Janet Evanovich owns the characters. I'm just borrowing them.

/

The next morning, I roll out of Ranger's bed after hitting the snooze button three times. Ranger Magic is exhausting, at least for me. The Wizard himself, Ranger, has been up and gone for a few hours already. Yawning widely, I take advantage of Ranger's large and luxurious shower before dressing in dark blue skinny jeans leftover from a previous visit and one of Ranger's t-shirts. It's a yoga day with Lula so I don't see much point in getting truly ready for the day when I'm just going to need another shower again in a few hours. After cruising through the kitchen to grab a to-go cup of coffee, I see a lone Boston Crème donut sitting on a plate at the end of the counter. Biting into it, I can tell this isn't an Ella donut. Ranger brought me a Tasty Pastry donut this morning. There's no note, but I know it was him. He loves me. Ranger's big on gestures instead of words and that works for me.

I arrive home just in time to unlock the door and turn off the alarm system for Jeff Wolesky. He shoots me a grin as he leaps down from his truck. "Today's the day, Steph! Not that I don't enjoy seeing you every day and I appreciate the work, but after the crew and I leave today we won't be back. We did a little better than I thought getting everything knocked out and ready to go yesterday. This is your last chance to tell me you want those guest bedrooms painted, otherwise the guys and I are just doing cleanup today."

Sweet! I grin back at Jeff and shake my head. I'm holding firm to the plan of painting the guest bedrooms at a later date after I figure out what the design plan will be. If I procrastinate long enough, Doris and Jimmy may be moved to Trenton and I can get Doris' help since she has excellent decorating abilities. I've seen Doris in action before with the home I inherited in Illinois and I loved everything she helped with on that house. "Alright Jeff, do you need me to do anything today or just stay out of your way as usual?"

"You and I already went through everything a few days ago. If you want to be available about five this evening, we can do a final walk through to make sure you're still happy with the work and then that'll be it." After assuring him I'd see him at the end of the day, I wind my way through the house and then out back to my garage apartment slash office. Tomorrow hopefully it would be back to being just an office, since I plan on moving back into the house as soon as possible. I think I've outgrown tiny apartment living.

Lula arrived and we went through our yoga routine. It's definitely becoming easier for her and I thinking we'll be moving up to a more difficult level soon. Maybe she'd want to go to a class with me sometime now that she's got the basics down. Maybe she'd join the local YMCA and we could run on treadmills in the winter instead of outside. I'd joined the Y back in Jacksonville and I liked that it never seemed as hard core as some of the other fitness facilities. There tended to be a lot of regular people at my fitness level, at least at the one in Jacksonville. I hope the one in Trenton was the same way. "So Lula, what do you think of the YMCA?"

"I love that song! Those men and their dance are classic!"

They were, but wasn't quite what I meant. "I mean the YMCA, like the gym?"

"I've never been to one since I never had the money. I don't think I can afford it now even though I've been doing better with my skips."

This may have to be a Christmas gift or something. Lula is sensitive about money sometimes, not that I blame her since I'm the exact same way. I wonder if this is how Ranger always felt trying to help me. We polished off our post yoga coffee and went our separate ways for the day. Lula had big stakeout plans and I have more computer work to do. After my second shower of the morning, I was ready to get started on my work day. As my computer boots up, I go through my notes on everything so far. I write down everything Mom and Grandma told me last night about Kevin and Joyce Barnhardt.

For the sake of being thorough, I start searches running on the list of women that Vinnie emailed me. I didn't recognize anyone on his list. They must not be from the 'Burg or had never been one of my skips. While organizing my information on Joyce, I decide to run a search on Kevin, also for the sake of being thorough. As I started going through the freshly printed results on Vinnie's women, I realize why I don't recognize anyone. Vinnie was actually clever enough to do his long term cheating (as opposed to a Stark Street hooker quickie) out of town. None of the women are local. One lives in Point Pleasant, a few are in Philadelphia, and another is in Atlantic City. While none of the women are pillars of their community, I don't think they're the blackmailer either. They seem to live fairly normal lives aside from associating with my cousin and a few of them cheating on their spouses. They're all employed with regular income and with a regular amount of debt. These searches, even though they're legal, are so invasive that it's difficult for anyone to come out smelling like a rose. Even my sister, St. Valerie, or my mother even, would probably not look so saint-like if I did a search on them.

By this time, Kevin's search is complete and I print out the report. I flip through it casually and then stop in shock, the pages falling out of my hands to float down to the floor. "What the hell?" I shriek out loud, startling Rex who had been busy noshing on hamster crunchies up until that moment. He retreated to his soup can in a hurry after my exclamation. Poor Rex, my hamster roommate, knows me well and knows when to run for cover. He's a smart hamster, because I shove my chair back and leap to my feet, stomping around the room, waving my arms in irritation. "What. The. Hell?" I repeat, as if someone is going to answer me even though I'm alone except for Rex. How could I not know this information? There has been a serious breakdown in the 'Burg gossip grapevine because this should have been big news at some point.

After winding down from my mini-tantrum, thankful no one was around to witness it, I rip open a new box of Tastykakes and eat two in quick succession. I gather up the loose sheets of paper littering the floor around my desk and assemble them in order. Flipping to a fresh page on my legal pad, I start slowly reading my way through the report. Nope. I wasn't mistaken. Kevin Barnhardt has a criminal history. He's been arrested twice for burglary and once for extortion, but never in Trenton or Mercer County. This is probably how the 'Burg grapevine fell down on the job. Kevin was only actually convicted on one of the burglaries. The charges were dropped due to lack of evidence on the second burglary and the extortion. The cases for the burglary and extortion are still open, but are a few years old now. Joyce was not involved in any of his previous arrests. My search programs won't tell me any more than that. I could go to Rangeman. Ranger would let me use one of his computers. His legally grey programs would let me read the actual police reports on an active case but it's a slippery slope I'm not sure I want to start down with my new business. In the past, I never had an issue using Ranger's resources to track down a wily skip, but this feels different.

I feel slightly sick to my stomach. I'm not sure if it's because I've had nothing to eat today but a Boston Crème and two Tastykakes, or if it's my case. I never thought it could be anyone but Joyce. Yeah, I went through Vinnie's list, but I wasn't surprised that nothing jumped out at me with those women. I only ran Kevin's name through the program because he's Joyce's brother. I never thought it could be him. I really thought it was her. Maybe it still is her, but on paper Kevin definitely has the background for this. Joyce is evil and manipulative and I hate her, but she has no documented history of burglary and extortion, unlike her brother.

Unable to wrap my head around the sudden change in suspects, I decide to spend the next few hours in Denial Land. An afternoon at Point Pleasant sounds perfect right about now. I feel the urge for a corn dog and maybe a funnel cake. Maybe an afternoon of playing skeeball, eating junk food, strolling the boardwalk, and sitting on the beach will help me focus on what to do next. I decide against telling Ranger my plans. I have a tracker. If he really wants to know where I am, he'll find me. I have to be back by five anyway to walk through my house with Jeff. I hop in the car and head for the shore.