AN: Hi everyone! So sorry for the delay in updates. Things got a little crazy, but in a good way :-D I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, y'all are amazing and wonderful. I took a little liberties with the safety deposit boxes in the last chapter and in this one. Hope you guys like this chapter as well! :-)

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just play with them!

Rediscovery

Chapter 36

Stephanie and Penelope stared inside the box. For a while neither of them could speak. They were stuck in a stunned silence. Finally, Penelope grumbled, "I'm gonna kill her."

"I hate to say this," Stephanie said, "but someone already did."

"Over this?" Penelope hissed, motioning toward the safety deposit box.

With a sigh, Stephanie reached into the box and lifted out a chain. At the end of the chain was a key. "Well…maybe it unlocks something in the White House?"

"Really?" Penelope crossed her arms and glared at Stephanie. "Then why would they kill her before getting it back?"

"I'm grasping at straws here." Stephanie retorted.

"What the hell does it go to?"

"If we knew that, would we be here arguing over what it goes to?"

Giving off a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl, Penelope turned and marched out of the room. Pocketing the key, Stephanie put the box back in place and locked it back up.

Penelope drove them back to Trenton. The ride was in silence and Stephanie found herself staring at the photos that they had brought with them. It was ticking in the back of her mind that she should know their significance, but she just could not figure out what they were.

Currently she was staring at the picture of all of them at the cliff they had jumped off. "You know…" Stephanie said slowly, "I can't figure out what the rest of these pictures are for, but I'm betting anything, whatever this key goes to is out at the beach house."

"You think so?" Penelope glanced at it. "I've got a key to the house. Want to head out there?"

Before she could answer, her phone rang. "Yo."

"Babe."

"Batman." She smiled.

"Up for a distraction job?"

"What time?"

"Seven."

"Yeah, I'll be home in time to get ready—"

"In the morning."

"What?" Stephanie blinked in surprise. "What do you mean, seven in the morning?"

"Unusual situation in this case, Babe. I'll explain everything tonight." He said and hung up.

"Um, no, we can't go today." Stephanie told Penelope after giving her phone a glare for Ranger's phone etiquette. "I have a distraction job in the morning."

"Is that the norm?"

"No, usually it's at night." She replied. "But, assuming it doesn't take long, we can go right after. We should have plenty of time to dig around the house, and if it gets too later, we'll just crash there for the night."

"Okay, that sounds good."

/\/\/\/\/\

When Stephanie arrived back at Rangeman she headed to Ranger's office and poked her head in. "Hi. I'm back."

"How was your trip?" Ranger asked leaning back in his chair to look at her.

She sighed and pulled the key out of her pocket. Holding the chain it swung back and forth as she walked over and perched on the edge of his desk.

"I'd like to say rewarding, but I think Kaylee had a little too much fun when it came to the idea of a mystery shrouding her death."

"Babe?"

"I have no idea what this damn thing goes to, I can't figure out what the hell those pictures mean, and I'd kind of like to shoot Kaylee."

"Babe."

"Sorry." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It's frustrating because I feel like I should know the answer. Like it's ticking away in the back of my head. I just can't seem to get everything to click together so I can figure it out. The only consolation to this whole thing is that I'm a half step ahead of Morelli." Rolling her shoulders and head, she felt her neck pop. Opening her eyes she looked at Ranger. "So tell me about this skip we're going after at god-awful-am."

"Seven am is hardly god awful, Babe. I'm up at five."

"Only because you're in dire need of learning how to sleep later." She teased with a grin and leaned forward to kiss him.

After the kiss, he pulled her forward so she was sitting in his lap. Wrapping his arms around her he nuzzled her neck. "We're going after Phil Grayson. He's out on three hundred thousand. He is usually found in the mornings at a breakfast bar. We haven't been able to get to him at his apartment. He keeps himself pretty locked up."

"What does he like?" Stephanie asked, her eyes half closing at the feel of his lips brushing her pulse point in the softest kiss possible.

"Short skirts, tank tops with a bit of cleavage." Ranger answered, his hands slipping beneath her shirt to touch her skin.

"Mmkay." Turning her head, she caught his lips with hers. The kiss deepened, bringing moans from both of them.

Before the idea of christening Ranger's office (and they were both already thinking about that) could be put into any kind of action, the door slammed open and Tank and Lester walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt, Boss," Tank said with a look that said he was clearly not sorry he interrupted. Normally, he would have left and come back later, but the look on his face told Stephanie something big was up.

She looked at Lester. "Hey, Les. Feeling better these days?" She couldn't help the grin that came to her face.

A smirk came to Lester's. "Don't worry, Plum, you'll get yours."

"Yeah, yeah." She waved a hand dismissively. "You're all talk."

"Children." Tank said mildly.

"I'm going to the basement." Stephanie gave Ranger a quick kiss. "I need to clear my head."

"I'll have Ella bring dinner up at seven." He told her releasing her.

"Sounds good. See you then, Batman." She bounced out of the office.

He shook his head and turned back to his men. They got down to work and spent the next few hours going over everything they were gathering for Jace and making sure everything was in place for the morning's distraction job.

When Ranger made up to seven, he didn't see Stephanie in sight, nor did he hear her in the shower. This could only mean that she was still downstairs working out trying to figure everything out. Ella had left dinner on the table, covered to help keep things warm. Knowing Stephanie was going to be hungry he left to get her.

He grinned as he headed out of the apartment and down to the basement. He knew he could watch Stephanie for hours when it came to her gymnastics. The fluidity in which she moved was absolutely beautiful. He could never get enough of it. It was his own turn on watching her.

The elevator opened and he fobbed his way into Steph's gym. He was greeted by the blasting of Garbage's "Why Do You Love Me?" He could see Stephanie doing back flips across the mat. Sweat was covering her and from where he was standing her could see the focus on her face. It was as if she had fallen away from the rest of the world and there was nothing there but her and that mat.

Deciding to wait until she saw him, he made himself comfortable leaning against a wall, watching her continue to move. It only took about twenty minutes for her to notice him. She finished her line of flips, then walked over to him. He picked up her bottle of water and held it out to her. With a smile of thanks, she began drinking it.

"Get anything worked out?"

Stephanie shook her head, her eyes twinkling at him as she drank the water. "No. And since you got me really worked up in your office, I'm still feeling wired."

He pulled her close and kissed her. "Playing with fire, Babe."

"Burn me, Carlos." She whispered in his ear.

/\/\/\/\/\

The alarm went off waking both of them. Stephanie stretched against Ranger, feeling his morning wood pressed against her butt. She smiled and moaned slightly. She could feel his growl against her back.

"Good morning, Carlos." She murmured.

"Babe…" He sounded exhausted.

Stephanie couldn't hide the smug look on her face when she looked over her shoulder at him. Last night he had dragged them upstairs as fast as he could. She had tried to get him to wait long enough for her to shower, but he simply took them both to the shower and made love to her there. And at the dining room table when she claimed hunger. And up against a wall when he decided waiting to get to them to the bedroom was just a little overrated.

Eventually, they had made it to the bed where they hadn't left and had fallen asleep about ten minutes ago.

She was feeling energized herself, but from the look on his face, he could definitely benefit from a day of sleeping in. "Poor Batman. Exhausted by little old me!" She reached up to peck his cheek but found herself pinned beneath him instead.

"Carlos!" She laughed. "We have to get up."

"No." He nibbled on her neck. "I think this morning would be a great morning for you to educate me on the sleeping in part."

"You have meetings later." She gasped as his hand slipped between her legs.

"I can cancel." He moved again.

"Carlos…." Stephanie moaned, "Oh, god…we….can't…." She spoke between pants. "Distraction, remember?"

"Damn." He growled against her throat. He was settled between her legs. She lifted one of her legs to wrap around his waist. He slid into her. "Then we'd better not waist any more time."

By the time they emerged in the parking garage, they were both sporting very satisfied looks. Stephanie had a duffle bag over her shoulder. Penelope was going to pick her up from the breakfast bar and she was going to change into her jeans and sneakers on the way to the beach house.

"Watch out with Pen," Lester said as they rode over to their destination. "For some reason she's been real moody."

"Maybe you're just not doing your job to the best of your abilities," Stephanie teased.

"Oh, don't worry, Pen is very satisfied when I get done with her." Lester shot back. "Just last night I did this thing where—"

"Stop." Stephanie held her hand up. "That is more than enough."

"What? You don't want to hear about your friend's sexcapades?" He asked. "After all, you two had quite the rep back in the day."

"I don't need to hear about them again." Stephanie retorted.

"Alright children. Enough bickering." Tank laughed. "We're here. Everyone ready to go?"

Stephanie nodded, and got out of the SUV, and strutted herself into the breakfast bar. Ranger had put a wire on her before they left the apartment, which had resulted in an attempt to behave on their part.

She sat at the end of the bar and smiled at Woody who was manning the counter. She'd have to ask him later if he really knew how to cook or not.

Before long the skip was sidling up to her. Apparently he enjoyed his orange juice with a little bit of a kick to them. Luck was on her side since Woody made sure hers was just orange juice. It didn't take much to convince him that a good morning walk would be a great way to work up a good "appetite." He all but followed her out like puppy on a leash.

"Phil Grayson, you're in violation of your bond agreement." Tank's voice boomed out. Before Grayson had a chance to react, Tank and Lester had him cuffed and in the back of an awaiting SUV. Penelope was waiting beside her car. She looked Stephanie up and down and grinned.

"Nice outfit, Plum. Didn't you have one like it in college?"

Stephanie glanced down. "Nah, the skirt was shorter in college."

"Babe." Ranger raised an eyebrow.

"What? It was." She stood on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "Don't worry, I'd only wear it for you."

"Damn straight." He muttered in her ear. He kissed her. "Trackers?"

"Yep!" She patted her purse. He handed her the duffle bag. "See you later, Batman."

Ranger pulled her close and held her tightly. He kissed her hard. "Be careful, babe."

"I will. I love you, Carlos." She said softly.

"Love you too, Babe."

Stephanie turned toward Penelope who was locked in a tongue war with Lester. All the Rangemen looked at one another and shook their heads. Stephanie cleared her throat. "Unless you two plan to give us all a show, we have to get going."

"Alright. Alright." Penelope shot her a glare.

Both men gave their respective girls another kiss, and they all went their separate ways. The moment they were away from prying eyes, Stephanie sat in the front seat shimmying out of her skirt and into a pair of jeans.

As she tied her shoes, Penelope motioned behind her. "I brought my laptop. I thought we might look up some of the buildings in the pictures. I noticed last night that we're all in or near a building."

"You think they're significant?" Steph asked reaching back to grab the laptop.

Penelope shrugged. "Every little detail could be important."

Booting it up, Stephanie took the pictures out of her duffle bag and looked at them. Pen was right. All of them were near or around certain buildings. Picking up the one of Kaylee she studied it. She was in front of the library at school.

"Why would the school library be important?" She wondered out loud.

"Who knows? Did someone donate it?"

"If I'm reading the picture right, it's the Lacey Whittaker Library." Stephanie replied, then turned her attention to the laptop and began looking up the library. "Okay, Lacey, what's your story?"

She sat reading for a few moments before her jaw dropped. "Oh fuck."

"What?"

"Shit."

"What?"

"I don't believe this."

"What?"

"Son of—"

"PLUM!" Penelope yelled to get her attention. "What the hell is your problem?"

"Sorry." She shook her head. "Lacey Whittaker loved to read, and was an avid supporter of education. She did everything she could to support every students learning. Especially if they went to college to push themselves farther. She donated a large portion of her fortune to the college wanting students to have a good library, much to the chagrin of her husband….Paul Kazarra."

Penelope was so surprised she swerved slightly. A car near them honked loudly. She waved an apology and looked over at Stephanie. "Are you serious?"

"Do I sound like I'm joking?"

"Kazarra? Why would…wait…look at the other buildings. Maybe it's just a funny coincidence."

Stephanie's spidey sense had hit overdrive after seeing that article. Somehow she knew that the Kazarras' were involved whether they wanted them to be or not. Sure enough, as she looked up all the other buildings, they were all owned by the Kazarra family. No doubt to prove they had a legitimate business, Stephanie surmised then shared her thoughts with Penelope.

"Makes sense." Penelope murmured. "It helps cover what they're doing illegally to make money."

"What on earth would bring Kaylee's attention to the Kazarras?" Stephanie wondered. "Dwayne Kazarra didn't even go to that college, despite his grandmother's hefty donation."

"I don't know but, I'm willing to bet they had something to do with her death." Penelope said.

"Do you think we should go back and talk to Ranger and Lester?" Stephanie asked quietly.

"Do you want to?"

She thought for a moment. On one hand, yes, she did want to go talk to them before jumping the gun and going after someone who might not actually have anything to do with Kaylee's death. On the other, they could be completely wrong.

"No." Stephanie shook her head. "No. We're going to go to the beach house. We're over half way there already. I hope Sheila doesn't mind if we tear up the house a bit….wait. Wait." Stephanie flipped through the pictures and picked the one of the five of them up again. "Whatever she hid, she didn't hide it in the house."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because she would have taken a picture of the house." Stephanie held up the photo. "She used a photo of us in a place we all loved jumping off."

"Where would she have hidden it up there? And how would it have stayed for nine years?"

"She'd bury it." Stephanie answered.

"How do you know?"

"Because our dear friend Kaylee loved her Nancy Drews." Stephanie couldn't help but smile when Penelope groaned.

When they arrived at the house, they disabled the alarm and went into the garage to find a shovel. Penelope was surprised at Stephanie's deduction of where she assumed Kaylee would have hidden whatever it was she had hidden. Lester had told her one night that Stephanie had some wicked skills when it came to deducing things.

She had a feeling Lester was right.

The women climbed up the familiar slope to the ledge they had jumped off so many times before. It was a bittersweet moment as they took in the view before turning back to the task at hand.

Penelope grimaced and rubbed her stomach a little bit. Steph noticed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. My stomach is just a little upset. I'll be fine." She replied. "Now, how do we go about figuring out where she would have buried this lovely little mystery."

"I guess look around and see if anything strikes you differently." Stephanie replied.

"That's helpful."

"Well, what more do you want?"

"Five minutes alone with Kaylee to shake her for her love of mysteries." Penelope growled.

Stephanie raised her eyebrows but kept quiet. Lester was right. Penelope was being a smidge cranky. She would just ignore her and get to work searching for something different.

"Hey, Steph," Penelope called nearly thirty minutes later. "I think I have something."

She walked over to a tree Penelope was staring at. "What is it?"

"Look." Penelope motioned to the tree. "In a classic gesture of love, There are two sets of initials carved together in a heart."

Stephanie looked at carving. The initials belonged to Kaylee and Micah.

"Do you think it's here?"

"What do we have to lose?" Penelope asked. "It's not like the owners will get mad at us for digging a hole in their land."

"No, Sheila will just make us fill it back in."

"Exactly."

Stephanie rolled her eyes and began digging. After a couple feet of digging she hit something. They looked at each other and knelt down. Together they finished digging out a box that had a lock on it.

"I think we found what the key goes to." Penelope said.

"Good thing I brought it." Stephanie grinned and pulled it out of her pocket.

With a shaking hand, she turned the lock on the box. They both let out a breath when they heard the release of the catch inside. Lifting the lid, they looked at everything inside the box. Their eyes widened.

"Shit, Kaylee, what did you stumble into?" Penelope murmured.

The box contained photos of the Kazarras. Everything illegal operation the Kazarras were involved in. From what they could tell, Kaylee had gotten really good at following them and keeping herself hidden. At the bottom of the box was a report stapled together.

Penelope pulled out the report and together she and Stephanie read it. "Damn," Steph whispered. "She found a way to get every dirty little thing they'd done. She was going to expose them like no one had ever exposed them." Tears filled her eyes. "I know she's gone, but I'm pretty damn proud of her for being able to do all this."

"You and me both." Penelope said.

They were both so engrossed in what they were looking at that they never heard anyone approach, but at the sound of a gun cocking, they whirled around. Both their eyes widened.

"Micah."

/\/\/\/\/\

Ranger sat across from Grayson and glared at him. "You can tell us what you know, or we can do this the hard way."

Grayson shook his head. "Dunno what you're talking about."

In a swift movement, Ranger knocked him backward and hit him a few times. "I'm talking about the work you're doing for the Kazarra's. You talk to us and you might live."

Grayson just shook his head again. Before Ranger could say or do anything else, Tank walked in. "Ranger, Lenny is here to see you."

"I'm a little busy."

"Jace is here too."

Ranger swore under his breath and walked out of the interrogation room and headed up stairs where he found both men waiting for him in his office.

"Ranger, have you seen Mary Lou?" Lenny demanded, a look of desperation in the man's eyes.

"No." Ranger shook his head. "What's the problem.

"I got a call from one of my neighbors. My front door was hanging wide open and when I got home, the place was a mess. Mary Lou never lets it get messy, even if she's teaching classes."

"Sheila is missing too." Jace said. "She never showed up at the community center and I haven't been able to get ahold of her on her cell."

Normally Ranger would have considered the fact that they were friends and they were probably just shopping, but based off the fact that he could see it was taking everything Jace had to not rip something, or someone, apart and that Lenny had never looked more frazzled, he knew things were much more complicated.

"What do you think?" Tank asked Ranger.

"I think we need to get Penelope and Stephanie back to RangeMan immediately." Ranger said.

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