Chapter 2

The next morning, I woke early feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep. I had no worrying thoughts over Joe so decided to get up and start the day. After a quick shower and dressing in my usual uniform of jeans and T-shirt I decided to grab a breakfast once on my way. Seeing as Ranger had let me borrow a car, I'd go after the last file in my bag. The man in question was in his fifties, small with long grey hair and glasses, not a physical guy because he'd been charged with fraud. Apparently, he'd hacked into a company's computer system and transferred some of their money across into his own bank account. It didn't help that he'd worked there and that he'd been fired so was a prime suspect. I had no concerns that he would give me any problems, other than maybe running from me. Once I'd been through the McDonald's driveway and eaten a bacon sandwich washed down with a coke I felt all was right with my world. I headed to the bonds office intent on taking Lula with me but there was only Connie in the office.

"Morning Connie"

"Hi Steph, you're early"

"Yeah well I thought I'd see if there are any new files and then head out to find Adrian Buckley"

"You waiting on Lula?"

"You know when she'll be here?"

"Not really, but I heard you might need a ride"

"No, I have wheels"

"Black SUV?"

I nodded my head because it was embarrassing how Ranger always knew when I was carless. Then maybe not as he would have known my car blew up when the tracker on it stopped working. Maybe that was why he had messaged me; he'd see from the trackers in my bag that I was nowhere near it. I waited for thirty minutes, drank a coffee, read bits from an old magazine then started to feel antsy.

"Connie I'm gonna head out, I could be sat around waiting hours for Lula"

"No problem"

As I got to the door Connie shouted out after me.

"Steph what happened yesterday was all round town, maybe you should call in at your parent's house first"

Shit I hadn't even thought about that, hell would my mother have a go at me for not calling her, probably. I decided to go there first and get it over with, a morning call would be far better than being tied to being there for dinner. As I pulled up in front of the house, I saw that my Dad's car was missing and wondered if I could I get away with just leaving a message? No such luck because the door was open, and I found my Mum in the kitchen already starting preparations for lunch.

"Hi Mum" Mum carried on finishing peeling potatoes, so I sat down at the small table smiling up at her when she took a seat opposite me.

"I am so annoyed with you Stephanie"

"Me?"

"Yes you, Joseph came around last night to let me know you weren't hurt not that I had any idea of what he was talking about"

"But I wasn't hurt"

"No, but he was"

Well at least the Burg grapevine hadn't jumped to the conclusion that it was me in my car.

"How was he hurt?"

"Because of you. He said he's got a new job but wants you to go with him, he said he was waiting for you to make up your mind"

"I have Mum"

"You need to go to New York with him Stephanie, so I hope you agreed"

"No Mum, I didn't agree to that"

"Why not, he's a good man and at least he puts up with your job and all of the drama that follows you around"

"But he doesn't Mum, he hates my job"

"Well if you moved to New York maybe you could find a nice safe office job and then settle down and marry him"

"Mum I don't want to marry him"

"Stephanie Michelle Plum if you don't sort it out with Joseph then you're not welcome here"

"You mean you would disown me?"

"If that knocks some sense into that head of yours then yes"

I didn't know what to say to her, I mean what mother would be so insistent that her daughter should marry someone.

"Mum, I don't love him enough to marry him"

"You'd learn to love him; he can provide you with everything a woman would need"

That wasn't enough for me, I couldn't do that again, actually that's what she'd said when I'd married Dickie and look how that turned out. I'd succumbed to her nagging and bullying tactics believing what she said and married him. Then had to go through the whole demoralizing event of finding him with Joyce on the dining room table. Hell, even then she'd tried to convince me to stay with Dickie suggesting it was my fault he'd cheated on me. I stood up and turned for the door, no way was she going to blackmail me again, she'd used the same words with Dickie, and I swore to myself that I wouldn't marry a man because of what she wanted me to do.

"Bye Mum"

I know I had tears in my eyes, hell she hadn't even mentioned the incident with my car. I could understand if she'd been mad because I hadn't call her about that, but all her concern was with Morelli and how hurt he'd been. Why the hell had he called here, did he really think getting my mother to side with him would change my mind, well dam it, that was so not going to happen.

By the time I was back in the car I felt more annoyed than upset I was going to channel all that energy into finding my skip. Buckley had a house on the outskirts of Trenton so that's where I headed for, finding a parking space down the road and on the opposite side of where his house was. Surveillance wasn't one of my strong points but today I was determined I was going to bring him in. The house seemed quiet as I sat and watched, it was a small place, just one floor with a small yard at the front. Compared to his neighbor's though it looked a dump. Paintwork was peeling from the wood, the gutters had grass growing from them and the front yard seemed to be a dumping ground for old pieces of equipment, mainly computers and screens from the look of it. After an hour I needed to stretch my legs and to be honest sat thinking about Morelli and what my mother had said was beginning to get me down. I decided on walking down the lane between two other houses and seeing if there was any way to look into the house from the back. Luck must have been with me because there was a lane that ran along the back of all the houses on the street. I didn't need to work out which was his house though because the rubbish in the back yard gave it away. So, hiding behind a neighbor's fence, I started to watch the windows. I heard the flush of a toilet and water running down the pipes so knew there was someone in the house. I carefully walked through the back yard, avoiding the rubbish and headed for the back door. Knocking I stood to one side and was surprised when it opened with Buckley stood there. He didn't really look like the photo in the file, well okay he had the same white wispy hair tied back in a ponytail and metal framed glasses that were almost at the end of his nose. His eyes were a smoky grey; they were eyes that made you want to trust him, gentle and caring with lines of age around them. Whilst he wasn't tall his sense of dress made him stand out. He was wearing light brown trousers with a yellow shirt, a tartan waistcoat and a bright red dickie bow tie.

"Mr Buckley?"

"Yes, who are you?"

"Stephanie Plum. I represent your bail bond office"

I always went with the polite approach because there were a lot of people who genuinely forgot.

"Stephanie?"
"Err, yes. I'm here to help you to reschedule your court date

"I'm sorry but I don't have time for that"

"Mr Buckley if you come now it will save you wasting time later"

He started to mumble in a low voice that I couldn't hear and turned away walking back into the house. As the door was open, I just followed him in. As I followed him into what was the room facing the back yard all I could see and hear were computers humming away. Sheesh, if I thought the yards were a mess, they had nothing on the inside of his house. There was electronic equipment everywhere, some dumped on the floor and some stood on tables.

"Mr Buckley"

"You can't be here, it's not safe, you have to go"

I could see he was getting quite agitated and then I began to smell smoke and turning saw some smoke coming from one of the computers. It didn't explode, well I wasn't aware that it did, but the next minute Mr Buckley literally ran at me and as I fell backwards, he fell with me. My arm and leg hit the side of a desk and in desperation I tried to get a purchase on it but all I managed to do was sweep the wires and bits of plastic with me. I still kept falling back. All I was aware of was the sound of breaking glass and continuing to fall and then a pain in my head and the feel of a weight on my body.

When I started to be aware that I was actually waking up I panicked. I could remember what had happened just before I went through the low window but nothing since. I opened my eyes carefully to see Mr Buckley looking down at me with a cloth and an antiseptic bottle in his hands. He actually looked very concerned, his eyes intent on what he was doing. I started to move because to be honest I had no idea what he was doing and that really started to creep me out.

"Just lay still while I clean up some of these cuts"

Cuts, hell how badly had I hurt myself?

"I'm so sorry, I thought the machine was going to set on fire, so I just pushed us away from it, between us we took down my work bench and hit the window, but maybe I pushed too hard because we went through it"

"Am I badly cut?"

"Not really, a few on your shoulders and head and then some deeper ones on your arms. I've dealt with them all, I just have this one to clean up"

"Did you hurt yourself?"

"No, you took the brunt of the fall, I'm so sorry"

"Did I knock myself out?"

"Just for a short while"

"Do I need to go to the hospital?"

"No, no. I put some butterfly plasters over them, you're fine"

I continued to watch him as he intently saw to my cuts but then he caught me staring at him.

"You know you have the most beautiful blue eyes, the eyes of an angel"

I felt my cheeks warm up, sure that I was blushing. I didn't how to respond to the compliment.

"Mr Buckley can I sit up now?"

"Just stay there while I throw these out, I won't be a minute"

I watched as he collected blood stained cotton pads and as he disappeared through the door. I rested my head back and looked around where I was, hell this room was tidier than everywhere else. It was actually quite a nice room with wallpaper on the walls and carpet I could see on the floor. I sat up carefully, relieved when nowhere seemed to hurt and noticed I'd been laid down on a long green couch. The window had a view over the road, so I assumed we were at the front of the house. As the minutes ticked away, I looked at the cuts on my arm, well as much as I could, pleased that most of them were small, though the one under and at the back of my left arm felt bigger. There was a dressing over it that I decided I'd better leave on. My head was sore where I probably banged it when I fell, but overall, I felt surprisingly well for having been knocked out. A bit of a headache but nothing compared to what I'd had before. I was starting to worry as to where Mr Buckley had gone so slowly got to my feet, no dizzy spells so I was fit to go. I walked across the room toward the door where Mr Buckley had left through. The door opened into a hallway, so I walked to the end and into a kitchen. Again, I found a clean and tidy space but no sign of Mr Buckley. That's when I suddenly realized he'd probably walked out on me, dam it, I'd never find him now. I searched everywhere in that house, it was weird how the bedroom and bathroom were so clean and tidy, yet the rest of the place was crammed full of computer equipment. There was no sign of him anywhere so finding my bag by the broken window I made my way back to my car. I was beginning to feel sore from the fall and my clothes were torn with blood on them so made the decision to head for home. I'd order a takeout tonight and just blob in front of the television, yeah that sounded like a good idea to me.