Chapter 28

"Terry"
"Stephanie. I need a conversation"

She sat down and looked straight at Lula.

"Alone"

"Yeah, I need to visit the ladies room"
Lula scooted out of her seat, deserting me, hell I'd only ever seen her move that fast when the police were due to arrive. A glance to my side and I was surprised to see Caleb sat at the bar watching. I shook my head hoping he'd get the message not to interfere.

"What do you want Terry?"
"To apologize"
I was sure my eyebrows just shot up through the top of my head. Terry Gilman apologizing, that was certainly a first. I really didn't know how to respond to that, so I didn't say a word.

"I spoke with Joe and he told me you broke up with him"
"Yeah, I did"
"Because of the items in the rucksack?"

"No. I came to the decision that we weren't good for each other. He wanted me to change and I couldn't do that"
"Change?"
"You know quit my job, be a housewife and have his kids"
"I always thought that's what you wanted"
"No. What about you Terry. He's all yours now"

"I like the idea of being a housewife and having kids. The whole white picket fence, but it isn't who I am either"

"So why are you here?"
"It was easier when you were around. He always went back to you, so I never had to feel guilty"
"Guilty?"
"Yeah, we got what we wanted from each other, things he said you'd never do. Then I would walk away from him"

I'm sure my cheeks went red as I remembered some of the things I'd seen in that rucksack. Joe had tried to persuade me to be more explorative with sex but to be honest I just didn't trust him enough to give in to him.
"A friend with benefits Terry?"

"Maybe more. So, I'm sorry if it was because of me you broke up"
"No, I was at his house during the snow. The heating in my apartment packed up and I needed somewhere warm to go. It made me realize that I was only there because it was comfortable which was how I saw our relationship"

Hopefully she was working out that they hadn't moved Clare into the house until after that. In fact, I wasn't too sure when she'd been there, she wasn't there when I cleared my clothes out, but it was that evening when Lula, Leroy and I had done the surveillance on Joe's house.
"The rucksack?"
"I just grabbed it to pack my things inside. I had no idea what else was inside until a few days later"
"Joe said as much. Do you know where he is?"
"No idea and to be honest I don't care. Hasn't he been in touch with you?"
"No"

"Terry, I don't blame you for what happened between Joe and me. In fact, I'm glad it happened, it allowed me to move on with my life"

"I heard. Congratulations, the two of you always did have something between you. Joe was always ranting on about the mighty Manoso. Good luck Stephanie"
"You as well Terry, I hope you can work something out with Joe"
She stood up from the table and walked away toward the door. How was it she could look so good and be so graceful when she was A1 bitch and liar. I leant back and let out a breath of relief, as my eyes closed I felt someone sit down next to me. I didn't need to open my eyes to know who it was, the tingle down my back and the smell that floated in the air around me told me exactly who it was.

"I thought you had meetings this afternoon?"
"They're finished. I wanted to spend time with my fiancé"
"Liar, who called you?"
"Apart from Caleb and Lula. Eddie and half the police department"
I smiled as he said that, who knew there were so many people looking out for me.

"I think Caleb probably deserves hazard pay"
"What did you do to him?"
"Not me, Eula"
I opened my eyes to see a slight smile cross his lips and then as his face moved to mine. I closed my eyes again anticipating a kiss then opened them again when nothing happened. I finished the move for him and pressed my lips to his mouth smiling as I felt him smiling.

"Okay, now I have a skip to catch"

"Hard or easy?"
"Depends, he's old so anything could happen"
"Okay, lets go get him"
"Are you coming with me?"
I didn't get an answer, he just threw some cash on the table and led me to a Cayenne parked outside.

"Where's my car?"
"I had it taken back to Rangeman"

"Caleb?"
"Somewhere behind us"
I smiled at the idea that Caleb was still managing to stay with me, I wonder if anyone knew what had happened at the train station. Would he be embarrassed like Hal or annoyed like Tank could be? Nah I bet he'd just take it in his stride, well I hoped so, I wouldn't live down another Merry Man wanting a change of rota.

The take down went surprisingly well, well it would with Ranger stood at the door. Old Mr Lawrence admitted defeat as soon as he opened the door to Ranger. He dropped the can of spray foam on the floor and pulled up his pants and trousers that were around his ankles. Hell, he even held his arms out to be cuffed. As we drove to the station, I turned to look at Mr Lawrence sat in the back seat.

"Mr Lawrence what were you going to do with that spray can?"

"One of the old folk at bingo bet me that I wouldn't be able to cover you in foam"

"So it was a bet. And the trousers?"
"You caught me at a bad time"

I was sorry for that but hoped he'd managed to use the bathroom before we got there.

"She was all ready for me as well, I took the little blue tablet, but I think maybe it's only just starting to work"
I looked across to Ranger as he looked at me and saw the edge of his lips quirk up. Fortunately, we were already pulling into the police station so between us we uncuffed him from the ankle shackles and I walked him into the back door of the station. I made sure he was sat down and used his jacket to cover his knees before cuffing him and handing my papers to the duty officer. No one seemed to notice the dilemma Mr Lawrence was having and I didn't want to be around when they came to move him. I was back outside ready to go home. All in all, I'd had a good day.

I was surprised to see the Toyota already parked in the garage and even more surprised when Ranger had the elevator stop on level five. I followed him out as he walked into the control room and had a quick word with Cal. I noticed Tank walking our way, but he was making a funny noise and crinkling his nose. He walked up to me and then turned away.

"Aint her"
"Tank what's wrong?"
"There's a really weird smell but I can't pinpoint where it's coming from"
"You thought it was me?"
That pissed me off because I was sure I didn't have anything on me. Then I saw Caleb coming from the breakroom looking as though he was coming our way. I shook my head at him and looked to the stairwell door, hoping he'd get the message that he needed to leave the area. I saw him smile as he disappeared through the door but was sure that Ranger had seen the interaction.

"Tank anything to report?"
"No Ranger, all's quiet"
"I'm offline until tomorrow"

I didn't dare look at Ranger as we went up to the apartment and as soon as we were in headed to the bathroom for a shower. It was as I was stood under the jets that I heard the door open and Ranger came into the cubicle.

"I thought maybe you needed help in the shower"
"Not me"
"What did you do to Caleb?"
"I told you it wasn't me"
"Who then?"
"Eula, she thought he was going to hurt me so she started to throw old food at him"
"Why exactly would she think he was hurting you?"
"Well, I was getting her bag. Then this truck appeared and I kinda fell"
"Babe"
Shit he wasn't going to let this go, his tone as he said Babe meant tell me or else. The or else was his hand slowly working down my stomach and his mouth at my neck.

"Not fair"
He was so close to where I needed him to be and he was teasing me, making me squirm to get him to move.

"Okay. Okay. I fell in a dumpster as the truck was lifting it up to empty it"

"So Caleb pulled you out?"
"Mmm, yeah"

We were certainly clean when we emerged from the shower. Ella had been in with dinner which embarrassed me because I knew what we'd been doing when she came in.

"Babe?"
"Sorry, it's just the idea that when we were in the shower Ella came in"
"Don't worry about it, she'll have been in and out"
That didn't really help with how I felt but I couldn't do anything about it. The meal was as usual delicious, a succulent fish on a bed of vegetables with a sweet chili sauce. After we cleared away the plates, I collapsed on the couch allowing Ranger to sit behind me so that I was curled up between his legs.

"How did the search on that other skip pan out"
"I know where he'll be but there's more to it"
"Babe"
"I know, my job is just to bring the skip in, but the woman he's accused of raping, she's a con artist"

"How does that affect what he's charged with?"
"I think she made up the whole story and is probably as we speak trying to get him to pay over a lot of money"

"When does he have to back in the system?"
"Tomorrow is the last day"

"What would you like to happen?"
"Prove what she's done. Hell Ranger he's such a quiet and unassuming man. He has no social life and he's a geek. A hell of a rich geek with no social skills no good looks only the air of being a victim"
Did I hear Ranger sigh? Probably. Would he help me to prove Drapson's innocence? Maybe.

"In the morning I'll send a couple of guys to pick him up and bring him here"

"Don't let them frighten him"
"We'll talk to him first then make a judgement"
"Thank you"
"Now, what did Gilman want?"
Why the hell did I think that he wouldn't want to know? Okay maybe because he had been worried, though I wasn't aware of any men with her.

"She said she wanted to apologize"
I watched as Ranger's eyebrow went up, I was sure he'd want more detail than that.

"She apologized if it was because of her that Joe and I broke up. So, I set her straight. I got the feeling though that she was trying to figure out if I'd been to the house when Clare was there. I think she left knowing I hadn't. Then she said something weird, that she liked the idea of being a housewife with kids and a white picket fence, but it wasn't who she was. She asked if I knew where Joe was and then congratulated me and left"

"You didn't feel threatened?"
"No. The opposite really, she sounded melancholy. I think she has a thing for Joe but maybe being who they are sees that it can't happen"
"Hector and Tobi are calling in the morning. I think they're ready to remove Albertelli so the FBI will start to put the charges together"
"Good, it will be interesting to see if the vacuum he leaves is filled by someone else"
"It will be, that never changes. The interesting part will be working out who"

I let my head fall to his chest and felt his arms around me. The slow steady rhythm of his breathing along with the thumping of his heart through his chest had me relaxing until my eyes didn't want to stay open.

I knew I was alone again as I woke. I also knew it was later than I expected so literally sprang from the bed and into the bathroom. I wasn't too sure what to wear today so opted for black jeans and a black sweater. I ate some toast and jam and then with a mug of coffee in my hand left the apartment to go down to find Ranger. I wasn't sure if he would have already collected Drapson yet so needed to find out. As I exited the elevator I saw as Ranger walked toward the monitoring station, as he spoke with Binkie and then turned to look at me. I couldn't help it, just seeing him made me smile and as he approached me, I went up onto my tip toes to kiss the side of his jaw.

"Drapson is in conference room 2 downstairs"
"Is that a name for the cells?"
He just gave me a despairing look and with my hand in his led me back to the elevator. I'd brought all of my research with me so was prepared to go with him. What I wasn't prepared for was the slumped body in conference room 2.

"Is he okay?"
"Not sure, he hasn't said a word since we found him"

As I walked into the room, he didn't even look up at me. Cal was stood just inside the door so maybe Drapson was frightened, hell I would be.

"Mr Drapson"
I knew he'd heard me because his head did lift slightly from the table.