s true marital status.

         “I’m sorry it didn’t work out.” Daniel gave her a sympathetic smile.

         Amanda waived his sympathy aside. “Don’t be. I’m not. We had two wonderful boys together and we’ve managed to stay quite close. So, did you and Meredith ever get married?  I remember you two were more inseparable than Joe and I.”

         Daniel shook his head and let out a reluctant sigh. “Sadly, no.  Meredith and I never married.” He shrugged his shoulders slightly at the look of sadness that crossed his old friend’s face. “Don’t get too sentimental about it, Amanda.  We just weren’t meant to be.  Our careers took us different places.  I wanted to pursue law enforcement, it’s why I went to law school, in the first place.  I had a friend in the FBI, and he recruited me.  I trained at Quantico, but then got transferred to the Newark Field Office.  I’ve been here for the last ten years and don’t regret a minute of it.”  He then looked back towards Lee and Joe and then back to Amanda. “So what are you doing here, this hardly seems like your scene.”

         Amanda laughed. “It’s a lot more my scene than you’d think.” She reached into her jacket and pulled out her government ID. “I got a job working in the intelligence community ,too.”

         “Damn, the sweet innocent Amanda West I knew became a spy,” Daniel grinned, “and working for the top secret Agency, too. How the devil did you end up there?”

         “Right place at the right time. Of course if it weren’t for a very persistent waiter and a bunch of men in red hats, I’d probably be an administrative assistant right now.” Amanda smiled at her husband and then noticing his rigid stance and the clenched fists at his side, she did her best to stifle a laugh.  She had been so caught up in seeing an old friend that she had forgotten all about Lee’s jealous streak.  She reached out and gently ran her finger down his arm, then, when she felt his arm relax, she took his hand in hers. “Daniel Petrakis, I’d like to introduce you to my partner and fiancé, Lee Stetson.  Lee, Daniel and Joe went to Georgetown together.”

         “Lee Stetson, as in the famous Scarecrow?” Daniel’s eyes grew slightly wider when Amanda nodded. “I’m impressed, Amanda. This man’s a legend, at least within the FBI.” He reached out his hand to shake Lee’s.

         Lee let go of his wife’s hand and accepted Daniel’s. “I’m sure most of the stories are grave exaggerations.”

          “While this little reunion is absolutely thrilling,” Francine commented sarcastically. “I’d like to know why the hell the FBI is investigating a car bombing?” She glared at this old college buddy of Amanda’s with contempt. For some reason his cavalier attitude and the fact that he just waltzed right onto the scene acting like he was the lead investigator bugged the crap out of her.

         “Not that it’s any of your business Blondie,” Daniel smiled cynically at Francine, “but I have reason to believe that this bombing may be related to a case I’m working on.”  He then glanced over to Lee. “I’m glad to know that I haven’t gone rusty.  I had some serious doubts that Ricky Joe Jackson was your real name.”

         Lee looked a tad bit hurt. “I thought my impersonation of a Texan was pretty damn convincing.”

         Daniel shrugged. “Maybe to a bunch of locals who’ve never been outside the Tri-State area, but to someone who has family in Texas, it was just a little off.”

         Stephanie, who was still seething at the thought of Joe and Terry Gilman causing a scene at Pete’s, had been watching the exchange between Amanda and Daniel with mild interest.  She looked closer at the agent and had to admit that Lula wasn’t wrong about him being good looking.  Agent Petrakis had jet black hair and olive skin that gave him an almost Mediterranean look. His gorgeous green eyes twinkled, and his mouth was shaped so beautifully that she had a strong desire to wrap her arms around him and kiss him, just to see if his lips felt as good as they looked.  That thought alone brought a smile to her face, because kissing this Greek god would definitely send Joe into an absolute frenzy, which was exactly what he deserved right now. “I have to admit, I never would have pegged you being from Texas.  Your accent definitely doesn’t sound like you’re from south of the Mason-Dixon line; it has a definite New York quality to it.”

         Daniel smiled. “I’m not from Texas myself. I just have family out there.”

         Amanda chuckled at her husband’s slightly hurt ego.  “Well, I’ve had occasion to meet Ricky Joe, and I have to admit, he did seem a little too full of himself. He definitely gives those good ole boys from Texas a bad name.” She smiled and patted her husband’s cheek affectionately.

         Lee raised his eyebrow. “If I remember correctly, the last time you met Ricky, I’m the one who ended up with a drink all over me.” He looked at his wife with a mock pained expression. “Don’t you think Ricky Joe’s taken enough abuse?”

         Amanda smiled seriously and leaned closer to her husband. “Yes, and I’ve decided to take back what I said about him,” she moved her lips next to his ear and whispered, “sex with Ricky Joe is definitely not a disappointment.”

         Noticing that the conversation was quickly going down hill, Daniel cleared his throat and decided that it might not be a bad idea to change the subject. “So, what’s the Agency doing this far away from home? I didn’t think the organized crime here in New Jersey was even on your radar.”

         Before Lee could answer, one of the firemen who’d been working on the car came over with something in his hand. “Thought you might want to see this, Morelli.  Definitely a bomb, but it’s not one we’ve seen on Stephanie’s cars before.”

         “That’s not too surprising.  She does attract some interesting characters, so I’m not surprised it’s a different type.” Morelli glanced over at Stephanie. He caught her eye and gave her a knowing smirk.  He was going to have a long talk with her about not doubting his instincts again.  He knew she should have taken the Buick. 

         The fireman shook his head. “This looks too professional to be the work of the kind of psychos that usually target Stephanie.”

         Daniel looked over at Joe. “Do you mind if I take a look at that?” When Joe shrugged and the fireman moved closer, he leaned in to get a closer look at the device.  His eyes glanced over every visible inch and then let out a low whistle when he recognized a small marking on the charred black box.  He’d seen that marking on a few bombs before and it instantly confirmed his suspicions that this bombing was directly related to his case. “This is one of Carlos Veranos’ bombs.  See this little CV here in the archaic script,” he pointed to the initials, “it’s his trademark.  He puts it on all of his devices.  He always seems to have an alibi whenever one of them goes off, so we can’t directly pin him to the crime.” He glanced up and looked directly at Lee. “You’re here in Trenton because you’re tracking Veranos, aren’t you?  Is that why you and Morelli appear to be working together?”

         Lee shook his head. “Yes and no.  Amanda and I had been looking into Veranos’ business down in D.C., but he disappeared before we had a chance to talk to him.  We’re here in Trenton because we’re trying to track down a bigamist. We found out yesterday, totally by chance, that Veranos was here, which is how I ended up at the bar with Morelli.”

         “So the Agency’s the reason Veranos reappeared here in New Jersey.  We were wondering why he suddenly started dealing with the big dogs up here again.” Daniel tilted his head and looked at Lee curiously. “Wait, you aren’t talking about Benjamin Adams, are you?” 

         Lee nodded a bit hesitantly. “Yes, but…”

         Daniel smiled and shook his head slightly. “I guess you aren’t aware that Benjamin is Veranos’ number one business liaison.”

         Lee glanced over at his wife, who, he knew, was just as shocked as he was. “No, we weren’t.”

         Francine threw her hands up in the air. “Why me? Why can’t I find a normal guy? One who isn’t connected to dangerous criminals.” She shook her head as she realized that even Jonathan had gotten involved with Brody.  Granted Brody had duped Jonathan into thinking that she was working for the wrong side, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating.  One thing was sure, after Jonathan and Benjamin, she was going to start running background checks on every man she dated from now on.  

         Daniel looked over at Francine. “What do you mean?”

         “Blondie here was going to be Benjamin’s fifth wife.” Lula pointed towards Francine. “Guess your files on Adams aren’t as good as you thought, especially if you didn’t know about that.”

         Francine turned and glared at Lula. “Do me a favor, and keep your nose out of my business.  I don’t go shouting to everyone I meet that you used to be a hooker, do I?” She hissed through clenched teeth.

         Amanda reached over and put a hand on her friend’s arm.  She could feel the tension radiating off of half the people here, and having had one explosion already today, they didn’t need another, even if it was just a verbal one. “Benjamin, although we knew him as Adam Clyde, seems to either enjoy using women to establish his covers, or he really just can’t help himself.  I’d like to believe that he really does fall for these women, and that he doesn’t enjoy using them as a means of establishing his many aliases.  Anyway, Francine and Adam – Benjamin really, met and fell in love.  They had only recently gotten engaged, when I met my mother and a friend of hers for lunch in Baltimore, and it turned out that this friend was married to a man who looked exactly like the man we knew as Adam.  Lee and I ran a background check on him, and found out who he really was.  We were in the process of trapping him, when he got wise and took off.”

         Daniel gave Francine a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry.” He then glanced back over at Amanda and Lee. “Everything’s starting to make more sense though.”

         Joe cleared his throat and looked directly at Daniel.  “Although your insight into this bombing is greatly appreciated, I hope you don’t expect to come in and take over this case.  Trenton Vice has been trying to link Grizzolli to Veranos for the past four months, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to be pushed aside because the FBI wants in.” He clenched and unclenched his fists a few times. “I’ve been gracious enough to work with the Agency on it, but that was because Lee was willing to pretend to be an interested buyer, I refuse to throw away months and months of planning just so I can pass the information over to you.”

         “Relax, Morelli,” Daniel put a hand up to ward off the cop’s accusations. “I’m fully aware that this is Vice’s show, and more to the point, your ballgame.  I have no intention of stepping in and taking over. I was assigned to work the background on this case, watch you and wait until we were sure that Veranos was in possession of some material that was recently stolen.  My superiors told me not to make direct contact with you, unless something major went down.”

         “And you think that this particular car bombing was major enough to convince you to come out of the shadows and risk getting in trouble with your bosses?”  Stephanie briefly glanced over at what was now a pile of water, ash and metal and then looked back at Agent Petrakis and shrugged. “Even I’m not crazy enough to do something that dumb.”

         Daniel raised his eyebrows slightly and tilted his head slightly. “I think that blowing up a car belonging to an agent of the federal government is pretty major, don’t you?”

         Amanda looked at Daniel with a slightly confused expression. “But you didn’t know that this was Lee’s car until about ten minutes ago.”

         “True,” Daniel shrugged, “but either way, a bombing is pretty significant, especially now that I know that this car belonged to the famous Scarecrow.  Besides, even if I didn’t know that, I still had my suspicions back at the bar that things weren’t quite as they appeared to go by, and that’s why, when Lee and Morelli left together, I followed them here.”

         “How do you know that Lee’s car exploding has something to do with this case that everyone seems to be working on, everyone except me that is,” Stephanie narrowed her eyes in Joe’s direction then looked back at Daniel. “I don’t mean to burst your bubble or anything but cars do have a tendency to explode whenever I’m in the general vicinity.”

         Lula nodded her head vigorously. “She ain’t lyin’ neither.  She has the worst luck around cars.  She looks at ’em wrong and poof, they go up in smoke.”

         Daniel let out a strong laugh. “Oh, I’m fully aware of your exploits, Ms. Plum.  I've enjoyed reading about your many escapades, they managed to brighten up my day.” He then grinned apologetically. “I’m sorry for not recognizing you at first, and I do apologize for causing any kind of rift between you and Morelli.  That certainly wasn’t my intent, and had I known that you were who you were, I wouldn’t have said anything.”

         Stephanie didn’t feel like thinking about Morelli with his hands on the gorgeous blonde, so she ignored his apology and focused on his first comment instead. “What do you mean you’ve read about me? As far as I know, I’ve only made the papers twice.” If Carl were still standing nearby she would have loved to have grilled him to find out just what kind of reading material the station was passing out.

         “I was referring to your file.” Daniel looked closer at Stephanie Plum, renowned bounty hunter.  He had to admit that if he had met her on the street, he’d have had a very hard time believing that she was an apprehension agent, not that he was one to really judge a book by its cover.  However, having read the reams of information on Miss Plum, he had to admit that the brunette in front of him had to be the luckiest person he knew, there was no other explanation for her managing to consistently get her man. “It makes for very interesting reading.”

         Stephanie placed her hands on her hips. “The FBI has a file on me?”

         “They have a file on almost everyone in law enforcement, Babe.” Ranger nodded respectfully at the FBI agent, who very subtly returned his nod of recognition.

         “Damn, where the devil did you come from?” Lula glanced around looking for one of Ranger’s familiar black cars. “Do you have a link to Scottie or something? Is that how you always manage to just pop into a scene? Do you just buzz the Enterprise and ask to be beamed down from your home planet?”

         Ranger smiled at Lula and then looked over at Stephanie. “Tank heard about the bombing on the scanner and I just knew it had to be your handy work.”

         Stephanie smirked. “This one really wasn’t my fault. I was nowhere near the car, and I’m getting tired of repeating myself.” She then glanced at her watch and looked back at Ranger. “What took you so long? You usually arrive around the same time as Morelli.”

         “I was delivering that wife beater to the station when the call came in from Tank.” Ranger shrugged his shoulders slightly. “Tank said that there were no casualties so I dropped the body receipt off to Vinnie first.”

         “Glad to know where I rate.” Stephanie rolled her eyes then turned back towards Agent Petrakis. “I don’t buy the fact that the FBI has a file on everyone, so I want to know why you have one on me.”

         “It’s nothing to get excited about.” Daniel smiled reassuringly at the brunette. “The FBI has been tracking some weapons that were stolen from Fort Dix and word on the street was that they’re going to be sold through a middleman to El Salvador.  We got word that Veranos was going to contact the Grizolli family, and we know that Grizzolli sometimes arranges information to be passed through Morelli.  Since our records indicate that you and Morelli have been seen together a lot, our research department ran a report on you.  Don’t worry, you aren’t the only one we did a background check on, we basically wanted to find out information on everyone that Morelli has contact with.  Yours just happens to be the most memorable file we have.” He turned towards Joe. “I do find it interesting, though that the blonde never once showed up on our radar.”

         Joe took a deep breath and did his best to restrain himself.  He had an overwhelming urge to punch Agent Petrakis in the face. Breaking this man’s nose would cause him great satisfaction right now. “Would you mind telling me why the hell you have me under surveillance?” Not only was he pissed at this agent for starting a fight between him and Stephanie, a fight that he really didn’t need at the moment, but he was also mad at himself for not noticing that anyone was following him.  He was usually a lot more aware of his surroundings than that.

         Daniel shrugged. "Don't take it personally.  We've seen you in the company of some pretty well known organized crime bosses, and had to make sure you weren’t on the take.”

         Joe narrowed his eyes at Petrakis. “I can assure you that I’m not on the take. I never have been and never will be, and I’d appreciate it if the FBI needs to be involved with a case I’m working, they come to me. I’ve worked with quite a few of your boys in the past, so I don’t appreciate the cloak and dagger crap.”

         Daniel nodded. “I’m fully aware of your past cooperation with the Bureau. But this case is a bit more complicated, and it seems to be getting more complicated by the minute.”

         Stephanie was still extremely pissed at Joe, but she knew him well enough to know that he was right on the verge of starting something physical. Mentally sighing, she subtly maneuvered herself between Joe and the FBI agent. “So why do you think Lee’s car blowing up is connected to whatever it is that everyone seems to be working so discreetly on?” She then turned towards Ranger. “You’re not working on trying to catch Veranos too, are you?” When Ranger shook his head and looked at her like she had three heads she rolled her eyes and smirked at him. “I’m only asking because apparently Lee and Joe and Agent Petrakis all seem to be.”

         “Sorry to disappoint, Babe, but I don’t have my hand in that till.” Ranger smiled and then looked over at Agent Petrakis.  “What’s the FBI doing here? Car bombings aren’t something that you guys usually investigate.”

         Daniel nodded in agreement. “That’s true. As Stephanie pointed out, it ties into an ongoing investigation the Bureau’s been carrying out on Carlos Veranos. And despite what everyone seems to think, this bombing is not linked to Ms. Plum at all.  In fact, now that I know more of the facts, I believe that Veranos or perhaps even Adams, specifically targeted Lee’s car.” He looked over at the agent. “I think Veranos is wise to the fact that you’re in town and is trying to get you out of the picture.  I don’t mean this in a negative way, because I’m glad that no one was killed, but Veranos’ bombs hardly ever miss their targets. Unless,” his mouth twisted in thought as he glanced over at his college buddy. “Amanda, didn’t you say that you guys were nowhere near the car when it blew up?”

         “Yes, we were almost a block away.” Amanda nodded then looked at her friend quizzically. “What are you getting at, Daniel?”

         “Well, I’m thinking that maybe Veranos wasn't attempting to kill you, but rather distract you.  I don’t think he’s aware that you’re investigating him but, since Adams is technically his second in command, it could be that he’s trying to shake you off of Adams’ trail.” Daniel nodded more to himself than to anyone else as things started to become clearer. “Knowing how much trouble Adams has already caused Veranos, it makes perfect sense that he wouldn’t want you or anyone else coming in and getting wind of the deal and stopping it before he has a chance to complete it.  If he doesn’t deliver soon, his buyers in El Salvador are going to buy the goods from someone else.”

         “And you’re convinced that the deal is going down here?” Lee asked, a bit skeptically.  About an hour ago, he and Morelli still hadn’t received any information that Grizzolli was even involved with Veranos, and he wanted to know why this FBI agent seemed to be so sure.

         “Oh, I’m positive.” Daniel nodded more vigorously than he had before. “All the players are back in town, so something big is going down, and soon. When the guns were stolen from Fort Dix five months ago, we received some sketchy intel that they were going to be shipped out of Trenton and either go to New York or somewhere else to be sold to a foreign terrorist organization.  Then, Adams was arrested and some of the weapons showed up in his trunk.  We did some investigating and found the link between Veranos and Adams but before we could start investigating Veranos, he’d pulled up shop and then Adams skipped bail and disappeared.”

         “And you thought Adams would resurface floating face down in the Hudson?” Lee shot an understanding look in Daniel’s direction.

         “Actually, from what we’d found out, Adams was too important to Veranos’ operation for him to end up as fish food.” Daniel shook his head. “No, Veranos has enough connections that he can erase enough information on someone so that they fade into the woodwork.  How do you think Adams ended up with so many aliases? Anyway, we finally traced Veranos to an import/export company in D.C. that he’d apparently acquired about a year ago, so we transferred responsibility to the bureau down there, and I guess they went to the Agency for assistance.”

         Lee groaned. “Figures, Smyth had us doing FBI legwork, under the guise of doing some old research. Typical bureaucratic B.S.”

         Amanda gave her husband a placating look. “Lee, that’s not true and you know it.  Mr. Melrose gave us the stolen gun assignment because the intel the Agency had received from El Salvador linked directly into the Import/Export research project I’d done for Beaman’s class, and Southern Star just happened to be one of the companies I’d already visited.  Granted it wasn’t owned by Carlos Veranos at the time, which is what we were going to use as our excuse to talk to him, remember?”

         “I remember the assignment, Amanda, but trust me,” Lee ran a hand through his hair, “this is beginning to smell a lot like something Smyth would do to us.  Billy may have been the one who told me that our agent in El Salvador passed the information along, but you know as well as I do that all departments report to our esteemed leader,” his voice was laced with sarcasm as he spoke, “and that included Beaman, so Dr. Smyth was fully aware of the fact that you’d done the initial investigation into all those Import/Export businesses, including Southern Star.  This whole thing is so twisted and entwined, that I wouldn’t put it past him to have known that Adam Clyde was Benjamin Adams and that Francine was involved with him.”

         Amanda gave Lee a look that told him he was stretching things just a little too far. “I seriously doubt that Dr. Smyth knew that Francine was in a serious relationship, let alone that she was dating a known criminal.  He’d have wasted no time writing her up for that one.” She then looked directly into her husband’s eyes and then looked down at her hand and absently began to play with her ring finger, hoping he’d get the hint.  Francine had gone to bat for them with Dr. Smyth with regards to their marital status, and he would love nothing more than to have something to hold over her head, thereby counteracting Francine’s threat to him.

         “Whether Smyth is behind this or not, we’re involved up to our eyeballs, so if it’s all the same to you.” Francine glared at Lee, “I’d like to find out the rest of this, because if it’s going to help us capture Benjamin, I definitely want in, no matter who gave the original orders.” She turned towards Agent Petrakis. “Please forgive my co-worker, sometimes he lacks manners.”

         “No offense taken, I assure you Miss…you know we haven’t been formally introduced. You know my name, but I haven’t learned yours.” Daniel gave her his most charming smile.  He realized that they might have gotten off on the wrong foot, but there was definitely something intriguing about this take charge blonde.

         “Francine Desmond.” Despite her better instincts, Francine found herself strangely drawn to this agent and graced him with an endearing smile. “Now, please…finish your report.”

         Daniel chuckled. “There isn’t much more really.  The D.C. bureau was keeping an eye on Veranos, but he didn’t seem to be moving forward, at least not that we could see.  Then, one day he closed up the D.C. shop completely and resurfaced here less than a week ago.  Our sources say they’ve seen Adams in town as well.”

         “You mean Veranos wasn’t angry with Benjamin for getting caught with his merchandise, and therefore having so many fingers pointed at him?” Having grown up around enough organized crime, Stephanie had a hard time believing that Benjamin wasn’t, in fact, fish food. 

         “Oh word on the street was that Veranos was very put out with Adams.” Daniel nodded. “That’s why Veranos went back and sat quietly down in D.C. until things quieted down.  We figured Adams would have been clear across the country, we had no reason to believe that he’d stay so close to his employer.”

         “I bet Veranos wasn’t happy with Adams for almost getting caught again.” Lee turned towards Ranger. “I guess we know why your searches didn’t bring up Adams’ wife in Baltimore.  Veranos made sure that she couldn’t be tied to Benjamin.”

         Francine smiled a bit ruefully. “Somehow it makes me feel a little better that Adams probably doesn’t have many more lives left.  I’d say he has one more strike left, and then he might just end up floating in the Hudson.”  She sighed regretfully. “I’d hate to lose out on wringing his neck personally, but I won’t shed a tear if Veranos disposes of him, just as long as it’s very slow and very, very painful.”

         Ranger didn’t usually show emotion in public, but the blonde’s obvious dislike for the man who’d led her astray struck him as funny and he let out a chuckle.  Then, when his pager started buzzing, he pulled it off his belt and looked at the number.  Letting out a small grunt, he slipped the device back into its holder. “Gotta check in with the office.” He then towards Stephanie. “Glad to see you still in one piece, Babe.”

         “Nice to know you care.” Stephanie shot Ranger a very flirtatious smile.  She knew it wasn’t a good idea to tease Ranger, knowing full well that he could collect his payment at any time for the loan of the Porsche and many other bits of assistance he'd provided her with recently.  She suddenly realized that she seemed to be racking up quite a bill with him lately.  Although she doubted he’d do anything in public, she didn't doubt that he would hesitate in carrying her off to a secluded spot and having his way with her. A shudder of fear and excitement coursed up her spine at the thought of seeing Ranger in all his naked glory. “Hey, have you guys turned up anything on Adams, I mean has he made contact with his Grandma at all?” She kept her eyes firmly locked on Ranger, knowing full well that any attention she paid to her mentor drove Joe crazy, and she wanted to make him extremely jealous.

         Ranger shook his head. “Nothing. He’s definitely laying low. Petrakis is right, he’s most likely on to the fact that the Agency’s here looking for him.” He then turned and headed for his car, which he’d parked quite a few blocks away.  He cared about Stephanie, and would do whatever it took to keep her safe, but that didn’t mean his business didn’t take a hit every time she destroyed one of his cars.  Better to be safe, than sorry.

         As Joe watched Stephanie so obviously flirting with Ranger, his blood pressure began to rise exponentially.  He knew that she was getting in as many digs as possible to get even for the whole Terry affair, but that didn’t make it any easier to digest.  Not wanting to have another spat with her in public, he decided to get her alone later and hash everything out, so he turned his anger back on the agent who’d gotten him in this mess in the first place. “I still don’t understand why a full blown character analysis was done on me and everyone I came in contact with.  Vice is always very cooperative with you suits.”

         Daniel had a feeling that he had probably let too much out of the bag already, but since he’d already started, he’d never get Morelli’s cooperation if he didn’t tell him the rest, and if there was any hope of finding the stolen weapons before they were sold, he’d need Morelli on his side.  He sighed as he looked over at Morelli, knowing that he was in for some very unpleasant reprimands when this case was over. “When we got word that Veranos had moved the operation back here, we dug a little deeper and one of our contacts informed us that he’d heard whispers that Grizolli was somehow involved.  Since you’ve done work with us before, we were well aware of the fact that the Grizolli family had cooperated with Vice in the past, but had always used you as their main contact.  That’s why we put you under surveillance, Morelli.  We figured that you’d be the key to getting the inside scoop on what Grizolli was really up to.  However, we did it on the hush-hush, because we feared that if Grizolli got wind of us sniffing around, he might not make a deal with Veranos?”

         “There are other ways you could have gotten word to me that you wanted information.” Joe sneered. “Next time the Bureau wants my assistance, just come right out and ask, because if I find out that you’ve been sneaking around behind my back again, you can guarantee I won’t be so cooperative in the future.”

         Daniel nodded and shrugged apologetically. “My assignment came from very high up, but I’ll pass your message on when I give my final report.  I want you to know, that I think you’re fully justified in being annoyed with us. Personally, I wouldn’t want to find out that I’d been under surveillance either.” He felt a wave of relief hit him when he saw the lines of anger slowly start to disappear from Morelli’s face. “So, who was the blonde back at the bar?  She must be someone important otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to just waltz past the bodyguards posted outside the back room you were in.”

         “Her name’s Terry Gilman,” Stephanie answered before Joe had a chance to put his foot any further down his throat.  She realized that something big was going on, and that Joe was most likely just playing a role in order to get information, but that didn’t mean that she was ready to come close to forgiving him.  No matter how the cards were stacked, he had still lip locked with his old girlfriend, and that alone didn’t sit well with her at all. “And there’s a very good reason she had an all access pass, she’s Vito Grizolli’s niece.”

         “She’s Terry Grizolli?” Daniel let out a low whistle and then bit his tongue before he got Morelli in any more hot water.  What he had wanted to say probably wouldn’t have sat well with any of the females standing around him.

         Joe nodded. “She’s my usual connection to Vito.  Grizolli confides in her, and she passes the information on to me.  She got married a few years back, and when the marriage dissolved, she kept her ex’s last name.  It suits her purpose since not many people link her directly to Vito.” He then glanced around at the growing crowd of on-lookers. “Look I think we’ve said way more than we should have out here in the open.  I think it’s time that we break up this little party now before any of Grizolli or Veranos’ men start poking around.  We can reconvene back at my house.” He turned towards Daniel. “You’re more than welcome to join us and I’m sure you know where it is, so I don’t need to give you directions.” He then looked over at Lee and Amanda. “I’m pretty sure Lula has room for the three of you,” he nodded in Francine’s direction.          

         “Lula’s Red Cab at your service.” Lula began fumbling in her purse for her keys. “I’ll take you as far as Vinnie’s but then I need to run some personal errands. It’s been fun and all, but I’ve had about as much excitement as I can handle for one day.” She smiled and shrugged. “And besides, I gots me a really hot date tonight.”

         Amanda smiled pleasantly at Stephanie’s friend. “Thank you Lula, we appreciate the offer.” She then turned towards Joe. “Don’t I need to file a report with the police? I haven’t given a statement to anyone, and I’m sure that things like this don’t just get swept aside without some kind of explanation.”

         Joe shook his head. “You don’t need to file anything. I’ll call Costanza and have him write up a preliminary report, then I’ll add what you guys told me to the report.  That way we can leave out some of the more detailed aspects.” He saw the look of doubt on Amanda’s face and smiled. “Trust me. It’s a lot easier this way.” He then glanced over at the curly-haired brunette. “You’re riding with me.” He glanced back over at the others. “We’ll meet everyone back at my place. Steph and I’ll pick up dinner on the way over.” 

         Stephanie had spun towards Joe with daggers in her eyes the minute he’d issued the command that she’d be going with him. “The hell I’m going with you, Morelli. I don’t even want to talk to you right now, let alone spend any time in close quarters with you. I’ll get a ride with Costanza and Big Dog... I want to make sure I get my body receipt for Tommy.”

         Joe knew she was really good and pissed at him, but hell, he wasn’t exactly thrilled with her at the moment either. Regardless, they needed to air their dirty laundry out in private, and it needed to be done sooner rather than later.  Too much was riding on this case, and he didn’t need to worry about a lover’s spat with Stephanie as well. “Sorry, Cupcake, but you are coming with me. You and I need to talk, in private, so that I can explain about Gilman…and we can hash out a few other issues.”

         “I really don’t care what you do with Terry Gilman any more.  She can have you.” Stephanie turned on her heal and started walking towards Carl’s squad car.

         Lee watched the scene between Morelli and Stephanie with brotherly concern. He had been watching Morelli very closely during his exchanges with Petrakis, and though he didn’t think that the cop would intentionally hurt Stephanie, he’d seen the anger in Morelli’s eyes.  He’d been in that spot a time or two himself, but he didn’t have hot Italian blood running through his veins, which Morelli did, and there was no denying that Morelli was itching for a fight.  He took a step in their direction, but stopped when he felt his wife’s familiar touch on his arm.

         “Let them be, Lee.  They need to work this out alone.  She’ll be all right. No matter how mad Morelli seems, he won’t hurt her.  He loves her too much to do her any physical harm.” Amanda then nodded her head towards the direction of Lula’s Firebird. “On the other hand, I can’t say the same for Francine.” At her husband’s raised eyebrows, she chuckled. “Let’s just say that I think Lula’s tried her very last shred of patience.”

         Lee glanced once more in the couple’s direction, and watched as Morelli caught back up to the bounty hunter, before turning back towards his wife and nodding reluctantly. “Okay, let’s go keep Francine from committing murder.” He then let out an unhappy sigh as he followed his wife.  He had a feeling it was going to be a very long, very uncomfortable ride back to the bonding agency.

         Joe had taken two quick steps to catch up with Stephanie, and when he was right beside her, he gently grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop. “But I don’t want her, I want you. Now, you’re coming with me and I’m going to talk, and you’re going to listen. I’ll drive you to the station so you can get your body receipt, then we’ll drive over to Vinnie’s so you can collect your bounty, and then you and I are going to pick up the Civic, drive it to your parents, lock it in their garage and get the Buick.”

         Stephanie narrowed her eyes at Joe. “You lost the right to try and tell me what to do when you started making out with Terry Gilman in public.  It’s bad enough when you do it behind closed doors, but I really draw the line at forgiving you when you suck face in front of witnesses.” She shook his hand off her arm and then crossed her arms defiantly across her chest. “And furthermore, I am not getting the Buick. It wasn’t even my car that exploded.”

         Joe shrugged his shoulders.  “True, but somehow you’ve managed to get under someone’s skin, and the Buick is reliable and safe.”

         “And has insane luck.  All my other cars get rammed, blown up or stolen, but the Buick…not even the most expert arsonist can make a dent in it.” She muttered as she rolled her eyes.

         Joe smiled. “Face it Cupcake, you make the most rational man want to hog tie you and lock you up somewhere, just to keep you off his back, and right now we’re mixed up in something that’s gotten very big and way out of hand. I like having you in one piece way too much to let you risk your life any more than necessary.” He leaned down to kiss her lips, and wasn’t a bit surprised that she turned her head, causing his mouth to land on her cheek instead. “Please, just come with me.”

         Stephanie threw up her hands and then put on her best pissed off face.  Truth was, when he started using his pleading voice, she had a hard time turning him down.  She knew he loved her and that he was only being a pig-headed ass because he was worried about her and about this case, but she wasn’t going to let him know that she was weakening; he needed to sweat a little longer. “Fine, I’ll ride with you, but only because it appears that Carl and Big Dog left already.” She sighed as she watched the squad car driving off and then glared back at Joe. “But don’t think that just because I’m going with you means that I’ve even come close to forgiving you or that I’m agreeing to ride around in that clunker of my grandma’s.”

         Joe smiled, knowing that Stephanie was beginning to soften her resolve. “We can discuss all this in the truck.” He then grabbed her hand and led her towards his truck.  He wasn’t trying to be a caveman, but he just knew that if he didn’t get a firm grip on her, she might just run off and hitch a ride on one of the fire engines. Even though she seemed ready to listen to reason, he knew her well enough to know that she could put on a very convincing act when she wanted to.  He’d briefly toyed with the option of cuffing her to him, but it might have made driving just a little difficult, and it would also lead his mind down the wrong path. Right now they needed to clear the air between them and he didn’t need thoughts of sex with Stephanie running rampant through his mind; there would be plenty of time later to enjoy the pleasure of making up.