Four to Score recap

Stephanie Plum is hired to recover Maxine Nowicki, who skipped court after taking her former boyfriend Eddie Kuntz's car. Maxine remains hidden but sends coded messages that Stephanie, Lula, and drag performer Sally Sweet work to solve. Rival bounty hunter Joyce Barnhardt follows the same trail, and people linked to Maxine and Eddie are attacked as the clues point toward missing cash. Violence reaches Stephanie directly when her apartment is destroyed, forcing her to stay with Joe Morelli and turning their recurring attraction into a sexual relationship. The final solution clears Maxine of the murders: Eddie has been killing to recover the money and silence people who might lead others to it. Eddie dies in the confrontation, Stephanie finds and returns Maxine, and the bond case closes. Stephanie ends with stronger professional alliances and no stable answer to the personal complications created by Morelli, Ranger, and the loss of her home.

Previously: Stephanie Plum supports herself by recovering clients who skip court after her cousin Vinnie posts their bail. Ranger has trained her and remains her most reliable professional backup; Lula has become her regular field partner; and Trenton vice cop Joe Morelli repeatedly crosses from former lover and rival into investigative ally. Stephanie has survived three major cases and is now an established but unconventional bounty hunter, still relying on Burg family networks, improvised surveillance, and help from people with more experience or equipment.

Vinnie assigns Stephanie to find Maxine Nowicki, who failed to appear after taking a car belonging to her former boyfriend, Eddie Kuntz. The original charge is minor compared with Stephanie's recent cases, but Maxine has planned her disappearance and does not intend to be found easily. Eddie wants the car and Maxine recovered, while Maxine begins sending coded messages that appear designed to make him revisit the history of their relationship. Lula joins Stephanie's interviews and surveillance. Joyce Barnhardt also pursues the reward, creating a second hunt in which each bounty hunter tries to exploit the other's leads.

The coded messages become the most useful path to Maxine, but Stephanie and Lula need help interpreting them. Sally Sweet, a drag performer and musician with a gift for puzzles, joins the effort and helps translate the clues into locations and people connected to Maxine and Eddie. The route suggests that Maxine's disappearance is not merely retaliation over a car. Money is involved, and Eddie is withholding part of the history. Joyce continues to shadow the investigation and compete for the capture. Stephanie also turns to Morelli and Ranger as the people behind the messages begin to face threats that exceed the stakes of an ordinary auto-theft bond.

People connected to Maxine's clues are attacked, showing that someone else is following the same route and is willing to kill to reach its end first. Stephanie, Lula, and Sally keep decoding because the messages are now likely to locate both Maxine and the reason for the violence. Eddie maintains that Maxine is responsible for the disorder, but gaps in his story and the missing money make that explanation uncertain. Joyce's interference complicates surveillance, while Morelli's police resources and Ranger's operational support become increasingly important. The danger reaches Stephanie's property, demonstrating that the pursuing killer knows who is working the case.

Stephanie's apartment is destroyed, leaving her without a safe home and pushing her into Morelli's house. Living together turns their long-running attraction into a more direct relationship even as neither settles what it means. The investigation continues around them. Maxine's messages trace a combination of revenge, hidden cash, and Eddie's past conduct, while the attacks remove people who might explain where the money went. Stephanie no longer treats Maxine as the obvious source of the killings. With Lula and Sally working the code, Ranger providing backup, and Morelli comparing the trail with police evidence, she closes in on both the fugitive and the person pursuing her.

The decoded route leads Stephanie's group to the truth behind Maxine's disappearance. Maxine took money from Eddie Kuntz and used the messages to send him through evidence of his own behavior while keeping the cash and herself out of reach. Eddie is the killer: he has followed the same clues, attacked or killed people who could reveal the next step, and tried to recover the money before Stephanie found Maxine. The final confrontation exposes him and ends with Eddie dead. Stephanie locates Maxine and completes the bond recovery, clearing her target of the murders even though Maxine still must answer for skipping court and the original theft charge. Stephanie closes the file with Lula and Sally as essential partners, while the loss of her apartment and her new intimacy with Morelli leave her personal circumstances substantially changed.

Maxine's coded route is ultimately explained by money she took from Eddie Kuntz and by her attempt to make him follow the consequences of his own conduct while she stayed hidden. Eddie, not Maxine, is the killer behind the attacks on people connected to the messages. He has been hunting the missing money and eliminating witnesses who could lead others to it. Stephanie, Lula, Sally, Ranger, and Morelli assemble enough of the route to reach Maxine and force the concealed conflict into the open. Eddie dies in the final confrontation, ending the murders and the danger attached to the cash. Stephanie locates Maxine and completes the bond recovery, while the destruction of Stephanie's apartment has already pushed her into Morelli's home and changed their relationship from intermittent attraction to an acknowledged physical involvement. The case closes professionally, but Stephanie's living situation and her competing attachments to Morelli and Ranger leave her personal life unsettled.