Disclaimer: Characters from the books are property of JE and I'm playing with them without her permission.
A/N: My Spanish is pretty sketchy at best, so translations are courtesy of BabelFish. Any errors are probably due to my ignorance. Short chapter today, my muse is being onery…
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Chapter 52
I didn't intend to be gone long but just in case, I left Ranger a note telling him where I'd gone. Then I grabbed my coat and my purse and headed out.
The powdery snow from the day before had added up to less than an inch, but today the wind was stirring it and making little drifts. It was cold. The sun was shining and reflecting off the snow enough to make me wish I had my sunglasses. But the roads were good and I make it to my apartment quickly.
Mrs. Bessler was in the elevator.
"Stephanie! I haven't seen you around much lately. Is everything okay?"
"Just fine, Mrs. Bessler. I've been spending some time with a friend."
"Going up! Second floor, sporting goods and outerwear."
That was a new one. I guess nothing much had happened lately to give her inspiration. And that was a good thing.
The apartment was quiet and still but thankfully didn't smell funky. I'd been afraid I'd missed something in my hurried cleaning. I dropped my coat on the sofa and headed into the kitchen.
My candy-bar stash was in the second drawer down, under the small pile of kitchen towels. There were eleven left. I gathered them up, using one of the towels to bundle them up. Then I opened my oven, felt around inside the top, and pulled off the envelope I'd taped there some time ago with my emergency cash. The envelope was still sealed and reassuringly thick. There was just over a thousand dollars in it, mostly in large bills. I'd stashed it from a big payout after a particularly bad month, just in case. It had stayed there untouched for a year.
I fished the loose bullets out of my cookie jar and added them to the growing pile in the towel, and headed into the bedroom.
Leaving the towel bundle on the bed, I headed into the bathroom to get my curling iron, some hair-ties and barrettes, and a compact of 'dress-up' eyeshadow. I also got the little plastic tub out from under the sink that held all my manicure stuff – nail polish, polish remover, little rhinestone design stickers and all that jazz.
I dug through my shoes until I found the pair of heeled pumps with a jeweled buckle on the ankle strap. The search also unearthed a pair of dark blue heels that might match the dress… I put them both on the bed and found an evening bag that would go good with the dress, and got out my nice dress coat.
Surveying the pile on the bed I sighed. Once again, there was more than was easy to carry.
I was pushing the spilled shoes back into the closet and knocked over my old briefcase from E.E. Martin. Hmm. That might work.
I stuffed the candy bars, cash, eyeshadow, and the loose bullets into my purse. The briefcase was empty – I'd long ago tossed out the last of my business paraphernalia from my buyer job – and the upper section made for file folders held the curling iron and hair ties just fine. I dumped the contents of the plastic tub into the bottom of the case with my eyes closed, hoping nothing broke, then closed it and carefully picked it up. It was heavy but not too bad. I gave it a fairly stout shake to see if the latches held and it rattled but stayed put. All right.
I put my jacket back on, slung my purse over my shoulder, and picked up my coat and the briefcase. I double-checked the lights and locks, and headed back out to the Jeep.
The sun was getting low in the sky although the radio said it was just after four. I might have to wait until after dinner to do my nails.
There were cars stopped on Haywood as I neared the RangeMan building. As I crept closer the reason became clear. A little green car had rear-ended a beat-up white mini-van, and traffic was blocked on one side. A Trenton PD car was there, and a young cop I didn't recognize was trying to direct traffic through the one open lane.
It would take forever to get to the garage entrance. I sighed and pulled the Jeep to the curb. As I stopped I saw that Hal was on the sidewalk in front of the garage. He saw me stop and jogged down to me.
"Hey, Steph," he greeted me as he opened my door. "I think it's going to take a while for that accident to get cleared. If you want to give me your keys, I'll put your Jeep in the garage later."
"Thanks, Hal," I smiled. "I appreciate it. If it sits out here overnight I'm afraid it wouldn't start. It's getting cold." I grabbed my stuff and gave him my keys and set off for the little-used front entrance of the building.
Cold air swirled around my ankles, unprotected by my tennis shoes. My jeans were long enough but loose at the bottoms, and I hadn't planned to be walking in this. I should make it more of a priority to be dressed for the weather, especially with my luck.
I pulled the door open and entered with a light swirl of snow, glad to be inside where it was warm. I took three steps toward the elevator and the security desk and stopped short. A short, elderly Hispanic woman was going full spate in Spanish at the guard, and from the look on his face, he didn't understand a word.
It was a new guy – I couldn't think of his name, but I remembered he was from Minnesota. Alex? Aaron? He'd gotten up and come around to the end of the desk, between the woman and the elevator doors, and had his hands out in front of him. He was either trying to stop her or get her to calm down so he could talk to her, or both. His eyes met mine over her head and his face went hopeful.
"S-Steph," he stumbled over my name a bit but it didn't slow him down. "Can you call one of the guys that speak Spanish? I'm having a communications problem, and she seems to be getting angry."
His name was Alex, I remembered, and his second language was French. I flashed a reassuring smile at him and the woman, who had turned to see who he'd spoken to, and shuffled my coat and briefcase to dig my phone from my pocket.
"Un momento," I said, and she fired a stream of rapid Spanish at me. I only caught a few words. I had my phone out of my pocket but decided to take a shot. "Hable lentamente, por favor," I said. {Speak slowly, please.}
"Quiero solamente visitar a mi nieto. Éste no me dejará ir arriba." she said more slowly. {I only want to visit my grandson. This one will not let me go above.}
Okay, I understood that. But who was her grandson? "¿Cuál es el nombre de su nieto?" I asked. {What is the name of your grandson?} I had my thumb on the speed-dial number for the control room.
"Ricardo."
Oh, crap. That name didn't need any translating. And I was pretty damn sure there was only one man here by that name. I screwed up my courage, moved my thumb to a different number, and asked one more question.
"¿Es usted abuela Rosa a Ricardo?" {Are you grandmother Rosa to Ricardo?}
"Si."
I hit the button to call Ranger.
He answered on the second ring.
"Babe, I just came upstairs and found your note. Where are you?"
"I'm in the lobby. Can you come down? I think your grandmother is here."
He disconnected abruptly, something he'd been getting better about. I forgave him this time because I was pretty sure he hadn't been expecting this visit. I didn't know enough about his family yet to guess if this was a good or a bad surprise.
"Él está viniendo," I told her. {He is coming.} Then I turned to Alex and gave him another smile. "Its okay, Alex. Ranger is on his way down."
Alex moved back behind the desk but stayed on his feet. By the look on his face he couldn't decide if Ranger coming down was going to reflect badly on him. Personally I didn't think so, but Alex needed to work on his blank-face if he was going to last on this job.
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TBC…
