We headed down to the control room and over to the monitors. Two of the men on monitor duty kept watching the screens while Manny waved us down to a desk.

"Here boss," he said, with a nod to me as acknowledgement. He showed us video. It was brief – three men arriving, kicking my front door, and disappearing inside. "The alarm went off a few seconds later and we sent a team straight away, then checked the footage. We knew that Ms Plum was here and that Mr Orr is missing, so figured a team would be needed."

"Status?" Ranger asked.

"One minute out. It's been a busy night and they weren't nearby."

"That's five total."

"It's within our acceptable response time. We could have called the police but decided this was best handled by us," Manny said. He changed the view to a live view of both the front and back cameras.

Ranger's jaw tightened, but he nodded.

"Zero and Vince are there," Manny said, nodding to the screen. It showed the black SUV pulling up again, and Zero and Vince getting out. They had their guns drawn and moved cautiously. Another black SUV pulled behind them and two more Rangemen got out. "Lester and Hal," Manny added. Lester gestured and Zero and Vince disappeared, then reappeared a minute later at the back door. They all moved inside.

We waited. One minute, then two.

"Report," Ranger barked into a headset that I hadn't noticed he was wearing. Manny hit a button and Lester's voice came out of the speakers, sounding calm.

"We have three suspects. They were shooting, and they're not good shots. We've got one downstairs shot in the leg. Not sure if it was from us or them. Another unconscious. The last was upstairs and I caught him half out a window that he smashed open. He's cut his arm on the glass but that wasn't from us."

"Boss, police scanner is reporting it. Neighbours called in hearing gunshots. We should report into the police," Manny said.

"Agreed. Call Trenton PD and let them know," Ranger told him. "Lester, do any look like they're in the mood to talk?"

"The conscious ones might. The other one would be a bit harder."

"Witty. You've probably got three minutes until Trenton PD is there. Make them count," Ranger told him. "I'm on my way. I'll bring Steph to identify damage and see if we can work out what they were after."

"I'll package the video up for Trenton PD," Manny said. Ranger nodded and put a hand on my arm.

"Come on, babe, let's go see what these guys were up to," he told me. We went downstairs in the lift to the carpark in the basement and got into Ranger's Porsche 911. I loved this car.

"I love this car," I told Ranger.

"You can borrow it anytime you like," Ranger said to me. He held the door open for me, and then slid into the driver's seat. It was a short drive from Rangeman to my townhouse. I sighed as we approached. I had thought that I had a relatively happy life in this house until it became obvious that my husband was a disloyal faithless Joyce fucker. And all the others that I didn't know about. Who were they? Did I know any of them? Had he introduced me to them at work functions and I smiled, having no idea of what was really going on when he said he was working long hours?

"Babe," Ranger said softly. We were there.

"Sorry. Lost in thought," I told him. There were police cars already there, along with a few ambulances. I saw Robin Russell, Marty Gobel, and to my surprise, Morelli was there. I got out of the car and headed for him.

"Steph! Are you okay?" Morelli asked me.

"I didn't kill Dickie," I told Morelli.

"I know that. What a scumbag though."

"You're homicide, aren't you? Why are you here if you don't think that Dickie is dead?" I asked him. Then there was an awkward silence. Morelli said that he knew that I didn't kill Dickie, not that he wasn't dead. "Oh God, you haven't found?"

"No, no, Steph. We haven't found anything. I just got the callout because you're my sister-in-law. I wanted to make sure that you're all right. Geez, I'm making this worse."

Ranger walked up beside me and did some kind of testosterone filled head nod to Morelli, which Morelli returned.

"My men have handed over the intruders to the PD."

"We appreciate it. It's always good to know that Rangeman was on the scene," Morelli told him. "Steph, call me if you want to come and stay with us, okay? We can make room. I don't think you should stay here tonight. It's not safe."

"We have room at Rangeman," Ranger said. And what it my imagination, or did he step slightly closer to me when he said that? Bad Stephanie. Figure out where your loser faithless husband is, get cleared of suspicion of murdering him, then sort out your feelings for the friendly mercenary.

Feeling somewhat better now that I had a plan of action, I nodded to myself.

"Thanks Joe. I'll call if I need a place to stay but I'd prefer not to. I don't want to bring attention to you, Val and the girls. I don't know who these guys are, but I think we're all safer if I stay at Rangeman."

Joe kissed me on the head and then rejoined the group of police.

Hal was standing guard by my front door. He nodded to Ranger, then inside. I went inside, wondering what I would find.

"Concentrate on what looks different," Ranger said. "They only had five minutes in here. They probably knew what they were after."

"They said they were after a key," Lester said, leaning against the kitchen counter.

"Is all that blood yours?" Ranger asked him.

"I might have got shot in the leg. Just a little," Lester told us. I looked at his leg and saw that it was coated in blood.

"That'll learn you," Vince said. Zero nodded in agreement.

"Bejeebus," I said.

"Oh he's just showing off to get your sympathy. It just nicked him," Hal said, joining the group.

"Ladies like it when you're injured. You could learn something from me," Lester told Hal, then winked at me.

"Go get seen to," Ranger said, nodding towards the ambulances. "Abuela will never let me live it down if she finds out. Vince, give Steph the walk through."

"Ms Plum," Vince said, nodding to me. What was these guys and their nodding? "When we arrived there were three men in the house. One downstairs, two upstairs. The one downstairs looked like he was coming from the staircase as we entered. Downstairs looked untouched but you'll want to check cupboards and drawers. There were two upstairs. One broke your bedroom window trying to escape. We'll get a cleaning crew in for the blood. The other was in Dickie's office. It looks like they were focused on those rooms, and maybe your second office. You'll have to take a look and let us know."

As we walked up the stairs, I side stepped blood on the floor. "We'll have the floors as good as new, I promise," Vince told me.

"What happened?"

"Honestly, I think they panicked and one shot the other in the leg while aiming for us."

While the downstairs looked untouched, upstairs was a different matter. Dickie's office, which he always kept immaculate, looked trashed. I didn't know there was so much paper tucked away in his drawers, but it was all upended on the floor. Everything on his desk had been thrown on to the ground. There was a lot of damage done for only five minutes.

"One of them said that they were sent here to look for Dickie, and if they couldn't find Dickie, to look for a key. Or a keycard. He was willing to talk but a little vague on the details."

"Like a swipe card?"

"Maybe. Like I said, vague on the details."

"Dickie had a swipe card for work but it would have been on him when he disappeared."

"It might have been something else. Have a look and see if you can spot anything missing," Vince said. I sighed. The room was so messed up it was impossible to tell. I told Vince that and we moved to the bedroom. There was glass over the floor, and the drawers pulled out from the bedside table. The framed photo of Dickie and me that was taken on our honeymoon was smashed on the floor beside the bed.

"It looks like they broke the frame on purpose. Might have been looking for something hidden behind the photo."

"I don't think there's anything missing in here," I told Vince.

"Not from the wardrobe either? Are any of Dickie's clothes missing?"

"No, I burnt most of them," I said. Vince blinked. Apparently Hector had been discreet with the clothes burning and hadn't shared that information around the office.

"Anything from your side?"

"No, that's normal."

I took a second look in the office but I had no idea if anything was missing.

"I can't tell you anything useful," I told Vince.

"That's okay. Have a look around the rest of the house and see if anything looks different," he told me. I looked in my office and the guest bedroom and bathroom but only Dickie's office and our bedroom looked different.

Ranger came upstairs.

"Nothing obviously gone," Vince told him. "I'll go organise to secure the broken window."

"We'll get the window fixed before you come home," Ranger told me.

I went into my room, pulled out a suitcase and tossed clothes and toiletries in. I was probably over packing but I wanted to be prepared for anything. Like a boy scout, but not. I sighed as I zipped up my suitcase.

"Ready?" Ranger asked me.

"Let's go."