Again, thanks to JE for your characters we love to manipulate to our will!

Thanks for the reviews. The last chapter I think made a lot of readers squirm a little. Some questions were answered about Celia, the DNA, and Sara and Ranger's strife.

Thanks First Generation Scot for catching that medical term boo boo for me.

Giving you extras this weekend. There are 6-7 more chaps left. Want to work on some other stuff.

Alix33 depending on you to come up behind me and clean up my punctuation. Thanks girl!

Chapter 21

Ranger looked up the number for the Newark police department and dialed. He asked for the detective assigned to his sister's case. A man answered. "Detective Pierce."

"My name is Ranger Manoso. Celia Manoso was my sister. I'm calling to find out what you know about her case so far."

"Sorry for your loss. Nothing has been done on it yet. I was just assigned the case now that the victim has been identified."

"Don't bother calling our parents there. They didn't know she was even back in Newark, none of us did. What was the cause of death, and do you have a last known address?"

"Not even. We can use any information you might have on her. We do have a cause. The body was badly decomposed, but there was evidence of blunt force trauma."

"I don't have any information for you now. The memorial service is in three days at St. Lucy's. You can come by and see me there. By that time I'll have had a chance to talk to the rest of the family. I can tell you if anyone had talked to her. Celia was the kind of person that never stayed in one place very long. We only heard from her when she needed something."

"Ah, did she have any addictions that you're aware of? We think the body originally came from a bad part of town. Lots of crack houses, gangs, prostitution in the area."

Ranger raised an eyebrow at that. "Not that I'm aware of, but I hadn't talked to her in about two years."

"Okay. Thanks for the call. I may find you at the church here. Where are you calling from?"

"Miami. Most of her siblings are here."

"Gotcha. Goodbye then."

Ranger dialed Hector next. "Problems, boss?"

"No Hector, but I do have another job for you. Tell Tank about this one, and tell him to authorize some time off for you, and anyone else you might need to help with it. Spend whatever you need to get information."

He explained the few details he had regarding his sister's death, including the name of the detective on the case and the cause of death. Hector expressed his sympathy and told him that he would do his best to find the person responsible. "Hector, you can play with him when you find him, but leave him for me. He's going to find out first hand what it's like to be slowly eaten alive by the same vermin that feasted on my sister over the past months. I'll be there in a couple days."

"Owchiwawa! I'm on it."

When he got back to the beach, Ella and Stephanie looked at him in question. Ella asked, "Is something wrong, sobrino?"

"That was Mamá. Celia's body was found in Newark. She's been dead for a few months, but they just identified her. We'll all be going to back for the memorial in a couple days."

Ella put her hands on her face. "Oh, how horrible. How is your mother?"

"She and Papa are devastated. I've sent Hector to Newark to find out what he can."

Stephanie said, "Ranger, I'm so sorry about your sister, and I'm sorry I never met her."

"Babe, I'm sorry that I never introduced you to most of my family before now."

He looked down at Angel, who was hanging her head and leaning a little to one side. He pointed at her, and the two women looked at her and snickered. Ranger reached down and picked the sleepy little girl up and headed back to the house. He bathed the sand off of her, and put on a fresh diaper and shirt, the way her mother liked to sleep. She rolled over on her side and went to sleep immediately. Hearing the world was exhausting for her. She had fussed and pulled at the hearing aids a little the first two days, but she evidently realized quickly that when she pulled them off that she couldn't hear all those new sounds that she was enjoying for the first time. She was a very smart little girl.

He thought about his sister and her life. He was sad that she'd never tried to pull her life together, and he wasn't surprised that she'd hooked up with the wrong person, and gotten herself killed. He briefly thought how ironic it was that she was mostly likely living near where Stephanie had lived, then he dismissed it.

Ranger chartered a plane big enough to carry all the family in Miami who was going to Newark. He had also secured a block of rooms for them at a nearby hotel. Stephanie had seen both her doctor's prior to leaving, and Ella had helped her to pack for herself and Angel. He'd checked and the bench he'd ordered had now been delivered to the cemetery. They would have a small family gathering to deposit the ashes of his daughter and sister into the bench when they returned.

Stephanie didn't seem apprehensive about going back to Newark which was good. She had been fairly quiet, just playing with Angel and talking to Ella. He continued to initiate lovemaking every night, but she continued to resist him. He wanted to talk to Dr. Ortiz about it when they got back. He wanted to know the reason why she wasn't opening herself to him, she was holding back for some reason, and he was getting frustrated both emotionally and physically.

The memorial service was painful for his parents. It was never easy for a son to watch his mother shed tears of grief. He had only heard from Hector once. They were canvassing the entire area and offering a reward for any information on his sister. He and another man had even made gang contacts. The word was out, and the question of what happened to his sister, was the number one question on the street now, along with who wanted the information. If they were in the right area, the guy would have to be sweating by now. If the guy responsible didn't know who Celia was related to before, he now knew she was Ranger Manoso's sister, and exactly what that meant.

The detective, Pierce, did stop by the church and speak to him. He said, "I didn't know who you were, but I know now. You trying to scare this guy into cracking?"

Ranger just grinned at him. He said, "You do plan to let me know when you find the guy, don't you?"

Ranger grinned bigger, giving the man a glimpse of his pearly white teeth. "Of course."

The detective just shook his head and walked away. Ranger thought, that guy is obviously no dummy, he knew that he'd never hear from him again. In the long run, Ranger knew that it wouldn't matter. The police were undermanned, and the number of unsolved cases in Newark was long.

They had a big meal after the service at a reception hall not far from his parents house. Family and friends all gathered to pay their respects. Ranger's father looked bad. He spoke to him and Ranger hated the pain in his eyes. He touched his hand and said, "Can you find the person that did this to my baby, Carlos?"

"I'm working on it, Papa."

"When you find him, you make him pay, you hear me? This person dared to harm her and dump her like refuse..."

He moved his father to a chair at a table. "Papa, the person that did this awful thing will pay. Let me get you something to eat or drink."

"I want a stiff drink."

I gad not been long since his father's heart surgery. "How about we compromise and I bring you a glass of red wine."

His fathered grumbled and Ranger went to get him a glass. His mother was sitting with some of the family wiping an occasional tear. The little urn with Celia's ashes was sitting on the table close to her. Angel was being passed around the room and now Sara had her. He noticed that Sara was talking to Angel and tears were streaming down her face. After he delivered the wine to his father, he walked over to her. "Sara? You okay?"

She looked up at him with an odd expression on her face. "This child is so beautiful, her smile reminds me of Celia when she was small. She's yours now?"

He nodded. She looked serious then. "Don't you ever hurt or abandon this baby, Carlos. You owe her that much..."

She got up with Angel and placed her in his arms and then walked away. He had no idea what she had meant by those words, but it wasn't like Sara had never said strange or harsh things to him before. He just sighed and went to find Stephanie. She was sitting with Tank, Lula, Hal, and some of the other Rangemen. Lester hadn't spoken to him and was sitting with his own family. He'd already delivered his proposal to the Rangeman lawyer, and they'd already elevated Hal and Rodriguez to partners and core team members. He'd signed all the papers when he arrived yesterday. Williams had met him at the hotel after they'd arrived for a meeting. Tank was now his equal partner in the company, which he deserved. He had a brilliant analytical mind, was deliberate in his moves, and always deadly calm. Ranger smiled, mostly Tank was serious, then he had this other side that was like a big goofy kid along with his Mr. T schtick.

When he walked over to them, Lula put her hands up. "Give that baby to her Auntie Lula."

Ranger handed her over, but he thought, visits with Auntie Lula would always be short and supervised.

Hector approached him and he nodded toward a corner of the room near the restrooms. Ranger shook Hector's hand. "Word is definitely out, my man. Even the detective knew we were looking for this guy. Any news?"

"I was with this pretty boy last night. Says this dude in his building runs a chop-shop, and deals in hot swag. He was living with a nice looking Hispanic woman, and they were loud, then the noise just stopped a while back. Said he spoke to him just yesterday while getting his mail, and the front door of the building opened. The guy pulled a piece on an old lady. Sounds a little jumpy to me."

"Yes he does."

"You want to pay him a visit tonight?"

"I might. Check his apartment for Celia's belongings first. Leave it clean. If you find something, I want to know next if there's an abandoned building nearby. For what I'm planning, we'll need to do a partial redecorating job. I want the building empty, and I don't want him disturbed or found before he dies."

"I'm on it."

"Hector, take a partner."

"Okay, boss."

Ranger smiled as he walked away. It would be nice to wrap this up while he was here. He'd planned one special event, he could easily fit another one in for fun.

Stephanie had been in the bathroom stall when she heard Ranger's voice and looked up. There was a vent above her and he was evidently on the other side of the wall speaking to someone. She thought she had seen him talking to Hector, but they were speaking English now. She put her ear to the wall and listened. She shivered when she heard Ranger's words. He was talking about a redecorating job and she knew what that was, but he said something about someone dying. They had never hurt anyone intentionally when she had done that kind of job with them. She heard Ranger say something about a partner, and for some reason those words had made her feel sad. She straightened her clothes and opened the stall door to leave.

TBC -