I slept restlessly. My long nap that afternoon had left me not as tired as I should have been. And to be honest, if I'd still had the fob for Ranger's apartment, I'd have been tempted to sneak up to his apartment or maybe just creep all over the Rangeman building to see what I could find but I'd given the fob back to Lester. At 6am, much earlier than my usual wake-up time, I gave up on my restless sleep and showered and dressed for the day. Ella was already awake and about to head down to the Control Room to check on their breakfast supplies, so I followed her down to help out.

I waved to the men on the monitors, and was helping Ella re-stock the cereal containers when I heard a noise that sounded like a shout.

"What was that?" I asked, and Ella rolled her eyes.

"Boys never grow up," she told me. I went to investigate. I heard another shout, and found a doorway near the break room. I peered inside, and found the gym. It was a small room, with some weights, a treadmill, a rowing machine, and Lester and Ranger beating the shit out of each other while Tank watched on. At least that was what it looked like. I saw Lester laugh and push Ranger off him and realised that they were sparring. I also realised watching them move that Lester appeared to be as good a fighter as Ranger was. I wondered what his background was. I'd assumed that he'd gotten his job at Rangeman because of his being Ranger's cousin, but now I suspected there was more to it. Lester caught sight of me, and called out, "Stephanie!" and Ranger took advantage of his distraction to throw him to the ground. Tank shook his head.

"We'll end it there. Time for breakfast. I'm bored with watching you two act out your childhood," Tank said.

"I'm off to shower," Lester announced, winking at me. Ranger looked like he was thinking about rolling his eyes, but followed Lester out without speaking.

"Come on, little girl, let's go eat," Tank said to me. We went into the breakroom and I helped myself to breakfast. Tank and I were chatting about his cats (who knew that Tank was a cat lover?) when first Lester and then Ranger reappeared. I averted my eyes from their still damp hair, and got up to get another cup of coffee.

"We need to expand the control room to have enough men. And that will mean a bigger breakroom," Lester said. Ranger nodded.

"We could move the gym to the second floor," Tank suggested.

"Get some quotes. We have the space down there, or on the third," Ranger ordered.

"What are your plans for the day, Stephanie? Vince is assigned to shadow you and he should be here soon," Lester asked.

"Is that really necessary?" I asked.

"We're not expecting any trouble, but it's best to be safe," Lester said.

"Also Vince needs the practise being a bodyguard, so give him feedback on it," Tank said.

"What does a good bodyguard do?" I asked.

"He's there for security, but not to get in your way. Vince tends to hover, you might have to tell him to back off," Tank said.

"Back off. Got it. We'll be going into Plum Lingerie, and then Mary Lou and I going out for lunch."

"Do it somewhere safe," Tank said.

"What, do you think we were planning to go to Stark Street? We'll go to Pino's, it's packed with cops."

"Perfect," Tank said approvingly, and got up. I noticed that all the men tidied up after themselves, including putting their plates into the dishwasher and wiping down the benches. I texted Mary Lou the plan, and she confirmed that she'd meet me in at work.

Vince and I arrived at Plum Lingerie together, sadly in a standard Rangeman SUV, not in a Porsche. Mary Lou pounced on me straight away, giving me a tight hug and doing a not so subtle check over. I guessed it was a mom thing.

"Also, your mother rang," Mary Lou said, pointing to the office phone. "She said that there must be something wrong with your mobile since you haven't answered any of your calls."

"Shit."

"Call her. She's worried," Mary Lou told me. I sighed and dialled.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mom."

"STEPHANIE PLUM THIS IS YOUR MOTHER."

"Yes, I know, I called you," I said. That left her temporarily quiet. I never called her.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm safe and looked after."

"Well thank goodness for that. Come for dinner tonight. 6pm. I'm making pot roast," she said, and hung up before I could decline. I guess I'm having pot roast for dinner then.

I sighed, and settled into the back office with a mug of coffee and got to work. Mary Lou was busy setting up the retail space out the front, determined to properly open our doors soon. Vince stayed near the back office door. Just before midday, I closed the computer and declared it to be lunchtime. I'd skipped my morning doughnut and was hungry.

Mary Lou and I arrived at Pino's for lunch, ordered and settled in a booth. Vince hovered a discreet distance away and eventually settled at a table out of earshot but within quick physical grabbing range. I gave him points on his hovering.

"So," Mary Lou said, grabbing my arm. "Tell me everything! What is Rangeman like? How is Ella? Did you find out where Ranger lives? Are you out of danger?"

"I did find out where Ranger lives! He'd given me his keys so I could drive his car and I managed to sneak into his place."

"Really?"

"Well, as it turns out, he knew I was there the whole time. But I thought I was sneaking at the time," I said.

"Tell me everything. How does the man of mystery live? Is it all dark and broody?" Mary Lou asked. I hoped that Vince didn't have excellent hearing and wasn't reporting back on this.

"No, it's a really nice apartment. He does have black sheets though."

"Ohmigod you saw his sheets? Stephanie! You're a married woman!" Mary Lou said.

"It wasn't like he was in them at the time," I defended myself. Mary Lou picked up a menu and fanned herself at the thought of that. Our subs arrived and we ended our discussion on Ranger and his sheets.

Just after we'd finished eating, my cousin Eddie came in with other patrol cops, and waved to me. They placed their order and Eddie came over to chat while his cop buddies sat down.

"Hey Mary Lou! Steph, it's so good to see you. Are you relieved?"

"About Junkman being behind bars? Yeah, I am. It's going to be good to get back to normal."

"And about the rest of the Slayers too, right? Great news. Although Morelli's going to be busy for a while. Lots of bodies."

"What are you talking about, Eddie?" I asked.

"Didn't anyone tell you? There was a blow up in gang activity overnight. The theory is that the Latin Kings moved in on the Slayers when they were distracted with Junkman and the Red Devil. The Slayers were hit hard," Eddie told me.

"Wow, that sounds big," Mary Lou said, eyes wide.

"It's the biggest thing to happen in Trenton crime in quite a while. Even bigger than when Uncle Mo had those bodies in the candy store," Eddie said.

I pulled my phone out and was dialling Morelli.

"Morelli? It's Steph. What's going on?"

"Hi Steph. I'm a bit busy. I'm not going to make dinner at your parents tonight. But good news for you, the Slayers have other people on their list that they hate more than you now, so I'd say you're all clear now."

"What happened?"

"Looks like a turf war. Probably the Latin Kings moved in while the Slayers were distracted over Junkman. It's a mess. Anyway, I've got to go," he said, as there was shouting in the background. He hung up. I was stunned. Eddie didn't think I had anything to worry about anymore. Morelli didn't either, and he was a bit more in the know than Eddie was. Maybe it was all going to be okay.

We drove back to Plum Lingerie, Vince checked the place over before we went inside, and we got back to work.

My phone rang. It was the insurance company, letting me know that my car was repaired and ready to be picked up.

"Mary Lou, do you have time to drive me to pick up my car?"

"Sorry, boss, Kenny's got soccer training this afternoon."

"Oh right. I forgot you finish up early. Tomorrow?" I asked her.

"I'll drive you. Then I can follow you home afterwards, check your house, make sure it's all okay," Vince offered.

"That would be great if you could. I need to go back to Rangeman to pick up my clothes, and I need to be at my parents for dinner by 6."

I decided to stop work for the day once Mary Lou left, and Vince and I headed to the Rangeman building. We headed for the control room to find Ella. Vince said she was usually in the kitchen preparing for the dinner shift at this time. Ella was deep in food preparation, so I got permission to get Lester to let me into the apartment to collect my things.

Vince and I went looking for Lester, but he was in client meetings. Vince knocked on Ranger's office door. I guess Vince was braver than I was, if Ranger was my boss I wouldn't disturb him with a request like opening a door. Vince went into the office, there was a short discussion, then Vince and Ranger emerged.

"I'll take you up to six," Ranger said, and walked off. I hurried after and caught up to him by the elevator. We stood there in awkward silence. There was a brief awkwardly silent ride up one floor, then Ranger opened the door to the apartment, and we walked into the entryway.

"Thanks for letting me in," I said.

"I'll just wait here," he said. Geez no pressure to pack up quickly or anything. Luckily I didn't have much. I made sure that the room was straightened and neat. I wouldn't want Ella to think that I was a bad houseguest. I made a note to send her flowers. I was back out in two minutes.

"Thanks Ranger. Vince is going to take me to pick up my car, so I'll be out of your hair soon," I told him.

"I'll take you to get your car. Vince is off shift soon, and my afternoon meeting got cancelled," Ranger said.

We went downstairs to the garage and I waved goodbye at the camera in the elevator before stepping off. Ranger unlocked the Turbo, and I was happy to be reunited with it again.

"I love this car," I told him. He raised his eyebrows. "What? It's a great car!"

We drove to the insurance depot in the industrial part of Trenton to pick up my Mercedes. I checked emails on my phone and ignored the silence in the car. I was chatty, but if Ranger wanted to be silent, I'd respect that. Or at least try to.

Picking up my car went smoothly, and Ranger followed me back to my house. It was strange to be back at my house again. It had only been a few days away, but so much had happened that it felt longer.

"Hello house!" I said happily as we walked inside. Ranger quirked his eyebrows at me, and I followed him around as he did a quick run through the house.

"You know, this would work better if you didn't follow me around into the potential danger spots," he said.

"Yeah but then I couldn't watch you check behind curtains like a dad checking for monsters in his toddler's room," I kidded with him. An expression that I couldn't read flashed briefly across his face.

"You're all fine, Stephanie. The house hasn't been touched, and nothing's been seen on the cameras monitoring the house. I'm going to leave the camera monitoring on for a few days, and I want you to set the alarm before you go to bed at night, but I'm not expecting any trouble," Ranger said. I followed him back downstairs.

"I heard the Slayers have bigger issues now," I said. Ranger nodded. "Thanks for the extra help, Ranger. Make sure you bill me properly for the extra protection, okay?"

"No price, babe. Besides, we made enough out of Junkman that it more than covered all the costs. I'm just glad that you're fine."

"And thanks not being mad that I broke into your apartment and invited myself to stay."

"Just give me a heads up next time so I can make sure that I don't miss you in my bed again," Ranger said. I laughed, thinking that he was joking. He looked like he was about to smile too. Ranger had a lot of blank expressions but I was getting to know them all. Then I gasped.

"I forgot about dinner with my parents! The pot roast will be dry!"

"Babe." I guess he'd never experienced the horrors of a dry pot roast before.