Thank you all for reading. Sorry for the unexpected break. It has been slower because I started a new job (yay!) but that means I have less time for writing. Thanks for sticking with me!

I looked out the front window. Carmen was still in her car. I waited for Vince and Bobby. They arrived a few minutes later, knocked on the car window, chatted to Carmen, she pulled a gun on them, they nodded and left in their car.

My phone rang. "We're coming around the back," Bobby said, then hung up. There was a knock on my back office later a few minutes later.

"We didn't want her to have a definite link between you and us," Bobby explained as he and Vince walked in. I gestured to the box of doughnuts I'd bought earlier that morning and Vince picked one up.

"What's the story?" I asked.

"She claims she's married to Ranger. She has ID that shows her as Carmen Manoso. She also has a gun although she doesn't seem that confident in its use," Vince said.

"Ranger doesn't have a wife and I've never heard of Carmen before. I'd ask Silvio our research guy to look into her, but he's busy helping to find Julie," Bobby told me.

"Can anyone else work the programs?"

"Yeah, we're just all busy and working extra. I'll have a look later," Vince said.

I nodded, but I was thinking. I knew someone with access to similar computer programs. Vinnie. After Vince and Bobby had left and my courier pick-up had been, I decided it was time for a lunch break. I waved to Carmen on my way to Pino's to pick up my lunch.

Carmen didn't wave back but she turned her car on and watched me. She followed me to Pino's and parked near my car in the lot while I got out. I guess she thought that she was going to follow me to find Ranger. Whatever. I picked up my sub, waved to the cops eating their lunches, and headed for Vincent Plum Bail Bonds.

I pulled up out the front and picked up my sandwiches. Carmen pulled up behind me. I walked inside and waved to Connie.

"Hey Connie. Is Vinnie in?"

"Yeah, he's on the phone to his bookie. Apparently he has a hot tip coming up. Did you want to wait around and talk to him? He'll be about five minutes."

"It was actually you I wanted to talk to," I told her. I held up the Pino's bag. "I brought a bribe with me."

"Meatball sub, extra sauce?"

"Of course. What kind of Italian do you take me for?" I asked.

"What do you need?" Connie asked, gesturing for the sandwich.

"I need you to do a search on Carmen Manoso and let me know what you find out," I told her.

"Carmen Manoso? Is she related to Ranger?"

"She says she's his wife. She's also following me and she's outside," I said, gesturing to the car behind mine.

"Ranger got married? He could have married me if I knew he was looking. That man is fine," Connie said, fanning herself.

"That's the thing. Tank says that Ranger isn't married. But Carmen says he is and she has the last name to match up. So I'm trying to find out what's going on," I said.

"And you need to know this why?" Connie asked.

"Because I'm nosy," I answered.

"I hear that," she said. She clicked away on the computer and typed a few things in. "I run a search on Ranger whenever I'm bored and want to try out my search skills but never come up with anything. Carmen might be different though. The search will take a few minutes, so take a seat."

We ate our subs and ran through neighbourhood gossip while we waited. Connie had gone to school with my older sister Val and I'd gone to school with her younger sister Tina, so we knew lots of people in common. Connie was interested in how Val had tamed the Italian Stallion Joe Morelli. I think it was more that Joe was ready to settle down and the timing happened to be right.

Connie cursed under her breath and I looked over.

"Prepare to smell sulfur, the anti-Christ is coming," she warned me. Uh oh. Joyce Barnhardt walked in dressed in leather. I ducked down to hide underneath Connie's desk.

"These files are chump change. I need something decent," Joyce sneered at Connie.

"Talk to the boss, he allocates, not me," Connie said, pointing into Vinnie's office. Joyce opened the door and started yelling at Vinnie. Vinnie yelled back, and then stormed out.

"Give her something worth more," he told me. Then told Joyce, "You owe me." I shuddered to think what she would owe him.

Connie reached into the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet. "Lonnie Dodd. He robbed a bank. He's also a mean drunk. Have fun," she said, handing it to Joyce. Joyce stormed out, Vinnie went back into his office, and Connie's computer beeped.

"Search is finished," she said, looking under her desk at me.

"Thanks. I really hate Joyce."

"Me too. But sadly she's the best bounty hunter that we've got with Ranger out of commission. Tank is sending men over to help when he can, but that's not much. So… search results don't tell us much. Carmen Manoso. Twenty-two years old. Originally from Virginia. Married to Ricardo Carlos Manoso. But when I do a search on him, the birth date is wrong."

"What's that mean?"

"I'm guess he's not our Ranger. And I'm guessing Carmen showing up and saying she's married to Ranger who isn't our Ranger is somehow related to Ranger's daughter disappearing," Connie said. I had the same feeling. One of the Rangers kidnapped Julie, and I had a bad feeling that it was the wrong one.

I rang Tank on my way home, and filled him in on what Connie and I had discovered. He didn't seem surprised. Carmen followed me. As I closed my garage door I could see her parking across the street from my house. She was a bit creepy but I hoped that she was okay. Maybe she'd get bored and leave and go to where ever she was staying.

When I left for work the next morning, Carmen wasn't there. Either she'd moved on, or she wasn't an early riser. I stopped for doughnuts on the way. Mary Lou was coming in today and we liked to have doughnuts with our morning coffee and catch up on the local gossip.

I unlocked the office door and managed to juggle the door open without dropping my handbag, coffee or the bakery bag. I could have made two trips but I pride myself on taking a minimum amount of trips from the car.

I gasped when I saw someone inside my office, then saw that it was Ranger. He was dressed in jeans, and a pale blue pullover. I'd never seen him in anything other than black before. No wonder I didn't recognise him at first.

"You scared me half to death!" I accused him.

"Coffee?" he asked, holding out a cup.

"No, but-"

"Bagels?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I needed to use a computer."

"And there's no computers at Rangeman?"

"Rangeman is surrounded by cops, feds and bounty hunters. I can't go to Rangeman right now."

I looked around the office. It looked neat and untouched except for the coffee and bagels. Ranger didn't look like he'd been there for too long.

"Where are you sleeping?" I asked him.

"I have a safe house north of Trenton. I can stay there, but there's no computer, and I had to ditch my phone. Hector is bringing me new equipment later, then I can be out of your hair," he said.

"No, Ranger, it's okay. Stay as long as you need to. I was just surprised to see you," I told him.

"Will Mary Lou be in later?"

"Yeah, closer to nine, she drops the boys off first," I told him, then I remembered Carmen. "Ranger! There was someone here yesterday who said she was married to you."

"Carmen?"

"Yes," I said, feeling a bit put out. Ranger already knew about Carmen?

"Tank filled me in last night. Good detective work, babe," he told me. He really was a mind reader. "And before you ask, no, I'm not married to Carmen. I think the guy who took Julie is."

"Let me know if there's anything else that I can do. I'm sorry about Julie, I hope that you find her soon."

"I might need you to do some investigative work for me. People will talk to you easier than they'll talk to me," he said.

"Whatever you need," I told him.

"Thanks babe. I'll buy you dinner once this is over," he told me.

I hesitated. "Dickie doesn't think it's appropriate for me to be having dinner alone with another man. This situation may count too."

"I don't have time for Dickie's issues right now. But if you're uncomfortable with me being here, I'll leave."

"No, no, it's fine. He's just old fashioned."

"I don't have time for this right now. When this is over, we need to have a talk."

"That sounds ominous."

"Babe," he said, and left.

What the heck was that supposed to mean?