Chapter 24

The name on the file attracted my attention and a few minutes later I was sat with my feet propped on the desk reading through the information that Ranger had collected on Crocker. I conferred with everything that Ranger had told me about him, but I was sure there was more to find. Ranger was very detail orientated with his work but sometimes he only looked at the obvious.

Starting up the computer I used my Rangeman password pleased when it allowed me into the usual programs. I used the search program to look at Crocker's police file, interested in what his record looked like. I'd expected Crocker to have been a thief for years, but he was either very good at not getting caught or he had been a late developer. Jethro Crocker was first arrested only two years ago at the age of twenty one. That had me curious as to what had happened to him for him to start stealing. A look through the search that Ranger had done didn't show anything unusual, his mother had died well before that, so I went back to his record and started to delve deeper. I was looking at the type of things that he was caught stealing.

At the start of his career as a thief it had been from shops, but I couldn't figure out why he had taken what he had. I continued looking, making notes of items as each report came through. He'd progressed from candy and soda to items of clothing and then moved on to pick pocketing and bags, womens bags. There was mention of him seen buying stuff from Dougie and even visiting Mooner. I knew those two men, hell I'd bought things from Dougie before now. He was an excellent source of designer rip offs and as long as you ignored their possible origin, they were cheap. Was his visit to Mooner why Ranger thought that he was into marijuana?

I sat with my long list of items scanning through it when a sudden thought came to me, and I was back looking at the search on his life history. Crocker had had a hard childhood, abandoned by his father and raised by a mother who couldn't make enough money. In fact, to me she didn't really have a lot of time for her son, Jethro. He'd been a street kid but even then, he hadn't resorted to anything illegal, he'd attended school and even started a training program. Maybe it was time to look at his mother.

Coleen Crocker was very young when she'd had Jethro and there were records of her attending the A & E at the hospital. I put that down to an abusive man in the house and noted that her injuries stopped when Jethro's father left. I wondered if she'd actually married Jethro's father because it showed that her maiden name was Crocker and there was no record of a marriage certificate. It was after the father left when she seemed to disappear or at least she did under that name. There was no record of her visiting the hospital or even a doctor. She didn't have a bank account, so I assumed that she paid for everything with cash. The only thing that seemed to be consistent was the address for where she lived. A note at the bottom of the page suggested that she had gone under the name of Colette Harker. I sighed as I started another search under that new name and was sure that my eyebrows nearly shot through the top of my head.

Colette Harker was known to the local police department as a prostitute and had been picked up for solicitation on numerous occasions. The two photos matched so I was surprised that the two searches had never been combined into one. What did surprise me though was that she'd had a daughter. If she was living with Jethro, then where the hell did the daughter live and did Jethro know about her?

I spent an age trying to chase down that daughter because I had a feeling that she was important. Eventually after searching through Colette's known friends, yeah, other prostitutes, I found a friend of Colette's who had been claiming child tax payment when she had never given birth to a child. Cassie, the daughter was thrown out when the authorities began to question who the kid was and the payments stopped, and guess what? It was just before Jethro started the stealing. My original idea had been right because to me the items that he was stealing were things that a young girl would want and need, and the money was probably for food and rent.

I was sure now that Jethro Crocker had found out about a sister that he had never known about, and he'd taken on that responsibility seriously. Maybe the woman, Natasha Leroy, who'd been looking after the child had told him or even the girl. Maybe Cassie had things that had proved to Jethro who she was. Had Joe known about her? Had he threatened to have Jethro sent to prison leaving the girl to fend for herself? At twelve years old she'd either end up in the system or most likely on the streets, that's if Joe hadn't threatened to hurt the kid. Would Joe do that? Then again Jethro must have been struggling for money so had Joe offered to pay him for setting fire to my car? I honestly didn't know. I didn't know Joe at all or what he was capable of anymore. Yeah, I'd believed in him, that he was a good cop, even a good man, but if Ranger was right about what Joe had done then I knew that somewhere along the way Joe had reverted to the bad boy that he'd been. Maybe the saying was true, that the apple doesn't fall far away from the tree, because Joe's father had been one mean and vicious man.

I needed to think less about Joe, but in some ways the way that I'd been thinking was changing how I saw him. I was pissed with him, the annoyance being stronger than the fear that I'd felt. I had to find Cassie in the hope that maybe she knew what had driven her brother to do what Joe had asked of him. So where would a twelve year old girl go to hide? I doubted that she was at the address that Jethro had given to the police. She wouldn't go back to the woman who'd raised her, and I doubted that she'd know who her father was. I didn't think that she'd even consider leaving town, she was just too young to have dared to do that. Where had I gone when I felt that everything in my life sucked? My grandma had been the first place that I would go to, but my mother soon cottoned onto that and would drag me back home. So sometimes I'd gone to Mary Lou's, and she'd hidden me downstairs in her parent's house.

Could she hide for this long with a family, wouldn't they raise the alarm? A check showed that she hadn't been back to school since Jethro had died so it had to be somewhere where no one would ask any questions.

I was back with my feet on the table trying to think through where she might be. It had to be with someone who could provide her with food and a roof over her head. I was hoping so because the idea that she was living on the streets had me feeling worried about her. Then I was asking myself why Jethro had been seen visiting Mooner. Jethro didn't seem the type to be hooked on drugs especially if he was looking after his sister.

I stood up and started to pace as ideas went through my head, I was sure they were pretty stupid ideas but hey, life could be bizarre at the best of times. As I paced the room, I just knew though that I was right, that Jethro Crocker had planned for where Cassie could go if something happened to him.

I stopped walking when I became aware of someone watching me and turned to see Ranger leant against the frame of the door, watching me.

"What did you find?"

"How do you know that I found anything?"

I watched as he came and stood in front of me, his eyes intent on me even as he raised one eyebrow.

"You have that look, one that says that you're on edge about something. One that says that you're thinking of doing something rash"

I went and sat on the chair in front of the desk and held my head in my hands. Was he right, was I that predictable? Maybe in a past life then I would have done that. When I had hunch about something but wasn't sure about it. Yeah, I'd have gone and checked out whether or not I was right. Now though? No, I would never even consider leaving the building. I shook my head because I knew the old me would have done that, but I'd had months of trying to change all of those stupid behaviors.

"I wasn't thinking of doing anything stupid. To be honest I couldn't if I wanted to. I've spent an age trying to rid myself of Stephanie Plum and how she behaved and reacted. Months of tearing myself apart when I thought about the stupid things that I did that put people in danger"

I felt the chair being turned and felt Ranger holding me by my shoulders. When I looked up, he was crouched down in front of me, and he slowly rested his forehead against mine.

"Don't be so hard on who you were, she was a pretty amazing woman. Keep the good parts and improve on the rest"

Maybe he was right, but I was struggling to see the parts that were good. I'd spent so long trying to change, to try and be a better person than I had been. I'd lose myself again with all of the guilt.

"We can only learn from our mistakes. Yes, you made mistakes, but the good that you did far outweighed those. You're not the bad person that people made you out to be"

I didn't know how Ranger could have so much faith in me, then again, he had always been the one person who would support me.

"How about I catch you when you fall, be the voice of reason. That way you can work out who you want to be"

I wrapped my arms around his neck as my acceptance for what he'd said because I suppose there were parts of me that I just couldn't shake. I was always going to be challenged with a puzzle and try to look for threads to find the solution. Hadn't that been what I was doing when I was with Jenson.

"When did you get so clever"

I asked as the tears slid down my face. All this time I'd spent my time running away from who I was when I should have been looking more deeply inside myself. Instead of beating myself up I should have been building myself back up.

"I'm an emotional mess, aren't I?"

"No, you're just human, someone who's been trying to cope with an emotional trauma. So, are you going to tell me what you found out?"

I smiled at the change of conversation, but I knew that he'd done that to stop me from getting bogged down and upset.

"Jethro Crocker had a sister. Maybe he did what Joe wanted for money or maybe to protect his sister, but I'm worried in case Joe knows about her and sees her as someone who could point the finger at him"

Ranger moved back from me but still kept his hands on my shoulders.

"I never found that. So where do you think she is?"

Okay, this was the part that had come from a gut instinct and wasn't based on fact.

"I think she's at Mooner's"

Yep, Ranger was definitely thinking that suggestion through carefully.

"How old is she?"

"Twelve"

I wasn't sure what Ranger was going to suggest but I knew that if we were going to find her and get her to safety then it would have to me who approached Mooner. He trusted me, hell we'd known each other since school, and it was always me who was able to talk him into going into the station when he was FTA. Plus, a twelve year old girl was more likely to talk to me.

"Okay, we need to be very careful because I'm sure if Morelli finds out about her, he'll be looking for her as well"

Why would Joe be interested in her now, Crocker was dead, so he'd have no need for her. Unless Crocker had told her what was happening and that was why she had to hide out at Mooner's. Maybe Crocker even left her with something that might incriminate Joe, a kind of insurance for Cassie. Crocker must have been really worried for Cassie if he felt that he needed to plan for a place for her to hide out at.

"Mooner can be a bit unpredictable depending on how high he is or what he's used. He knows me and he's never been a problem for me"

The idea of big muscled men suddenly turning up at Mooner's might just frighten him to death plus Cassie wouldn't realize that the men were there to help her.

"Are you ready for being a part of that?"

I knew what he was asking. Was I strong enough to overcome the fear of being outside here in Trenton? I had to be because Cassie could be in danger if I didn't.

"Yes. I have to do it. I know Mooner and how to approach him. He'll listen to me"

Ranger called the core group up to the apartment to fill them in on my idea and to discuss and plan when we needed to go to Mooner's. While we waited for them to arrive it gave me a chance to freshen up and give myself a pep talk. As I walked back into the living area I saw Tank, Les, Bobby, Hector and Xander. Was I surprised that the group of men invited included Xander? I suppose that I was because I assumed that Xander would have returned to working with Greg in Hoquiam. Then again maybe him being here was a good move on Ranger's part. Xander didn't have the look of a Rangeman and maybe Mooner wouldn't see him as a threat.