Chapter 2

We'd collected all of the skips local to Trenton so now we needed to decide whom to go after next. Zach was meeting me here at my apartment at 10am but by 11.30 I was starting to get worried. Where the hell was he? He hadn't answered his phone and his car wasn't in the car park. The problem was I didn't even know where he lived. A call to Connie went unanswered, it was a workday so where the hell was she? So I did the next best thing. I called Vinnie.

"Morning Vinnie, sorry to disturb you but I'm missing Zach, do you have his address?"

"Sorry Steph but Connie had all the information. Look it won't do any good anyway, the office got broken into last night, every file and piece of paper, hell even the computers were destroyed"

"Hell Vinnie, who would do that?"

"No idea, the cops don't have any ideas either"

"What about your surveillance equipment?"

"Destroyed, I let Connie know, she's gonna be at the courts trying to pick up any paperwork she can"

"Well I have all the skip papers"

"Good, good at least the paperwork on the current skips is safe, you work on those, there's enough to keep you going for awhile and when you've got them all we should be up to speed"

Now what? I needed to find Zach; did he have something to do with the break in? Nah, but maybe he was in trouble. I reverted back to following leads the old way; yeah talking to people I knew who might have access to information, namely Rita who worked for the department that oversaw car registration.

"Morning, Rita speaking, how may I help?"

"Hi Rita, Stephanie Plum here, can you maybe help me out?"

"Girl you know I'm not supposed to do that"

"I know, but the bonds office got destroyed last night and my partner is missing, I'm real worried about him Rita"

"All right just because it's you, give me his car plate and I'll pull it up"

After I'd given her Zach's plate for the jeep I sat tapping my fingers on the coffee table while she put me on hold.

"Here you go sweetheart, the address given is 27 Hancock Street, I hope you find him"

"Thanks Rita"

I pulled on my coat and with my car keys in hand, set off down to my car. It didn't take long to get to get to Hancock Street and there in front of the house was Zach's Jeep. Maybe he slept in? But I didn't think so and my spidey senses were going off, something was wrong. I parked further down the street and walked past the house, trying to get a good look inside. It was a small terraced house with a window next to the front door and two windows upstairs, nothing seemed out of place but I carried on walking until I came to a lane that went up the side of the house next door, hopefully there was a back entrance into these properties. The gate was open at the back, not because someone had been through but because it was broken, so carefully I crept up to the back wall, ducking down below the level of the window. I couldn't hear anything but I was sure someone was in there. I snuck up to the back door and finding it open slipped through into the kitchen. It was wrecked, the cupboards and drawers had all been emptied on the floor, even the contents of food boxes were scattered around. I carried on into the lounge next and found the same amount of destruction, but no sign of Zach and the house seemed quiet, okay girl upstairs next. I couldn't hear anything so I turned to go up the stairs. The stairs had reasonable carpet on them so there was no sound from my foot steps and I headed for the first door I came to, no sounds came through so I went in, I couldn't believe that one room could have contained so much stuff, and all of it was thrown about, ripped cushions and the mattress was almost shredded, obviously someone was looking for something. I stopped still when I thought I heard a noise, shit someone was in the room next door and were they coming out into the hallway? I quietly moved aside some cushions and sheets and slid under the bed pulling the sheets over me and tugging the cushions to block me from view.

"Boss isn't gonna be pleased"

"Well it isn't here"

"Where else would it be?"

"Maybe that woman has it"

"Well the boss won't want us paying her a visit"

"Let him make that decision"

The sound of their voices and footsteps diminished as they started to go down the stairs. Who the hell were they talking about, yeah I worked out that maybe I was that woman, but who was their boss, and why wouldn't he want them to pay me a visit?

As I heard the front door close I crept out from my hiding place, now I could check out the last room and get out of here. At first I thought it was empty but a noise stopped me in my tracks, and as I slowly looked down the side of the bed next to the wall there was Zach, half propped up against the wall.

"Zach, oh god Zach, talk to me"

He groaned and then tried to open his eyes but they'd given him such a beating one eye was closed and his face was covered in blood.

"Steph what the hell are you doing here?"

"Looking for you"

"Help me get to the bathroom and maybe I can get cleaned up a bit"

"Zach you need the hospital"

"Not going to happen, it looks worse than it is"

I helped him through each door, dreading to think how much damage they had done to him. He stripped off his T-shirt and I winced at the bruises already forming across his ribs.

"If you want to help get the first aid kit from the front bedroom"

Having gone through everything I finally found the bag and packed any contents that were scattered around into it. Zach must have already been in the shower because he was sat on the edge of the tub with a towel around him. He looked better now that he'd washed the blood from his face, but his eye looked sore and he had bruises forming on his ribs.

"Grab some bandages will you and wrap them round my ribs"

"You're not supposed to do that anymore"

"Just do it Steph, it cuts down how much they hurt"

Having done that I just stood there looking at him. There were so many questions I wanted to ask but for once I kept quiet.

"Okay, you stay here while I find some clothes"

Minutes later he came back in, dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt, and sat on the floor next to me, leaning back against the tub.

"Who were they Zach?"

"No idea"

"What did they want?"

"The files we have on the skips"

"Why?"

"I have no idea"

"What did they look like?"

"Three men all in black, black cargos, T-shirts and boots, and dressed if you know what I mean"

Oh I knew what he meant, they were dressed like the Merry Men, but surely Ranger wouldn't have anything to do with this, would he? It wasn't as if I could just call and ask; I'd lost all contact with anyone from Rangeman.

"Steph, you with me?"

"Sorry just thinking"

"Where are the files?"

"In the car outside. I thought that as you didn't turn up I'd come to you"

"How the hell did you find me?"

"I have my ways"

I panicked, my car, did it still have trackers on it? I tipped out my bag and was going through everything now on the floor, looking for anything that might be a tracker. Once I decided what was safe to put back in my bag I stood up looking at Zach.

"Steph what the hell are you doing?"

"Looking"

"For what?"

"Never mind, it's not important, let's get the files and then get a taxi, or I'll borrow a car, or something, we need to get out of here"

I rushed down the stairs and out of the front door with Zach in hot pursuit, shouting out my name. Once at the car I grabbed the files from the backseat and then turned to Zach.

"Steph what's wrong, you've gone as white as a sheet"

"We need to get out of here"

I set off running down the street and then slowed to a pace I was comfortable with, then started walking, and kept walking until we came to a small diner.

"Let's go in here and we'll talk"

I think by now Zach was happy that I'd stopped and even happier that I was prepared to sit and talk. We each ordered a coffee as I debated what to tell Zach and in the end decided not to tell him anything about Rangeman, I mean Ranger couldn't have changed that much that he was the bad guy could he? No, I knew him too well to betray what had been a strong friendship, shit we'd been more than that, he was the one who had always protected me, kept me safe. He said that what he did wasn't always legally right but morally right, so were those men Rangemen or was someone else involved and what was so important about those files? So I decided to focus on the files, after all Zach had seen them and that was what the men were after.

"The files Zach, there must be something we're missing in those files. I spoke with Vinnie this morning and someone broke into the office and destroyed all the paperwork and computers, everything's gone except those files in my bag"

"Well we brought in all the local skips so that only leaves the ones out of state"

"There are only three and I haven't even started to look at them for any clues"

"So let's start"

"Where are we going to do that, they know I work with you, I wouldn't feel safe back at my apartment"

"You anywhere we can go that's safe?"

"No"

Normally I would be calling Ranger and he would keep me safe, where to go was going to be a problem. Zach replaced the papers into the files and turned to me.

"Okay lets head out to where the nearest skip is"

"That would be Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"

So that was what we planned to do, it wasn't that far, maybe an hour and less by train, so an hour later I was sat on the train next to Zach. For some reason I was feeling anxious which when I thought about it was logical, I mean here I was crossing the state line on a train with someone I didn't really know being chased by someone I didn't know. I had no clothes with me, very little cash in my bag and had no one whom I thought I could trust.

"Zach I don't have much cash on me and if we use a card someone may pick up where we are"

"I've got cash with me, what made you think of that?"

"One of the ways I find people is to look at where they use their cards"

"You're good aren't you?"

I didn't know what to say to that, I suppose I could always find my man, but that was when I had some access to Rangers search sites. God Ranger, if he was involved in this we'd have to be so careful not to leave any clues, at least I knew what to avoid. But surely it couldn't be him; he would simply talk to me wouldn't he? Once in the city Zach found a hostel we could stay in, it was cheap and cheerful and at least they had some private rooms. That was when I suddenly thought about my phone, shit I knew Hector was good enough to find someone through their phone.

"Zach do you have a phone on you?"

"Yeah why?"

"Take the battery out, we can be traced through our phones"

"God call, but we'll need to get replacements so that we can stay in touch. Let's go shopping and get things that we'll need"

From the hostel it was only a short walk to an area that seemed to have a selection of shops, I'd worked out in my head what I would need and had started to go into a cheap womens clothing shop when Zach caught me by my arm.

"Steph why don't I go get the phones and equipment we're gonna need and meet you back here in an hour?"

"Sounds like a plan"

I'd nearly added Batman to the sentence, I really needed to think before I said something I'd regret. I smiled because I was sure that Zach just didn't want to go inside a womens clothing shop and watch me finding things, he handed me a roll of dollars and was gone before I could say anything else.

The shop I disappeared into sold cheap but pretty underwear, nightwear and jeans and T-shirts so I was actually finished paying for everything within thirty minutes. I didn't want to be stood outside while I waited for Zach so I crossed the road and went into a charity shop, my favorite place to browse. The man we were after here was definitely wealthier than the skips I usually came across so I would need some better quality clothes to wear. As I was browsing the racks a woman older than me came out of the changing room huffing. I watched as she returned the dress in her hands to the woman behind the counter, curious as to why she seemed so upset.

"Gladys, I'm annoyed, this is a beautiful dress but it's just too small"

"It is isn't it, an older lady brought in a whole bunch of stuff saying they were too young for her and that she was getting the middle age spread"

"I think I know how she feels"

She left the shop and I watched where the assistant hung the dress back up, she turned to me and looked me up and down.

"You know these clothes would suit you and seem to be your size, have a look on here before I put them out on the main racks"

I wondered over and was amazed at the quality and style of the clothes, picking out a burgundy trouser suit to try on, the assistant handed me the dress that she was rehanging.

"Here try this on as well, I know you'll look amazing in it"

The suit fit extremely well so I decided I would buy it and then I looked at the dress, it was beautiful, why not, it wouldn't do any harm to try it on. I stepped out of the changing room to find a full-length mirror and as I was turning to see how it looked from the back the assistant came up behind me.

"Oh my dear, you look exquisite in that dress, it fits perfectly and I have the shoes and bag to go with it"

It did look good and it did fit me well, it was a long black dress with a sweetheart neck and straps that went from the side of my breasts to tie behind my neck. The dress clung to my curves then kicked out at the bottom. Would I ever wear it though? I could afford it, hell at the price it was a gift so I talked myself into buying it; I'd need to pay back the money to Zach when we were back home. She reappeared with another suit, this time with a skirt and a couple of tops that would go well with both suits.

"It's three for two this week, you won't find anything that suits you as well as these clothes do"

All right I was a sucker when it came to a bargain so I ended up with a bag full of clothes, and shoes that would go with the dress and with the suits. Next door to the charity shop was a chemist, I'd need a toothbrush and paste, and something to shower with and a soap to rinse through my clothes. It was time to meet with Zach but as I stood at the door to leave I had a strong feeling that I was being watched. I couldn't see anyone obviously hanging around but I stayed in the shop looking through the window until I saw Zach waiting outside the first shop I'd been in and then quickly crossed the road to join him.

"Wow, you did well"

"How did you get on?"

"Phones and electronics are in the bag and I managed to get a cheap second hand laptop"

"Zach, I know this may sound crazy but I have an awful feeling we're being watched. Can we get back to the hostel?"

"Sure, we'll go back a different way and if we're being followed maybe I can spot them and hopefully we can lose them"

To say we took a different route was an understatement, down a street, back up another, through and out of the back of a café, I was lost and was surprised when we entered through the back door of the hostel.

"Steph go freshen up and then we can get started on finding our man, I'll be at your room in thirty minutes"

I showered quickly using the small travel bottles I'd bought and then rinsed out my clothes to dry overnight, hopefully, then dressed in my new jeans and T-shirt. I'd just finished when Zach tapped on the door and called out my name.

"You do your magic with the computer while I set up the phones"

So I made myself comfortable on the bed leaning against the headboard and went to work. All we had was the skips name and a photograph, the information on past employment was very vague but the list of things he was suspected of was long. It ranged from fraud to murder and in each case any investigation had to be dropped because there wasn't enough evidence or any witnesses. He'd eventually been charged after a woman he was seen with was found raped and beaten up, she was in a coma from head injuries, but the police had enough evidence from DNA and eye witnesses who saw him with her to be sure that this time he'd be sent to prison. Jeffrey Arnold Peters was the name that we had but I doubted he'd be using that one now; the only reason we knew he was in Philadelphia was a report that the police had received from a girl friend of the victim who'd seen him there. So with the name in my head I went with a hunch, usually people kept to the familiar, so using the names I opened up twelve tabs in Google and wrote in the different connotations that the three names could have. Then for each one hit on the image tab and waited. One by one I looked through the images that each name came up with pleased when on the ninth tab I found an image that looked like our skip. He was stood with a group a men and the photograph was courtesy of a local newspaper. The name he was using was Arnold Peter Jeffrey, so with that information I went into the all section of Google and started looking for clues as to what he was up to here in Philadelphia. What was interesting was that he was now part of the team working with a Governor for re election.

"Okay I've found him"

Zach looked up at me and I could tell from his face he didn't believe me.

"Where?"

"He's working as part of the team with a Mr. Holburn who wants to be the new Governor"

"How does that help?"

I thought about that for a minute then remembered Mary Lou saying how whenever there were elections going on there would be lots of jobs doing menial tasks.

"I'll get a job in the office where the campaign headquarters is"

"And just how do you think you can do that?"

"Easy, I'll just use my charms"

"Well if you get in then I'm going to be keeping an eye on you and keep an eye out for Peters, maybe I can follow him and find out where he lives"

"We have a plan then, I've got the address for the place I need to be, but won't we need a car?"

"Sorted, I'm picking one up tonight"

"Well I'll meet you at 8 for breakfast then, next door in the diner"

When he'd gone I lay on the bed in my thinking position, I felt excited for the chase, but nervous in case something went wrong, I know with me the most bizarre things can happen. That led me to thinking how Ranger would be there to support me and even save me, god I missed him so much, in fact the longer it had been since I'd last been with him the more sad I became, as tears threatened to fall I shook my head and wiped my face. Now was not the time to even consider what I'd lost, focus on the goal, even that was something that Ranger had tried to instill in me. As I got myself ready for bed and went through my routines I had a sudden thought, Rex, he was on his own and no one knew I was away from town. Who the hell could I call on? I couldn't ask any of the girls in case someone was watching the apartment, Dillon, he had a key, and he might take care of him for me. Picking up the phone that Zach had left for me I considered if anyone would put a tab on Dillon's phone, nah, he wasn't someone I would normally phone.

"Hey Dillon it's Steph"

"Hey to you too, is there a problem at the apartment?"

"Shouldn't be, but I'm on a job out of town, could you please look after Rex for me till I get back?"

"No problem Steph, I'll go get him now"

"Thank you Dillon, you're a life saver"

I felt better after that had been sorted, I'd blocked my number so I hoped he didn't need to get in touch with me, never mind, hopefully Zach and I would catch Peters and be back home soon.