Chapter 14

With the revelations in the letter Stephanie had found, thanks to Grandma Mazur. Stephanie once again found herself in the position of wanting to talk to Ranger. All of these clandestine clues seemed to highlight the fact that there was, or definitely could be an underlying danger in the prospect of finding Mr. Phillips.

She did not want to do this alone. Stephanie was worried and deep in her gut her spidey sense reminded her of what had led her to call in Ranger in the first place. She trusted him. No matter how unorthodox their friendship had always been, the one thing that she had always known was that Ranger would do anything he could to keep her safe.

After her incredible discovery in the journal, Grandma Mazur became otherwise occupied with her own examination of the remaining items from the mystery box. This left Stephanie with plenty of time to take a step back try to see these events from a different angle.

The agonizing pain over Ranger's apparent dismissal yesterday had not exactly eased. Her mind and her heart had still not been able to reconcile her own reaction to his strange behavior. While her heart felt fragile, it was her brain that was trying to reason through the whole scenario.

Stephanie walked away from her grandmother, her attention far away from the box now. In the small confines of her living room, she began pacing, this restlessness just another sign that there was something she was missing.

It had been months since they had seen each other and Stephanie admitted that the circumstances of their first meeting, after being apart for so long, had been less than ideal. Even at the time, she had not been all that excited about playing the part of the damsel in distress again. Of course, she knew that Ranger was the one person she could always rely on, but she had been dreaming of the moment that they would be together again in a much different way.

Over the past few months, daydreaming had let her create one vision after another of their passionate reunion. Funny how none of those dreams had ever included a bomb. Thinking about it now, Stephanie was willing to bet that this had not exactly been the way Ranger had pictured being with her again either.

Her steps slowed and she steadied herself with a hand on the back of the couch. The emotions rising in her chest were becoming a bit overwhelming. One thing she did know, with a surety that could not be disputed, was that in that first moment that he had been here, Ranger had wanted to hold her as much as she had wanted to wrap her arms around him.

Stephanie closed her eyes and relived that blissful moment. When he had walked into her apartment the familiar tingle down her back had been such welcome sensation. One of the many ways that Ranger always made her feel important, alive. Clearly, she had missed that connection to him more than she had realized. Did he feel the same? She wanted to believe so, and his initial actions proved her right, didn't they?

His arms had been so gentle, even if his embrace had the fierceness of never letting go. His lips had touched her head in a soft kiss, that sweet gesture said that he was there for more than just her safety. His fingers, so gentle on her lips, had told her not to worry. How had she ever doubted that he would want to be there for her, with her?

Their time together had been stolen away from them because of the stupid box. With this new perspective, Stephanie could see how the situation she had called Ranger into had dictated so much about their first meeting after being apart for what felt like an eternity.

The very real potential for danger always existed around her, that was something that had constantly annoyed Joe, but had never deterred Ranger. He had come. Stephanie was now able to let herself see that for what it was. Ranger was the only one she had even considered calling because he was all she had ever needed.

Dangerous situations aside, it was knowing that Ranger had always been in her corner that had allowed Stephanie to be herself. She moved around the couch now, her legs suddenly felt wobbly and she sank down onto the cushions. Staring unseeing at the wall in front of her, her thoughts continued to sort themselves out and she was coming up with a conclusion destined to rock her whole world.

There was only one thing to do. Again, Stephanie picked up her phone. No hesitation this time as she made the call and put the phone up to her ear to hear it ringing.

Her world aligned again when she heard him answer his phone. All it took was the sound of his voice to know everything was going to be alright. This is all she had wanted, and it was clear to her now that her dreams could be within her grasp after all.

"Stephanie?"

. .

Leaving the VFW behind, Lenny could not wait to get back and share what he had learned with Mary Lou. There was one more stop he had to make, however, and it took longer than he had expected. Finally, with a pile of papers in hand, Lenny opened the front door and walked into the quiet house.

"Mar?" he called out. Something felt off to him. Was it the whole situation today that made the skin prickle on his arms and the hair on the back of his neck to stand up? His eyes took in the spilled purse on the couch. His heart pounded as he moved quickly into the kitchen. Full panic kicked in when he saw the toppled chair laying on the floor. "Mary Lou!" he yelled. What had happened?

Lenny ran down the hall, bumping right into his wife who was coming out of the bathroom. "What the..." the words were knocked out as she lost her balance and fell backward onto the floor. "Lenny?"

Of course, he had not anticipated plowing into her and the papers he had been holding exploded into the air as he accidentally joined Mary Lou on the floor. Lenny threw his arms around her and hugged her close. His imagination must be running wild after all the talk about Mr. Phillips. There was no other explanation for the fear that had gripped his heart at the scene he had found when he had walked in.

"Oh good," Lenny finally said. He pulled away just enough for his eyes to search for signs of distress or damage. "You look okay."

Not entirely sure how to take that statement, Mary Lou glared up at her husband. She had been ready to say a few choice words after that but something about the way he was looking at her made her change her mind. She swallowed back any retorts. "Lenny?" she asked. "What's wrong?" Her hand lifted to his pale face, smoothing over the creases of concern on his forehead. She stared into his eyes wide with panic. "What happened?"

Mary Lou jumped up, practically pulling Lenny with her. "The kids?" she said breathlessly.

Calmer now, Lenny pulled her close. "No, no. Nothing like that," he said quietly. "I was just worried for a minute there, that's all."

Over his shoulder, Mary Lou could see the mess of papers covering most of the hallway floor. Curious, she leaned back in his arms. He looked better now, color had come back into his face. What was going on with him? And why was he home this early before lunch?

"Lenny?" she asked again.

He had a few questions of his own but Mary Lou seemed to be fine. As he looked into her eyes, Lenny lost himself like he often did. Finally, though, a few thoughts clicked into place and he remembered what he had to show her. "This," he said, stooping down to gather the scattered papers into a pile. "I wanted to show you this."

Taking one of the pages, Mary Lou scanned the newspaper article printed on it. Great minds, she realized. Here in her hands was an article about the disappearance of Mr. Phillips. Lenny had gone to the newspaper office to get these copies. Her heart warmed, the feeling completely filling her chest. Oh, how she loved this man.

With a deliberate effort she focused her attention back to the paper she was holding. Suddenly, something popped out at her. "Presumed dead." Presumed? She had always thought that he had died. There had been rumors at the time, she did remember that, but the counselors at the school had acted like the kids needed grief counseling, so it had been assumed that Mr. Phillips was not just gone, but that he was, in fact, dead.

Those memories were clear in her mind. Whispers between the faculty, tight lips as the administrators let the counselors deal with the aftermath of his disappearance. Words, she now understood, that had not been spoken. Something had been going on and they all knew about it. Mr. Dorell had been especially secretive during that time.

When the yearbook staff offered to work on the memorial page for Mr. Phillips, they had been told that the administrators were interested in taking care of that task. It had seemed reasonable at the time in some strange way, but now she could not help but wonder how much the students and their parents, even the whole community, had not been told about the confusing incident.

Lenny touched her arm, turning her toward him and breaking Mary Lou out of her thoughts. Their eyes met. Questions in hers and the promise of answers in his. "Lets go sit down," he said, guiding her back to the kitchen where he lifted the fallen chair. He swallowed down the memory of the fear he had felt when he first saw it and helped her to sit down.

Mary Lou watched him as he joined her at the table. She waited for him to share what he obviously knew. "I went to the VFW this morning," he said, his hands now busy shuffling the papers into order. "Then I stopped by and talked to Brenda."

She was still putting the pieces together, but it brought a smile to her lips to know that Lenny had been doing all of these things this morning. It had been Brenda that Mary Lou had intended to see at the Trenton Times. Lenny's family was huge and a tight-knit bunch, Brenda was one of his cousins. Mary Lou had been pretty sure that it would have been easy to ask her for the information she needed.

"We looked up all of the articles that had been written about Mr. Phillips," Lenny was saying. "I wanted to see them because I couldn't remember everything that had happened back then." he shrugged, a little habit of his that Mary Lou found especially endearing right now. Her smile broadened. She really loved this man! And for a split second, she could not help but compare her husband to Stephanie's Ranger.

She would take her quirky and adorable husband over strong and brooding any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Her hand reached out and touched Lenny's. Their fingers entwined, a reaction that he did not even have to think about. It was just natural and so comforting to have that connection whenever he was with her.

"Mr. Cudney said something this morning that I can't get out of my mind now," he said. "It was as if after all this time he wanted to finally say that there was something wrong with how Mr. Phillips disappeared." That got Mary Lou's attention and she felt a new anxiety as she waited to hear what Lenny had to say next.

"He mentioned that Mr. Phillips was secretly working as a reporter and the story he had been working on had something to do with the drug dealing down on Stark street," Lenny said, absently pulling his hand from hers and running it through his hair. This told Mary Lou that Lenny was nervous, another reason that she was getting worried.

"It just seems that there was a lot more to the story than just drugs. I sat there feeling that they all knew something that I didn't and then Mr. Cudney said they told Phillips not to go there." Lenny seemed to cringe before he finished the thought. "I thought that he meant not to go to Stark Street because everyone knows that it's dangerous there."

Turning his whole body to face hers, Lenny seemed to be searching her face for her reaction. "That's easy to misunderstand, isn't it?" His fingers gripped hers again. "But what if it was something else, not an actual place but something like... like a much bigger situation?"

Mary Lou tilted her head in consideration. "Like he was poking into things that he shouldn't have?" she asked. "But like what?"

Lenny dropped his gaze to the pile of papers on the table. "They didn't say, not outright," he said. "But they all knew that something was going on."

The pages were back in order and Lenny handed half of the pile to Mary Lou. "I thought that maybe if we read these with a new perspective we might discover something that will help Stephanie find what she needs to know."

This was her sweet, caring Lenny. Mary Lou felt her heart expand with her with love and appreciation for this wonderful husband of hers. He did not have to take his time to help her, to help Stephanie. But he had, and it was worth so much more than she could put a value to.

Maybe Ranger and his search programs would find more details, and Mary Lou was more than thrilled that he was helping Stephanie. Whatever she and Lenny could discover in the papers he had brought home could move them all a step closer to finding what was needed, but that was no longer the point for her now. She had never been more grateful for or more absolutely proud of Lenny.