We got in the car and, when the doors were shut and we were on our way, Ranger lifted my hand and kissed my fingers. "It looks like you'll be gaining another employee", he said. "I'd rather have someone who was interested in doing captures help you do research, and if it was someone who was used to doing patrol they would have a good feel for that side of the business as well. I was thinking, at first, the person could do part-time patrol and part-time research much like Miguel and, when you are off on mat leave, have the person do full-time research while Miguel continues to split his days. I think if we took him off patrol permanently for the four months of your mat leave he would revolt."

I smiled. "I don't know. He's good about taking one for the team."

Ranger thought about smiling. I could tell that he was thinking about when he offered to take one for the team and take me bra shopping and I snorted out a chuckle and shook my head.

Ranger grinned, and said, "do you have any suggestions of people currently on patrol who would be a good to do research?"

I thought for a moment. "You know Dirk? He does patrol and monitoring. Before he joined the Marines, he went to college and got his degree in accounting. He said that he had wanted to be a forensic accountant, but he needed to get his chartered accountancy designation first. I asked him if he was bored doing patrol and monitoring and he said that, after what he saw overseas, he needed a little boredom in his life. But he seems like a good guy and at the risk of putting too much pressure on him, he would be a good person to have on staff doing searches. It also would be boring for him, but we could use his expertise when looking into the financials of a company or a private individual. I had been teasing him at the time and told him that we'd bring him on the research staff if he wasn't careful, and he had told me that any time I needed help he'd be willing to look at some numbers for me. Miguel gets along with him well as well, and I know that they have gone out for meals together in the past. I honestly think that, if we don't use him more effectively, we'll lose him as an employee and personally I think he is too valuable a team member and too well-liked to want to take the chance that we lose him."

"I agree. He's a good guy who has done a good job in his position. I will talk to Miguel about it tomorrow and, assuming that he too gives me the green light, I will talk to Dirk about it."

"I was thinking of making a template to fill out for capture plans. I basically follow one myself, but I was thinking of asking Leo to help me formalize one to keep on the server." Leo was the head of the Cybersecurity department and, although creating forms wasn't something that was in his responsibilities, I knew that it wouldn't take longer than a few minutes for him to do and, since I had a good working relationship with him, I knew that he wouldn't mind doing it for me. "I think it would make it easier for Miguel and Dirk when they are devising capture plans."

"That's true. You would have the best idea as to what should go on that template."

"I was thinking that it could be a fillable PDF, sort of like they have for government forms now. Then, when we go to save the file, it immediately recognizes that it is a template and the name needs to be changed before it can be saved. That should be possible, shouldn't it?"

"I think that's a question for Leo", said Ranger.

He pulled into a residential street and, soon afterward, pulled up to a detached house. The snow had been recently shoveled and a lopsided snowman graced the front yard. "Who are we visiting?" I said.

Ranger smiled. "I texted Elena, and my parents and grandmother are over. I thought that I would go over everything that we have found out at this point, and let them know the next steps that we are taking."

He turned off the car and got out, and walked around the car to shut the door of the car for me. He locked it before walking hand-in-hand with me up to the front door.

Here's the thing with Ranger. He liked holding hands. A lot. For someone who was so closed off and private, he was remarkably demonstrative with me. He liked touching me, and often had a hand on my leg or an arm around my shoulders if we were sitting, or was holding my hand or had an arm around my waist if we were standing. I had never been a demonstrative sort of person before, and as far as demonstrations went it was more indicative of a gentle joining rather than an in-your-face statement. However, I found the contact to be equally as comforting for me as I imagined it was for Ranger. It was a constant reminder that he was there for me, that he was supporting me, and that he loved me. I wouldn't have liked it if he was all kissy with me in front of others, but I did like holding hands with him. It was a way of showing the world that we were united and that we were a team.

So when Ranger was holding my hand as we walked to the door? That was just him providing comfort to me, and I loved every minute of it.

Ranger knocked on the front door. It was quickly opened by Cecelia, Ranger's only niece and the youngest in Elena's and William's family. "Uncle Ricky", she yelled, and she barreled into us and captured Ranger on his knees as she gave him a ferocious hug. She turned to me and hugged me just as tightly. "Guess what?"

"What's that, squirt?" said Ranger. He smiled at her, and I was again hit by my belief that Ranger was going to make an excellent father.

Cecelia grinned. "I went and sat on Santa's knee, and he told me that I'd been a good girl this year. He said that he'll put something special under the tree for me."

"That's great! You must have been a very good girl this year for Santa to have said that."

"Want to hear a secret?"

Ranger finished taking off his boots and steadied me while I took off my own, and he took my coat and laid it across the banister. "Always", he said.

"I saw an elf last night watching to make sure I ate all my peas. I don't like peas, but the elf was watching, ready to report back to Santa as to what I was doing."

"Then I guess that it's a good thing that you ate all your peas."

"Uh-hunh. Elsie's mother said there is no such thing as Santa Claus, but if that were true how do the presents get under the tree?"

"I don't know. I think it's a perfect example of a Christmas miracle."

"We need a Christmas miracle", said his sister as she came through from the kitchen drying her hands on a tea towel. "Are you back from meeting with the police?"

"Yes", said Ranger.

"What did they say?" She looked worried. "Cecelia, please go clean your room."

"My room is already clean. You told me to do it when Granny and Grandpa and Grandma Rosa came in."

"Then go read a book. You are supposed to read fifteen minutes a day as homework for school."

"I'm supposed to read to you for fifteen minutes a day", said Cecelia.

"Then go practice reading so that you are prepared when I come up to do our reading time together."

"I want to stay. Maybe Uncle Ricky will give me a horsey ride."

"I won't give you one if you don't do as your mother asked", said Ranger, "and I know that Santa's elves are watching and will report back that you didn't do what you were supposed to as well."

"I'll just go read", said Cecelia.

She turned around and ran upstairs, and Elena smiled. "It's hard at this time of the year. The kids are so excited and not sleeping properly, and are poorly behaved because of it. However, at the same time, they are trying so hard to do the right thing since they think that Santa is watching."

I laughed. I had seen the same thing with my nieces.

"Did you hear that Steph's grandmother was on the news?" said Ranger.

I groaned.

"No!" said Elena. She led us to the kitchen table, where everyone was sitting. "Was everyone okay?"

"Definitely", I said. "My sister and I decided that we'd take a picture of us on Santa's knee as a joke gift this year, and we took my grandmother to look after the babies while our picture was being taken. When we got there, however, about fifteen black Santas stormed the display and protested the fact that there was a discriminatory requirement for all Santas to be Caucasian. My grandmother thought protesting looked fun, so she jumped up and joined in, and yelled out that there should be black Santas, there should be female Santas, and there should be teenagers allowed to be Santa. The security guards came to break up the protest, the black Santas all ran, and my grandmother was left holding the megaphone." Ranger's family all laughed. "Oh, no. Don't laugh – it gets worse. So the security guard tries to take my grandmother into custody, at which point my grandmother decides she doesn't want to go into custody, and she jumps out of the way and breaks off a candy cane to use as a bat to keep the security guard at bay."

"I remember seeing that on the news", said Grandma Rosa.

"I think everybody saw it on the news. My mother had received eleven calls about it before the news clip was over."

"So what happened?" asked Ranger's mother.

"I let Grandma have her fun for a couple of minutes but, when I saw the situation starting to explode in our faces, I told the security guards that we would come with them as long as we could pick up our picture first. It all worked out well. While the picture was being printed off, my grandmother got her chance to sit on Santa's knee and Santa asked her out on a date, so she was happy. We went to the security office and my sister got a chance to feed my six-week old nephew Edmund and my grandmother and I fed a snack to the two toddlers, so the babies and my sister were happy. And we weren't charged or arrested, so I was happy."

"Was there any fallout from the news story?" said Ranger's dad.

I smiled. "My grandmother has been asked to do a recording of 'hell, no. We won't wear bells; we won't be elves'. There is a group of a few music executives that want to turn it into a song, much like that song that went viral several years ago. You know, the one where the woman was saying 'ain't nobody got time for that' when she was interviewed after she escaped a burning building? They want to turn my grandmother into a song. My grandmother is ecstatic and said that she has always wanted to be a rock star."

"Good for her", said Grandma Rosa. "Hopefully it will bring her lots of money."

"I don't know if she cares if it brings her money", I said. "I think she just wants the notoriety for when she goes to the hair salon. She feels the release of the song will make her so famous that the salon will do her hair for free."

"There is always something good in everything", said Ranger.

Elena poured Ranger a coffee, and asked me whether I would like a yogurt drink or a glass of juice. I looked at her. "A yogurt drink is much like a smoothie", said Elena.

I smiled and asked for the yogurt drink and, as I took a sip, I decided that I had just found a new favorite. It was peach in flavor, and it was excellent.

Ranger took a sip of his coffee, and then looked around at all the anxious adults. He told them what we had found out, the people that we were investigating without mentioning names or particulars. "I need you to stay far away from the company while the investigation is taking place", said Ranger. "I need your agreement to that." Each of the adults agreed, and I thought that it was a good thing that it wasn't my grandmother sitting there. I would have had to check to make sure her fingers weren't crossed when she was promising.

He told them of the fraud case and what the police were doing about it. Ranger's mother started to cry, and Elena slammed her cup down on the table. "Do you mean that they were charging us over double what they were charging everyone else, but not delivering the product that they had promised?"

"Yes", said Ranger. "When the dust has settled on the criminal case, you might want to both sell your shares in the company as well as to bring a civil case against them for the impacts that their fraud has made to the company."

"We had an offer to buy our shares in the company a few weeks ago", said Ranger's father. "We thought it was a bad idea since we thought we were getting preferred pricing, and we knew our meat bill was high and we didn't want it to go any higher."

"You were getting preferred pricing", I said. "If I am reading the files right, you are paying over double what everyone else is paying."

"So should we go ahead and try to find another supplier?" said Elena. "We have that contract with Nature-Fresh, but if they are committing fraud, surely that would negate the contract?"

"I don't know", said Ranger. "I would talk to a lawyer, if I was you. In the meantime, however, I would suggest that you don't do anything. Stop ordering food; stop taking in patrons; stop everything. Whatever you do, don't change anything with Nature-Fresh. Don't even talk to Nature-Fresh. You don't want to alert them to the fact that an investigation is going on."

"What did you find when you were at Nature-Fresh?" asked Ranger's father.

"They are not a good company", said Ranger. "Pay is low, morale is dismal, and business practices are unethical."

Ranger's father looked down at the table. "I'm ashamed that we are part-owners of this company. I think, when the dust settles, that we should get Rangeman to do a review of all our suppliers. I don't want to take the chance that other companies are unethical as well."

"That is an idea", said Ranger. "I think that it would also be a good idea for you to review all future purchases prior to buying them. Due diligence is important."

Ranger's dad sighed. "Okay." He paused, his face falling. "We've been very naïve, haven't we? I mean, all I keep thinking is how stupid we've been. You have told us to be careful in the past, and I thought that you were just being overanxious about something that didn't need it."

"No, Papa", said Ranger. "You haven't been stupid. Most people don't think like a criminal and, because of that, they are ripe for becoming victims. That is not your fault. That is solely the fault of the people taking advantage of you."

"This would never have happened to you", said William.

"I have made it my career to think like a criminal", said Ranger. "My whole job is figuring out weaknesses in people's security. Would I have done my due diligence before I signed with any of these companies? Yes, I would. But that's my area of specialty. Just like you would think to make sure the temperature of the freezer was set correctly, I would think of doing due diligence. My guess is that all of the other companies in which you are a part-owner are fine, but we will look into them just in case. Steph is already doing much of that work for the Newark police. There will be little that needs to be done after the dust settles to finish doing that due diligence. However, we can do that work for you."

"What will happen now with Nature-Fresh?" said Ranger's mother.

"There still needs to be more of an investigation into the plant. They have not yet been able to identify the method that the meat is being contaminated, but it seems to be contamination that is centered on only the meat that the owners of the slaughterhouse is receiving. This means that the contamination is probably happening at the trucking end. The police will have someone go undercover in the distribution department. Once the method of contamination has been addressed, the owners of the company will be charged with fraud, and the people responsible will be charged for their role in contaminating the food. I went for a tour of the facility yesterday, and I told them that I would have a staff member come and do some subsequent observations. I thought that they would be able to focus on the trucking practices. Mike, one of my system designers, and myself are in the process of coming up with a security system. Mike was working on that today, and I'll be reviewing that work this weekend."

"What will happen to us?" said Grandma Rosa. "After all, we are part owners of the facility. Does that mean that we will be charged with fraud?"

"I don't know how this will work", said Ranger, "but what I do know is that the police know that you have been the driving impetus behind the investigation into the abattoir's practices. They know that you have been providing a lot of the information that they are using in their investigation, and the judge will take that into consideration."

"How long will we need to have the restaurant closed?" said Elena. "We have had to cancel several Christmas parties, and New Year's is a big night for us."

"I know that, El. Everyone is trying to move this investigation along as quickly as we can. I would talk to a lawyer first to see what he or she would recommend for your next steps, and then I would talk to the police. Officer Dawn Sheridan is the person that we've been dealing with. I'll text the contact information to you."

"How do you think we should handle the cancelled Christmas parties?" said Ranger's father. "We were just discussing it when you arrived."

"I think", said Ranger, "that you should explain to the people doing the bookings what has gone on, and tell them that you will charge them half price meals if they would agree to reschedule their party in the new year. Plan on your reopening to be on New Year's Eve, and enjoy the next couple of weeks off. It's been a long time since you've taken a holiday from the restaurant. Try not to worry. The police and I have it well in hand. In the meantime, talk to your lawyer about the ability to find another supplier and plan on working with a new supplier for the New Year's bash. We will continue to investigate the various players at our end and will hopefully identify the method of transmission for the pathogen."

"Okay", said Elena.

Cecelia came running into the kitchen waving her book around. "What's this word, Mommy?" she said.

The tension in the room lifted and Elena pulled her daughter up on her knee. She looked at the book. "Tomorrow", she said. "That's the word."

"Thank you, Mommy."

William looked around the room. "Would everybody like to stay for dinner? There are lots. I made cabbage rolls."

Ranger looked at the sudden paleness of my skin and smiled. He knew how much I hated cabbage rolls. My mother made them on a regular basis when I was growing up, and I didn't hate them any less now than I did then. It was the only meal that my mother made – other than liver – that I didn't like. I would sit there for hours with the food in front of me, refusing to eat it, and no amount of bribery dessert would force me to swallow it. My grandmother used to tell me that starving children in Africa would have liked the food. She stopped saying that the day I brought a booklet of stamps to the table and told my mother that I needed a small cardboard box so that I could mail it to the children.

"No, but thank you for the offer", said Ranger. "Steph and I still have a ton of work to do on the case, and the Newark police need the answers sooner rather than later."

Did I mention that Ranger was my hero?