Chapter 36
RPOV
Once down in my office I closed the door and turning to my computer called up the search that Steph had done on Alan Andrews. Once I'd read that through, I input the details for his sister and found myself reading through the life history of a woman called Elizabeth Andrews. Looking at her photograph I recognized her face from how Steph had described her and knew straight away that this was the woman who had called herself Tasha.
Reading through the information of Elizabeth, I learnt that their father had been in the army but had married a woman from Egypt. That accounted for the looks that the two children had. I wasn't surprised with the occupation recorded for the woman because there in black and white was her degree in psychology and that had me thinking about Cassie.
I spent several hours chasing through any relatives or work contacts that came up through the two Andrews siblings. Nothing stood out as I went through various searches on people they knew. Finally, I went into their financial records and into any bank accounts that they held. That was where I came across deposits for large sums of money from a company called Apollo Co, which if I remembered correctly was the company who had paid the bail for Shane. Now though I had information through accounts so lifted my phone to call Hector.
"Hector, remember that company Apollo Co that we couldn't find any information on?"
"Si"
"I've found some bank transfers from them, will that help?"
"Definitely. You looking at it now?"
"Yes"
"Okay send me the details"
I transferred the two files for Hector to use and then sat looking at the computer. The searches gave no clue to the where abouts of the Andrews and I hadn't come across anyone by the name of Edwards and it wasn't a name that I associated with any of the missions that I'd been on. The only other name to follow up with was Darren Barnes but I didn't think that would lead anywhere. Edwards seemed too clever to have anyone tie him to them. I was about to transfer my energy to completing work that needed doing for Rangeman when I was sure I noticed someone hovering outside in the hallway, someone who wasn't wearing black. Standing up I went to the door and opened it further surprised to see Frank walking away.
"Frank, you looking for me?"
He turned and pushed his hands into his jacket pockets and slowly came up to me.
"Wasn't sure if you were busy or not"
"I'm never too busy to talk with you"
I stood by the open door as an invite for Frank to walk into my office, not surprised when he stopped and looked around.
"Nice workspace you have here"
"I try to make sure that all the areas the men work in are kept to a high standard"
"I saw that. One of your men showed me the room you use to monitor clients. It's a good set up, maybe a boring job"
"It is, I limit the time men have to spend doing it"
Frank had seen the couch and was now sitting down on it implying he was here for a conversation. I sat down opposite him and waited for him to collect his thoughts together before he spoke.
"Steph seems a lot better than what she was"
"She is, she's more resilient and she's not hiding behind her memories"
"How did you manage that?"
"Steph's working with a psychologist and it seems to be helping"
I could see him immediately relax after what I'd said but the feeling that I was getting was that he more to tell me, maybe something more personal.
"It was a mighty fine thing you did, inviting Edna and me here"
"She is getting better, but she still needs the connection with her family and friends"
"I didn't bring her mother, didn't want the visit to be spoiled"
"Is she annoyed at Steph?"
"Resentful"
That surprised me, why would her own mother resent her? What could she think Steph had done to warrant that? As Frank sat back in the couch, I knew this was going to be a long and probably painful story.
"I didn't realize what it was about until Edna and I put our heads together. Neither of us could understand the need she had for Steph to marry Morelli. I thought it was because he was Burg. Ellen has always pushed for Steph to conform to Burg expectations. Though Ellen continuing to do it did have me thinking that something else was going on that she hadn't told me about"
Okay, this seemed more than just personal, if was as if he needed to get something off his chest. I didn't say anything as he sat there, looking down at his hands, as though he was trying to put his thoughts into order.
"Edna and I started to talk about things that happened years ago. Things that we don't talk about in our house. After Val was born, I was still doing jobs abroad, nothing like the ones that you do now, but it took me away from home for periods of time. I was over the moon when my wife got pregnant and I offered to stop the work but, well we really needed the money and Val was a well behaved baby. When Ellen got pregnant again, I decided that I wanted to see this one being born and growing up. You know see all of the firsts. So, I left my job and got one at the post office"
I knew what he meant, it was the one regret that I had now, knowing that I'd never seen my daughter when she was young. Rachel had kept me informed and at the start told me of any new developments. Her first smile, her first steps but I think Rachel realized that enticing me back to her with those stories of Julie just wasn't going to happen. That's when she started to see other men and found Ron who became the father to Julie that she never had. My attention was drawn back to Frank as he cleared his voice.
"She lost that baby during her second trimester. I never found out why it had happened, and Ellen was devastated. It was the little boy that we'd always talked about. Then she fell pregnant again, really quickly. Apparently, the doctors were concerned, and it was a hard pregnancy followed by a hard delivery. The upshot was that she couldn't have any more children afterwards. I didn't mind, I had Stephanie"
I could see the love that he had for Steph, something that he'd had for her since she was born and even though he had seemed absent in her life I suppose he had always been there for her, waiting in the background to support her or pick her up when she fell.
"Edna persuaded me to look deeper into that time, so I did some digging and caught up with some old friends, hadn't seen them for years, but it was like we'd never been apart. I lost touch with them after leaving the army, though some are still living local. Ellen never had liked the men I was with and so I stayed away from them to please her. Seems they saw and heard what I was too stupid to see at the time. I mentioned how Ellen was behaving toward Steph, probably always had done and these friends of mine, they weren't shy at telling me. Told me to look at when Ellen had been pregnant the second time and where I was at the time. I did some investigating myself, looked at my old records and then went through the doctor's report on the pregnancy. That kid hadn't been mine. It was Edna that found out more, talked to some of the old folk that she knew. Seems Ellen had spent a lot of time with Angie Morelli and that damn husband of hers. Edna reckons that baby boy was Morelli's"
"Do you think he raped her?"
"Makes sense. Explains why she was so hard on Steph after the Tasty Pastry incident. Could be she saw history repeating itself. Then as the years went past with no boys from Val, maybe she thought that Steph could give her what she wanted, what she lost"
"A boy, a grandson?"
"Real fucked up aint it?"
Shit I had no idea what to say. The poor man had lost what he thought was his son and then found out that his wife had either been having an affair or had been raped.
"Does Steph know?"
"I don't think so, I don't want her to know"
I suppose I could agree with him with that, but I also knew that it wasn't wise to keep Steph in the dark. Somehow word always managed to get back to her.
"Personally, I hate him"
I laughed at Frank's honesty about his dislike of Morelli, I totally agreed with him but wasn't going to say so, I didn't think I needed to.
"He's a good cop but a lousy person"
"Yeah, you're right. Anyway, now that's out of the way are you any closer to finding out who hurt my little girl?"
It was as if unloading that information to me had lightened what he's found out and from the abrupt change in the conversation he obviously wanted to drop the subject. I wasn't too sure how much to say to Frank but knew that he needed some assurances that I was on to it.
"Yes, we know the names of some of the people. Finding the people responsible for running it is more difficult"
"How high up does it go?"
"I'm not sure"
"Shit, what can I do to help?"
"I'm not sure you can Frank"
"I still have my contacts, if you have a name you need to know about then let me have it"
"Frank these people are dangerous, they're not shy at getting rid of people"
"I aint that stupid"
I wasn't sure what to say. If I didn't tell him anything then I could annoy or even alienate him, and I didn't want him to think that I didn't trust him.
"Okay. There was a big fraud case a few years ago, cyber fraud. We think one of the men who investigated that, and a man named Ethan Parker, are involved. There's mention of someone called Edwards but I have no idea who he is. I also think that there's someone in the agency"
"Those you do the work for?"
"Yes. Which is why I'm saying that just asking around could alert the wrong kind of attention"
"I remember that case, it was big news around here. Trenton were the ones to take them down"
"They were"
"Okay, I can tell that's all you're gonna give me"
"Frank"
"I know, you don't have to say anything. I've got another thread that I'm pulling on, I'll let you know if it leads anywhere"
Frank got up then, effectively finishing our conversation, I shook his hand as he held his out to me.
"Good talking to you but I think maybe I need to get Edna home before Ellen starts to get suspicious"
I noticed that Miguel was stood outside of my office, no doubt concerned with a strange man roaming around the corridors. As we walked toward the elevator it opened with Steph and Edna stood inside.
"Dad, we were looking for you"
I noticed Steph look at me with concern over her face.
"Just on my way Pumpkin"
I was grateful that Frank walked into the elevator effectively blocking Edna from escaping.
"I'll take them down to the garage"
I nodded my head at Steph but turned to Miguel who immediately made for the stairs. He would ensure that Frank and Edna left the garage and that Steph came back up in the elevator.
Five minutes later I looked up from my desk to see Steph stood in the doorway.
"Thank you for doing that"
"I know you need to keep connected with family and friends. If you want anyone to come visit you just have to say"
"Did Dad catch up with you?"
"Yes. He had a good look around"
"He said that my Mum was still behaving weird"
"Don't worry yourself over her, it'll work out and if it doesn't my mother will definitely make up for it"
"Your mother?"
I could almost see the panic on her face as she said that as if my mother was someone to be afraid of.
"When this is over, she'll love meeting you"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, she's always asking after you"
I watched the worry crossing her face and realized that maybe I'd thrown that at her without thinking it through.
"Why? She doesn't even know me"
"She knows of you, not because I've told her, but she knows that you're special to me"
"How?"
"I suppose because I've mentioned you to her and of course Santos always has something to say"
Then of course there was the whole Scrogg incident and how Steph had helped to get Julie back. My family would love her just for doing that.
"Please tell me that he hasn't told her stories about me"
"Only the good ones Babe"
I replied smiling at her remembering how I'd had the need to threaten Santos several times.
"So did you follow up on Alan's sister?"
I almost smiled at her way of changing the subject and knew I wasn't going to tease her anymore about my mother, so obliged by answering her question.
"You were right"
"Any ideas on where they are?"
"No. Don't worry, we'll find them"
I decided that there was one person I needed to talk to, and I didn't want Steph to know about it yet. As Steph made her way back upstairs, I messaged Bobby that I wanted his company this evening. Once upstairs I was pleased to see that Santos had invited himself up to eat with us. It meant that if I left the building then he could assure that Steph had company.
"Bobby said you were headed out this evening, so I thought I'd take advantage and teach Beautiful how to play poker properly"
"You're going out?"
I could see the way Steph was questioning where I was going, and I wasn't going to lie to her.
"I'm following up a lead so asked Bobby to go with me"
"Will it be dangerous?"
"No, just someone who might have some information"
"Did you ask Les to come up here to be with me?"
"No, he decided that all on his own"
As we sat down to eat it was Santos who changed the conversation, something I was grateful for.
"Did you finish reading that book Beautiful?"
"No, I know I should have, but haven't been in the mood for reading"
"Well, maybe you'll understand it better after I teach you the game"
I left soon after finishing our meal, the sooner I left the sooner I would be back and then I might have something to tell Steph. Bobby met me in the garage and even as I drove, he never asked where we were going. Instead he asked about Steph.
"How's Steph doing, she seems more settled even after the incident yesterday?"
"I think she's stronger both emotionally and physically"
"I noticed she had visitors this afternoon"
"Yes, I asked her father and grandmother to visit"
"Not her mother?"
I wasn't going to tell Bobby the story that Frank had told me, that was personal to the family and no way did I want Bobby saying anything prematurely to Steph. I didn't know how much she was aware of and to be honest I didn't think that I should be the one to raise the subject.
"Things are still tense between them"
"That's a shame. I could never understand why her mother treated her as she did. You'd think by now her mother would realize just how special Steph is"
"Maybe there's too much history"
"Yeah, you're probably right"
The roads were fairly quiet as we drove through Trenton to the destination I was heading for and I felt that Bobby needed some warning as to what would be happening but not too much in case he started to argue with me.
"Bobby we're going to call and see someone. I need some answers from her, but I want you to remain neutral"
"Someone I know?"
"Possibly"
As we pulled into a parking space at the back of a house that had been divided into apartments, I was sure that Bobby had no idea who we were visiting. I wanted to keep a low profile entering the building as I had no idea if it was being watched. I knew Bobby would be aware of his surroundings and see anything out of place. The area seemed very quiet as we made our way through a back yard and toward a rear door.
I immobilized an alarm and soon had the door open allowing us access to the ground floor apartments. I'd seen that the lights were off at the back of the apartment I was heading for so was sure that the occupant was in one of the front rooms, probably the kitchen or lounge area. The lock to the apartment was simple to open and once inside we walked quietly into the hallway, guns at the ready just in case, and I slowly and quietly pushed a door open. The only sound inside was from a television and as I pushed the door open a fraction, I could see someone sat on the couch, feet tucked up under them. A sign to Bobby told him to check out the rest of the apartment whilst I stayed undetected and watched. When he returned, he gave me the all clear, allowing me to continue with my plan. I opened the door further and walked into the room, pointing to Bobby for him to stay by the door. As I came closer to the couch movement confirmed that I'd been seen.
"What the hell, what are doing here. Get out, now"
I sat down in a chair opposite Cassie, purposefully reclining, with legs crossed over and my hands steepled in front of me, watching.
"Why are you here. You could have just called"
"I could, but where's the fun in that Cassie"
I watched as she brought her feet to the floor and sat forward, trying to outstare me.
"I needed a conversation with you Cassie, alone"
"Why, is Steph alright?"
The frown across her face implied that she was concerned about Steph, but then maybe she was as good as Tasha for playing a role.
"She is now. Who got to you Cassie?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Yeah, there was indignation there and even anger but I needed answers so wasn't going to be put off from finding out the truth.
"The phone call from the diner. It was a stupid thing to do"
The fact that she paused before replying only confirmed to me that she knew exactly what I was talking about.
"Cassie, I trusted you and so did Steph. Who did you talk to?"
I watched as a frown spread across her face as though she really didn't have a clue at how close she'd been to getting Steph hurt.
"An old friend"
"Elizabeth?"
She looked up at me suddenly, shock showing across her face, before she made an attempt to cover it up.
"I'm waiting Cassie"
"Is that how we were followed?"
"Yes"
"Is she involved with what happened to Steph?"
"Yes"
At last Cassie seemed to understand that I was being very serious for being there and that maybe she was responsible for us being followed.
"But she asked for my help, she came to see me upset"
"What story did she give you?"
"She said her boyfriend had committed suicide and that she felt it was all her fault. She showed me the tablets a doctor had prescribed for her and said that she couldn't cope"
"So you thought she needed your help?"
"Yes. She was so depressed, that I was worried what she might do"
"Why did you call her?"
"She called me before we left, here on the landline. She was near hysterical, so I talked her down, telling her I had to be somewhere else. She asked me to call her when she went to bed and then early in the morning"
"Have you seen her since you came back?"
"Yes. I went to see her at her house. She seemed so much better"
I raised an eyebrow at that not surprised since obviously Elizabeth now had her tendrils into Cassie.
"Where does she live?"
Cassie leant over and took out her phone then showed me the address in her contacts. Of course, if Santos had checked Cassie's phone the name Elizabeth Andrews wouldn't have raised any flags. I knew though that the address couldn't be registered in that name because the searches had come up blank.
"Why did you call a different number?"
"She told me she'd disconnected the land line and was using an old mobile that no one had the number for"
"So why not add it to your contact?"
Cassie seemed duly perplexed by that question, as though she hadn't thought about doing it or perhaps she didn't want anyone knowing who she was calling.
"I don't know. I've always just known her number. 123 123 1234. It was always such an easy number to remember"
Maybe she was telling me the truth, but I still wasn't convinced.
"Ranger, I'm so sorry, I didn't know. I've known Elizabeth for years"
"Did you tell her about Steph?"
"Of course not"
"Why did you give Steph a sedative that night?"
I watched as Cassie lowered head, looking down at her hands that were laced together on her knee. That action alone confirmed that she had, but I needed to hear from Cassie why she'd done it.
"Cassie, I'm waiting for your answer"
"I don't know, maybe because everyone seemed so tense. I mean everything was happening so quickly and I thought it would help Steph to relax"
"Even though the idea of being drugged might scare her?"
"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have done it. Does this mean you're stopping my sessions with Steph?"
"For the moment. I don't trust you anywhere near her"
"But I want to help her, please you have to believe me. I would never purposely hurt her. Please"
"Why did you go that night?"
Yeah something else that had bothered me from the minute that I had laid eyes on her at that motel.
"I was supposed to meeting Les that night, our first date I suppose. He called and said there'd been an emergency. When I asked if there was anything I could do to help he said no but when I asked if it had anything to do with Steph he didn't answer. That had me knowing that she was involved and I was so worried for her that I just drove to Rangeman and told Tank that Les had said for me to meet up with her"
"So you did that under the assumption that you could be there for Steph?"
I just looked at her trying to piece together what she'd just said and trying very hard not to just dismiss what she'd told me. I may not have trusted her but she could be very useful and I had no qualms about using her to get some needed answers.
I wasn't the type of man who would be swayed by a woman crying and looking at Cassie she was no exception to my rule. The only woman who had ever had that type of influence on me was Steph. For some reason seeing Steph cry touched a part of me that needed to wipe those tears away. I continued to look at Cassie, catching her attention when I sat forward on the chair.
"This is what is going to happen"
I left the apartment with Bobby, neither one of us saying anything. Again, we were very careful that no one was watching the building and then made our way to the car. As we drove Bobby was very quiet, obviously thinking through what he'd heard.
"Do you think she'll cooperate?"
"Yes. I planted several bugs in the place and I'll have a surveillance team on her"
"What are you going to do about this Elizabeth woman?"
"I'd like to"
"I know that, I think you'd get volunteers to help"
"We need her to lead us to the other people involved"
"Will you tell Steph?"
"Yes, she needs to know. It's Santos I'm worried about"
"Yeah, he was falling for her. It'll hit him hard"
I didn't reply because I agreed with what Bobby had said. As we sped through the streets back toward Rangeman I had more pressing concerns than Santos, I had to tell Steph about where I had been this evening.
