Chapter 7:

Khari stared at the brownstone. The Village had not been a usual hangout for him as a child but Ranger could afford to keep his ex-wife in style.

"You can't put it off forever," Shiloh said from the driver's seat.

"Just watch me," Khari mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's the middle of the day. She's probably not home anyway," he said. "Let's go get something to eat."

"Do you want me to tell her?" Shiloh asked placing her hand on his knee. He jumped back. Nice move, Shiloh, she chastised. Khari sighed.

"No, I've got to do it. She's family. I can't let a stranger tell her. I let the police tell her when her other brother, Miguel, was killed. I should have told her then but couldn't," he said sadly.

"What happened?" Shiloh asked.

"Shot down in the street right in front of me. Gang problems. I didn't do anything. I should have done something." Khari shook his head.

"What could you have done?"

"Told her. I could have told her," Khari answered. He opened the car door. "Wait for me, okay?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Shiloh answered saluting. Khari nodded and walked up the steps to the stoop. He knocked and a little girl who looked shockingly like Ranger opened the door.

"Uncle Khari," she screamed throwing her arms around his legs. He smiled and tousled her dark curls.

"Hi Analise, your Mom in?"

"No, she went to see daddy's lawyer. Who's the lady in the car?" Analise asked kneeling so that she could see through the window to the person in the driver's side.

"That's Shiloh Page. She worked for your daddy. She's a nice lady. You'll like her a lot," Khari explained waving for Shiloh to join him.

"Should I call her Aunt Shiloh?" the shrewd child asked.

"No. We're just co-workers," Khari answered.

"You okay?" Shiloh asked coming up to stand next to him.

"Yea fine," Khari said. "Lita is out seeing Ranger's lawyer. We'll hang around here until she gets back. This is Analise, Ranger's daughter." The little girl stepped foreword and extended her hand.

"Pleased to meet you," she said solemnly. "Is this my daddy's girlfriend?"

"No, why would you ask that?" Khari asked.

"She looks like the picture that my daddy showed me of his girlfriend." Analise said shrugging. Khari glanced at Shiloh suspiciously.

"You mean that your daddy's girlfriend had blonde hair or that this woman looks like her," he pressed.

"She looks like her. I'm gonna tell Grandma that you're here." Analise skipped off. Khari crossed his arms and leaned back. He stared at Shiloh for a few moments but she showed no signs of cracking.

"Well?" he asked impatiently.

"So maybe I wasn't completely honest about my relationship with Ranger," she said nonchalantly. "We sure as hell didn't have the kind of relationship where he'd be showing pictures. He was probably just trying to get under the ex's skin."

"So it was sex?" Khari asked bluntly.

"Yea, that's about it. We'd work late together and then spend some time releasing tension afterward. Nothing serious or anything." She shrugged.

"Why didn't you tell me from the beginning?"

"Why should I? It wasn't anything and I didn't kill him so I didn't think it mattered." She was starting to shift from foot to foot. She was either embarrassed or hiding something. Khari voted for hiding something.

"It matters now because it looks like you were hiding something," Khari explained.

"Well, I wasn't and it's really none of your business anyway so drop it," she said testily.

"Okay," Khari said holding up his hands. She was right, lots of women had sex with Ranger and it was nothing. It didn't explain why she'd given him the song and dance about how they were coworkers and respected each other.

"In case you were wondering it's true what they say about men with big muscles." She held up a pinkie finger.

"Dammit Shiloh!" Khari exploded. The door opened and Lita walked in.

"What's going on here?" she asked. Khari hurried over to her and took the bag that she was carrying. He kissed her cheek. Lita was in her late thirties but looked much as she had in her early 20's. Her olive skin was unlined and her brown eyes wide. Her hair fell in masses of curls to the middle of her back and was swept up with a comb. She was wearing a long fur jacket that made Shiloh feel as though it was screaming to be splattered with red paint. She sighed.

"Let's get a drink," she said showing them through to a comfortable looking sitting room. She unlocked a sideboard cabinet and pulled out liquor decanters. "Can I get either of you anything toxic?" She asked.

"No, but pour yourself a double," Shiloh suggested. "We have some bad news."

"Not any more bad news, please," Lita said holding up her hand. "I'm not sure that I could take it right now. That bitch of a lawyer wouldn't tell me anything about Ranger's finances. It's not like we need any money yet but does dying get him out of child support? Shouldn't his estate be paying or something?" Khari stopped her. He took her arm and led her to a chair. He sat on the footstool and placed his hands on her knees taking a deep breathe. Shiloh sat across from him marveling at what a cold hearted bitch this woman seemed to be. Her ex-husband was dead and she was worried about money. She inwardly shrugged probably a lot of people would see it as cold heart but really it was practical. Wouldn't anyone faced with a loss of income wonder how they were going to feed their child?

"Lita..." he began.

"Oh shit, what now?" she asked. She took a long gulp of the gin she'd poured.

"It's Lester," Khari said. He took another deep breathe and noticed that Lita's eyes had started to tear.

"He's not?" she asked shakily.

"He is. I'm so sorry," Khari confirmed wrapping his arms around her. Lita began to sob.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I saw him," he said sadly. "I identified him."

"Thank you," she whispered. She sat up and wiped her eyes as her daughter entered the room.

"What's wrong, mommy?" Analise asked. An older Hispanic woman had followed her into the room carrying a tray holding coffee cups.

"Uncle Lester had an accident, honey. Momma?" The older woman had dropped the tray and was starting to fall. Khari caught her and led her to the couch while Lita hugged her daughter.

"Is he going to be okay?" the child asked.

"No, honey." Lita clung to Analise as the realization came over her that he was dead. Analise shrugged from her mother's grip and left the room. "I'm worried about her. I don't know how much she understands. She's only 10 years old."

"She seems to understand enough," Shiloh observed. Lita looked at her as though seeing her for the first time.

"I'm sorry, have we met? You look familiar." Lita peered at the younger woman.

"Shiloh Page," she said extending her hand.

"You were my husband's girlfriend?" Lita asked.

"I worked for your husband," Shiloh clarified.

"There was nothing more?"

"Not really," she lied.

"I feel like Nancy Drew," Stephanie giggled from her position in front of Joe's laptop computer at the dining room table.

"Keep looking through those files for reference to names," Joe suggested. "Just make a note of the reports numbers where Lester Santos name comes up. Too bad there's no easy way to cross-reference. Trenton P.D. should take a step into the 21st century."

"Slave driver," Stephanie muttered.

"Hey, don't you start sassing me. I gave you an alternative to doing that but you said that we needed to get this done and didn't have time to go upstairs," he teased.

"Maybe I was wrong," she admitted.

"Well, you can't change your mind now. I could get into serious trouble hacking into these files. We need to get this done." Joe turned back to the list that he was making of people to talk to about Ranger's activities. He had already called a few and had hit walls. Maybe Khari would have better luck.

"They're going to know that you were in there anyway."

"Not necessarily if we get this done before they catch anything," Joe explained. "Back to work."

"I know someone who's not gonna have any fun for awhile," Stephanie grumbled.

"Yea, you. Back to work, Cupcake." She turned back to the screen and stared at the names until they blended together.

Khari dropped Shiloh off and rushed home just in time to get ready for his date with Aziza. He'd wanted to pick her up but instead she'd insisted that they meet at the restaurant. He was happy now that she'd made that choice as he would have been horribly late to pick her up given their reservation time. She was already seated at a table in Rossini's when he arrived. She smiled and waved when she saw him come in.

"I wondered if you were going to make it," she said amiably. He smiled happily. She was wearing a red halter dress with a short chiffon skirt that looked very innocent on her. Her dark skin glowed in the candlelight.

"You look very nice," he said. His throat felt very dry so he picked his glass up and drank it down in one gulp some of the water escaped and landed to bead on his shirt. He tried to brush the water away but it soaked in. Aziza laughed.

"Thanks. You look great too." Khari had chosen to wear a slate blue shirt with a blue, mauve and gray tie. He hoped that his khaki's didn't look odd in the setting. He had planned to wear a suit but Shiloh had convinced him on the way back from New York that he would be overdressed. They looked over the menu and consulted each other before ordering. Khari smiled at Aziza. She was a really nice take home to mom kind of girl. Too bad about her job. He shivered as he remembered seeing Lester today.

"Are you okay?" she asked noticing his unease.

"Yea, it's..." he paused. "I lost a friend today. Brutal murder." He could feel his eyes tearing up but shook himself. He could be sad but it would be stupid to cry in front of his date. He felt her hand touching his arm and then her arms wrapping around his shoulders.

"I'm so sorry," she said before going back to her seat. Khari smiled weakly.

"I think that maybe I got him today. Lester Santos?" she asked. He nodded. "Brutal. He didn't feel a thing though."

"What do you mean?" Khari asked curiously.

"He was set up to look like he died from his...wounds. He didn't." Khari was dumbfounded. What was she saying?

"Actually," she continued. "In light of his death the result of the inquest for your other friend, Mr. Manoso, was changed to homicide. Mr. Santos actually died of a massive stroke caused by the steroid, Methandrostenelone. It's a veterinary steroid usually used on horses. It's for the serious steroid user. The difference from Mr. Manoso is that Mr. Santos seems to have been using that particular steroid for sometime. In light of that we could have ruled his death an accident."

"What changed your mind?" Khari asked. They paused while the waiter set their plates in front of them. Khari wasn't interested in the food. This was almost too much of a coincidence.

"Mr. Santos had somehow ingested another drug from the Benzodiazepine family. Mr Manoso was also found to have the same drug in his system. I found that to be too much of a coincidence so I called the detective assigned to the Santos case." Khari worked the information over in his mind while Aziza tasted her food. She made an appreciative noise.

"This is to die for," she proclaimed. Khari laughed.

"An unfortunate expression given your chosen profession," he said. Aziza laughed.

"I guess it is," she agreed.

"So could it be supposed that someone shot or fed Ranger and Lester the Benzodiazepine and shot them with overdoses of Methandrostenelone when they fell asleep?" Khari suggested.

"I would consider that a likely scenario considering the amount of drugs that both men had in their systems." Aziza agreed.

"Who would have access to drugs like that?" Khari asked.

"The Benzodiazepine was prescription grade. Just a large quantity. I would guess that if you find the source of the Methandrostenelone, which is illegal, you'd be well on your way to finding your killer." Aziza took another bite of her food. Khari stared into space his food untouched. She laughed lightly.

"Maybe you'd better go call whoever you're thinking of calling so that we can enjoy the rest of this evening," Aziza suggested. Khari chuckled lightly.

"Sorry," he said pulling his cell phone from his pocket. "Not even ten minutes, I promise." He rushed for the door. He was forced to leaf through the phone book for the number that he wanted. He dialed and waited impatiently.

"Joe!" he said when the phone was answered. "I need your help finding a drug dealer."