I stared at the ceiling a long time that night. I was under no illusion that life with Ranger would be anything like our little play acting had been. He would be traveling and I would be alone and childless. It would be just me and Rex and eventually Rex's grandchildren waiting for word from Ranger on where he was and when he'd be home next. I wasn't stupid. Okay…maybe when it comes to him I am stupid. But that's irrelevant. Okay, it's relevant. I need some time on Dr. Addison's couch and he's five and a half hours away. Get off my ass!

Before Ranger showed up in my room for the briefing the next morning (for some reason my room had become our conference room…probably because it was the neatest), I made a phone call. It wasn't one that Ranger would probably approve of. But it was one person I knew who could find out the dirt if there was any and he was just at the right place to dig the hole.

"Chica," Manuel Forturo laughed when he answered the phone. "How are you? How is that handsome FBI agent of yours?"

"He's in a little trouble Manuel. That's why I'm calling."

"Tell me. Tell me what Manuel can do to help you."

"His father is suspected of murdering a DA here in Boston."

"Oh shit," he whispered.

"It gets better. His father is a judge."

"Oh damn Stephanie. How do you get into this kind of shit?"

"Beats the hell out of me," I sighed.

"Okay…what do you need from me? I'll do anything for you, you know that."

"Manuel…I know the DA was dirty. I can feel it."

"Your spidey sense says he was dirty?"

"Filthy," I said seriously.

"What level alarm are you on?"

"I'm on alert, "I sighed.

"You think he's got dirty money here?"

"I do," I agreed.

"What's his name?"

"Hamilton Pryor," I said.

"I'll call you back when I know something," he assured me. "Take care Chica."

"Be careful Manny."

"Will do sweetness," and he hung up.

Nobody who heard us talk today would ever imagine that I'd brought him in on my biggest bond as a bounty hunter or that he'd tried to kill me slowly. We were both in therapy. It was working.

I flung the door open to the guys a few minutes later.

"You look more cheerful that you did last night," Ranger frowned.

"I had an idea," I grinned.

"Do I want to know?"

"Probably not," I said and sank to the side of the bed with a smile.

He shook his head, "we're all heading to the court house today to interview Judge Goodman's staff. Stephanie and I will take the Staff, Ram and Lester will roam about and ask questions of everyone else. If anything sounds like it might be useful, we'll do a deeper interview later…got it guys?"

"Yes sir," they said in unison.

"We're meeting with his Bailiffs Mark Hunt and Bailey O'Toole and his Court Officer Charles Kent. His staff at the courts has been with him a long time just like the staff at his home. They're liable to be secretive and protective. We'll keep that in mind. That's why you…" He waved his fingers between Ram and Lester, "are so important on this one. We may not get accurate Intel from his staff. I'm trusting you to find out the truth."

"Got it," Ram nodded.

"Well travel separately. We'll meet on the steps at 1230 hours for lunch and determine our next move at that point. Are we ready?"

"Let's do it," I nodded and got to my feet.

"Yea," Lester grinned. "Let's go."

"I've been meaning to ask," I said nonchalantly as we went down the stairs to exit the building. "How is your nightlife research coming?"

"Excellent," Lester grinned. "It's been excellent."

"Well…I hope you're taking protective measures gentlemen. I'm sure that the citizens in Boston are just as fraught with disease as the citizens of Trenton. And since they're so easy…you can bet you're not their first research scientist." I grinned as I stepped up my pace down the stairs.

"That was mean Babe," Ranger said shaking his head as he fastened his seat belt.

"They need to learn that the rules always apply…especially since they both have girlfriends at home."

"Good point," he nodded.

Our first meeting was with the Court Officer Charles Kent. He had worked for the judge for about twenty years. He admired him. He respected him. He didn't much like him. But he was absolutely sure that the judge couldn't and wouldn't have committed murder even to a scum sucker like Hamilton Pryor. He was adamant about that…and a lot more colorful.

Next we met with the Bailiff Mark Hunt. Officer Hunt had been in the Judge's courtroom for about four years. He was also a fan of the judge, but admitted that he could be an ass. He also didn't believe the Judge capable of murder. We were glad to hear that.

The last Bailiff was Rocky O'Toole. Mr. O'Toole was even more a fan of the Judge than his other court appointed officers. He loved the Judge. He thought more judges should be like him. I strongly suspect he not only supported the death penalty but offered to pull the switch on many occasions. In any case, he offered us no evidence and like the others could supply a list of people about a mile long who didn't like the Judge. He said he'd work on it and get back to us. He rattled off the Police Chief, Gene Watkins and the Chief of Detectives Walker O'Malley right off the top of his head as major persons of interest. Judge Goodman had been instrumental in the investigation into Hamilton Pryor's life. The Judge also felt that the DA couldn't have done it without the help of the Police Chief and the Chief of Detectives, and he'd pursued them as co-conspirators. I had a feeling it was about to get ugly. Ranger shared my vision.

"How'd it go," Ranger asked Lester and Ram as we waited for our lunch to be delivered at the local diner.

"People don't much care for the Judge," they said in unison.

"I'm starting to get that," Ranger nodded.

"Er…we ran into some of the local boys from Rangeman. Did you know that you two are an item," Lester grinned.

"Score," I raised my hand and Ranger met me in a high five.

"What is this all about," he asked.

"Juliet," Ram grinned. "I bet money it's about Juliet."

"You'd win," I sipped my ice tea.

Lester shook his head. "She's still sniffing after you man? I thought she gave that up years ago when Stephanie came along."

"She did a background check on Stephanie and found out about Goodman," Ranger said grimly.

"Oh shit," Ram shook his head.

"Yea," Ranger said coolly. "But Stephanie stepped in and saved the day."

"How'd you do that," Lester raised his brow at me.

I tucked my hand through Ranger's arm and leaned against his shoulder, "I have my ways."

"We had dinner with Juliet and Hines last night," Ranger smiled in amusement.

"And this was the direction it took," Lester grinned.

"It was," I agreed. "I told her without telling her that Brian and I were sort of in an undercover relationship. You know what I mean?"

"She's going to figure it out eventually," Ram reminded us.

"Yes…but she'll also figure out that Ranger was so disinterested that he went out of his way to scare her off," I said. "So…he wins either way."

"Good one," Lester said with a nod, "stay away from Marina."

"Stay away from Boston hos," I gazed at him innocently over my straw.

He sighed. "Do not let this get back to the office," he leaned forward and whispered, "but we've actually been very well behaved. It's just that Rangeman employees are required to raise a little hell when they're on out of town cases."

"Ah," I grinned. "Your secret is safe with me."

"What do we do now?"

"We break from the courthouse and reconvene at the B&B. We'll go over what we have and see where we go next," Ranger said robustly as the waiter appeared with our food.

"You know where we go next," I said grimly.

"Yea," he said softly. "We go to the cops."

We were in the middle of our detailed study of our information when Brian called. He was stuck at his parent's house. Christian was in from Paris and Andrew was on his way from Fiji. He wanted to be there to protect his mother from the fall out. I understood that. She appeared to need that protection. I was the only one who could see through her frail cover.

I hung up the phone and returned to the work.

"Date tonight," Ranger raised a brow.

"No…Andrew and Christian are coming in."

"Really," he said in interest.

"I suppose they're concerned their inheritance will dwindle if Daddy goes to jail," Lester shrugged.

"I suspect they believe that Mommy will be controlling the purse strings and they need to work on getting better into her good graces," I said coolly.

"Oh," Lester frowned. "I don't want anyone putting anything over on her. I like her."

"Don't worry about her," I said in amusement. "Lois Cavanaugh Goodman is stronger than you know."

"O-kay," Ram nodded.

"Just trust me on this one," I laughed.

"Of course," Ranger said quietly. "So…what's the plan tonight, gentlemen?"

"After all our chatter you're not going to believe us when we tell you," Ram said red faced.

"Try me," Ranger raised a brow.

"Hazel and Marina are in New York and it's only an hour by commuter flight. We thought we'd fly down for the night and see the girls…if that's okay with you boss?"

"Sure…just be back by 0900 hours tomorrow."

"Yes sir," they grinned at each other.

"Man, we hate leaving you two alone. What are you going to do to entertain yourselves," Lester shook his head.

"Who knows," Ranger shrugged. "Maybe we'll go to a movie or we'll stay in and work or…we'll play it by ear."

"Sounds…exciting," Lester nodded.

"If you're going…go," Ranger shooed them off.

"Thanks Boss," they jumped up and hurried out of the room.

"Is this the kinder, gentler Ranger," I raised a brow.

"Could be or it could be that I want them to owe me later," he grinned.

"I'll go with door number two," I said with a smile.

"Do you have anything you really want to do tonight?"

"You know, not really," I shrugged.

"Then I have a plan."

"You do," I raised a brow.

"It will mean more of what happened last night."

"We pretend to be a couple," I raised a brow.

"Yea," he nodded, "and in a very public cop bar."

I grinned, "I think I see where you're going with this. I'm in."

"Good," he grinned.

"Sexy," I asked.

"As you can be when it's below zero," he agreed.

"Honey…I'm from Trenton New Jersey. I can look like a slut in any weather," I grinned. "But I'm going to have to do a little shopping."

He grabbed his keys, "let's go."

"I do love spending your money."

"We'll see how much I love it when I see what you buy," he said and followed me out of the room.