AN: Thanks for your patience and your support. I've been so obsessed with reading all the fiction out there in the Plum universe, that I neglected my own stuff. Hope you won't be disappointed.

Chapter Eighteen

Tank walked into the conference room holding a file that I assumed contained information about Terry Gilman's murder. Ranger had not come home from whatever job it was that he was working on, a fact that had me a bit concerned.

"Tank, have you heard from Ranger?" I asked, nervously biting my thumb.

"Don't worry, Bombshell. He was delayed and couldn't get a flight back last night. He should be here anytime." Tank took a seat at the table, pulling out information from the file.

My curiosity overwhelmed my concern about Ric. He was all right or Tank would have been doing something different. As if on cue, Ranger walked into the room.

"Yo, Babe. Sorry about last night. Sleep well?" He grinned and kissed the top of my head.

"We'll discuss it later," I replied with a smirk. He looked fantastic, considering he might have been up all night.

My attention was diverted to a picture that was laid on the table. It was Terry's postmortem shot. Her face was bloated from being in the water, but there was something else, a shadow or something in the photo that held my gaze.

"What is it, Babe?" Ranger asked.

"The photo, look at her face." I handed it to Ranger. He studied it carefully.

"We already know that the bullet entered behind her ear, but it looks like there's no exit wound. Tank, any intel on the caliber?"

Tank rifled through more paperwork, pulling out a ballistic report. "Says here that the bullet, a .38 is being run through the database for a match. Nothing yet, but sometimes it takes a while. Me, I'm betting they won't get a hit."

Ranger nodded.

"Where exactly was she found? Did it say how long she had been dead?" My mind was whirling, trying to find all the pieces of this puzzle.

Tank grunted. "She musta been floating at least overnight from the bloating, but she was the ME thinks that she was most likely dead at least three days. There's no way to be certain since she was in the water at least part of that time. No blood in the pool where she was found. Turns out she was found in Vito's neighborhood."

I grimaced. That couldn't have been a good thing, but it lent credence to my thought about a mob hit.

Ranger looked at me, seeming to know what I was thinking. "Is Vito talking?"

Tank grinned. "No man, not a word and you know that ain't like him."

"It won't be good if this thing goes on much longer. Grizzolli is bound to start going after the opposition even if he doesn't have any proof that they ordered the hit."

I looked at Ranger. "So you seem pretty sure that this was a mob hit. Are you going to bring Morelli in on this?"

I noticed a slight tensing of Ranger's jawline before he replied.

"Morelli is in if he wants to be. Can you handle that right now?"

I frowned. "It's all a part of the job... boss." Only the raised eyebrow told me that I would have some explaining to do later. Okay, so maybe now we were even on that front.

Ranger and I finished reviewing the file and he told Tank to get a copy to Joe. Tank left us alone in the conference room.

Ranger approached me. "So, did you sleep all right?"

I searched his face. "Probably better than you did. What happened?"

"Got tied up with the Feds, Babe. I didn't know I wouldn't make it back and by the time I realized I should have called you, it was too late. I didn't want to wake you up."

I leaned into him and hugged him tightly. "You can call me anytime, day or night. I don't mind. I missed you." I realized when I said it exactly how true that was. I fell asleep easily enough, that bed was just so comfortable, but I did end up waking up a couple of times to check for him. "I woke up and you weren't there. I'm not used to that."

Ranger smiled and kissed me. He tilted my face to his own. "Babe, that's something I don't want you getting used to."

We agreed to meet for lunch at the apartment. I doubted seriously we would eat lunch, but what the heck. Ranger had a ton of paperwork to do, his words not mine. I too had some searches to run, but it wasn't long before my conversation with Lula rose to the top of my consciousness and started nagging me. I decided to tell Ric about it over lunch.

I was deep into a file search when I felt a familiar and warm tingle at the base of my neck.

"Babe, it's time for lunch. Want to join me?"

Now I am not the brightest woman, nor the most beautiful, but I had something that other women would kill for... I had Ranger's undivided attention for the next hour at least. I watched as he headed to the elevator. I shut down the computer search and ran to meet him at the elevator door, which he was politely holding open for me. I waited until the door closed and then leaned into his body. He reached down and started to knead my ass, tenderly at first but soon started to pull me closer and closer until I moaned from the sheer pleasure of being that close to his hard body.

We made it to the bedroom before he said word. "You want to explain that crack about all a part of the job?"

I was breathing rather heavy and didn't really appreciate his timing. "Not right now, I don't," I bit out. My hands reached for him and he allowed me to pull him down onto the bed.

"Babe, you will talk to me... later," his words were swallowed by my mouth.

Of course, later eventually came. I sat at the table sipping coffee and finishing a sandwich which I hastily prepared while Ranger was dressing.

"Talk," he stated flatly as he entered the room.

"It means just that. Why should I be treated any differently than any other member of the team? I didn't hear you ask Tank if Morelli's being here bothered him. He's bound to know that Lester's pissed."

Ranger sat across from me, his eyes never leaving my face. "Tank didn't have a personal relationship with Morelli. Lester is a professional. He won't like having Morelli involved anymore than I will, but both of us with deal."

I swallowed the sandwich, nearly choking. "Are you saying that you have a problem with Morelli being involved in the investigation?" Ranger usually hid these types of things from me.

"I don't know, maybe. I don't think it's a good idea to have him hanging around any more than necessary. Not just because of you, but because of Anna. I don't think that you or Joe have really cleared the air about Anna."

I nodded. "Maybe you're right about that, but maybe we shouldn't deal with it right now. There's just a lot going on in his life and he doesn't need that kind of confrontation."

"Pretty understanding of you, Babe."

I saw something in his face that I could not interpret. "You want to explain that?"

Ranger got up from the table. "Self explanatory, Babe." He took his gun and keys from the sideboard table. "I'll be home late tonight."

"Ric," I called after him. I caught up with him at the elevator. "Are we okay?"

He took my face between his hands and kissed me. "Yeah, Babe. We're okay. I just need some time to sort through these feelings I have. Don't worry. My feelings for you are crystal clear."

He left me standing there. I didn't know what to do or think at that moment. We have made love and it felt as it always had. We had showered and dressed and done the things we normally did afterward, but somehow I felt he distanced himself from me just now. He was pulling away and that thought scared the shit out of me.