Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This
I can't hole up inside the 7th-floor apartment forever.
I don't want people to get suspicious and link me with Joe Morelli's murde—um, disappearance.
I stop the Cayenne outside the bonds office.
I force a shaky, twisted smile on my face, open the door and put the doughnut box and coffee on Connie's desk.
"OMG, Stephanie!" Both Connie and Lula look at me with widened eyes and squeal like the chipmunks in the Disney cartoon.
"Where have you been?" Lula pays absolutely no attention to the sweet creamy coffee and the heavenly doughnuts.
"Why didn't you answer your phone?" Somehow Connie's mustache actually looks quite cute under the bright morning light.
"Did you hear?" They ask in union. "Joe Morelli eloped with Terry Gilman!"
I blink. I gape. I feel faint. Joe Morelli eloped with Terry Gilman? What the fuck? What the Hell? Am I in the Twilight Zone?
"Terry sold her car and house, cleaned out her bank account and left her mom a note!"
"Terry's fiancé—you know, the big shot mobster from New York City? Marco Whatshisname? He went berserk!"
"Old man Vito got real mad and bust a vein!"
"They said he put a hit on Morelli's head in his hospital bed!"
"Bella put the Eye on Vito and Marco and all their men!"
"They said she also put the Eye on Terry, your Grandma, and probably you!"
Connie and Lula talk non-stop and laugh and giggle like a pair of happy, carefree teenage girls.
I open the doughnut box, grab hold of a Strawberry Delight, and in 2 bites wolf it down.
My life is better than a fairy tale.
Today I woke up naked in Ranger's arms.
We showered together.
Ella made us breakfast.
For once Rex didn't bite me on my finger.
Ranger kissed me on my lips and told me not to get crazy before he headed down to his office.
He's going to meet me here at noon and take me back to my apartment to pack my stuff.
Hal blushed and smiled shyly when I ran into him in the garage. As if nothing has happened..
The RangeMan clean-up team know what they are doing.
No body. No murder.
They are all loyal to Ranger.
And Joe Morelli, the cocky and ambitious Trenton police detective, had made some enemies over the years.
The countless mobsters he blackmailed or extorted into cooperating.
The people he used, abused, manipulated and trampled on to achieve his goals and get his promotion.
I have nothing to worry about, really.
Ranger will always protect me and keep me safe.
He lends me cars. He offers me help. He's always there to save my ass.
I gulp down the coffee and gobble down a Chocolate Surprise.
He made Eddie Abruzzi killed himself.
I don't really want to know what happened to Terry Gilman. Not right now.
I still have to turn on my cell phone and call my mom...