Chapter 52
SPOV
I was surprised when Les appeared at the door carrying my laptop because I wasn't sure that Ranger would let me use it. Then again, I was going to be sat comfortably on the couch and following Bobby's orders not to overexert myself. Les and Ranger disappeared into the office, so I assumed that Ranger could talk through with Les his ideas for the offices. Personally, I thought it was a good idea though I was worried what Ranger would do, he thrived on being in the field, the adrenalin rush. Wouldn't he miss that? Or was he considering doing more work for the government. That was a sobering thought.
I'd wanted to research the effects of being hit in the sternum but as I read through some sites two things struck me. I understood now why Bobby was keeping such a close eye on me and frightened myself to death. I closed down the sites quickly and sat looking at the screen, trying to work out if I felt any different.
As I refocused, I saw a new icon on the screen that was a camera. Double clicking, I found that I was looking at the images from my camera, all of them. I quickly found the ones from in front of the motel, ignoring the ones with Guillope on and stopped when I saw Lula. I remembered that Lula had been annoyed with this man and how he had treated her so went to the next photo that had the both of them stood in front of the door.
I had no idea who the man with Lula was and felt so sorry for her and how he'd made her feel. Lula had come a long way with how she saw herself since leaving the streets. Why Lula would flit from man to man so easily saddened me, as if she was looking for that one elusive man. I remembered her infatuation with Tank but looking back I think she was so desperate to feel loved by someone that she'd scared him away. Maybe this latest one would be better.
Moving on through the photos I didn't see anything of Lucas but judging on how he'd reacted with my camera it was obvious that he'd been there and had been worried that I'd captured him as well.
I flipped through the remainder of the photos until I came to the one with Calhoun. He was the one person who was an anomaly, who we couldn't associate with any of the others. Somehow, he must have known someone in that group to be able to persuade them to incorporate his plan in with theirs. What I wanted to know was who that someone had been.
By process of elimination I narrowed it down to one of the men involved in the original group. Ethan Parker, Alan Andrews and Richard Ferdinand. I'd never followed Ferdinand up with a search seeing as he'd died in prison. I swore to myself when I realized that everything that we had was downstairs in the conference room on five. I wasn't too sure that any of the men would bring me a file if they knew that I was working. I had a decision to make and I had to make it quickly.
I had my laptop in my hands as I went down in the elevator. There was no way that I could manage the stairs and certainly didn't want my breathing to start to increase. I was surprised when I didn't see anyone as I made my way into the room and quickly found what I was looking for. As I turned to leave the room, I had to admit that I was feeling some pain in my chest. I wasn't too sure that going back upstairs was a good idea so taking a left turn I went into Ranger's office and sat with my feet up on the couch.
I had cushions behind me and the blanket over me so felt very comfortable. I'd brought the file that Jerry had given to me so soon found the information that I needed for the search on Fernandez. As I input his date of birth, I worked out how old he would have been now and damn it if he wasn't the same age as Calhoun.
When I'd used that multi complicity search program with Hector and put in all those names, I hadn't included Richard Ferdinand. He was dead so why would I? That program hadn't found out much, no I was wrong there. It had tied in Dominick Edelson to Sophia. For some reason I felt more optimistic with this new search. As the search ran my mind was back to Ethan Parker and who he really was. Certainly, the search that I'd done on the name didn't give very much, just large gaps in his history. I jumped as the computer beeped and started to read through the information that it had found that connected Calhoun to Ferdinand and just maybe where Parker fit into this.
My eyes came open and my hand automatically went to the side of my face where it was itching. It was then that I realized that I wasn't alone and looking up saw those dark brown eyes looking at me. I hadn't planned on falling asleep, I'd planned on going back to the apartment hoping that Ranger wouldn't have missed me.
"Shit I fell asleep"
"In my office?"
"Sorry. I made sure I didn't overexert myself and that I was laid down and comfy"
"Why here?"
"I wanted to follow up on an idea"
I was so eager to tell him what I'd found out but from the look on his face I didn't think it was going to happen now. He placed the closed laptop on my knee and before I realized what he was going to do I was swept up into his arms. As he started for the door he stopped as though he didn't know what to do next.
"Babe, can you unlock the door"
As the door came open the impact of that hit me.
"You locked us in?"
"I didn't want anyone barging in and frightening you awake"
That seemed a reasonable explanation and it was one that I wasn't going to push any further. Of course, there were men walking around and of course they caught sight of us, as long as Bobby wasn't around then I could cope with the smiles and small talk. Ram was the one who was walking toward us and he seemed keen to stop and talk. Ram hadn't been around when I came home yesterday so this was the first time that I'd seen him.
"Good to see you back Steph, how are you feeling now?"
I could sense that Ranger wasn't too keen at having to stop so that I could answer, but he did slow down as Ram approached.
"A lot better thanks Ram"
"You did good at the airport, got us out before the shit hit the fan"
I didn't have a reply for that because I was sure that it wasn't just because of me. Instead I just nodded my head and smiled as we continued past Ram toward the elevator. As we went up in the elevator Ranger was looking at me through the reflection from the doors.
"He's right you know and everyone who was there that day see you as the reason that we didn't end up being shot or killed"
I knew that Ranger had said that he'd heard me talking with Isaac and that he'd acted on the information straight away. I suppose that I never really considered that any of the men who were involved would see me as saving the day. I was quiet, for once, as my mind went back to that day. Back to those conversations with Isaac. I was almost certain that Isaac had been gay but the more I thought about it and the more that I remembered my time with Ethan at that farm I was sure that his partner hadn't been Ethan.
There was just something about Ethan, the way he carried himself, behaved and it was then that I remembered seeing a tattoo on the inside of his left wrist above what looked like an expensive watch. My thoughts were jumping around all over the place, so I was surprised that we were inside the apartment. Ranger put me down on the couch and went to take the laptop from me, but I held onto it tightly.
"Babe"
"I'm fine. I know what you're all worried about. I looked it up on the internet and yeah, it scares the shit out of me as well. I'm staying calm"
I stopped talking because talking too much made me breathe faster, hell, I hadn't realized that before. Ranger didn't say anything, and I watched as he disappeared into the bedroom and came back with some tablets and the bottle of water that had been next to the bed.
"I can see it in your eyes, you're starting to hurt"
"Too much talking"
The eyebrow raised told me that he thought that was amusing but he didn't try to take the laptop from me again. Instead he sat down next to me and pulled my feet up onto his knee. I popped the tablets into my mouth and washed them down with some water.
"Alright, but we have to come to an agreement"
An agreement, well that word could work for me because that implied that we'd both have to have a say and reach an understanding that we could both live with.
"You stay up here and rest. If you need anything then I'll arrange for that"
"I can work then?"
"Only when you're resting here on the couch"
I suppose that seemed reasonable but then I remembered that he'd said that he had a meeting tomorrow and that was something that I wanted to be involved with.
"The meeting tomorrow?"
"We'll see how you are after Bobby checks you over in the morning"
I wasn't ready for him taking the laptop this time and was about to say something when he beat me to it.
"It needs charging. You can show me what you found after we've eaten"
I couldn't wait to finish eating dinner. Ella had made a type of spaghetti bolognaise but instead of using pasta she'd used carrots that had somehow been cut into long thin curly lengths. I was pretty sure that the bolognaise didn't have any mince in it but to be honest I didn't mind. The taste of the sweet carrots and the sauce was delicious, as per usual from anything Ella made for us. Ranger refused to let me help clear away and insisted that I went and sat on the couch. Having nothing else to do I turned on the TV with the remote and started to flick through the channels. Hearing voices coming from the hallway I recognized that Bobby was here and mentally prepared myself for yet another checkup. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated that Bobby was worried about me but two checkups a day, wasn't that a bit over the top?
"Doing good Steph"
Was all I got from Bobby as he put his stethoscope away. I'd had my pulse taken, my blood pressure measured, and my heart and lungs listened to and even had to allow him to poke and prod the bruise on my chest. Even I could tell that the swelling had gone down now and I was left with an ugly looking bruise and maybe a small scar.
"How much longer Bobby?"
"It'll take a couple of weeks for the pain to disappear totally"
"I mean how long are you going to be doing these checks?"
"I'll drop down to once a day after tomorrow"
Okay, at least that meant that he was less worried about anything cropping up, yeah the idea of my lungs being damaged didn't sit well with me. After talking to me I saw Bobby go into the office where Ranger was and wondered what that was all about. Were they talking about me? I settled on watching an episode of CSI loving how easily all of their clues fell into place and how quickly the forensics seemed to happen. If only that could happen in real life.
I wasn't too sure how much later it was when Bobby left and kept looking over the back of the couch for Ranger to appear. By the time the hour long program had finished I was pleased to see him come through carrying my laptop.
"Everything okay?"
I asked not really sure what was going on but being curious. As Ranger sat down, he opened my laptop and then gently pulled me over to sit between his legs with the laptop balanced on my legs.
"Yes, I was going through the ideas for reorganizing with Bobby"
"What did he say?"
"He likes the ideas that we put together though said that he'd need to train up the medics we had and probably find one for Boston"
"That's good then. What about Tank and Les"
"They're both on board, possibly for different reasons"
I had to think that through wondering what their reasons could be and I suppose that I was too quiet because Ranger was soon explaining it to me.
"Santos wants to explore some new ventures while Tank wants more stability"
"What do you mean Tank wants more stability?"
"He wants to stay here in Trenton and doesn't want to be constantly moving around"
I suppose I could see that. I think Tank was slightly older than the others and I knew that he had a house here in Trenton. Plus, he wouldn't want to leave his cats on their own. My thoughts were interupted by Ranger tapping the laptop.
"Are you going to tell me what you found out then"
"I'll show you"
I opened up the results from the search I'd done with the multi complicity program and waited as Ranger read the information over my shoulder.
"Who's Ferdinand?"
"He was one of the men who was charged with Parker a few years ago"
I was reading it as well, just to be sure that I'd interpreted the facts properly.
"This is telling us that Ferdinand and Calhoun went to school together and that they both joined the army"
"Yes. I looked back at Ferdinand's history. He made lieutenant and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2005, 15 years ago. On his second deployment in 2007, he and his team were ambushed with most of them being killed. Ferdinand was reported as MIA with 2 other men but when their bodies were found dead, he was presumed dead as well. I'm not sure what happened to him or where he was, but he turned up over a year later in a hell of a state"
"That's when Calhoun pulled some strings and got him brought back home"
"Yes. According to this information Calhoun arranged for Ferdinand to be treated privately for PTSD"
"Is that the last record of any contact between them?"
"Yes. Ferdinand struggled a lot. He was discharged from the army under medical grounds and took the opportunity from retraining programs that were offered"
"He never made the transfer back into the civilian world"
"Doesn't look like it. Then he must have met up with Parker after that and they worked on that scamming and trying to come up with the perfect way to steal diamonds"
"Okay, maybe that explains how Calhoun knew Ferdinand and that maybe Ferdinand introduced Parker to him, but it doesn't tell us who Parker is or where he is"
"I have an idea about that, but I want to talk to someone first before I say anything in case I'm totally wrong"
"Who do you want to talk to?"
That tone implied that he wasn't about to let that happen, but I knew it had to be me who was there. How did I explain this so that Ranger would understand?
"Lula and her new man"
Boy did that surprise Ranger.
"Babe"
"Okay, I remember seeing something, and I'm sure that it was a tattoo"
"Babe, you've got me confused now. What tattoo?"
"I caught a glimpse of a tattoo on Parker's wrist"
"Why talk to Lula?"
"Her man is a tattoo artist, I thought that maybe he could help recreate it and if he knew what it meant"
"Babe if you can describe the tattoo, enough for us to produce a picture then Wilt Crayson can help with that"
"He can?"
"There's a tattoo recognition database that can identify the tattoos connected to criminal activity. They're using a project on biometric tattoo recognition technology, where images of tattoos on individuals are matched with tattoo images in a database, it's something that the FBI has been trialing"
"That's if the tattoo has anything to do with an identifying mark. I think this tattoo was more personal"
I felt Ranger move from behind me and then watched him as he disappeared into his office. Moments later he came back with a pad of paper in his hand and a pencil.
"Try and draw what you saw"
I never had been that good at drawing and as I had only seen some of the tattoo, I was struggling to recreate it. In the end I folded the paper and imagined that the crease was Parker's sleeve. I suppose what I'd seen looked almost like a wing, that was pointing downwards toward the hand. There was one line at an angle maybe forming the downstrokes of a sign or letter?
"Was there another wing?"
"I think there could have been, next to the wing"
"And you think this friend of Lula's will have some suggestions?"
I detected some sarcasm somewhere in that sentence and turned to look at Ranger.
"You don't think so, do you?"
"No. There are so many pictures that can be used. This could have been designed by Parker himself"
"I suppose so. There's no information about Parker from when he left university to before he got involved with Andrews and Ferdinand so then where was he?"
That had me asking how Parker knew Ferdinand, though I knew that wasn't going to be easy to find out. As Ranger had said he could have been using another name, but why would he do that? Then again it could be that he wasn't even in this country.
"Babe, whatever you're thinking it can wait until tomorrow"
"What time is your meeting with Wilt Crayson?"
"1100hrs"
That was the last we spoke of anything to do with the case that we were working on. I rested against Ranger as we watched some sort of documentary, content just to feel him near me.
I was never a morning person, too happy just to turn over and go back to sleep in my warm comfy bed. Now though I felt wide awake. I felt Ranger leave the bed and assumed that he was going to be going down to the gym. When he leant over and kissed the back of my head I didn't move, trying to feign that I was still asleep. I was listening as he left the room and as soon as I heard the door to the apartment open and then close, I threw back the covers that were laid over me. I wasn't stupid by moving too quickly and carefully got up from the bed, walking through to the lounge and where my laptop had been left from the night before. I brought it back into the bedroom and sat against the pillows, looking to anyone who saw me as relaxing.
I hadn't seen a photo of Ethan Parker since that day at Larri and Leo's and whilst I didn't like to look at it, I was no longer frightened to death by the image. I wanted to find out more about Ethan Parker from when he attended university so input his name and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston into a search program. This program searched through images that were on the internet, similar to what a google search did but it used more extensive sources. I chastised myself for not thinking of doing this before because this was how I would have worked in the past. Looked at the history of the person I was after because it always led to the present.
As photos came up I looked at them, ignoring ones of sports teams and awards ceremonies. Parker had involved himself into a full life at university and as I did stop to look at a photo of him as part of a soccer team, I noticed that he actually looked less formidable than I remembered him as being. Okay he was younger, but his eyes seemed softer and his face was sporting a smile. It was almost as though something had happened to make him cold and unfeeling.
I couldn't believe my luck when photos appeared after the graduation ceremony. Parker was there with a group of other young men, all decked out in their gowns as they threw their mortar boards up in the air. It was the last photo that had my attention though, because there was Parker with a very pretty woman.
Parker's hair and skin coloring had been inherited from his parents, but I was curious about this woman because of the way she was wearing a scarf partly covering her hair and around her neck. The way that Parker was looking down at that woman made me sure that they were more than friends, I'd have said that he loved her or at least had deep feelings for her. The name that was with the photo was Fereshteh Kayeum and there, very clearly on Parker's wrist, was the tattoo that I'd caught a glimpse of.
I knew there would probably be little information on Fereshteh, but a search did confirm that she was born in Afghanistan and had attended university here in the states. I reckoned that her family must be extremely wealthy and important for that to have happened. I suppose I was just thinking about what had happened to her, to them after they left university when movement near to me had me jumping. I slammed the lid shit on the laptop and came face to face with Ranger.
"Shit, make some noise will you"
"I thought you'd still be asleep"
"No, I err, woke up and thought I'd do something"
"Liar"
Was all I heard as he kissed me, but damn it, it was too short and not intense enough.
"I don't want you hurting Babe"
I smiled as I wrapped my arm around his neck and tried to pull him down to me, but it seemed that wasn't going to happen as he took hold of both of my wrists and placed then back down on the bed.
"What were you looking for?"
"I found Parker with a woman from when they were at university. She was from Afghanistan and was called Fereshteh Kayeum"
"Fereshteh, it means angel in Persian, a language spoken in Afghanistan"
