Dawn Tracy
The characters you recognize belong to Janet Evanovich. I'm just borrowing them for fun and pleasure.
Rating: R
Spoilers: HS through EOT CHAPTER THREEI woke from a dead sleep to hear sounds. I realized my door had opened and shut and the locks had been put in place. I figured a killer wouldn't bother to put the locks back so it must be Ranger. I heard him walk across the floor and walk into my bedroom. Then I heard the sounds of him undressing which made me nervous and gave me a thrill at the same time. Why was he here? He pulled back the covers and climbed into bed.
"Ranger what are you doing here?" Ranger had not come to see me in the middle of the night for a long time. He never climbed into my bed before. Not like this.
"Go back to sleep babe." Sleep? He wanted to sleep? I could not believe he left his king size bed with the wonderful sheets to come sleep in my average bed. And he wanted to sleep? I was relieved from my panic and disappointed at the same time.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
No response.
"Are you hurt? Did something happen?"
I couldn't help myself I started checking him. I started with his shoulders. His shoulders were hard and firm and felt just perfect. His arms did too. I never considered how good a man's arms felt. I knew I was getting aroused. He reached over and pulled me close to him. Tucking his arm around me he kissed the bottom of my ear.
"I'm fine. We'll talk in the morning."
Oh now that response was going to help me sleep. The warmth of his embrace was soothing and soon I wasn't thinking about anything.
The alarm on Ranger's watch went off before mine did. No surprise there.
I scooted out of bed and ran for the bathroom. I did my business and walked back out wearing my robe. Ranger was on his phone. He sat on my bed wearing nothing but black cargo pants. His hair was still messed up from sleep. I touched my own hair, thinking what a sight it must be. Oh well, he's seen me looking worse.
Ranger put the phone away and reached for me. "You got up quickly."
"Nature was calling."
He kissed me. I guess that was another kind of nature call. I could get used to mornings like this.
"Do you want to take a shower?" I asked him.
"With you?" He tugged on the ties to my robe.
"You could go first."
Ranger let me go first. I showered and dressed in yet another pair of black jeans. I paired it with a long sleeve button down shirt that had flared cuffs. Of course it was black. I topped it off with a leather jacket and boots. I tossed the leather jacket aside to put on later.
I was dropping grapes and a piece of donut into Rex's bowl when Ranger touched my shoulder. I turned around and we were face to face. There was an unreadable expression in his eyes.
"I got a letter last night. This is why I came and stayed with you." He handed me a generic looking number ten white envelope just like the one I received.
Only this letter did not have an address on it. It just had the printed name Ricardo Carlos Manoso and under that it read Ranger. I opened it up. More photos. Already feeling creepy, I decided to read the letter first.
Dear Mr. Manoso,
I know everything and I can see everything. It really is a shame about your girlfriend's vehicle. You should buy her some shoes to make up for it. I'm going to give you a clue as to what she wants.
Be sure to watch for deliveries.
The first photo was of one of Ranger's Porsches and the second was of me trying on shoes at Macy's. Now I know why Ranger was here. He was protecting me.
"How did you get this letter last night?" I was almost afraid to hear the answer.
"One of the kids dropped it off to the guards for me while I was working. He must have been paid. I tried to find out who paid him but I didn't get much of an answer. Yet. "
"You were at the Morrison Center?"
"Yeah. Will you move into the Rangeman offices today?" His brown eyes searched mine.
"Today? That seems so sudden." Seems like everything was making me feel panicky right now. Maybe I should eat another donut. I decided to pack a donut to take with me for later.
"Babe, I don't know what we are dealing with here. I can put a man on you but it would be better to have you staying at the offices." His voice was quiet.
Trouble was, I knew he was right. I knew that it was an expense to put a man on me. I knew he needed the men watching me to work elsewhere. But I was still a bit gun shy where Ranger was concerned. I needed to jump over a bit of a hurdle. I probably needed to hurry up and jump already. But I seemed to be stuck somewhere in between a crouch and an almost thinking about launching into a jump.
"Tomorrow. I'll come stay with you tomorrow. I'm going to my parent's for dinner tonight. Then I can come up with something to tell them. "Can I borrow a car?" I didn't want to drive the Buick.
"I'll give you another car."
"I don't know what I have that you will eat." I told Ranger honestly, giving him a cup of coffee. "I'm having donuts."
"What do you feed Rex?"
"This morning he got a piece of a donut and grapes. Feel free to look around. Most everything has sugar or preservatives though."
"I noticed."
Ranger took a glass of milk and an orange.
I could tell that Ranger didn't like my responses to his question about moving to his place. He said very little while we ate. Not that he ever says much. But he wasn't relaxed like he usually is. I thought that the situation might be stressing him out, but simple things don't usually affect Ranger like that. The only other conclusion I could come to was that he was unhappy with me. He was so different than Morelli. Morelli would be yelling at me. Demanding that I give in to his commands. Ranger just asks me reasonably and hopes for the best. I must frustrate the hell out of him.
Ranger came to my desk about an hour after we got to the office.
"I'll be out all day today. Here is a list of names I'd like you to run with. Do your searches and work on this as you have time." Ranger told me.
"This is in relation to our uh problem?" I asked.
"Yeah."
I glanced at the list. Not a very long list. No one I recognized at first.
"How did you get these names?"
Ranger just smiled at me. No answers on that front, at least not for the moment.
"Would you consider borrowing the Buick?" I asked hopefully. It had a great track record.
"No way."
"Be careful." Our eyes met and locked for a long moment.
I finished the searches in my box and then I went to work on the names on Ranger's list.
Rodney Smith owned a messenger service in center city Trenton. He had a clean record. On paper he looked like a decent businessman with a moderately thriving business.
Teddy Sanchez, also known as the Moose was arrested for illegal possession of arms with intent to sell. He was arrested in Trenton although he was suspected to have dealings all over New Jersey. He had a very good lawyer and got out of prison after four years in jail on special probation. One newspaper article connected him to the Ramos family.
Marcos Sanchez owned the Mango Tango in Trenton and at Point Pleasant. Both were a restaurant and bar popular with the college crowds. He is Teddy Sanchez's older brother. He took over a house that Teddy owned in Trenton when Teddy went to jail.
Bruce Wesetern was an armed robber. He held up gas stations all around New Jersey and was focusing on the Trenton area when he was caught and jailed. His current residence put him in a men's shelter near the Morrison Center. He was given an early release for ratting on some prison mates who were dealing on the inside.
I called Lula and we met for lunch at McDonald's.
"You know any of these guys?" I pushed the photos across the table.
"This guy. " She pointed at the photo of Rodney Smith "Why you want to know about him?"
"Just some research for Rangeman." I took a bite of my Big Mac.
"Oh. If it's the same guy he had a brother who runs an S & M club. It's real private like. Name is Luther. You got to have a membership card to get in and everything. Place is in an apartment over Gray's Gym."
"Gray's Gym? Where is that?"
"Over on Maple St. Not a good neighborhood. You looking for an S&M Club Stephanie? I could make a suggestion. Do you want to be with men, women or both?"
Lula wagged a French fry at me.
"No I don't want to go to an S & M Club." Yeesh. I'm not sure I know what they do in an S & M Club. But I have a wild imagination.
"Luther's place is for men only anyway." Lula told me. "I only know about it on account of hearin' people talk about it. I knew a man who worked there and made ten thousand dollars on a Tuesday night. 'Course the things he had to do." Lula shook her head. "You could talk to Jackie."
"Why would Jackie know?"
"She knew someone that worked for the dude."
"Where is Jackie these days?"
"Jackie is doing the righteous thing these days." Lula said. " No more being a ho. She got an apartment and a job and everything."
"What is she doing?"
"Working for an escort service."
"Oh."
"Its not like you think."
"I don't care. Does she have a phone? Can I have her phone number?"
Lula scribbled down the number for me on a napkin.
"Have you heard of the Morrison Center?" I asked. Might as well ask everything I want to know.
"Oh yeah. Bought my Jimmy Choo pumps there a few years ago. They are bitchin. It's pretty rough there now. The gangs are taking over. You want discount shoes? Better off at the outlets. No risk of getting' shot or raped. I don't think they get much ladies wear now anyway."
"It didn't used to be so bad there? What made it get worse?" I wondered.
"It was never like shoppin' at the mall. But the gangs are fighting over the place and I hear the gun runners are fighting over it too."
"Why do they care about one piece of land?"
"I don't know. Could have something to do with being an empty building next to an off ramp being located right near the park which is a good hiding place."
"When was the last time you were there?"
"It's been awhile. You want to take a ride?" Lula asked me.
I shouldn't, I really shouldn't. I don't take risks like this anymore. I don't do surveillance. I have an office job. I work behind a desk.
"Let's do it tomorrow. We'll go early in the morning. It will be safest because no one will be awake. Let's meet for breakfast." I heard myself saying.
I called Jackie on the way back to the Rangeman offices and left her a message to call me. Back at the office, I slid back into my chair and logged back onto the computer. Were S & M clubs listed in the online yellow pages? For giggles I did a quick search. I spent the afternoon doing searches and making phone calls and it went by quickly. I had a plenty of information, but I still didn't have a good feel for who was sending the letter.
It was after five and Ranger had not returned. I had not seen him since this morning. I was in this bad habit of wanting to see him before I went home each day. So I would keep working in the hopes of seeing him. Today I had a great excuse.
"Still here babe?"
"Mmm hmm. How was your day?" It sounded like such a domestic question to ask him.
"Just fine. Did you come up with anything?"
"Plenty of information, but I don't know yet who we are looking for." I put the files in a neat stack for him. I gave him a summary and told him about what Lula said and my call to Jackie. I told him I was meeting Lula in the morning to talk some more and I might be a little late to work. That was the truth sort of. We would talk on our ride.
"I think you should take a look at that messenger service. Just do a drive by."
"I can do that. Maybe I'll look at the Gym too."
I wondered what was significant about the messenger service and Rodney Smith. The other names on the list looked more dangerous. Could be he was sending me after the safest one to keep me out of trouble. That would be typical of Ranger.
"Take Tank or Hal with you." He suggested.
"Do I have to?"
"Always good to bring someone as back up babe." He was trying to reason with me.
I could see right through him for once, but it was a nice tactic. Ranger didn't try to bully me into things. I suspected he probably wanted to sometimes. Why did he understand me so well?
"Okay, I'll take one of them tomorrow. But I'm driving." I pulled my jacket on, and grabbed my pocket book, even remembering my gun.
"I'll walk you to the garage." Ranger offered.
I smiled at him I couldn't help it. This was partly why I wanted to wait for him to return every night I worked.
"You working tonight?" I asked him when we got to the garage.
"Yeah I'm going to drop in at the Morrison Center. "
"Aren't you tired?"
"Not yet." Ranger put a hand on each of my arms and gently backed me against the door of my latest Explorer. Our thighs touched and then I wasn't sure I was going to wait for him to kiss me. But he did not disappoint. He kissed me thoroughly.
"Night babe." He left me leaning against the car door. I wasn't panting really, just breathing kind of heavy.