Chapter 49
SPOV
I should have been tired, after all, Carlos had kept me up until the small hours of the morning. I don't know what came over me when we'd come up to the apartment. I just knew I wanted him so badly it hurt, and I wanted to really feel us together. I surprised myself at just how frantic I was, though with him reciprocating with a violent need of his own, that turned me on even more. The first time was brutal but oh so satisfying, feeding some primal need deep inside of me. The orgasm that hit me had been overwhelming and the name that I screamed was Carlos. Well that just tipped him over the edge and he insisted I call him that over and over again. Our following love making was slow and sensual making me realize how true his words had been when he said we were soul mates.
I looked over to see him sleeping next to me. My head was resting on his arm with his other arm thrown across my hips. Even in the dim light coming through the window he looked so amazing laid there next to me. His hair was hung down over his eyes, just waiting to be moved to the side. His face had a five o'clock shadow that I just wanted to run my hand over. I hadn't moved as I lay here watching, but there was no way I could get back to sleep.
My mind was racing with the memory of a dream, a really weird dream that was half scary and half just weird. I was sure seeing Buckley tonight had triggered everything, and the scary part of the dream had been me falling through the window with Buckley laying bleeding next to me. Just as he had been dying next to me near his parent's house. The dream changed then, and I found myself surrounded by keys. All shapes and sizes hanging down on pieces of string. Every time I reached for one it would move up out of my way until all the keys had disappeared. I heard someone calling out my name but when I turned around that dam mannequin was walking toward me. Try as I might I couldn't move and as she reached out her hand, she was holding a key. Damn that stupid video that we'd watched, because all I could think about was Buckley's reference to his "key to eutopia"
Having had Remi and Gannon tell me that the object I'd had in my arm was because of them and had nothing to do with Buckley probably didn't help either. That meant that Buckley's work was still out there somewhere and it was something that was eating away at the back of my mind. Why I wanted to solve this puzzle I had no idea, other than of course it was in my nature.
I knew what I was going to do was irrational, even stupid, but I had to do it. I carefully moved out of Carlos's arms, an inch at a time. I didn't want to wake him up just because I was feeling antsy. I slipped quietly out of the bedroom and found my bag on the couch, tipping the contents onto the floor. I found what I was looking for straight away. The key ring that held the keys to my apartment. My shoulders slumped as I looked at them. Each and every key was one that I knew. Dam, was I stupid or what? As I lent my head back on the couch, I tried to think of any other keys I might have and realized I'd been driving one of Ranger's car when I went to see Buckley. As I stood up ready to head out of the door, I realized I would need some clothes that wouldn't give the guys a fright. I quietly crept into the bedroom and found my abandoned cargos and a T-shirt before quietly slipping out of the apartment and down the stairs.
The keys to the cars were kept on a board in the control room so that was where I was heading. I had no clue which car it had been so starting at the top I removed the keys one at a time. Some spaces were empty, I assumed with men who were out on patrol. Nothing! Each keyring seemed to hold only fobs needed to open the car or garage and a key for the lock box hidden inside. It was a stupid idea, but at least now maybe I could go back to sleep.
"Wifey what you doing?"
I jumped at the sound of a voice.
"Sorry, I may have lost a key and thought maybe I put it on the keyring of the car I borrowed"
"Which car was it?"
"I can't remember"
I watched as he placed the keys in his hand onto the board and immediately made a grab for them. I didn't hear a sound behind me, hell I was so anxious I was totally unaware of anyone else being there, but the tone of his voice frightened the hell out of me.
"Stephanie where the hell do you think you're going?"
I turned to see Carlos stood behind me. But it wasn't the face of Carlos it was the face of Ranger and his expression showed me he was annoyed. As I stepped back, I dropped the keys and started to turn. The memories from the time in my apartment came crashing down on me. As I turned my foot caught on the leg of a chair and suddenly, I was falling to the floor. Tears were streaming down my face, and I was struggling to get my breath.
"No, please, no"
I wasn't aware that he'd sat down behind me until I felt his arms cradling me.
"Babe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you"
"I'm sorry, I just"
"Calm down first"
As my breathing started to calm the tears wouldn't stop but I could feel myself being rocked and I could hear Manny talking. He picked up the keys and handed them to Ranger who held them out in front of me.
"What's so important about these keys Babe?"
"It was a stupid idea, it's just that the dream seemed so real"
"Babe, it wasn't stupid"
What did he know to say that, I mean since when do I ever have a sensible thought. I wiped my eyes and turned to look at him.
"Why are you laughing at me?"
"Because there's a key on here that doesn't belong"
"What?"
He held the keys right up in front of my face, the light reflecting back from them as they turned slightly. There between two fobs was a beautiful old-fashioned bronze key. I looked up as I heard more talking and realized I now had an audience.
"Let's head into my office"
I felt Ranger, or should I call him Carlos, lift me up and carry me into his office. I was surprised when he sat down on the leather couch with me on his knee. I still felt very vulnerable and some of my fears started to worm their way into my head.
"Stop that"
I'm sure my eyes were wide as I looked up into his face.
"When I woke up and you were gone, I was worried. When I saw you with keys to a car I panicked. I thought you were going to leave"
"You're not mad at me?"
"Never"
"It's just that when you shouted at me it reminded me of that day you came to my apartment"
"No Babe, I wasn't annoyed, just scared"
"I'm sorry Ranger"
"Carlos, I thought we'd agreed on that"
"Carlos. I had a terrible dream about Buckley and then I was surrounded by keys, but then that mannequin was walking toward me with a key in her hand"
"So you needed to find out if Buckley had hidden his key with you?"
"Yes"
"I think even Buckley would be amazed with how your brain computes things, even when you sleep"
"Is that a compliment?"
"Definitely"
"So what now?"
"Get dressed and have breakfast"
Okay I felt much better now, somehow those old feelings had a way of creeping up on me and I really needed to manage them better. Once back in the apartment I showered and dressed ready for the day. I had no idea how we could find out what that key would open and was surprised when Carlos used his phone to photograph it before putting it in an envelope inside his safe in the closet. He caught me watching him and pulled me in front of him, so I was stood looking into the safe. I wasn't sure, other than guns, what he kept inside. Did I want to know, probably, I'm too curious not to, but I would never ever pry into a part of Carlos's life that he so obviously kept personal.
"We'll leave the key in here, no one can get to it, so we know it'll be safe"
"Why the photos?"
"There's a program that can compare it to any key, so hopefully we'll get an idea of what it opens"
"Like a bank vault?"
"Yes. The inscription will be a clue"
He closed the safe up and I changed into some jeans and a T-shirt, throwing the clothes I'd grabbed off the floor this morning into the wash basket. I went through to the kitchen to join Carlos for breakfast, Ella had left some granola and yoghurt with fresh fruit. To be honest I actually found it tasty and felt full after I'd cleaned out my bowl.
"Do you want the program running here in the room or downstairs in your workroom?"
"I'd like running it while I work, then if anything comes up I'll let you know"
"Okay I've got some work for Rangeman I have to do"
Once downstairs Carlos used a computer to set up the search program for the key and I started to look at what we already had on Dolby. I knew I'd already run a search for him before so started by pulling that one up and reading it through again. I remembered there hadn't been very much to find but there was the connection to Gannon. Dolby was Gannon's uncle, they shared the same grandparents. Shit he never denied that connection to me and remembered he'd said he didn't like his uncle. I still didn't like that connection, it made me nervous, and was curious if Remi knew about it. It also meant that the house where Gannon had taken me could also be known to Dolby. I input the names of Dolby's family into searches and sat back, my mind reverting to the key we'd found.
The search for the key had narrowed it down to possibly belonging to a box and at the moment was still scanning. I was almost certain that the end result would be inconclusive so mused over where Buckley could have hidden a box. I had no idea how big the box could be but didn't think it would be the size of a chest. For all we knew it could have been burnt in his house fire, but if he wanted the box to be found in the far distant future then an ordinary house wouldn't survive, or someone could find it quickly. His parent's house. No, I'm sure someone would have searched through there, maybe somewhere to look through though in case they missed it. Thinking through where else he held dear to him, I remembered what the minister had said when I was there for Buckley's funeral. He hadn't known Buckley well, but mentioned how much he loved the church, and how it was actually older than it looked. Plus, didn't he mention that Buckley visited a lot?
I put the name of the church, Asbury Methodist, Asbury into Google and went into their web page. I looked through the index until I found one that gave the history of the church. It was thought that the cornerstone was laid in 1796, making the church more than 220 years old. That was about the only useful information I found which I found really strange. The problem became, how did I find out more about the church? The answer was simple, phone up and talk to someone. So that's what I did. I had the contact number for the gentleman who had conducted the service.
"Good afternoon, it's Stephanie Plum speaking"
"Miss Plum, it's nice to hear from you"
"I wanted to thank you for the lovely service and managing things so quickly for Mr Buckley"
"Nonsense, it was the least I could do"
"You said Mr Buckley was a frequent visitor?"
"Well I always noticed fresh flowers on his parents graves so assumed it was him"
"Has he always been a member of the congregation?"
"When his parents were alive, yes, in fact the family were always pleased to donate to the church"
"Did they donate anything in particular?"
"Now that you mention it they supported us when we did some restoration of the crypt"
"So you have relics down there?"
"No, not now. I would say over time they were stolen or damaged. We don't let anyone down there anymore"
"I thought maybe we could do something as a commemoration for the Buckley's?"
"Maybe a plaque for the beautiful painting they donated"
"That sounds like a lovely suggestion. What is the painting?"
"Saint Stephanie"
"Really, what a coincidence?"
"Yes I thought so too when I spoke with you"
"Thank you very much for talking with me"
"It was a pleasure"
Wow I had no idea there was a saint called Stephanie and immediately went into Google to find out about her. I discovered that St. Stephanie, who was also called St. Stephena De Quinzanis, was born in 1457 to poor parents in Italy. She began seeing visions at 7 years old and was able to heal others. She devoted her efforts to the poor and sick and raised funds to help the destitute and developed a wide-ranging reputation. Stephanie was known for having a stigmata and for healing quickly. She was thought to be a mystic, and her feast day is Jan. 2.
Going through how Buckley had behaved toward me when I first met him had me wondering if he decided I was going to be the person who would somehow keep his secret. I was startled from my musings by my searches completing so dismissed the notion as too weird and started to read through them. I had Dolby and his son along with the parents and grandparents. I already had whatever financials were available for each person but there wasn't anything jumping out at me. Following the money was a sure way of finding what people were up to so maybe Dolby had other accounts under different names. Alright Samuel Dolby, where the hell are you keeping your money? I tried different variations of Samuel and Jackson with the surnames of his wife, mothers and grandmothers, then used their first names with Samuels and Jackson as the surname. Nothing, nada. Shit I was running out of ideas. One last go at this and I needed a break. I used the letters for Safenet, leaving the S out because for some reason I thought Dolby would keep his first name. That gave me Feenat and Fateen. I crossed my fingers as I put those into the search, it might take some time to run but hey, I had time to kill unless someone else had found something else.
I needed something to eat so headed out to the break room hoping there was something there that might give me some inspiration. I was bent over debating which sandwich was going to be the tastier when I felt hands on my shoulders. Turning around I came face to face with Les.
"Nothing you fancy Beautiful?"
"Tuna or turkey. Not really doing it for me Les"
"How's about I take you out to Pinos"
I felt a tingle run down my neck so knew Carlos was close by, so I knew he wouldn't want me to go out.
"I would love that, but I don't think I should be going out"
"Babe, if there are enough of us, we can go"
"Honestly?"
I actually felt excited about a visit to Pinos, hell once upon a time I'd visit a couple of times a week. I know I was smiling as Carlos took my hand and led me to the elevator. I was pleased I'd worn jeans and a sweater. As we headed down to the garage though I couldn't help but show Carlos my appreciation.
