Disclaimer: Not being paid the usual. Will put the real one up when I'm done. End Disclaimer.

Chapter 1

Two years ago, at the age of fourteen, Ezekiel Butler, found out he was adopted. Ever since then he had plans to get out of the hell of the life he had been living. He had contacted a lawyer, Meredith Whitmore, and she went over all the legalities that he needed in order to seek Removal of Disabilities of a Minor. Now at the age of sixteen, Zeke sat behind the table with that same lawyer waiting for his fate to be decided. For the last year he had been living on his own away from his adoptive parents. He had a job and had shown legal right that he could seek emancipation in the state of Texas. This was the last time he had to come to court, and he sat on the edge his seat waiting for the Judge to issue the orders.

He wanted his sixteenth birthday present to be his freedom. He waited for the Judge to look up. Meredith Whitmore had done more than anything he could ask of her to do. Zeke had scrimped and saved every bit of money he could to hirer a private investigator to hunt out his biological parents. He had the report in the folder sitting in front of him. He just needed the Judge to give him his birthday present and he was gone. Zeke would be heading to Trenton, New Jersey to find his birth mother and maybe his birth father if she would tell him who he was. The investigator had been real discrete when he broke into the adoption records for him at the place of these proceedings. There was a copy of the letter in a file his adoptive parents was supposed to give him at the age of twelve, they never did it. He was angrier with them now than he had been two years ago.

The Judge looked up. “Emancipation granted.” He slapped the gavel down.

Zeke couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. He looked at Meredith she was smiling at him as well.

“Well, you know what you’re going to do now?” Meredith asked him.

“Yup. Had that worked out six months ago.” Zeke stood, he was not quite six foot yet, but getting closer.

“Good luck with that Ezekiel.” Meredith stood and shook his hand.

“Thank for all the help. I couldn’t have done this without you and the PI you put me in contact with.” Zeke said.

Meredith walked out of the courthouse with him. He had the backpack with the folder inside it now ready to leave. He also had a copy of the court documents the Judge signed. It had been two hours before they got out of the court with what he needed so no one would question him. He had two thousand dollars saved up, from the two jobs he had. Zeke had gotten his GED at fifteen so he didn’t have to go to school anymore and had gotten his motorcycle at fifteen as well.

“So you’re heading to Trenton?” Meredith asked as she walked with Zeke to the parking lot.

“Yeah, I think it’s time I met my real parents.” Zeke said.

He stopped by his bike and climbed on and looked at Meredith.

“You sure are traveling light.”

“I don’t need much. I got money, and few changes of clothes. I can’t ask for more. I got my independence from the Butler’s, that’s all I wanted. Thanks for the birthday gift Meredith.” Zeke stuck out his dark tanned hand.

She shook it. “Just remember, if it doesn’t work out. You can camp on my couch if you need a leg up.”

Zeke picked up the black helmet and covered his dark black curly locks, he looked at her with his dark blue eyes. “It’s okay. Even if it doesn’t, who knows, I might like the place and decide to stick around.”

He started his bike and flashed his bright white smile and rolled the bike off the kick stand. He backed it up and turned the wheel to head for the road. At this moment, he felt free and alive with a little over fifteen thousand miles to get his destination. He flipped the blinker on and turned out onto the street. Zeke pulled the gas tighter and headed for the highway; he wanted distance from his old life to the life he was headed too.

Zeke finally pulled over in Memphis, Tennessee. He looked for hotel as his body ached from the ride. He saw the vacancy sign and pulled in. Shutting off the bike he got off and his legs felt like jelly as he walked around for a bit trying to get the blood flow to come back before he fell over. Zeke walked inside to the manager office and paid the thirty-five dollars for a room. He took the key to room fourteen and left. With the key in the door he opened it up and slipped inside. He shut the door behind him and sat the backpack on the bed. Zeke pulled out the folder again. He lifted the sheets of paper till he found the letter.

Hey,

I don’t know your name. I don’t know where you live, or anything about you. I was kid when I had you, I hope the parents who adopted you have given you the life that I couldn’t have at the age I was. I just wanted you to know that this was for the best. It may look like I’m taking the easy way out of things, but I wanted you to know, if I could take it back, I wouldn’t. It would give some other couple a chance to have something they couldn’t on their own.

Zeke lay the letter aside. He pulled out the picture of a woman that the PI gave him. He looked at her curls, and her blue eyes. Now he knew where he got it from. The Butler’s looked nothing like he did. He thought all along he was adopted and they told him lie after lie about it. Zeke stood up and walked over to the dresser and pulled off the t-shirt. He looked at the multiple scars he had across his stomach and chest. He turned and saw more running down his back.

He looked at the letter that lay on the bed. “I think I would have been better off with you.” He threw the shirt down and stalked off to the bathroom.

After the shower, he walked back out in his boxers and sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at the phone. He reached over to the folder and pulled out the contact information. He picked up the phone and dialed the number. He had done this for the last six months or better, always at the same time, almost every day. Zeke hadn’t been able to say a word yet to the answering machine he got and had hung up. When she had answered the phone several times and heard her voice he hung up as well, even with the male voice he heard he did it too.

“Yo,” He heard the male voice answer, but not the one he heard before.

Zeke looked at the phone and then put it back by his ear. Zeke swallowed and then hung up. “God I’m a chicken shit.” He hung his head. He looked back at the phone and then dialed the number again.

“Yo,” Came the male voice again.

He could hear her voice in the background. “Ranger, hang up the phone. The person never says anything.”

Zeke hung up the phone. “What kind of name is Ranger?” Zeke shook his head, “Now why couldn’t I have said that in the phone?”

He picked up the phone and dialed. “Okay this is easy, I can do this. Just relax. Take a deep breath. It won’t be that hard. Sure I’ve been dialing for the last six months at the same time but hell it’s not like I don’t have a damn good reason.”

“What is your reason?” Ranger asked.

“Shit.” Zeke hung up the phone and flopped back on the bed.

In Trenton:

Stephanie looked at Ranger. She had told Ranger and Joe both about the repeat hang up caller. It got to her nerves that she could only hear silence or cars in the background. The person never talked.

“Well?” She asked Ranger.

He sat the phone down. “Male.” Ranger ginned, “He was giving himself a pep talk. He’s your caller for the last six months. Said he had a damn good reason. So I asked and he said shit and hung up.”

“Great! Then it’s not the normal nut I have after me. I like the hang up stuff better. This doesn’t look good if he has to give himself a pep talk.” Stephanie walked into the kitchen and pulled out a beer.

Ranger followed her in. “You want me to answer again tomorrow night?”

“Might as well, at least he spoke with you. I haven’t gotten anything.” Stephanie said as she took a drink from the beer.

“Are you getting any bad vibes from this caller?” Ranger asked.

Stephanie tilted her head and thought about it. “Believe it or not, no. It’s just getting irritating.”

“Did Morelli put the trace on the phone?”

Stephanie nodded. “Yes, but he’s never stayed on long enough to get anything. You’ve had him on the longest. Joe told me to change my message to a longer one. So I did that yesterday. So we’ll see.”

“Be careful Babe. Even a pep talk caller for you might be bad.”

Ranger turned and left the apartment. Stephanie leaned on the counter and tapped the hamster cage. Rex was moving around in his shavings he stuck his whiskers out and his beady black eyes followed.

“Well Rex, he spoke. This is new for him.” Rex dove back under the shavings. “Guess you’re not interested huh?”

The phone rang again and Stephanie walked over to it and picked it up. “Okay you little pep talk caller, either talk or quit calling.”

“Hello to you to Cupcake.” Joe laughed on the other end. “I was going to ask about the caller. Where did the pep talk stuff come from?”

“Oh it’s you—Ranger came over and answered the phone. He called twice and hung up, the third time he was giving himself a pep talk.”

Joe laughed, “That narrows down the suspect field a whole lot. Male, we already pretty much had that figured out. Sounds more like a chicken shit to me.”

“Well, he’s an annoying little chicken shit. He does it every night at the same time. At least he spoke this time. Ranger’s coming back tomorrow to answer the phone again. He hadn’t spoken for me or you, so I don’t know. It’s just driving me nuts.”

“I’ll come over, and we’ll put him on speaker phone this time and see if we can’t clock it long enough to get a trace. Let me call and see if he was on long enough to have traced it. I’ll let you know, you want to go to Pino’s for lunch tomorrow?”

“Sure, let me know tomorrow at Pino’s. Pizza will do me good if you get anything.” Stephanie hung up the phone.

She finished off the beer and tossed it in the trash. “Just another normal day in the life of Stephanie Plum.” She said as she headed into the bedroom.