I woke up the next morning on Ranger's couch with the TV screen still on, and clutching the firm's financial reports. I hadn't managed to glean any new insights that would help me, and I'd fallen asleep in Ranger's apartment for the second night in a row. Ugh!
Then I realise that I'd woke up to the sound of the door opening. I jumped up, afraid that Ranger would find me sleeping on his couch, but it was Ella with fresh linens and cleaning supplies.
"Oh Stephanie, there you are. Did you fall asleep on the couch? Lester said that you were up late doing research. Did you find anything to help you?" Ella asked me.
"Nothing yet but we still have a few more leads to follow up," I told her.
"Ranger is back tonight. He's the best at finding people. If anyone can help, he can," Ella told me.
"That's true," I said. I gathered up all my papers and DVD and tidied away the popcorn bag, then got out of Ella's way. If I stayed too much longer I was going to ask too many awkward questions about Ranger's linens.
I went downstairs to shower and get changed. My shower thoughts were full of all the facts that Lester and I had gone over yesterday and that I'd read before falling asleep, but none of it was helping. I couldn't find the connection between the three other men. One had been in the military. None of them played sports. One had never married, the others had been married multiple times.
I took all the papers and went to Level 5 to find Lester. He was where I'd found him the previous morning, bickering in the break room with Bobby.
"Good morning Beautiful, you've finally woken up," Lester said.
"It's only 8am," I told him.
"I've been on early shift. Lots of staring at the monitors. Please tell me we have something to investigate today to get me out of monitor duty. Ranger isn't back yet so I'm still on Stephanie duty. You need to save me."
"Don't save him, Steph. Make him suffer," Bobby said.
"How was your date last night?" I asked him.
"Ah a gentleman never kisses and tells," Lester told me.
"He's not a gentleman. That means it didn't go well," Bobby told me. I laughed.
"So, Beautiful, what are we up to today?" Lester asked me.
"The only thing left to check out is the warehouse on Stark Street," I told him.
"I'm not sure where taking you to Stark Street falls on Ranger's list of things not to do," Lester said.
"Well I'm going either way, so you decide what you want to do," I told him.
"Shit. Bobby, you want to be my back-up?"
"Sure," Bobby said, looking like the answer was really a no. "Let me go find my vest though. I hate getting shot at."
The warehouse was in an industrial area near Stark Street. It was next to an automotive paint and body shop. The warehouse looked empty, with no cars in the parking lot, but the paint shop looked busy. Lester pulled up next to the paint shop and parked in their car park.
"We're in a giant black SUV but let's not announce ourselves too much," he said, getting out. I could hear a power tool being used inside the paint shop. A security camera over the door was showing a green light. Looked like we were being recorded.
The smaller door in the paint shop doors opened and a large, wild-haired man covered in tattoos stepped out. Lester grinned.
"Hey Randy," he said.
"Oh what now?" Randy asked. "I'm clean. Do you need me to take care of that car for you? Repaint?"
"Nah we're not after car services," Lester said. "We're checking out the warehouse next door. You seen anything happening over there lately?"
"You're not going to find much over there. I'm pretty sure it's all cleaned out," Randy said.
"When did that happen?" I asked. Randy looked like he noticed me for the first time.
"Is Rangeman an equal opportunity employer now?" he asked.
"I'm a client. I'm looking for one of the men who own the building."
"I don't think you'll find him there. It's just a warehouse. Trucks come in and out at night while we're working. We all keep to ourselves in here though. A couple of days ago there was non stop activity, even during the day, and from what I could see through the open bays the place got cleaned out. There hasn't been any trucks there since. We probably wouldn't notice a car though, especially when we have the tools going."
"Thanks Randy," Bobby said.
"No problems. See you guys around next time," Randy said.
"Not us, man. We only do higher priced bonds for Vinnie now. But he's got a new bounty hunter who likes to wear short skirts and lure her skips in that way, so you might be in for a good time," Lester said.
"I'll keep it in mind," Randy said, and headed back inside.
We left the car parked in front of the paint shop, and crossed a small patch of grass to get to the warehouse. There were four loading docks in the back. Windows at the upper level at the front that looked like an office area. The side door was locked. We did a lap around the building, then went back to the side door.
The door was locked, but Lester had it open within thirty seconds. I was glad that I'd decided to bring him along. He opened the door and I followed him in, with Bobby behind him. The warehouse was almost empty and smelt of fuel. I guessed that they'd been storing trucks in here. There was an area towards the back that looked like bathrooms, and an upstairs office area. It had windows that looked over the warehouse area but they were clouded over.
"I'll go check it out," Lester said, and jogged over to the stairs before I could follow him. He disappeared upstairs. Bobby and I were walking over to follow him when we heard him yell out.
"Bobby, get out!"
Bobby immediately reacted, half picking me up and moving me towards the door before I could react.
"What? What's going on? What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know. We'll ask Lester when he comes out," Bobby said once we were outside. "Actions first, questions later."
I stuck my hand back inside just as a whump sounded and a wall of flames spread across the building.
"Uhhhhhh," I said, looking at it. Bobby slammed the door shut.
"What about Lester?" I yelled.
"He'll be fine," Bobby said, but he didn't sound as certain as I would have liked. He grabbed my arm and pulled me along beside him to the front of the building so we could look up at where the offices were. A window opened up at the office area.
"Stand bank!" Lester called out. Then he climbed out the window, lowering himself down. He dangled there, still a full storey above the ground, then dropped. He rolled when he hit the ground.
"What happened?" Bobby asked him. Lester winced when he got off the ground.
"I must be getting old. I banged up my knee and shoulder."
"Yeah, we're all getting old. What happened?"
"Probably a delayed bomb. The place was soaked in gasoline. Upstairs looked like it had been hit with a flame thrower, literally," Lester said, then looked over at me apologetically. "There was a body upstairs behind the desk. It had been burnt, so I couldn't identify it."
"Do you think it was Dickie?" I asked him, feeling sick. I'd thought the glass windows of the office area were deliberately opaque, not that they'd been hit with a flame thrower. And had the person been alive when they were burnt? I shuddered.
"I honestly don't know who it was," Lester said.
Randy wandered over from the chop shop next door and looked up at the building.
"Wowsers, that's a big one. I think we're going to get some action out of this one. The fire department might even make an appearance," he said.
"Yeah, and probably the police too," Bobby said.
"Police? Oh. Well excuse me, I have some business to attend to," Randy said. Bobby and I helped Lester back to our car. We could hear sirens approaching in the distance we got into the car and Bobby started the engine. We took off, and as we passed the building next door the doors slid up and the car hauler drove out, following behind us. I guessed there were some cars in it that they hadn't wanted the police to stumble across while they were investigating the fire. It was a short drive to the interstate. We went north and the car hauler went south.
The drive back to Rangeman was quiet. We pushed the button and waited for the elevator.
"Lester, come to the infirmary first so I can check you over," Bobby said.
"I bet you want to check me over," Lester said, wriggling his eyebrows at Bobby.
"Oh geez," I said.
"I'm fine," Lester told Bobby. "Bruising and a scape on my shoulder, bruising to my knee. I'll ice it upstairs and stay off it for a few hours."
"You'd better."
"Scout's honour."
"You weren't a Scout."
The elevator arrived and we got in. I pushed the button for Level 5. The doors slide open on Level 5 to reveal Ranger standing there. He had his blank face on but his body tension showed anger.
"Report," he said sharply.