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 SIX"Who's that?" Mary Lou wanted to know. "Why doesn't he come inside?"
"That's Hal. He works for Rangeman. "Ranger thought it would be a good idea for me to have some back up."
"Oh, well your back up can come in the house you know." Mary Lou stuck her head out the front door and waved to Hal. " I'd like to get a look at those muscles up close. You lead a far more interesting and scenic life than I do. Tell me what is going on?"
I told her everything. Well almost everything. I told her about the letters and the photos and the bodies in Hal and Ranger's trucks. I also told her how Ranger asked me to stay in his apartment before he left.
"You and Joe are really finished?" Mary Lou bustled around the kitchen, pouring coffee into cups and setting them on the table.
"Yes." I put a spoonful of sugar into my coffee.
"Then what is holding you back Steph?" She opened a package of chocolate graham crackers and artfully arranged some on a plate that had Spongebob Squarepants on it.
"Holding me back from what?" I sipped my coffee.
"From boffing Ranger again." Mary Lou grinned at me.
"Again?" I played the coy routine. I never actually told Mary Lou about the one night I had with Ranger.
"Oh come on. I've known you all your life. You think I can't tell when you've had sex with a man. I know honey. What are you waiting for?"
"I don't know exactly. I'm just waiting."
"Ranger is hot. And he obviously cares about you. Sending men to watch out for you, Jeez. You must be really dense. "
Maybe I was dense. Maybe if I wasn't such a chicken shit I might be able to admit that I love him. I think that is part of what has me so scared of getting back into bed with him for real. I would never want to leave. What's up with that?
But Mary Lou wasn't finished. "Maybe you're not going to have 2.5 kids and a house in the Burg. You never were like me. But that doesn't mean you can't get involved with someone. There are adult relationships that don't involve marriage."
"Ranger is not the relationship type."
"Why is he always looking out for you then? Why did he invite you to stay in his apartment?"
"He's protective of me and he wants to have sex with me."
"That is a relationship as far as a man is concerned."
I didn't want to think about what she was saying. I came here for information on my search, not my pathetic love life. I really must be in a state if Mary Lou's advice was starting to make sense.
"What I really came here for was that I wanted to ask you about Gumbazzi Construction and the Morrison Center."
Mary Lou gave me one of those looks. Those looks that say this subject is not over, but I'll let you off the hook for now. For that I was grateful. Friends are better than family for that sort of thing. Family never let you off the hook. They hound you forever. I think it's that blood thing.
"They did not get the contract to do the upgrades to the Morrison Center buildings. Lenny said George was really pissed off."
"Do you know why they did not get the contract? Hasn't Gumbazzi been around since Washington was at Valley Forge?" I snatched a chocolate graham cracker off the plate, ruining Mary Lou's geometric arrangement.
Mary Lou laughed. "George says that Bruzniak Contractors bribed their way into the contract. But he'll never be able to prove it. He did get the papers to print that story in a less than flattering way about Bruzniak when the contract was awarded. Anyone in the business knew that they weren't really the best company for the job. If Gumbazzi wasn't going to get it, Hennessey should have been next in line. Lenny plays poker with Bill Drucher who works for Hennessey Contractors."
"Do you know anything about the company Bruzniak Contractors? Or Perry Bruzniak?"
"I met him at a party at Paula and Stan's last Christmas. He was obnoxious."
"Anything stand out about him?"
"He pinched the waitress's ass." Means he's a pervert. Didn't make him a murderer.
"Do you think Paula would talk to me?"
"Sure. I'll call her for you. Why do you think this is related to the letter that you got?"
"I'm not sure that it is. Rangeman has a contract doing security on the grounds of the same property that Bruzniak Construction is doing the retrofitting on. Hal was at the site when he found the body in his truck and Ranger was working there the night that Rodney Smith's body was found in his truck. They got some of it on video. It is not very clear, but you can see someone disabling the alarm on the truck and tossing the body into the backseat."
"You always get involved in the most exciting things." Mary Lou said. " I still can't believe your car blew up at the mall and I rode in Ranger's Porsche. I'll call Paula right now."
I ate another chocolate graham cracker while she made the phone call.
"She can see you tomorrow at 11:00." Mary Lou wrote down the address.
We drove past Gray's Gym. I was thinking of parking and walking by, but a group of kids who looked like they could be gang members were hanging out outside. I continued to drive until I arrived at the address for Smith's messenger service. Maud's Diner was right across the street. Hal looked very tense. Probably wondering when we would get car jacked, explode or find a body. To tell the truth, I was wondering the same thing.
Better to think about lunch. Maud's has great Reuben's.
"Let's park, go walk by Smith's office and grab lunch." I suggested.
Hal looked at me. "Okay." He seemed to be preparing himself for battle.
A sign on the door of the office said CLOSED DUE TO DEATH IN FAMILY. I peeked in the window. A counter with papers on it behind which were a row of a half dozen computers and a wall covered with city street maps. In the alley next to the building I saw two cars and a van with the name Smith Messenger Service painted on the side.
"Not much to see here." I announced. This was a boring field trip. "Let's have lunch."
I ordered a Reuben and Hal ordered a burger. I was already eying the pie. Today felt like a coconut cream day.
"So, do you know where Ranger is?" I asked after our food arrived. Maybe food would distract him into answering me.
"Ranger? No I have no idea." Hal shrugged. "Probably off getting an FTA somewhere."
"His car doesn't show up on the GPS board and Ram said he couldn't pull it up? What does that mean?" I tried to sound casual.
"Oh. He can turn off the tracking device. He does that sometimes. Probably means he's doing some work for the Feds or something. Doesn't want anyone to know where he is."
"Does he do that often?" I always suspected Ranger could turn off the tracking device.
"Not that often." Hal said. "It's for his protection for us to know where he is. We can also track him when he turns his phone on. So he's not totally on his own. But we don't usually do that unless there's a reason to. Ranger always checks in."
We finished our meals and I insisted on paying. Really I wanted to get an entire pie to take back to Ranger's apartment. Yes I did have a slice with my lunch. I took my sack of pie and made a pit stop in the ladies room. When I came out of the stall there were three large women standing blocking the door. One was a black woman wearing a jean jacket and Keds. The other two women looked like they were Hispanic. One was wearing a leather jacket and the other wore a down jacket. The way they were looking at me reminded me of high school brawls I did not want to recall. I looked behind me hoping there was someone else in the room. No such luck.
"We know who you are Stephanie Plum." The woman in the down jacket shoved me against the wall. She made Lula look petite. The fact she knew my name likely meant there was no chance of mistaken identity.
"Hey!" I protested. I had to stick up for myself.
"You shouldn't be sticking your nose in other people's business. Especially when your boyfriend's not around to protect you." The woman in the leather jacket shoved me hard and I went flying across the bathroom, hitting the stall door, snagging my shirt on the door lock tearing it. I landed on my butt almost hitting my head on the toilet. Eeeuuww.
"Get up bitch." The woman in the down jacket yelled, grabbing me by my shirt, ripping it some more.
"Who are you?" I was getting pissed. No one ruins my clothes. And this bathroom floor was rank. Who were they to shove me around?
"I told you to stop being nosy bitch." The woman in the leather jacket slapped me and shoved me again.
This time I was ready and I grabbed her and kicked her at the same time. We both went down on the floor and rolled. The other two women got on top of her and I started kicking and clawing. My bag with the pie flew open and whipped cream and bits of coconut spewed all over us. Because I was on the bottom my face was covered and my eyes were blinded briefly. I actually spit some at the woman in the jean jacket and nailed her on the forehead. I was aiming for her eye.
That's how Hal found us. I saw the women fly off me one by one and then Hal picked me up. He was a little red faced, but he silently carried me out of the ladies room over his shoulder. He ignored the stares of the restaurant customers and set me on my feet outside in the parking lot.
"Are you okay?" Hal asked, a little nervous. He had globs of whipped cream and coconut stuck to his black windbreaker.
"Unh huh. What took you so long?"
"I don't usually go into the ladies room."
When I returned to my apartment Tank was driving behind me. I never saw him at the office and no one seemed to be following me out of the garage, he must have some of that Ranger magic.
Tank did the soldier walking the perimeter thing in my apartment then and gave me the all clear.
"Have you heard from Ranger?" I asked.
"Not today. I probably will later."
"What if something happened to him?"
"I'm sure he's fine. It can be hard to make phone calls in some situations."
What kinds of situations would it be hard to make phone calls in? Like if someone had a gun to your head. Or if you were all tied up. Jeez, my mind could make up all kinds of horrible scenarios.
It was strange to think of Ranger as human. But I knew he was human. Didn't I? It seemed lately he was giving me glimpses of parts of him I didn't know existed. I never thought about the fact that his worrying about me meant that he cared. He admitted to me that it distracted him. All the times he's saved my life, offered me protection. What did it mean? I remember Ranger telling me we did not owe each other anything for the things we gave each other. But did it mean that they were meaningless? Somehow I didn't think so anymore. The thought both warmed me and scared me.
I knew he wasn't telling me everything when he left last night. Part of me was mad because he didn't trust me enough to tell me and part of me hoped he would tell me eventually. I could work on that.
I made a hasty decision as Tank headed for the door.
"Tank." I called out.
"Yeah."
"I'm going to get a few things together and go stay at Ranger's."
The idea of staying there suddenly sounded less scary than another night alone in this apartment with just my mind and Rex.
"Good idea. I'll wait." Tank walked over and settled on the couch.