Chapter 2

Wasp

It seemed to take an age for the door to open, so long I was worried that maybe I had the wrong place or that she wasn't in. I watched as it opened just a few inches and saw her looking out at me, I'm sure puzzled why someone was knocking on her door.

"Hi. I was asked to deliver this here"

She looked down at the box that I was holding out in my hands a frown on her face that seemed to turn to worry.

"I didn't order anything"

"It has your name on it"

I replied hoping that maybe that would be enough to assuage her fears.

"Where's it from?"

"A local charity. They're sending these out"

"They're free?"

"Sure are Ma'am"

I watched as the door opened further and she held her hands out for the box, that's when I saw the marks down her arm, marks that showed a tattoo of a spider's web.

"Love the tattoo"

The effect of me saying that was of her pulling her sleeve down to cover it up and her mood had suddenly changed. She seemed edgy and as she'd been when I'd seen her on the street, her eyes were darting beyond me into the hallway. I smiled at her and pushed the box further into her hands to try and divert her attention back to me. It had the desired effect and as she calmed down, she muttered a thank you and stepping back from the door closed it on me.

For four weeks, twice a week I delivered a box to her. I made sure that it was the same time and day so that she learnt to expect me. Each time she would allow me talk to her for longer, well mainly me talking about anything and everything that was trivial or funny. I was sure that she still hadn't recognized me, though it was dark being stood in the hallway. On my eighth visit I actually managed to step inside, only because a couple of men were in the hallway arguing, looking as though they might get physical.

The room was basically a one room apartment, thread worn carpet that had lost its color and pattern years ago. The windows had cardboard over some of the panes where I assumed the glass was broken and any furniture, what there was, looked old and shabby. There was a mattress on the floor with sheets and covers scattered haphazardly on it and an area I suppose you'd call a kitchen with a couple of cupboards and a single burner sat on the top.

What concerned me was that there was no sign of the boy. No clothes or toys that could be his and certainly no indication that he even lived here. I was actually scared that something had happened to him.

It didn't deter me from continuing to visit her, and two weeks later I purposely arrived early probably wrecking the routine that she'd gotten into. That's when I saw him for the first time in months, sat on the bed playing with a soft toy in his hands. Her eyes went to the young boy and she was suddenly hurrying over toward the bed.

"I'm so sorry, he should be asleep by now"

I watched as she picked up the toy and walked over to a small door that looked to be under the window. As she opened the door, she shouted across the room "Bed" as she threw the toy inside with the young boy scurrying to follow it. I couldn't understand how she could treat him like that, but held my tongue, I didn't want to upset her because I suddenly knew what I had to do.

SPOV

My eyes were feeling so tired with reading in the dim light and to be honest even though I'd just been sat reading I knew that I needed to get some sleep. Looking to where the boy was asleep, I contemplated climbing up onto one of the shelves above him and even walked over to test it out. As I moved a blanket that's when I found a small stuffed toy under a pillow. I wondered if it was the toy that Wasp had mentioned in the book, so I bent down and placed it next to the boy's hand. I had no idea who Wasp was. It could have been someone that Charlie knew and was helping out, but I had a feeling that maybe it was Charlie who had written it. Why he would use the name Wasp was a little confusing unless he wanted to keep his writing anonymous, from who I had no way to know. It made me feel a little guilty for reading the book but there was no way that I was going to stop now.

I had no idea what the time was or what might happen tomorrow so took a chance and laid down next to the boy. I had no idea what his name was, but was sure that as I read further, I'd find out.

Waking up was such a strange feeling, yeah, I had to think carefully where I was and allowed the memories from yesterday to roll through my head. As I opened my eyes, I was surprised to see the boy laid next to me, looking at the toy as he moved it between his hands.

"Is that Bagheera, Mowgli's friend?"

I asked hoping that I'd got the name right and it actually was the character from Jungle Book. I was so pleased when he nodded his head at me and actually made an effort to look at me. It made me wonder just how damaged this little boy was from the life inflicted on him by his mother. I was determined to find out exactly what had happened and what Charlie, or Wasp, had got themselves involved in. Maybe today we could eventually find our way out of here and then I could get some help.

I laid with the boy for an age, just watching him, but then knew I had to get up and use the toilet. I felt very self-conscious as I finished and grimaced slightly at the thought of being in the same clothes as yesterday. Moving away from curtained off area I was aware of the boy hurrying inside, thankful that he'd at least let me finish and not interrupted me.

I scanned the items on the shelves and found some soap, deciding that maybe we both needed to get cleaned up. Taking a pan down I filled it with some water and turned on the hot plate underneath it. I knew that I'd need some towels and was hoping that they'd be around somewhere. When the boy came out from behind the curtain, he looked at the pan on the stove, then turned and walked over to the large shelves, just looking up before he looked back at me.

I took that as him trying to communicate something to me so went over to the shelf. Stacked in neat piles were four folded towels and some smaller cloths so I removed two towels and a cloth and took them over to where the water was being heated up. I tested the temperature of the water with my finger, not wanting it to be too hot, and turned off the heat. As I did that, I could feel the boy watching me and was actually surprised when he walked toward me and stood by my side. Soaping up the cloth I wasn't too sure if I should wash his face or let him do it himself. Bending down in front of him I slowly brought the cloth to his face and gently began to caress his face in a circular movement.

Of course, he scrunched his eyes closed but as I used the towel to dry him his eyes shot open. I don't know why I did it, but I leant forward and kissed the end of his nose. He froze, eyes wide, and for the first time he was actually looking me in the eyes. It was the first time that I'd really seen his eyes properly, they were an amazing pale blue, almost silver, and that's when I saw the resemblance to Charlie. The same eyes were looking back at me.

Smiling at him I held one of his hands and washed those as well, amazed when he didn't flinch or move away from me. I was making progress with him. I washed my own face and hands in a similar way then after using the towel I removed the sweater that I was wearing. I stood there in a strappy top and washed my neck and arms, feeling a lot better. Turning I was faced with the boy wearing a vest as though waiting for me to wash him in the same way.

Once clean and dry he then went back to the long shelves and using his arm pointed to another shelf. To reach it I had to move a chair to stand on and was pleased to see folded clean clothes. I brought down several piles and placed them on the floor, watching as the boy decided which were his and what he wanted to wear. It seemed that he was a person of habit, picking out some jeans and another hoodie that was blue. I looked through the other clothes hoping to find something that would be suitable for me, but everything was far too big obviously intended for a man to wear, probably Charlie.

I pulled out a dark blue plain hoodie and seeing as we were now washed and dressed set about finding something to eat. The shelves contained long life cartons of milk and cereals so that's what we ended up eating for breakfast. Both of us were hungry each emptying our bowls quickly. It made me wonder what I could pull together for a more substantial meal. As I tidied away the boy was busy looking through the last unexplored shelf, bringing several books down into the area that I called his bed. I really needed to find out what his name was.

Curious I went and sat down next to him picking up the books to look at their titles. All were for young children and it seemed most of them were what I would call classic stories. Peter Pan, Narnia, The Enchanted Wood and of course Jungle Book with several others. I wasn't too sure how well the boy could read so picked up Narnia and turned to the first page. Reading aloud while that little boy leant against me felt good, which surprised me. His eyes and face became more expressive as I continued to read, making me wonder if stories from books had been his only escape from the room where his mother had kept him. Did he go to school or play with other children? I set the book down so the cover was facing me and pointed to each of the characters and said their names.

"Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan"

Then I pointed to myself.

"Stephanie"

As I pointed at the boy, I think I saw that he understood but that he seemed worried about saying his name or maybe he couldn't. I had never considered that maybe he couldn't talk, after all I had never actually heard him say a word out loud. As he seemed to frown, I could see him moving his mouth as though struggling to form the sounds and had to listen intently when a whisper came from his mouth.

"Ed"

Okay, that sounded reasonable and at least I had a name for him though I wasn't too sure that he liked it, especially as he turned away from me and started to look at one of the other books. Maybe I needed to continue reading Wasp's book and find out more.

RPOV

It was over 24 hours since Steph had disappeared, and I didn't feel that we were any closer in finding her. The idea that we had no leads was starting to get to me, I was really worried about her and more annoyed with myself as to why I hadn't been in touch with her sooner. Would she have felt that I was ignoring her, losing interest in her? That was far from the truth and the fact that she was missing was plaguing my thoughts. I should have talked to her even given her an indication of how much she meant to me.

Charlie Watson was still unconscious so there would be nothing new from there and I was waiting impatiently for the men to get back to me. Tank was with Eddie at the house looking for that bullet and any other clues while Silvio had messaged that he wanted to check something out before he got back to me. When I heard the phone, I was keen to answer it, cursing for not reading the id of the caller.

"Mr Manoso. Craig Jackson here. I'm calling to find out when you're going to action our security system"

I closed my eyes briefly as I realized my mistake in answering the call, knowing I would need to delay his request. This was one of the clients that Tank had not been happy about. I quickly pulled out the file for Mr Jackson and read through what Miguel had written, seeing that the person he had spoken with was quite adamant on where he wanted the sensors and cameras to be and that these were not where Miguel would have positioned them himself.

"Mr Jackson, I've looked through the reports from my security expert and we both feel that the motion sensors and cameras aren't positioned to best optimize coverage"

"I agreed those placements with that man you sent over, are you saying he's no good at his job?"

I was ready to finish the call with how this man was talking to me especially when he was criticizing and questioning the work of my men.

"Not at all. The technician I sent out reported that the man he spoke with thought he knew better where the devices needed to be"

"I don't see what the problem is with that"

"It would be a problem if someone were to look for a weakness in coverage. My company will only proceed if and when we are fully satisfied that we can guarantee full security"

As I waited through the silence, I pulled out the schematics for where the devices were recorded and could see exactly why Miguel had been concerned. There were areas of the building and surrounding area that would be blind to our surveillance.

"Maybe you and I need to do a site visit again Mr Manoso. At least then we can be very clear as to what we both expect"

I really didn't have the time for this but looking at my calendar, which I knew I'd cleared intentionally, I penciled in a time for him, hoping by then we would have found Steph.

"Monday morning 9 am, Mr Jackson"

"I'll be there"

Closing down the phone I went to the beginning of the file on Mr Craig Jackson. I'd met personally with the man when they were in the process of buying the building and it was only when they'd exchanged contracts that we'd become more involved. I'd left it with Tank to formalize the contract as that was his area of expertise. The property we were being asked to secure was a new building on a new industrial site in south east Trenton.

The building itself consisted of office and warehouse space with loading bays backing onto the warehouse space and two access doors for the office space. The product that they were focused on was prepackaged dried foods, mainly eastern varieties according to the search that Santos had done. I could see that this area might have an appeal in the market, fast and easy meals that were slightly different, so why wasn't Tank happy with taking on this client. Well apart from the difference of opinion on device positions?

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my phone and this time I did look at the caller id, pleased to see that it was Silvio.

"What do you have for me?"

"His background search came up clean, no brushes with the law or any ties in with any unsavory characters. Been at the job for eight years and worked his way up. No long periods of illness and no unusual vacation destinations"

That was very much what I already knew from the search that Santos had done.

"You must have something though, or you wouldn't have had to take more time"

Feeling a little exasperated with what he'd said so far.

"I needed more time to look at his spending, dig a little deeper on specifics and then I managed to link into his browser history"

"I take it you found something interesting?"

"Yes. I had a good look at his financial history. 15 months ago, I noticed that payments for groceries and gas went up, only slightly. Then about 8 months ago he started to shop on line for items for a child"

"He has a child?"

That had me sitting up straighter in my chair thinking that it was strange because none of the information that we had so far indicated that.

"I'd say maybe 7 or 8 years old, judging from the books he bought and the clothes. All of that excess spending stopped about 3 months ago"

"What about the browsing history?"

"I'd say he sent off for one of those paternity tests, 6 months ago"

"Any idea on who the mother is?"

"No. He'd looked through birth records, but I have no idea if he found what he was looking for"

That put a whole new perspective onto who this man Charlie Watson was but what was concerning me was how this was related to who had shot him or where Steph was.

"Ranger. The strange thing is he withdrew all of his money from his accounts 3 months ago and there's no usage of any computer"

"So you're saying electronically he went off the grid?"

Why would Watson feel that he needed to do that? Was he already planning on not turning up for his court date, looking at disappearing?

"Yes. He still went to work but I think he was getting his wages in cash or he was cashing in cheques. I called the agency where he works, and the manager told me that he's taken vacation time that had accrued. They haven't seen him for the past four weeks"

"Silvio, any idea on how Steph found him?"

I had to ask just in case she'd somehow stumbled on something else that might give us an idea of why Watson had been shot.

"I'd say she researched the houses that he was the agent for that were for sale"

I had no doubt that Steph had followed every possible lead that she could find, she had an amazing ability to find people.

"Ranger, I managed to track down the phone number that Watson was using. Similar pattern, he used it less over the last year and it hasn't been used for the last three months. I've sent you an email with the calls received and made"

"Can you take that back eight years?"

Thinking that there might be a chance of finding the mother of that child.

"No. The number only goes back five years"

Finishing the call, I went into my email to find a recent one from Silvio with two attachments, the first being his report and the second was a copy of calls from Watson's phone. I sat back in my chair as I pondered the implications of what Silvio had found out. Was there a husband or partner involved who saw Watson as a threat or had the woman herself decided that she didn't want Watson interfering with her life? More questions than answers that weren't helping to find Steph.

I messaged Tank suggesting that he looked for any evidence of a child at the house, surprised when he called me back not five minutes later.

"Strange request Ranger"

"Have you found anything?"

"Seeing as how we were searching the place and Eddie had a better idea of where to look we came across a child's toothbrush, good job he was with me because I would have missed it"

"Bag it Tank and try to bring back something of Watson's that could have his DNA on it"

From the silence it was obvious that Tank wanted to know why but he'd also know that I would only tell him when he was back in the building.

"You can tell me why when we get back"

"Did you find the bullet?"

"No, someone already dug it out and removed it"

I suppose that could have been the police, but Morelli had only mentioned ballistics on the bullet they'd removed from Watson's chest. That small piece of information had alarm bells ringing for me, making me wonder who and why the bullet had been removed from the scene.

I was feeling very restless and couldn't bring myself to stay at my desk any longer, I needed to get out of the building. I needed to feel like I was doing something. Messaging Santos, I asked him to meet me in the garage. A few minutes later we were heading down Hamilton Avenue and parking outside the bonds office. Santos had been quiet while I drove which to be honest, I appreciated.

I wasn't too sure what kind of reception I would get seeing both Connie and Lula sat inside but I wanted to know if Steph had been in touch with either one of them. Entering the office, I went to stand in front of Connie's desk while Santos stayed at the door. I looked from Connie to Lula before saying anything knowing that once they'd stopped staring at me, they'd have something to say.

"Good morning ladies"

As I'd expected it was Lula who reacted first, and I watched as she heaved herself from the couch and went to stand next to Connie.

"How can you say it's a good morning. Our girl's in trouble and you're saying it's a good morning"

I raised an eyebrow at Lula, inviting her to carry on, though it seemed that she'd only just started with her attack.

"You need to be out there telling them dumbass cops that she didn't do it"

"I'm on it Lula, but at the moment I also need to find her"

That took the wind out of Lula and it was only after she'd looked at Connie then back at me that she started to talk again. Obviously, what I'd said was news to them.

"You mean the cops don't have her? The papers are saying they've got enough evidence to arrest her"

"No, the police are looking for her as well. Do you know where she is?"

I watched their expressions as I told them that piece of information and was pretty certain they were surprised, enough for me to assume that they hadn't heard from Steph. I was more than disappointed that no one seemed to have heard from her and as time went by, I was becoming increasingly worried as to where she was and with whom.

"No. I mean if the police are still looking for her then I would have thought that she would have gone to you"

"Not Morelli?"

Again, there was a look between them that meant they knew more about what was going on between Steph and Morelli than I did.

"She wouldn't have asked him for help"

Was Lula's response which to be honest puzzled me. As far as I knew from the word going around Steph and Morelli were still seeing each other, another reason why I'd immersed myself in work. To me it had looked as though Steph had made the decision to give Morelli another chance.

"Care to explain?"

Their shaking heads implied that I wasn't going to be getting that piece of information from either one of them. I knew the three of them were close so I could only admire their loyalty to Steph.

"That's for her to explain, not us"

Came from Connie, which definitely gave me pause for thought. I was pretty sure there was nothing to be gained from being here but there was one thing that I needed them to know.

"I'll always be there for Steph, so if she does get in touch with you then please tell her that"

With that statement I turned and walked out of the office, not wanting to see the expressions on their faces. Santos had looked though, and he was quick in wanting to know what I'd said to them.

"What the hell did you say to them, because the looks they gave you were pretty impressive"

I ignored him as I climbed back into the car. With the engine running I didn't make to drive away, instead looking through the windshield I said what I was thinking, maybe to myself but I know Santos heard me.

"I don't know where to go next to find her"

"She'll be fine Carlos, we'll find her"

In the past when something had happened with Steph, we'd always found more information to follow up on. That we had virtually nothing, I honestly didn't know how this was going to work out.

"When our files are picked up get Connie to add Steph's files as well"

It was the only positive thing that we could do at the moment and I'd ensure that the money went into her account.