Chapter 33

I hadn't realized how long Les had been with me. After looking at the file on Hancock we spent some time talking about the case Ranger and I were working on. I was sure Les was feeling awful for liking that painting of Katie. To take his mind off it I questioned him about what his ideal painting would look like. I was actually surprised when he described to me the type of woman he wanted to see in a painting. He really was wanting something that was artistic not sleazy. When Ranger came into the apartment, he had a trolley in front of him, a trolley that looked as though it might be holding food.

I'd changed to travel back to Trenton, thinking that I might have to be sat for a while so needed to be comfortable. I had a small bag in my hand holding the clothes that I had with me, including the gilet that Ranger had given to me. I just wasn't too sure what to do about my gun, if we were travelling commercial then I'd have a problem. As we got to the door of the apartment, I was holding it in my hand with the intention of asking Ranger what I should do with it.

"Babe, is there a reason you're carrying your gun?"

"I wasn't sure how we were travelling"

"Just leave it in your bag"

Okay that probably meant that we were driving but at least it meant that I could sleep during the journey. Ranger left first, I assume so that he could block the cameras, and I followed him out into the hallway. When I heard voices coming from the stairway, I almost groaned at the thought of walking down all the stairs to get to the garage.

Imagine my surprise when instead of going down the stairs, Ranger started to climb up. The voices became louder as we reached the top and at last I could see who they belonged to. Les and Dax were stood by a door that they went through as we reached them. Following them out I felt giddy when I realized we'd come out onto the rooftop.

That wasn't a problem for me but what was sat waiting for us sure as hell was. Okay it was beautiful, if that's what you liked. It was, of course black, and sleek and was probably top of the range, but there was no way I was going to be getting into it. The small jet planes that I'd already travelled in had been my limit, hell, this thing was smaller, with blades that somehow made it fly.

I watched as Les climbed into it, sitting down at the front and the way his arms seemed to be moving around as though he were switching things on. He probably was because there was a low sound and then the blades started to rotate. I knew someone was behind me, and assumed that it was Ranger, but I wasn't going to be getting on board that thing.

"Babe, we need to board"

"Nah. I think I'd rather drive"

"Babe, it's a lot faster"

"Not happening"

I was standing my ground on this because the more I stood looking at the blades as they increased their speed the more nervous I was feeling. I felt Ranger turn me until I was facing him, his hands holding me tightly at my shoulders.

"Babe, it's perfectly safe"

I just shook my head at him, not trusting myself to speak, not trusting myself to be able to withstand his persuasive talking. My eyes closed as I felt the air swirling around me and I could feel my heart racing, as I felt him turning me my breath hitched and suddenly, and I knew I was panicking. I was gasping for air as I fell to my knees, and expected Ranger to push my head down and tell me to breathe slowly. When that didn't happen, I couldn't stop my reaction to how I was feeling, and black dots started to appear in my vision until that was all I was aware of.

I wasn't sure where I was as my senses came back to me, but I became acutely aware of a vibration moving through me. As I moved slightly, I felt as though I was wrapped up but knew immediately that it was Ranger who was holding me. I felt one hand on the side of my head, pressing the side of my face to his chest and the other across my hips.
That felt okay because now I could hear the steady beat of his heart. Maybe he'd changed his mind and we were in the back of a car driving to Trenton. Then again maybe not, because the way we seemed to be moving wasn't reminiscent of that mode of transport.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw that Ranger was looking above me, so dared to look ahead of me. I didn't recognize my surroundings but knew immediately that somehow, I was in the helicopter and we were up in the air.
I expected the panic to return but as I looked around, I saw no reason for it to happen. The two seats opposite me were empty but in front of those I could see Dax. His seat was sat sideways so he could see me watching him. He winked at me and then continued to look ahead. I felt a touch to my head and looked up to see Ranger looking down at me. His eyes looked serious as he looked into mine and I suddenly felt so stupid for how I had behaved. I mean Les was piloting the helicopter, he wouldn't do anything to endanger us or himself. Ranger trusted him, so why couldn't I?

"I'm sorry"

"How're you feeling?"

"Stupid"

"You were terrified"

"I shouldn't have been, Les is driving and you were with me"

"Piloting. I should have prepared you, told you how we were travelling"

"No, I would have tried to persuade you to change the plans"

"You okay now?"

I thought about that and how I was feeling, to be honest I felt okay now, and in some ways, couldn't work out why I had felt so panicked.

"Yes, you know I hate to fly, and I suppose seeing this helicopter just freaked me out"

"I suppose because I'm so used to them, I don't think about it"

"Where are we?"

"Nearly there, do want to look out of the window, you might recognize some landmarks?"

I turned on Ranger's knee toward the window. I felt I needed to do this, to somehow take control of how I felt. I mean look at all of the times when I was in mortal danger, okay I was afraid, but I didn't let it get the better of me, in fact quite the opposite. It would make me more determined than ever to free myself or get the better of whoever was after me.
So. I looked out of the window, surprised at how clear the view was, that I could see the cars as they travelled along the streets, their lights shining on the streets.

"The mall you go to, Quaker Bridge"

I was looking at a large empty area that I presumed was the parking area surrounding a large flat roofed building that was lit up. As that disappeared, I could follow the road that I would normally use and recognized as we started to fly over rooftops. I stopped looking out as I noticed that we seemed lower and the rooftops seemed closer to us.

"We're almost there, Babe, the helicopter is on the final flight path to land on the Rangeman roof"

I sat very still as I thought that through. I had never been onto the top of the building and could only hope that it was large enough. I had visions of us falling over the edge and as we seemed to stop midair and begin to descend, I grabbed hold of Ranger's hand and shut my eyes. I can honestly say that all I felt was that the vibrations going through me seemed to lessen. I felt my seat belt being undone and Ranger pulling me to my feet.

Outside there were lights shining onto the ground and as Ranger lifted me to the ground, I could see a circle of green lights surrounding the helicopter. The blades were slowing down so there was little movement of air around me. With Ranger's hand at my back we moved toward a door that opened to reveal Tank stood there.

"Good flight?"

I wasn't sure who he was talking to but was sure he had a slight smile to his face, not something I was used to seeing from Tank. I'm sure Ranger gave a slight nod of his head but before I could make a response to Tank we were heading down the stairs. I pushed open the door that brought us to the floor where Ranger's apartment was and then stopped in my tracks causing Ranger to bump into me.

"Babe?"

"I just, I mean I didn't think"

"What are you thinking?"

I looked away from Ranger as I tried to think through what I was feeling. In some ways my going through that door came naturally, because I was here before I'd disappeared. Did Ranger still want me here in his apartment? And that was what was worrying me.

"Babe, I want you here if that's what you want as well"

I looked up to him, to see if he was being sincere and saw everything I wanted to see. Devotion, love and sincerity shone from his eyes. I reached up to cup his cheek with my hand, holding his eyes with mine, because I wanted him to see the same from me.

"I want to be with you, wherever that is"

He took my hand in his turning it to kiss my wrist. There didn't seem to be the need for any more words. As we walked toward the door to his apartment, he used his fob to unlock it, throwing his key chain down in the dish by the door. I walked straight through to the bathroom shedding clothes as I went along. My intention was for him to follow me and I wasn't disappointed.

I awoke feeling refreshed for the first time in days, sure that the night had left me alone from my dreams. I could feel Ranger behind me, his heat wrapped around me and almost sighed in contentment.

"You're awake early Babe?"

A look at the clock by the side of the bed showed that it was only 6am.

"I got into the habit of waking early and doing some rounds on the ropes"

"Why don't we see what we can do about setting up something in the gym for you?"

"It would take up too much room"

"How about I take you to the assault course then?"

I turned over onto my back and looked at him, I'm sure a frown written across my face.

"You have an assault course?"

"Yes. It's housed inside one of the warehouses we have"

"A warehouse?"

"It houses some of the, err, equipment we sometimes use"

"Is it far?"

"Five minutes by car"

"So we could run there then?"

"We could, but we won't. I don't want you exposed on an open street"

I suppose that made sense even to me and thinking about it I wasn't sure I'd want to run back here after trying to do an assault course. I was feeling pretty geed up about tackling an assault course, but then pictures came to me mind of mud and water.

"Is it clean?"

"No mud or water at the moment"

As I moved away from him, I threw back over my shoulder, "Let's go then" before finding suitable clothes to wear. I went with a sports bra and pants with joggers and a T-shirt over the top. As I fastened the laces to my trainers, I was surprised to see Ranger waiting for me by the door fully clothed in his attire.

He hadn't exaggerated when he'd said five minutes as we pulled up in front of a pretty derelict looking building. Looking out through the front windscreen I could see several surveillance cameras so maybe the look of the place was to hide what was actually inside. As I opened my door, I was surprised to see another car pull up alongside us and watched as all four doors opened and men in black got out.

I did not want any witnesses to this, having never even attempted an assault course before, I was sure this could get highly embarrassing. Hal, Cal and Binkie seemed to disappear, and it was Dax who followed us in through the door. A door I might add that looked rotten on the outside but seemed to have reinforced metal on the inside.

I watched as Ranger opened up a large metal box and input a code, no doubt one that would disable any security system, and then he pushed down several large switches that brought on lights above our heads. We were stood in a wide corridor that had several doors leading from it, some with signs attached to say what lay beyond the door.
There was one that led to lockers and a changing area, another sign had kitchen on it, but it was the third door that Ranger went to. I followed behind intrigued with what lay beyond and stood just inside the doorway staring at the scene in front of me. I'm sure Dax was smiling at me as he walked over to me and stood by my side.

"There are lots of areas here that you should be able to do"

Yeah, but there were lots that I just didn't like the look of. A seven foot high wall and some sort of tunnel weren't on my list of things I wanted to do. I followed Ranger over to where a rope was dangling down and watched as he easily climbed it.

"You're next Steph, I'll follow behind you"

I had the feeling that Dax was there in case I had a mishap, and it was highly likely he might be patching me up again.

"Babe"

I looked up at Ranger who was obviously waiting for me to join him so taking hold of the rope I used the method of climbing that I'd honed while in the forest. As I reached the top Ranger helped me to clamber onto the platform and then before I knew it, he'd disappeared from the other side. I was confident as I placed my feet onto the rope while holding the second rope with my hands and easily crossed over the rope bridge.

The next section I was a bit hesitant with because it involved swinging over onto a net. Memories came back of that fateful night when my leg had fallen through the gap in the net and I'd struggled to get myself free.

"I'll stay here Babe"

I looked at Ranger as he easily turned while holding the net, so knowing he was there in case this didn't go right, I swung across the gap and surprised us both when I landed and grabbed hold of the net. I looked up to where I needed to climb to, surprised that there wasn't a platform.

"Watch and follow"

He climbed to the top of the net so that his body was falling over the edge and then took hold of the net from underneath and allowed his body to elegantly fall over the edge. I copied him exactly but was unsure of how to hold the net.

"Palms out"

I enjoyed the feeling of flipping over to land on my feet and the look on Ranger's face even more. The next stage was new to me and looked easy enough to do, it was like a see saw where you walked up one side and then as the plank of wood tipped with your weight you walked down the other side. There was a choice of planks ranging from being very narrow to quite wide, which was the one I chose seeing as this was the first time that I'd ever tried it.

I walked confidently to the tipping point and then was very cautious. I wasn't prepared for the plank to suddenly tip so was totally unbalanced and fell screaming to the side. I expected to hit the floor so was dreading the coming impact, so imagine my surprise when I found myself bouncing on my back in the safety of a net.

"You okay Steph?"

A look to the side and I could see Dax looking at me concerned. The only thing that hurt was my pride for having stupidly thought that the exercise was easy. I used the same movement as I'd used on the net to tumble forward and land on my feet. As I looked around at the activities it was then I noticed an array of safety nets underneath the sections that were high above the ground. It wouldn't be good for any men to injure themselves badly. I looked to where I thought Ranger would be but saw him striding toward me, though I wasn't sure how he'd got down.

"You did well, Babe"

"Maybe. But I 'll need to practice some more"

"Tomorrow, Babe. We have things to do today"

After showering I'd thought carefully about what to wear and dressed in jeans and a thin sweater. Today I wanted to find out something about Alice Brien. Les had not been very successful in finding anything out. As part of a family that travelled a lot her history was scant of information. Even the reports put together by the police and the coroner were vague and inconclusive.

As I ate my breakfast with Ranger, I was thinking through how I was going to do it. Normally my Grandma would have been the first port of call, after all, she always knew what was going on in the Burg and I was sure she'd have had some snippet of information. The fact that she was out of town on a vacation meant I needed to find another source and I had just the right person in mind.

"Babe?"

"Sorry?"

"I could almost see the smoke rising. What are you up to?"

"I think I know who to go see about Alice Brien"

"Where abouts?"

"The Burg"

I looked up from my cereal hoping that it wasn't going to be a problem. I knew he would worry but I felt it was an important lead to follow up on.

"Could someone else go?"

"No. She'll talk with me, but I don't want to frighten her off"

I was getting nervous as Ranger continued to eat without saying anything. Not long ago I wouldn't have said anything to Ranger, instead I would have just gone off on my own. I sighed out loud at that thought knowing I wouldn't do that now. I'd promised Ranger I wouldn't be impulsive and run off on my own, but I also knew I might not be safe out there.
As Ranger placed his spoon inside his empty bowl, he rested his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers under his chin. As he continued to watch me, I felt myself squirming and decided he wasn't going to let me out of the building. Now that alone was beginning to make me mad, what happened to discussing things and agreeing to something? If he thought I was going to be stuck in this building, then he had another think coming. I was about to give a piece of my mind when I almost missed what he said.

"Okay"

"Okay?"

"You'll have someone with you and a shadow. No negotiating on that"

I suppose I could go with that, I mean whoever the team was who was shadowing me would stay out of sight but maybe I needed the man with me to blend in a bit better.

"Who would be with me?"

I saw him quirk his eyebrow as though trying to work out what I was up to.

"Dax"

"Why him?"

"He's not known around here as Rangeman"

"So he could blend in better?"

I leant over the table and placed my hands on Ranger's face and kissed him chastely on his lips. As I moved away, he laughed and quick as lightning grabbed hold of my wrists.

"I think I deserve more than that"

I watched as his eyes turned black and felt myself weaken in his grip. Oh man, all he needed to do was look at me like that and I could feel the heat moving through me.

"Later Babe"

"Yeah, later"

As we pulled up outside the duplex I looked around at the neighboring houses. They were built the same but each one was unique in their own way. Maybe the color that they'd been painted or the style of the new windows. Some people had turned the front yard into a mass of flowers while some were satisfied with a green lawn. Of course, there was always one that hadn't had anything done to it at all.

It wouldn't take long before the neighborhood ganged up on them and shamed them to either move out or get it up to scratch. The house we were parked outside had an immaculate garden, clean windows with lace hanging over them. This house belonged to one of the matriarchs of the Burg.

"I'll wait until you go in then I'll be outside the door waiting for you"

I nodded my head at Dax as I got out of the car and started to walk up the path to the front door. I was actually feeling very nervous as I knocked and waited for someone to answer it. What if she wasn't in or she took one look at me and slammed the door in my face? Should I have tried to call her before I came? I jumped as the door opened and I saw the person in front of me.

"Hi. Err, do you remember me?"

"Of course I do, come in, don't stand out there or the neighbors will be nosey about why you're here"

I turned and finger waved the car where Dax was and went through the door and into the hallway. I followed Mrs. Grant into the kitchen and took a seat at her table.

"How are you keeping Mrs. Grant?"

"I told you to call me Sheila. I'm doing well. I hear Edna is out of town, someone said she was looking for a man down in Florida"

"She probably is, though I missed seeing her before she went"

"What I would have given to go with her"

"You could go away"

"Nah, I'm looking after the baby for our Leona"

"How's she doing?"

"Good. She's doing things because she wants to. That husband of hers is trying his best and I think he sees where he went wrong"

"So all good then?"

"Yes, it is. So why are here, I know you aint just calling to say hello. I saw that man in the car out front, but he aint the one that Edna told me about"

"He's just a friend keeping me company"

"Does your fiancé know?"

I looked at her and saw that she'd seen my ring, shit it would be all over the Burg before I got back to Rangeman. Then I thought about that, did I really care if people knew about Ranger and me? No, I was so happy with him that no matter what anyone said it wouldn't make any difference to how I felt.

"He knows, he likes to make sure that I'm safe"

"Edna said those guys in black are usually with you"

"I didn't want to offend you by having him dressed in black"

"So as I was saying, it must be important if you're here talking to me"

"I'm trying to find out about a girl and thought you might remember her. Her name was Alice Brien"

"Brien, when are we talking about?"

"Probably 5 or 6 years ago"

"Wasn't she the one they found dead?"

"Yes. I'm pretty sure the person who killed her is still killing women"

"I remember her parents, who wouldn't. They rented a house around the corner. Of course, they never looked after it, disgraceful really"

"What about Alice?"

"Why are you asking about her?"

I turned at the sound of a voice behind me, hell, so much for being aware of my surroundings, I hadn't even heard her come in.

"Hi Leona"

"Hi. Everything okay Grandma?"

"Of course, he's sleeping upstairs"

"Steph, why are you asking about Alice?"

"Did you know her?"

"Well, sort of"

"Leona I'll go check on the baby and leave you two to talk"

As Sheila left the kitchen Leona took her seat opposite me and poured out two mugs of coffee from the pot in the middle of the table. We were both quiet as we added our cream and sugar and as I took a small sip of the coffee, I waited for Leona to say something more.

"I, err, came across her a few years ago"

"How?"

"Well, it was when I was doing art classes in the evening"

Okay, I remember Andy, her husband saying that she enjoyed painting when they'd first met.

"How does Alice tie into that. Did she paint as well?"

"No. She was the model"

Maybe my eyebrows lifted, because that was the last thing that I expected Leana to say.

"Maybe it would be better if I showed you. I use a room here at Grandma's when I want to paint"

I followed Leana out of the kitchen and up the stairs. As we passed by the first door, I could hear Sheila talking, presumably to the baby. Leona opened the third door, so I followed her inside the room. This back room had been where mine was in my parent's house, overlooking the back yard. That's why I'd found it easy to sneak out when I was a teenager because there was a back-porch roof to climb down onto.

The room was brightly lit from the light coming in through the window, a window that looked to have the drapes removed. I looked around amazed at how the room had been set up. In front of the window looked to be an easel and a stool, allowing the light to fall onto it. But it was the array of paintings propped up, down one side of the room that surprised me. They were all shapes and sizes and looked to have different types of art work on them, from portraits to landscapes, colored to black and white.

"These are all yours?"

"Yeah. I kept any paintings that I did"

I walked behind the easel to look at what Leona was currently working on and was sure my eyes showed how impressed I was.
"Leona, this is amazing"

In front of me was a portrait of her two children. It wasn't finished, with areas that still needed color adding but the composition and technique, even to me who wasn't an art expert, looked good. More than good, it was breathtaking. The painting looked just like her two children did.

"I still have to finish that and then I'm going to give it to Grandma"

"Leona you are so skilled, I had no idea"

"It's taken a few years to get there, but I'm really pleased with it"

I watched as Leona pulled open a drawer in a large old chest and pulled out two drawing books and a paper that was rolled up. She placed them on top of the chest and started to open the first book. I walked over to look at what was inside as she turned the pages.

"We started by choosing one aspect of a person and drew it"

I could see a hand and then part of an arm. A foot from two different perspectives and different parts of a leg.

"What's the writing underneath?"

"Each week the books got taken in and critiqued"

"Who did that?"

"David ran the course, but it was his wife or partner who did the critiques. Apparently, she was ill so couldn't come to the classes. See here, that darker line. That's how she would suggest improvements as well"

I looked at the drawing and could see where a darker line had been used to emphasize a slight roundness to the thumb which was elaborated on in the writing below. The writing was done in ink using script and looked to be neat and strong.
Leona had unfolded the large rolled up paper and was trying to hold it flat on the top of the chest.

As I looked at it, I was sure I was looking at Alice Brien. The portrait was of her from face down to where her hair ended, about half-way down her back. It was a pose of where her face was looking over her shoulder and her eyes were looking straight at you. I was captivated by how beautiful she was. Her hair was a natural red that shone as the waves cascaded down the white skin of her back. But it was her eyes that drew you into the painting, they were so green, greener than I'd ever seen on anyone before. The detail in the painting was such that it looked like a photograph.

"She was a beautiful woman and so easy to paint, though David did say that somehow I didn't catch her expression very well"

"I don't know what to say Leona. To me it looks brilliant"

"I could never quite get her eyes right. David said you should be able to capture how she was feeling through her eyes and her lips weren't quite right"

I wasn't seeing that, instead I was trying to decide if the fact that Alice had modelled for an art class was an important clue.

"Can you remember the name of David?"

"I can do better than that"

From the back of the second book Leona pulled out a folded piece of paper and opened it up. It was the original flyer advertising the art class with the name David Carlton written amongst the information. As I was reading that Leona placed an old photograph down in front of me. I recognized Alice sat in the center of a group of people and Leona to one side.

"That's David sat next to Alice. The others are people who were part of the class"

"Can you put names to the others?"

"Not all of them. I knew most of the women because we sometimes went for a coffee after class but not really any of the men. I'll write the names I remember on the back, but I'm sure everyone was local to Trenton"

"Leona can you remember when exactly you finished the classes?"

"Hell yeah. I'd just found out that I was pregnant. So it was just over 6 ½ years ago"

In my head I ran through the maths, Alice had been found 5 years after she went missing and that was 9 months ago. If Leona was only just pregnant then that meant that Alice had gone missing not long after the classes finished.

"Did you see anyone after the classes?"

"Nah. I suppose we were all caught up in our lives, though I sometimes see some of the women, just to say hello to though"

My eyes kept being drawn to the portrait of Alice and I suddenly had what I thought was a brilliant idea.