Author's note: Back to Stephanie's POV.

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Angela

Chapter 7

It had been three wonderful and peaceful months. I've been working as Tina's assistant manager, helping out in the office and around the inn. Because I didn't want Ranger or Joe to find me, I'd worked out with Tina that I stayed rent-free and she gave me some cash to cover incidentals like groceries and more shoes to fill up that magnificent walk in closet. Since it wasn't being reported to the government, there was no way for me to be traceable. I was using the name Stephanie Walker. Stephanie is a common enough name and I was far enough from New Jersey that no one could connect me to the Bombshell Bounty Hunter.

I was having my usual weekly dinner with Tina and she seemed very nervous. I got sick of the little glances she kept shooting my way and the way that she'd open her mouth to say something but then close it again.

"Something you need to tell me?" I asked.

Tina sighed. "No, more to ask you." She took a deep breath. "You've been here for three months now and things are great. You're a great roommate and assistant and I really appreciate your hard work in helping me get things organized."

I had a squishy feeling in my stomach. This couldn't be good. Did Tina want me to leave? "But you want me to move out?" I couldn't keep the edge of panic out of my voice.

Tina looked up in surprise. "Oh no! No! I'm just thinking that it's been months since you've contacted your family and friends. Don't you think they might be, you know, worried?"

Phew. At least I wasn't going to be homeless. "Yeah, probably, but if I call or email, they'll be able to trace me. And I'm not ready to be found yet!"

Tina nodded. She'd been reading a bunch of spy novels since I've been in hiding and I'd told her about the kind of superspy computer stuff that Rangeman could do.

"I know. But I've been thinking. I have to go to Philadelphia to visit my family for the holidays soon, so maybe I could mail letters for you from there? That way they could only trace them back to Philadelphia, which we know that you're not in. Or maybe you could come with me and you could email them or call them or something." She paused for a minute to let me think about her options.

I nodded slowly. "I don't think I'm ready to go to Philly yet. I'm still feeling too... well, just not yet. But I guess I could write some letters. As long as I'm the only person to touch the envelopes and stamps and such, they wouldn't be able to trace them back to us."

"Yeah, I was thinking that you could write them on regular generic stuff from Walmart and then put the sealed letters into a plastic bag. Then I'll drop them into a mailbox touching only the plastic bag so it can't be traced." Tina had really gotten into the whole spy thing!

I couldn't help but smile at my friend's enthusiasm. I still felt guilty sometimes that she was doing so much to help me, but Tina always reassured me that I was helping her. I had done a lot to organize the inn's records and I'd updated the website multiple times with new photos, text and overall layout. I'd negotiated with several local vendors and suppliers for better rates, drawing upon my long ago skills as a lingerie buyer for E.E. Martin. I'd arranged for special discounts at several local attractions for guests of the inn. Occupancy numbers were edging up and hopefully I was part of the reason for that trend.

Also, since I knew the business pretty well now, Tina was able to take days off and do things away from the inn. She said that she'd not had a full day off until I arrived since her trip to Trenton when I'd seen her months ago. She'd started casually dating a couple of men nearby, so it was nice for her to have some time off premises.

It was nearly the holidays, after all, so perhaps I should send cards to friends and family. Hmmm. Decision made, I nodded at Tina.

"Yeah, I'll get some cards and write notes in them. Then you can send them for me if that's okay with you."

"Absolutely!"

It took me several days to figure out how to do this. I was feeling rather paranoid after reading all of Tina's spy novels and I didn't know for sure that the checkout person at Walmart didn't have a criminal record and be traceable back to this small town in North Carolina. If I was tracked to Blowing Rock, then they could find me pretty easily.

So I decided to order cards from online greeting card companies. They'd be mailed to the inn, and odds are very good that they'd be sending out tons of cards since it was so close to the holiday season. As long as I ordered a bunch of different cards from different companies, there shouldn't be any way to trace them back to me. I spent hours on the internet poring though about a million different cards. I knew that I was being overly cautious, but it was always a good idea to be too careful with Ranger than not careful enough.

I'd found perfect cards for my friends and family. When I'd told Tina my plan, she decided to order all of her holiday cards online too to throw any snoopy Merry Men off the track. So we ordered a ton of cards from multiple companies.

Most of the cards were fairly generic, except for two. I'd found a card with a bunch of really buff guys naked guys holding Santa hats over their, um, packages as grandma Mazur would say. It said on the inside "Hope you have fun under the mistletoe!" It was perfect for the Merry Men. I'd also found a card with Batman wearing a red Santa hat rescuing a cat from the top of a Christmas tree. I had to send that one to Ranger! It was left blank on the inside and it took me forever to come up with the right words.

Finally, Tina left for her trip with my cards carefully sealed inside a large plastic bag. She promised to put them in the mailbox her last day in Philadelphia.