Chapter 4

Wasp

I was very worried about going back to that apartment after what I'd seen. I was worried about the people that she'd visited, worried that at some stage they'd decide that they didn't need her anymore or that she knew too much. I was also worried at her level of drug taking. So far, I'd never seen her totally out of control or so spaced out that she didn't know what she was doing. Was that why the boy behaved as he did, knowing to hide away from her, keeping himself safe inside that damn cupboard afraid of how she treated him.

I knew though that I couldn't abandon that boy, I'd seen the progress that I'd made with him. The small looks he gave me, the possibility of a smile and the touches he allowed me to make. So I went back, trying so hard to act as though I knew nothing. I still took the boxes of food and increased the time I spent there by preparing a meal for us all. I was surprised that her demeanor seemed unchanged, okay she was still nervous and edgy, but it made me wonder what her use of drugs actually was. Everything was as it had been, well from when I'd started to visit that apartment.

I was different though. I wasn't that ordinary man, living an ordinary life. I still had a job, but I know I didn't enjoy it anymore. I still went back to my apartment every night and kept it tidy and made sure that my bills were always paid. My network of friends and any girlfriends were pushed to the side. I didn't see them anymore, okay, I occasionally talked to them on the phone but used being busy at work as an excuse for not being around. I was totally consumed with this new life that had evolved, with the possibility that the boy living in that apartment in horrendous conditions was my son.

That fact hit home when I was called unexpectedly by my mother, something that rarely happened. I got on well with her, but it was usually my father that I spoke with. She was so excited that it took an age to work out what she was saying. It seemed my sister was pregnant and having a little boy. My mother had always had a better relationship with her and to be honest it made me feel jealous, almost inadequate, as she berated me for not settling down with a nice girl and having children. I'd almost shouted out to her that I did have a child. Then I realized that whilst in my heart I knew it, I didn't know for sure. It was after that conversation with my mother that I knew I had to find out for sure, so I started to look at paternity tests through the internet.

A week later I had received an envelope with everything that I needed, not much really. There was an instruction book two swabs and two swab envelopes with an addressed envelope to send back to the lab. The problem wasn't taking a sample from me it would be getting a sample from the boy without his mother realizing what I was doing. I mean how do you get a child who is naturally wary to have a swab against his cheek for the recommended 30 minutes? It took a week to work that one out.

A week later I took a game for us to play with, a game that I had to rewrite the rules for. In the original game there was a mouthpiece that was to be worn by one of the players. Instead of using that I substituted a mouth swab, saying it was far more comfortable. Even his mother joined in with us. It was the first time that I felt a closeness to them and the last.

SPOV

Having dragged ourselves through the small hole that I'd managed to make through the stones we were both dirty and tired. As I'd eventually looked around me, I felt so disappointed. I don't know where I thought we'd end up, but in my mind, there'd be blue skies, white clouds, green leaves and clean dry air. I was looking at somewhere that was still underground, okay it was so much bigger and at least there was some green, even if was just the straggling weeds that had somehow managed to survive. The place seemed noisy to me, the constant dripping of water falling into puddles on the graveled surface. I took the lantern and stepped forward holding it up to get a better idea of how big the place was and stepped forward not believing what I was seeing.

There in front of me down the center of the cavern that we were stood in were two parallel train tracks. It went through my mind that maybe being here wasn't as bad as I thought. If there were tracks, then there might be trains and if there were trains then there would be an entrance and an exit. I bent down and looked more closely at the tracks, something seeming a little off with them.

That's when I noticed the rust on them and the fact that some of the tracks seemed to have sunk, creating gaps between them. Then I remembered that I'd never been aware of going through a tunnel when I'd been on a train. It was obviously an old abandoned railway tunnel, though I'd never heard of its existence and was sure that if someone had told me about it then I would have remembered.

I heard something behind me and watched as small stones splashed into one of the puddles of water.Ed was standing a few feet away totally engrossed in throwing them in. I walked over to him, the rucksack hanging from one of my hands and placing an arm around his shoulder guided him over to the edge of the tunnel before turning him around to face me.

I bent down so that my face was level with his, the threat of tears in my eyes. I couldn't help it, I felt so let down. I had been so sure that this was where we would be able to return to the outside world, that being here was making me so upset. As a tear leaked from my eye, Ed surprised me by wiping it away with his fingers.

"I'm feeling scared, I'm sorry. It's just that I was expecting that we'd be out in the open, so that I could call my friend to help us"

I should have known that he wasn't going to say anything but instead he took hold of my hand pulling me forward so that I had to stand up. He was leading the way again, something that wasn't lost on me, but I followed without objecting. It seemed we were following the wall until we came to a recess and he stopped to look inside. The recess looked to be part of the original construction with an archway above it. It wasn't that big, maybe four feet wide and five feet at its tallest. The light from the lantern barely reached past the darkness inside and as I heard movement and saw a shadow, I was ready to run.

"Hey, Pipsqueak. What you doing here?"

Ed wasn't for moving from where he was stood, and I wasn't about to leave him. My heart was pounding in my chest and seeing as I wasn't going to be running it looked like I would need to face whoever was slowly coming out of the recess. At first all I could see were the whites of eyes and reflections from glasses. I was about to forcibly move Ed by picking him up and running when the figure materialized in front of me.

He had to be at least 80 years old judging by his face and hair. He had black skin and long grey hair with a woolen hat pulled down over his ears. The skin was sagging under his chin and jowls, but it didn't detract from the sparkle in his eyes or the grin across his face. As he stepped forward, his gaze moved from Ed up to me and that's when a frown appeared.

"Pipsqueak. Are you okay?"

I felt Ed's shoulders shrug and the fall of his head dropping, making me think he was now looking down at the floor.

"Ah shit, Pipsqueak. Why don't you go lay down inside, you look mighty tired to me"

I let go of Ed's shoulders as he moved forward and watched as he disappeared inside the recess, leaving me with this old man, which I was sure was his intention.

"Let's go sit in my lounge and we can talk"

Lounge? Where the hell was there a lounge down here? I felt like being sarcastic to him but realized that he was probably trying to break the ice with me. Ed had the lantern with him so I couldn't see where the old man was heading to. I was pleased when the old man struck a match against the wall and then lit what looked to be an old fashioned burner. It turns out that his lounge wasn't far, and it wasn't long before he was slowly lowering himself down onto what looked like an old worn out couch. How the hell that was here puzzled me, but even I knew that it wasn't important. What was important was finding out who this man was and what he knew. I sat down next to him taking in his clothes and smelling the essence that only came from someone who was living rough.

"What happened?"

I turned to look at the old man as he asked the question. I assumed he was talking about Charlie and seeing as he seemed to know the boy, I answered honestly, thinking that I had nothing to lose.

"I don't know. Charlie pushed me out of the room in his house, down some steps when someone came banging on the door. I heard gunshots but I couldn't get back to him"

I watched as the old man's head dropped and looked down at his hands.

"I only knew him as Wasp. He came down here a few times and we'd shoot the breeze. He brought the kid down once, to introduce him to me. I suppose so that if anything happened to him, he'd know that the kid could come here"

So Charlie had planned ahead, he'd known that he might have been in danger. That's when I remembered him telling me that someone was going to kill him and that I couldn't be there because it was dangerous.

"What did he tell you?"

"Not much. Said he'd found out some stuff and it was pretty important. Wouldn't tell me exactly what. He said that people were after him so the less I knew the safer I'd be"

Did that mean that I wasn't safe? Would people come looking for me or worse Ed. I was pretty sure that Ed had no knowledge of what his father had found out but that didn't mean that those people would believe that.

"Wasp told me that if anything happened to him then he'd send Pipsqueak down here"

"Do you know where his mother is?"

"Nah. Never mentioned her. He did say that he'd try to get someone special to work with him, though I sure as hell didn't believe him when he told me who that might be"

I turned and looked at him as he said that wondering what the hell he meant. What did that mean, that he was going to get someone to work with him?

"Wasp knew you were looking for him. He really trusted that you'd find him. Me, I wasn't too sure about that, but seems he proved me wrong"

I know I was frowning after he said that. To me that meant that Charlie had expected me, but then who else did he expect to look for him when he missed his court date? I suppose when I thought back to when I'd arrived at the house, he had just opened the door and invited me in. That had surprised me because normally my skips would do anything to get away from me. Was I the person that Charlie expected to work with him? Why would I do that, I mean I was only there to take him into the station to reschedule his court date. Damn, why was I so good at finding people and how was it that I always managed to find myself in the middle of trouble?

"Girl, I've seen your picture in the paper"

"Oh"

Would that make this man see me differently? Would he trust me?

"It gets worse"

I just looked at Arthur, how the hell could it get any worse?

"The police are looking for you. Seems they have evidence that says you shot him"

What the hell? I wasn't even in the room when those shots were fired, how could they say they had evidence when I wasn't even there?

"I don't know how, as I said Charlie had already pushed me out of the room when I heard guns firing"

I leant forward, with my elbows on my knees and cradled my head, my mood suddenly hitting rock bottom. Then I went back to what I'd heard.

"Why me, why did Wasp want me to find him?"

"Seems he wanted someone to finish what he'd started. He knew he wouldn't be able to. He said you were a genius at solving problems and making sure that the bad guys were ousted out"

I thought about the book that Charlie had written and realized that he was already drawing me in to what had been happening to him. But why leave me with Ed?

"He said you'd have some of the story from a book that he'd written for you and he left me with another piece of the puzzle"

This was crazy, I mean why would I want to do that, especially if I was now wanted by the police and some crazy men. I knew what I'd do though, I'd call Ranger as soon as I could. He'd keep me safe and maybe he'd help me with what Charlie had been doing. That's if Charlie was even right about what he was thinking.

"Last I heard Wasp was in a bad way at the hospital"

Oh no. All I could think about was how devastated Ed would be if knew. If Charlie was in the hospital, then I didn't have much choice but to keep him with me. Unless Charlie expected Ed to stay here with this man. I was sure he'd be safe down here because I didn't think anyone would know about the place.

"Is the boy staying here with you, is that what was planned?"

"Hell no, he's a bright kid that one. This place aint good for a kid to be"

I wasn't too sure about agreeing with that, I mean being with me might not be such a good idea either, well at least until I could get him to Rangeman, though that might take some doing. I sighed as all of the problems swept through me, almost quoting my Mother's favorite expression of "Why me?"

"I don't really have much choice, do I?"

The only response was a shrug of his shoulders which didn't give me much confidence.

"What do I call you?"

I asked because I hated it when people knew my name and I didn't know theirs.

"Just call me Arthur"

I needed to divert the conversation because to be honest I was feeling totally phased out by what I'd learnt.

"Where are we Arthur?"

"1863 they built this. It follows the route of the Underground Railroad that slaves used to escape to freedom. There were stations, building where they would hide out before they continued their journey. Station A, was a connection from Camden to Burlington and from Bordentown to Princeton; Station B, which included a system from Woodbury to Mouth Laurel; and Station C, which consisted of a route from Greenwich to Swedesboro, then on to Mount Holly. From those three stations, runaway slaves were filtered to through Jersey, then on to New York and Canada where they found freedom"

"Underground?"

Because to me that seemed a hell of a long way underground.

"No. It was called that because the slaves just disappeared, went underground was just a saying. 100,000 slaves came this way during the civil war"

I knew about the movement of slaves from the south but hadn't realized so many had used this system. Maybe that was why this place hadn't been found yet because I was sure that if historians were more aware of the place, they'd try to preserve it.

"What now Arthur?"

"I'll find some food while the kid sleeps"

I stayed sat where I was looking around, well as far as the darkness allowed. To be honest I think that I was too stunned to even consider where I was or the journey through the tunnels. I wasn't too sure what I was thinking but of course I came back to what Arthur had told me.

From what Arthur had said it seemed Charlie was banking on me finding him. Would he have given me the book and sent me down here if someone hadn't been banging on the door? Probably not. Then there was Ed, I suppose Charlie had thought he was safe at that house so Ed would be as well. I felt confused with what had happened and really couldn't understand why the police would think that I shot Charlie. Hell, I never carried my gun, I hated guns, it would be in the cookie jar in my apartment where I always kept it.

Of course, my mind went to Ranger, wasn't that where my thoughts always took me? What would he think now? Surely, he wouldn't believe the police, would he? And Joe, would he be looking for evidence to prove my innocence? That made me think about some of the arguments I'd had with Joe recently and some of the things that I'd uncovered.

I couldn't cope with thinking about the trouble that I was in, so instead I removed the book from the rucksack and using the light from the lantern that Arthur had left me, found the last page of where I'd read up to and focused my mind on the story hoping that maybe it wasn't going to lead me into more trouble, yeah right.

RPOV

Sleep wasn't happening for me. Even working hard in the gym hadn't helped. Physically I was exhausted, but my brain just wouldn't shut down. I kept going through everything we'd found out so far and ended up going around in circles. Looking in the mirror as I washed and shaved, the strain was showing on my face. I looked tired which was unusual for me. Hell, I'd gone with less sleep before when I was away on missions so why wasn't I coping now? I suppose on missions I was in control of what was happening, I had an objective that was planned down to the last detail, so I followed that plan and completed the mission.

This whole dilemma with Steph was pulling in so many directions that I was working in the dark, so planning had become a spur of the moment thing. Then again, I should have remembered that anything involving Steph never went according to plan. Plus, there were things that were niggling me about the whole thing.

Today, it was time to move things forward. Morelli was one of those niggles and I needed to find out what the hell was going on with him. I needed to get to those friends of Watson's and find out who that woman was, so I was banking on Brown having the information that I'd asked of him. Today was Sunday so maybe I'd have a better chance of talking with people. With some sort of plan, I headed down to the conference room for the morning meeting, maybe something had come up during the night, though I wasn't feeling optimistic.

"Brown"

I was surprised and pleased when he handed me a photograph, seeing what I presume was the face of the woman that we were looking for. Looking back at me from the paper was the image of a woman, a woman who had been badly beaten. Her hair had been swept away from her face highlighting the abrasions on her cheeks. The swelling didn't help to visualize what she might have looked like. Picking up other photos I could see just how much she'd been beaten up, her small body was covered in bruising. Interestingly there was an enlargement of an area of her forearm where the skin looked to have been badly burnt. I turned it to show Brown, curious.

"The autopsy report only commented on severe burning of the skin. To me it looks fresh, maybe done just before she died"

Now why would anyone do that unless it was something that could tie her back to the ones responsible for her death?

"A tattoo?"

"Maybe"

Hector passed me a second picture which I have to say looked a hell of a lot better. The skin was taught over defined cheekbones giving her a younger appearance. The eyes looking back at me were a greyish blue, something that would have been reported in the autopsy.

"Why so thin Hector?"

It was Brown who answered me, so I assume it was him who gave Hector the information.

"The autopsy report said that she was underweight. I had Hector give her a straight nose as well because the damage looked recent but hadn't been treated to straighten it out"

"When had she died?"

"Two months ago"

That was after Watson had disappeared. Had he killed her and taken the child?
Looking back at the original photo I could now see the shape of her nose and how it seemed to have a bump at the top and seemed slightly out of line.

"Cause of death?"

"Internal bleeding. She suffered with broken ribs that pierced her lung and there was evidence of bruising to her kidneys. She was also diabetic and there were signs of substance abuse"

It seemed a shame for what was once a beautiful woman to ended up like this making me wonder how she had survived for so long especially if she were diabetic. That though might lead us to who she was.

"Wouldn't she have had to be registered with a doctor for the diabetes and had regular checkups?"

Diabetes could be a difficult condition to manage and control especially if she had been pregnant, so surely, she would have to be registered.

"Not necessarily. Some people can't afford it and buy the insulin off the black market"

I looked over to Hector not needing to say anything, seeing him nod his understanding. He had the photo and would know which dealers sold medication like that.

"Ranger, she may have developed the diabetes through pregnancy, possibly during her third trimester. If she delivered early, then the baby may not have been affected but without treatment she could have developed type 2 diabetes"

Another piece of the puzzle then because it looked as though this woman had effectively disappeared from society. Did that mean that there was no record of the boy? I remembered Silvio saying that Watson had looked through birth records. We needed a name for her if we were to have any history of her life.

"Morelli, I'm not sure where he stands with this"

Okay that had a few eyebrows being raised and I had to word myself very carefully if the men were to see that my questioning Morelli was purely professional and not personal.

"When he was at the apartment, he seemed very coy when we spoke about where Steph's gun was. Then when I spoke to him afterwards, he was dismissing the idea that someone else could have shot Watson, as though he'd already made up his mind that Steph was guilty"

"Yeah, I noticed that. Has he come back to you about Watson's arrest?"

"No"

And to be honest that was another thing that was annoying me. The problem was I didn't want to be calling him because he'd want to know what we had found out, though all that we had was a better understanding of who Watson was and what he'd been doing. We still had nothing to help us locate where Steph could be. I was sure he was a good cop, but in some ways, he had tunnel vision. He just wouldn't understand the course of direction that we were taking.

"I got to talking with Eddie yesterday when we were searching that house and Morelli's name came up. Eddie's a good friend to Steph and very loyal to her, so while he told me that Steph was really pissed off with Morelli, he wouldn't tell me what had happened"

Lula and Connie had implied the same when I'd spoken to them. Why the hell hadn't I been to see Steph? Because I was too pig headed and needed for her to come to me.

"We need a way in with Morelli. I can't do it, because he doesn't trust me"

"We can't push Eddie, he's already put his job at risk by helping us"

"I have an idea"

Everyone looked to Santos as he said that, so why was I feeling a little pessimistic at what he might suggest,

"Robyn Russell"

"She's not your type Santos"

We all laughed at that, I'm sure with memories of the women Santos would pick up. He tended to love them and leave them, with no promises of a repeat performance. Robyn Russell certainly didn't give me the impression that she was that type of girl.

"No, not me. Zero. She really likes him, and I think he likes her"

I raised my eyebrow at hearing that, I'd never really been at the station with Zero to notice that interaction.

"Santos, bring Zero up to speed on what's going on and give him a nudge to ask Robyn out. Have him report to you"

Santos would be far better than any of us in giving advice to Zero if he was to get close to her and get us any information. I focused back on what else we could do, looking around at the men to see if they had anything else to report.

"I want someone to take a look around Watson's official apartment and someone else to look through properties that he's handled for the last six months"

"I'll look at his apartment"

Came from Ram.

"Real estate's mine"

I nodded at Santos as he volunteered for that realizing that I would probably be the best person to take another look at that house.

"Okay, I'll take the house"

"Eddie and I didn't find much Ranger. The upstairs didn't look to have been used, it was in a hell of a state. Only the kitchen and lounge were habitable. The kitchen had a good stock of canned foods and water though, which was where Eddie found the toothbrushes"

The measurements of the room were still bugging me and until I looked for myself then I knew I wouldn't settle.

"I still think there's another way out of there"

If I was upsetting Tank by suggesting his search was inadequate, I didn't give a shit. Somehow Steph had managed to disappear from that house, and no one had seen any sign of her since. If there was a cellar that was well hidden, she could be trapped down there. Tank hadn't been looking at those rooms and how there seemed to be a discrepancy with the measurements.

"What am I looking for Ranger?"

I looked at Santos as he asked me that, trying to decide what might be important.

"Property still for sale or even property that he's disguised as being sold or taken off the market"

I stopped there because I was sure that Santos wasn't stupid

"What are you going to do next Ranger?"

"Talk to some of Watson's friends"

Back in my office I pulled out the financials that I'd researched on the three friends of Watson that I'd found through his phone records, checking for regular haunts. It seemed I was in luck because from what I could see the friends met up in a bar for lunch before heading off to a home match to watch the New Jersey Devils. Today their team was playing at home.

I'd changed into denim jeans and a black sweater with a white T-shirt underneath, casual enough for walking into a bar. I was thinking what Steph would say if she could see me dressed like this, for some reason she always seemed to appreciate it when I wore something other than my Rangeman uniform. Thinking about that had me thinking about her, where she was and if she was safe. Her whole disappearing was tearing me apart.

The bar was more like an eating place and served grills from its menu along with the cheap beer and wine. Walking into the place I headed for the bar, taking a good look around at all the tables full of people eating. It was a noisy place so obviously popular with a mixture of clientele. The men I was looking for were seated at a table at the side of the eating area, but only two of the four were the ones that I needed to talk to. Having ordered a beer, I picked it up and made my way over to their table, pulling up a chair so that I was sat next to Jerry Crouger and Mike Belcher. At my move every one of them stopped talking and just looked at me.

"Err, do we know you?"

"No, but I was hoping you could help me out"

At least they hadn't been aggressive at my intrusion. My guess was that these were actually decent men and I felt confident that if they had any knowledge of Watson or this girlfriend from the past then they'd gladly help me out.

"I understand that you're good friends with Charlie Watson"

The two men looked at each before turning back to me.

"We are, well we were. Aint seen him for months though. Why are you asking? I heard he was seriously injured"

"Yeah, some bounty hunter shot him"

The media had done what they always did when Steph was concerned. They'd found her guilty before she'd even been found and had the opportunity to put forward her side of the story. Now that the story was being read by every citizen in Trenton, she would be mortified at how little trust people had in her.

"I'm investigating what led up to the incident and had a woman approach me who said she knew him well. She wouldn't give me her name and to be honest she seemed very nervous. She said that she used to be his girlfriend so I'm here to see if you recognize her"

"Charlie didn't have a girlfriend"

"Maybe you'll recognize who she is then"

I gave the photo that Hector had put together and watched their faces as they studied her picture, positive from their reactions that they recognized her.

"Hell, is that? It can't be can it?"

"It sure looks like her, but it must be at least eight years ago since she was with Charlie"

"Why the hell did she say that she knew Charlie well?"

I listened as they spoke between themselves, ignoring their question before I started to ask them questions of my own.

"Who is she?"

I asked interrupting their ramblings.

"Well, yeah, she was his girlfriend, but it was years ago. Charlie thought she was the one but then she dumped him. Told him she wanted more excitement and to live a bit"

"Didn't she start hitting that club?"

"Yeah, you're right. Antsi, wasn't it?"

"Err, no, I think it was Anansi, or something like that"

"That's the one. Apparently, the men were richer and better looking"

I was getting a little tired of the tangents they were taking and had to get them back on course.

"What was her name?"

That stopped them talking but at least they agreed on a name.

"Kathleen, Katy Jerome"

"She broke his heart, he never found anyone that he loved like her"

"Do you still see her around"

Hoping maybe that they might know what she'd been up to for the last eight years..

"No, never seen her since. I've no idea what happened to her. Why the hell would she think she could say she knew Charlie?"

"Is there a big reward for information?"

"No"

Came from me as I saw their eyes light up, why the hell would they think that? Were they interested in a reward and did they think that was the reason this Katy Jerome would approach me?

"No reward so I have no idea what her interest was"

I had what I needed, a name, so was keen to leave this place and get back to Rangeman. I looked at my watch and back at the two men.

"Thanks for the information, but I need to get back to the office"

"No problem, we have a game to get to"

I left them to finish their meal and was soon back at Rangeman. I was so keen to run a search on Kathleen Jerome, that I went straight to my office without bothering to change. As the results came up, I was reading through the information. She would be 34 years old and had been born in Trenton, surprisingly in the Burg where Steph had grown up. I wondered if Steph had known her from school or what type of woman she had been. It was times like this that Steph could gleam all sorts of information on a person. Things like their history, personality and reputation, things that a search could never uncover. As the photo from her driving license came up, I knew that I'd just found out who the mystery woman was who was now laid in cold storage at the morgue.

There was no history for her for the last eight years and nothing about her being pregnant or having a child. Even any financial and medical records finished eight years ago as well. It seemed that after she had walked out from Watson that she'd become a ghost.

There hadn't been a missing person's report lodged which made me wonder what her relationship was with her parents at the time. Both of her parents were still alive which left me in a bit of a quandary. Did I reveal to the coroner and police who she was? I picked up my phone and called Brown wanting to know which detective had been investigating her case.

"Who was the lead detective on that woman's case"

As she'd obviously been murdered then the case would have been allocated for a detective to investigate.

"You're not going to believe this"

"Are you fucking with me?"

How the hell was it that at every corner I seemed to find Morelli.

"Not me. But yeah, Morelli was lead. It's a cold case because he never found any evidence to lead to any suspects and she was a Jane Doe. The bastard reported that, and I quote, it was probably her pimp or a john who went too far"

"Send an anonymous message to the coroner with the name Kathleen Jerome"

I was so annoyed that I just finished the call with Brown. Hell, it had taken us one day to find out who she was, how could Morelli have not done the same? Then it occurred to me that we had only stumbled across her existence because of Charlie Watson.