"Report."

"She's fine, Ranger," Bobby said. "Lester's the one who is injured."

"No I'm not."

"Mostly Lester's pride is injured because he hurt himself doing a jump he should have cleared without a problem," Bobby continued. Ranger continued to face us down with a blank stare but he looked to have relaxed slightly. Lester sighed.

"Can you please get out of the way so I can go and sit down?" Lester asked Ranger. In response Ranger folded his arms across his chest and glared at him.

"You're home early," I said.

"I rented a private plane. Couldn't get on a commercial plane with my man," Ranger told me.

"How's Hal?"

"Taking the rest of the day off."

"That's nice," I said. I could see Cal in the background listening in, giving me a look like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Ranger seemed to notice that all of Floor 5 was listening in.

"My office, now," he commanded. He turned to walk away.

"Please," I reminded him.

"Please," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching. Lester relaxed slightly.

"Lester needs some ice on his knee," I told Ranger.

"Meet me in my office in five," Ranger told all of us. Ranger went to his office, Lester went to find ice, I went in search of muffins and a coffee, and Bobby disappeared to the infirmary.

When I went back to Ranger's office, he gestured towards the table near his window. I sat down and started drinking my coffee. Lester came in, hobbling slightly.

"I'm fine," he said, sitting down and putting his leg up. He put an ice pack on his knee. "Jumping out of stuff was easier when we were younger," he said to Ranger.

Bobby was last to came in, and had a handful of medical supplies.

"I want to have a look at your shoulder. Take your shirt off," he said to Lester. Lester looked like he was going to make a joke at Bobby's words, but a glare from Bobby made him change his mind, and he took his shirt off.

I was sure that I was drooling. Lester had washboard abs and excellent biceps. I'd always had a weakness for excellent biceps. All three men turned to stare at me.

"Did I say that out loud?"

"I work out a lot," Lester told me. "You should come to the gym with me sometime."

"Ugh, no thanks."

Bobby cleared the graze on Lester's shoulder and put a bandage over it, Lester put his shirt on, and we got on with the meeting.

"I assume you were there when the warehouse burned down," Ranger said.

"Yes but it wasn't out fault," I told him. Ranger raised one eyebrow at me. I wished that I could do that. Maybe I needed to practise more.

"I was the only one inside at that point," Lester said. "We entered the warehouse and it smelled like gasoline. I went upstairs on my own to check it out while Stephanie and Bobby stayed near the entrance. I went upstairs to the office area. The whole warehouse was nearby empty but there was a desk and an office chair upstairs. There was a dead body in the chair. He looked like he'd been killed with a flame thrower. The body, chair, desk and the wall behind the desk were all black and burned. It looked like a strong fire. I called for Bobby and Stephanie to leave the building, and I was on my way down to join them when the fire started. I'd say a delayed incendiary device. Most of the bottom floor was in flames straight away so I went back upstairs and out a window."

Lester told that story a lot more calmly than I would. I wasn't sure whether to be impressed or afraid. I suspected this team had been through a lot worse together when serving in the military.

"Any identification on the body?" Ranger asked. I noted that response. Not a flamethrower, what the heck? Which was my response. And any normal person's response.

"The desk, the chair and the body behind it were all scorched black," Lester said. "There was no way to identify the body. It was average height. Probably male from the build."

"Both Dickie and Peter Smullen are missing at this point," I told Ranger.

"Smullen's missing?" Ranger asked.

"Not officially but we visited his girlfriend yesterday and he hadn't come home the night before. She seemed annoyed, rather than worried, but my spidey sense tells me there's more to it."

"Spidey sense?" Bobby asked.

"You know, your spidey sense. It tells you stuff."

"Got it."

"You should report the body into the police," Ranger told Lester. "Give Morelli a call so they know to look for it."

"Will do," Lester said.

"Will you get into trouble for breaking into the building?" I asked Lester.

"What breaking? The door was already open. We had an anonymous tip off that there was a skip in there and we were searching for our skip," Lester said.

"I get the feeling that you've done this before," I told him.

"We have an understanding with Morelli," Ranger said. Lester nodded and got up, walking a bit easier after icing his leg. Bobby followed him out. Ranger turned to me.

"Let's grab some lunch."

We got sandwiches from the break room, then went up to Ranger's apartment.

"What do you have planned for the rest of the day?" Ranger asked me.

"I need to go into work."

"Can you not break the Rangeman that I send with you?" Ranger asked.

"I didn't break Lester! He did that on his own. Anyway, you don't need to send anyone with me. I'm sure I'll be fine on my own."

"Ziggy's dead, and Dickie and Peter Smullen are missing. I think we'll be on the careful side here. I mean, I could lock you up in the bathroom or implant a GPS tracker under your skin, but if you take Hal with you, he'll also help you pack up your orders, and if you need to stand outside, he's quite good at providing shade."

I would have laughed if we weren't talking about such a serious topic. I was feeling a little trapped – I didn't have my own car, I was being driven around and I was living in a secured locked down building. But on the other hand, Lester's description of the body attacked with the flame thrower had me on the edge.

"Okay, I'll take Hal with me," I agreed.

"Thanks babe," Ranger said. We ate our sandwiches and Ranger asked me questions about my business. It was nice to have someone to talk about business with. I was missing my chats with Mary Lou, but I was trying not to ring her about work and to let her enjoy time with baby Aurora.

Ranger headed downstairs to catch up on his paperwork, and I met Hal in the garage. We had a productive afternoon, no one tried to kidnap me (or Hal), or set us on fire with a flame thrower. I did spot Joyce lurking outside, but I ignored her. She could waste her time following me around all that she wanted to.

She seemed set on doing it too. She stayed in her car outside all afternoon and then followed up back to the Rangeman building. I guessed that she was checking Plum Lingerie to see when I was there, since I wasn't using my personal car, or staying at home, and all the Rangeman SUVs looked the same.

I thanked Cal for being on Stephanie duty for the afternoon and headed to Ella's apartment. I had my own set of keys for the building and apartment now so I could move around on my own but I was starting to feel in the way. Ella and Louis said that they were happy to have me there as long as I needed, but I was thinking that I needed to look into going somewhere else.

I was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic in the Rangeman building. Ranger had told me previously that hotels were hard to secure, so that ruled that out. My house had shown how easy it was for someone to break in, and even with Rangeman's excellent response time, they were still minutes away. If I stayed with my parents, that put them in danger should something happen. I wondered if I was worrying too much, but then I remembered that Ziggy was dead, Dickie was missing, and there was 40 million dollars involved. People would do a lot for 40 million dollars.

I decided to stop by Ranger's office. He was sitting behind his desk, staring at his computer. I knocked lightly on the door.

"Ranger?"

"Babe."

"You busy?"

"I have to catch up on paperwork and meet with Tank. Cal said that Joyce Barnhardt is following you around," Ranger said.

"Yeah. She thinks that either I know where Dickie is, his body is, or the 40 million dollars is," I told him.

"She was outside the building for a while, now she's gone home. Do we need to look into her?" Ranger asked.

"No. I've known Joyce since we were in kindergarten. She's annoying, but not a threat. She doesn't know where Dickie is, and she doesn't have the money or she'd be off in a foreign country already," I told him.

Ranger nodded. I cleared my throat and hesitated. I wasn't sure how to bring up this subject without sounding ungrateful.

"Babe?"

"I feel like I'm in the way," I blurted out. "I'm taking up Ella's spare room, so her sons can't visit from college while I'm here. But I don't want to go home and be kidnapped and killed by a flame thrower, either."

Ranger nodded. "We could secure your house overnight. I can put an overnight guard on," he told me.

"And that would cost how much, Ranger?"

"No price, babe."

"What price to your business then? We're both business people here, Ranger. How much is providing me protection taking up of your staff roster? Your budget? How much will overnight guards add to that?"

"You can stay in my apartment," he said, eyes darkening. He smiled slightly. A feral smile. Ranger was feeling playful. It felt like we were playing a cat and mouse game, and I was definitely not the cat.

"Where, exactly, would I stay in your apartment? Your bed?"

"You could stay in my bed if you want to. But I have a sofa bed."

I hesitated. The offer seemed reasonable. Ranger's study did have a sofa bed. I could sleep there. He only had one shower though, in the master bedroom. And realistically did I have the willpower to keep from throwing myself at him? My mind went back to a few glasses of wine and a cuddly night on the couch. Ranger sent me home that night. This time I didn't have a husband to go home too. I didn't owe anything to Dickie. But was this the best time to be making decisions right now? Would Ranger be a rebound? Did I want him to be anything more?

"Babe? Something burning in there?" Ranger asked me. I looked up, startled. I wondered how much time had passed while I was thinking.

"I have very little self control," I told him. He laughed.

"Information to the enemy, babe," he told me. "But I do have an apartment on four vacant if you want to move there until we know it's safe."

"You don't mind?" I asked.

"No, it's our short term use one. I keep it vacant in case someone is up late and too tired to drive."

"Thanks Ranger."

"I'll let Ella and Louis now," Ranger said. "I've got to meet with Tank now, and I've got an early meeting tomorrow. Can you meet me for breakfast on Level 7?"

I agreed to meet Ranger at 6.30am the next morning. Was it even worth going to sleep if I had to get up that early? Ugh. I stopped by to chat with Vince, and a few minutes later I had a text from Hector telling me that he had added access to Level 4 and the spare apartment to my swipe fob.

Ella was in the kitchen of Level 5, finishing up her day. The last thing she did before finishing work was make sure that dinner was set up in the slow cookers or warmers so the team could help themselves later on.

"Stephanie!" Ella said, coming around to hug me. "I was just thinking of you." I was wondering how I'd break the news to her that I needed my own space, but Ranger had already done it for me.

"Ranger told me he has assigned you the spare apartment on Level 4. Are you sure you're okay with that?" Ella asked me.

"Thank you, Ella. I feel like I've intruded on you for long enough. Thank you for taking me in when you did. I didn't expect to have to stay this long," I told her.

"I'm finishing up here in five minutes. I'll take you down to Level 4," Ella told me. "I cleaned and reset the apartment yesterday, so it should be ready, but let's make sure together."

"I'll go and grab my things from your apartment, then meet you back down here," I told her. I went up to Level 6, quickly packed my bag, stripped the sheets from the bag and straightened up the room. Ella and I went down to Level 4 together, and she opened the second door on the left. They were small one-bedroom apartments on this floor, well furnished. The kitchen and living area area was small but functional.

"How many apartments are on this floor?" I asked Ella. I hadn't been on the staff apartments level before.

"Four. They're quite small but that suits the men who use them. They're used to military life, and living in small places. Most of the men use them as a readjustment period before moving to their own place. And some, like Lester, like the lack of maintenance."

"Are there apartments on any other floors?" I asked her curiously. I knew that Level 1 was reception and sales offices, Level 4 was staff apartments, Level 5 was the management office and control room, Level 6 was Ella's apartment and the industrial laundry, and Level 7 was Ranger's domain. I'd only been on Level 3 once to a conference room. The gym had been moved to Level 3 since my visit, and the monitoring area and break room on Level 5 expanded. Level 2 remained a mystery. The carpark was in the basement and I'd heard rumours that Hector had a room somewhere down there too.

"Besides mine and Ranger's apartments? Level 2 is staff apartments. It's a similar layout to this floor," Ella told me. I was a bit surprised that half the Rangeman office space was taken up by living quarters.

"Who lives on this floor?" I asked Ella as we checked over the apartments and Ella made sure that the already spotless apartment even perfectly clean. Ella would have fit in well in the Burg. My question was answered by a knock on the door.

"Hey neighbour!" Lester called out.