It was still barely 4pm so I looked at my other file. Mary Devine appeared to have a serious alcohol problem. She had just been arrested for her 3rd DUI, but she had a host of other alcohol related charges. It looked like she frequently got arrested at a bar called, of all things, Joe's. I figured she was either sleeping off a binge at home or would be posted up on a bar stool at Joe's.

I drove by her house first. I knocked on the door but no answer. I peeked in the windows and saw no movement. It didn't look like someone was hiding. It just looked like no one was home. I'm not very good at busting down doors so I decided if she was hiding she could get away with it for today.

My next stop was Joe's. It was a hole in the wall bar that looked like it hadn't been updated in 30 years or cleaned in the last 10 years. I saw Mary right away, exactly where I expected her to be, propped up on a stool at the bar. I went over and sat down next to her. She looked at me and said "Bout time you showed up." Her words were all slurred.

"You've been expecting me" I said surprised.

"Damn right. I've been waiting on you all day. I could wait at home any longer so I came down here."

I was confused. I'd brought in a few drunks in the past and usually they had forgotten entirely about being arrested and missed court because they had no clue they were supposed to be there. Generally, they aren't expecting me to show up.

The bartender walked down to our corner of the bar and said to me "You'll have to excuse her. Her daughter died about 10 years ago. She was waiting for her to come home and her daughter was killed in an accident. She's been waiting for her ever since. She doesn't even know who you are. She thinks all women about your age are her daughter." He tried to take my order but I put him off.

It was one of the saddest stories I'd ever heard. I flipped back through her electronic file Connie had sent to my phone. All of her charges started about 10 years ago. She was clearly not coping with her loss and was drinking to cover it up. I felt badly for her but not taking her in wouldn't help anything. She was too drunk to talk to now, but maybe the judge could send her for treatment instead of jail. I hopped off my stool and said to Mary "I'm sorry I kept you waiting but I'm here now. Are you ready to go?"

"Keep me waiting all day and now you're in a hurry" she said to me taking another long drink out of her glass.

"I'm sorry. I just got held up and now I want to get to our plans. I'll make it up to you, can we please go?"

She looked at me and drained her drink in one swallow. "Fine, let's get moving." I put a twenty down on the counter to cover her drinks and walked her out to my car. I got her settled in the passenger seat and headed down to the station. Court was going to be closed for the night, so she would have to sleep it off in a cell tonight. But maybe she would be sober when she got in front of the judge tomorrow. She was passed out before we had driven a mile and was still passed out when I parked at the station. I went inside to have the booking agent come out and help me get her out of the car.

He got her settled onto a cot and came back out to process my paperwork. I told him what I had learned and asked him to put in a word with the judge that maybe treatment would be a better option than jail for Mary. He promised me he would mention it and I started out the door.

I saw Morelli leaning up against the driver side door of my new car. He saw me approach and met me halfway. "I'm starting to get a clearer picture of how things really are."

"Joe, don't say that. You're reading into things all wrong."

He shook his head at me "You're making a mistake Cupcake, and by the time you figure it out, it will be too late. Do you even know where he gets these cars?"

"I know you don't trust him but I do. And he has nothing to do with why we broke-up." I insisted.

"You keep saying that, but every time I turn around he's there and he's offering you something that is too good to possibly turn down. Just be careful. I don't want to see you end up hurt." He kissed me gently on the lips and then walked back into the station.

I drove back home and finished off the ice cream in my freezer for dinner. I had two beers with the ice cream, and since I'm a lightweight that meant I was pretty drunk and put myself to bed. I woke up the next morning having slept through the night with no visitors. At least, none that I woke up for.

I got up and quickly dressed and showered and headed into the office to turn in my body receipt for Mary. Jenny called me while I was driving. My new car had Bluetooth and it had already been paired with my cell phone so I was able to take the call through my car. She told me that she had met some of her other friends from high school for drinks last night at Pino's and Joe had come in. She said he looked upset so she went to talk to him. He had been upset about the conversation with me, but after a few drinks he was feeling better. She told me before one of his cop friends drove him home he had asked for her number and asked her to get dinner. "Steph, I know you just broke-up and I don't want to affect our friendship, but you were right. He is such a different guy than he was back then. I think he is absolutely perfect and I don't want to pass on such a great guy if it would be ok. Do you think it would be ok? Would you be ok if I went out to dinner with him?"

It made me sick to my stomach to think about Joe moving on so quickly. But as I thought about it, Jenny and Joe did make a lot of sense. I agreed they would probably be great together and gave her my blessing on going out with him. As long as she didn't try to get me on a double date with them.

Connie wrote my check and said she had one new file for me and I told her I was taking the rest of the day off to deal with my personal life. I took the file but I didn't even open it. I was sitting in my new Mercedes trying to figure out where to go and what to do.

The conversation with Joe last night and with Jenny this morning had thrown me. I needed to figure out where my life was going. Which meant I needed to figure out what Ranger meant. I needed to talk to Ranger.

I thought about just driving over and walking into his office. Even if he wasn't there he would see that I was there and he would show up soon enough. But, I decided if I was going to get the man of mystery to talk it needed to be on his terms. I sent him a text that said "we need to talk."

His response was not instant. I was starting to think he was ignoring my request when about 5 minutes later I got a text back that said "Dinner tonight. My place. Wear the red dress." I exhaled a breath I wasn't aware I was holding. That gave me some time to prepare. I drove back to my apartment to figure out exactly what I wanted to say and to get dressed.