CHAPTER 52

Blood Money

It was the evening before Valentine's Day and I was standing in my kitchen, dressed in my nightshirt. I was bored and hungry. A dangerous combination. I started opening and closing cabinets, searching for something to snack on. At the back of the shelf I found half a bag of pretzels and stuck my hand inside, pulling out a fistful. Rex heard the crinkling plastic of the bag and came out of his soup can, looking up at me with hopeful eyes. I dropped a pretzel in his enclosure and watched him scurry over to it. I decided I needed something to wash the pretzels down, so I grabbed a beer from the fridge, and realized that I only had two bottles left. Soon I'd need to replenish my supplies, but the thought of setting foot inside a grocery store literally had me shaking with fear. "Don't worry little buddy," I said to Rex as he stuffed his jaw full. "I won't let us starve."

While Rex and I ate our nighttime snack, I leaned on the counter, scrolling through my text messages. There was one from Mare asking if I wanted to go out tomorrow night with the girls instead of staying home on Valentine's Day. I knew she was just offering because she was a good friend. Lenny had something special planned and I wasn't going to mess that up for her. I'd already resigned myself to a night alone, wallowing in self-pity. Unfortunately, I was rarely with the one I loved when the holiday rolled around. And this year was no exception. In fact, it looked like this year might be the worst one so far.

I knew she was waiting to hear from me, so I gave her a call. "I've already talked to Val, Connie, and even Lula. We're looking forward to getting you out of the house tomorrow night," she said before I could even say hi.

"I don't think that's a good idea. As soon as people see me without Morelli, rumors will start flying and I want to keep our breakup under wraps for as long as I can, especially from my mother." Tongues would begin to wag soon enough. Already, I'd had to endure curious looks laced with pity from people I've known my entire life. They all wanted the dirt on my time in the cellar, and since I wasn't talking, the Burg busybodies had resorted to making things up. That was the worst part about being home.

"I get it, but I don't like you staying in that apartment all the time. Why don't you come over here instead?"

"No. I'm sure Lenny would like some alone time with you since the kids will be at your mom's. And besides, Hector asked me to come over to his house for dinner and games with him and his Mama. I think I'm going to take him up on that."

"Okay, if that's what you want; as long as you're not alone." There was a pause on the line as if she was debating whether she should say whatever was on her mind. "Have you heard from Ranger since your argument a week ago?

"He's texted a few times, asking if I need anything, but I haven't seen him. He seems content to back off, but he's still having his men watch out for me. I've seen them around town, and someone's always stationed in my parking lot at night."

"That's because he loves you, Steph. A man wouldn't do that if he didn't love you."

"I know he loves me, Mare." I sighed. "He's told me that numerous times. But it's not the kind of love that you have with Lenny. Ranger's love involves his king-sized bed and having me in it. He's not interested in a relationship… not with me."

Changing the subject, she asked, "How does it feel being back at work?"

"I've reestablished my old routine and successfully brought in a few low bond skips, but I've been spending most of my time at that new gym I was telling you about. Oh, and Hector is working with me on improving my gun and lock picking skills."

"I've been looking forward to checking out the gym. We're still going to work out Saturday, right?"

"Yeah. Val, Connie, and Lula will be there as well as Jeanne Ellen Burrows. You haven't met her, but I think you'll like her. I get the impression she doesn't have many women friends."

"Well, she has five new one's now, whether she wants us or not. Oh, didn't you tell me you had a doctor's appointment today?"

"Yeah, he removed my cast and gave me a removable splint to wear for two more weeks." I breathe a delighted sigh. "I came straight home and took the longest shower in the history of women."

"I'll bet." She laughed.

Mare and I talked a little while longer and then she had to get off the phone. Morning came early for her. She had to get little one's off to school.

As I began securing the apartment for the night and turning off the lights, I felt that recurrent spark of anxiety that plagued me every night at this time. It begins in the center of my chest and flares outward until I can feel the unpleasant prickling sensations all the way in the tips of my fingers and down to my toes. It keeps me from sleeping peacefully. The only thing that seems to help is to make myself so exhausted that my body basically passes out. That means a nighttime run or a visit to the gym to use their equipment. Between all the classes I'm taking at the gym and running for miles and miles, I'm too exhausted to think let alone be afraid.

I'm sure my way of coping isn't healthy, but at least I haven't had another panic attack since that day at the mall. In my attempt to silence my fears I was unconsciously forming a wall around myself and it was getting taller and stronger each day. Instead of moving on, I was stuck in a place where I didn't feel much of anything. It was safer there, but it left me numb and I didn't know how to change it.

Seeing how much I was learning at the gym sparked an interest in Mary Lou, Val, Connie, and Lula. They started joining me when they had time and had become determined to get stronger and healthier, which is how we found ourselves working out with Jeanne Ellen on Saturday afternoon.

As we all stretched, we had to listen to Lula's detailed report of her Valentine's Day celebration with Tank. It involved lots and lots of stamina. We were all wondering how Lula was still walking. Connie rolled her eyes and asked me, "Since Joe had to work, what did you do for Valentine's Day?" It was an innocent question. She didn't know that Morelli and I had broken up and she damn sure didn't know why. If the Burg knew anything concrete about him and Terry it would be too juicy to keep quiet.

"I went over to Hector's house for dinner and played games with him and his Mama."

I was surprised to find Lester sitting on their couch, dateless and slightly depressed as well. Our moods quickly turned around when Mama brought out a large dish of enchiladas and set up the Monopoly board on her kitchen table. Lester drained us dry of money in no time. Apparently, he's a real estate shark as well as Vice President of Sales and Client Services at Rangeman.

Mama retired to her room around ten and we settled in to watch my favorite movie, Ghostbusters. I was touched that Lester brought it with him. Instead of going home, I slept in Hector's guest room and Lester crashed on the couch. Early the next morning, Lester dropped me off at my apartment so I could get ready for work.

"Sounds like you had a nice time at Hector's," Connie said. "I was looking forward to the girls' night Mary Lou suggested, but we understand why you didn't want to go."

Mare sensed that I wanted to get off this topic. As she did another lunge, she groaned and said, "If I hadn't gotten out of the house today, I was going to kill Lenny. I had it all plotted out in my mind." She flashed me an evil smile.

"What did Lenny do now?" I asked as we all stepped forward with our left legs.

"He has a cold," she scoffed.

"A cold?"

"Yeah," she huffed, her face red and sweaty. "The same cold I had last week. He blames me for giving it to him."

"Did you?" I asked as I wiped my brow with my towel.

"Maybe," she gave me a devious smile. "But that's not the point." I didn't bother asking. I knew she'd tell me when she was ready. "The point is—" She zoned out for a few seconds and then finally shook her herself out of her stupor. "Oh, right. Sorry, my mind wandered. Anyway, my point is, I had the same cold, and I still had to get up every morning to make lunch for him and the kids. And take them to school. And do the grocery shopping. And cook dinner. And do the laundry. And wash the dishes. And clean the house." Her voice rose with each of her points. "My POINT is the world didn't stop turning just because I was SICK." By the time she was done, people were staring. "And do you know where he is right now?" she hissed.

I surreptitiously glanced at Connie and then Val and then Jeanne before I slowly asked, "Where?"

"Bed." Her face was screwed up in disgust. "He didn't go to work. He's just lying there complaining. Bring me a Kleenex," she mimicked. "And do you know what he does with the Kleenex?"

I slowly shook my head, hoping she would spare us anymore details.

"He blows his nose and puts it under the pillow."

"Gross." We all gagged.

"The trash is RIGHT by the BED." She shook her head angrily. "If I stayed in that house one more minute it was going to get ugly."

"So, Lenny has Steph to thank for saving his life," Connie said.

Mare grumbled a response, but none of us could make out what it was. She could be a little scary at times. To be on the safe side, we all took a small step away from her.

"When Albert gets sick," Val chimed in, "he turns into such a baby. Sometimes I think of sticking Bert's pacifier in his mouth."

We were all stunned into silence by the disturbing image Val had just put in our heads. Jeanne had been silently observing the whole exchange, trying very hard to stifle her laughter. It was as if she didn't quite know what to make of us. I hated that I'd misjudged her in the past.

"Hit the mat for sit-ups, ladies," Jeanne said, and we all plopped over onto our backs, knees bent, waiting for more torture. She counted our sit ups and corrected our form. "Keep your knees together, Stephanie."

Her words struck me as funny and I started laughing. "You sound just like my mother."

Val snickered and said in a mocking voice, "Now Stephanie, good girls keep their legs together."

At that point, we gave up any pretense of working out and rolled onto our sides, giggling like teenagers. Jeanne pressed her lips together, fighting the desire to join us, but ended up snorting which sent us all into another round of hysterics.

"Next you gonna be telling her not to give her milk away for free," Lula told Jeanne.

"Hey at least I'm not selling it, right?" I added.

"Hmph. Well excuse me. My Momma was a crack ho, and we never gave nothin' away for free."

The workout session went downhill quickly after that.

It was Hector's idea to change the venue at the last minute. He was convinced the feds would covertly record my conversation with the families of Durant's victims and somehow use my words against me. Luckily, he had a contact at the Marriott Hotel across the street and was able to secure the Fireside room for the meeting. While Hector and I waited at the Marriott, Lester was across the street at the Hilton, greeting the family members and redirecting them our way. It felt weird doing this without Ranger. I missed his presence in my life these last two weeks.

The meeting wasn't what I'd expected. I guess I thought they'd be angry at me for surviving when their loved one's hadn't. Instead, they were kind to me. For over an hour, I answered questions but never talked about what Durant had done to me personally. They weren't interested in that anyway. Mostly, they wanted to be assured that Durant had suffered before he died. Unlike in the interview with the FBI, this time I answered their questions honestly. I told them he felt the impact of every kick I gave him and every swing of the shackle as it drew blood. And while he lay chained up on the mattress bleeding and waiting to die, he'd had three days to reflect on every heinous thing he'd done. The irony of his death was not lost on any of us.

Governor Allen was most appreciative. His eyes were glassy with unshed tears as he shook my hand and told me to let him know if I ever needed anything.

Speaking about the cellar so candidly brought feelings that I'd started to bury back to the surface. By the time I pulled away from the hotel, my anger was at an all-time high. As if my Jeep had a mind of its own, it headed in the direction of the gym, which was fast becoming a second home to me, and right now nothing sounded better than pounding on the punching bag.

Jeanne was setting up for her class when I arrived. She took one look at me and gloved up. There were no questions or offers of platitudes. She knew what I needed and didn't hesitate in giving it to me. Since I was still in a splint, we sparred one handed. An hour later, I was so tired I could barely move. We dropped onto the mat, falling over onto our backs gasping for breath. When my breathing evened out, I told her about meeting the families of Durant's victims. She listened and didn't interrupt, which was something else I needed.

Two days later, I walked into the bank to deposit a check from Connie and got the surprise of my life when the teller handed me a receipt with my new balance of $1,602,341.57. "There must be a mistake," I told her as I held the receipt up, pointing to the obviously wrong total.

She checked her screen again and smiled. "There's been no mistake, ma'am."

"Yes, there has," I insisted, my voice getting louder. "I should only have $2,341.57 in my account, but there's more than that. A whole lot more."

An impeccably dressed middle-aged man overheard our conversation and moved closer to the teller. "I'm Bill Knowles, the bank president, can I help you?"

I sighed, grateful that someone was finally going to get this sorted out and annoyed that I had to deal with their error in the first place. Doing my best not to focus on the tuft of hair in the center of his forehead that was supposed to disguise the fact that he was rapidly losing his hair, I explained. "There's been a very big mistake with my account."

He gave me a patronizing smile. "I can assure you; we don't make mistakes here at First Federal Bank."

"Well someone made a mistake, because as of yesterday I was almost broke, and now I have all this." I waved the balance slip in his face.

He nudged the teller to the side so he could use her computer. He typed on the keyboard and then he looked up at me. "Please follow me into my office Ms. Plum."

"Why? What's going on?" I looked around to see who was witnessing my humiliation. The last thing I wanted was to stir up more rumors about me.

"It's a little unusual, but nothing to be worried about." He took off in the direction of a corner office, expecting me to follow.

"A little unusual? What does that mean?" I asked as I kept up with his pace. "You really need to start talking because you're freaking me out!"

He cleared his throat and took his seat behind the desk. "It seems that 1.6 million dollars was wired into your account today."

My breath hitched, and I dropped into the closest chair. "Wired from where? Why would someone do that?"

"It was wired from an account at Trust National Bank." His brows crinkled as he scrutinized his computer screen. "This is odd."

"What's odd? Don't leave me hanging." This man was exasperating. Why wouldn't he just spit it out already.

"There's a notation to call the bank if the recipient has any questions."

"Go ahead." I motioned to his phone. "Make the call!"

"I think it's a call you're supposed to make, Ms. Plum."

Why was I supposed to fix someone else's error? I blew out a frustrated breath and asked, "What's the number?"

I took my phone out of my bag and began punching in the numbers he gave me. As I waited for the call to connect, I tried to think of all the rational reasons this could have happened and came up empty. A woman answered, and I told her my problem. She of course put me on hold, and I was transferred to another woman. "Good afternoon Ms. Plum, I've been made aware that you have questions regarding a wire transfer from an escrow account we set up?"

"Yes," I said with some relief to finally be getting to the bottom of this mystery. "I discovered money in my account that I didn't put there. The bank manager here said it originated from your bank. I need to know how to return it."

"I commend you, Ms. Plum, for your civic duty but there has been no mistake. The transaction has been handled exactly as instructed. You, Ms. Plum are the intended recipient." I could hear the smile in her voice. "Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

"I don't understand. Why would someone wire 1.6 million dollars into my account?"

"The trustee of the account has given me the authority to inform you that this account was made up of reward money for information leading to the location of several abducted women."

"A reward?" I swallowed heavily. I didn't want it.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" she asked.

"No," I mumbled and hung up. I don't know how long I sat, confused and angry.

"We have an in-house financial advisor that can help you decide how best to invest your money," Mr. Knowles offered.

"I… I'll leave it for now," I said, as I made my way out of his office and to my car.

I dialed Agent Kinkade. She picked up on the second ring. Without even announcing myself I asked, "Did you know there was a reward?"

"Stephanie?"

"Yeah, it's me." I cleared my throat. "Sorry, I'm a little shocked. I just found 1.6 million dollars in my checking account."

"Why were you shocked? The papers you signed last week outlined the reward and authorized the transfer."

"They did?" Maybe I didn't read them as closely as I thought. "Sorry, I guess I should have had Cyrus come with me after all." I paused, suddenly remembering that Ranger had put up a reward for me while I was missing. "Did this money come from Ranger?" I asked, horrified at the thought of him having to pay me for rescuing myself.

"Mr. Manoso did put up a reward, but it was dissolved once you'd freed yourself from Durant."

"So, none of this money is from Ranger?"

"No."

I shook my head as if she could see me through the phone. "It doesn't matter. I don't want it. I'm still at the bank; can you tell me how to send it back?"

"I'm afraid I can't. From what I remember, several family members of Durant's victims and a number of community organizations offered rewards, including Governor Allen, who put up quite a hefty sum for information about his niece, Ashley. But even if I could tell you where the money originated, I couldn't help you get it back to them. Rewards are set up in escrow accounts and are governed by an independent trustee, not the original owner of the money. Once the conditions of the reward have been met, there's no stopping the transfer. Why don't you give it a few days and see how you feel about it then?" she suggested.

"This isn't right. I can't take this money," I whispered and hung up without saying goodbye.

I don't deserve that money, but refusing it seemed impossible. As far as I was concerned, it could stay in the bank forever.

Later that evening, a little more than a month since I escaped from the cellar, I sat down across from Jeanne at our usual table in the juice bar. We'd just finished kickboxing class and we were both tired. I wasn't sure what or whom Jeanne had waiting for her at home, but I wasn't in any hurry to leave. We drank our smoothies, comfortable with the silence between us. From the aggressive way I fought in class this afternoon, she knew something was troubling me, but she wasn't the type to pry. She lent her support by enduring my unskilled combination of hits as we sparred. Lucky for me, instead of rising to the challenge, her counterstrikes had been few and only when necessary to keep me from spiraling out of control. I wasn't kidding myself. We both knew she could have knocked me out anytime she'd wanted.

Halfway through my smoothie, I started talking. I told her about the reward money, and I told her about the darkness growing inside me—taking root. I knew something needed to change, but I didn't know what.

"You're letting him rule your life from the grave," she said. I could offer no rebuttal. It was true and we both knew it. "There's something I've been wondering about," she continued. "Why did you join this gym? Why not take advantage of Rangeman resources and let them train you?"

I snorted and looked away. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"Didn't you hear?" I tried to keep the resentment out of my voice, but I wasn't entirely successful. "I'm the entertainment."

Her brows narrowed in question.

"When my cars blow up or I get in crazy situations with my skips, it's all funny to the police and even some of the Rangemen. I'm fodder for the gossip mill—just something to laugh at. Plus, what if I asked for training and failed to live up to their standards. It was hard enough staying in your class that first day."

"I would never laugh at you, Stephanie."

"I know." I assured her. "It's just easier getting training outside of Rangeman." I paused and then voiced something I'd been considering since I woke up in the hospital. "What I'd really like to do is get out of town. Maybe get intensive training at a private boot camp or something."

"Are you serious?" She studied me.

"What I'm learning here is great, but it's not happening fast enough."

Her smile brightened. "I may have an idea, but it won't be cheap and your whereabouts would have to be kept confidential. The person I'm thinking about lives off the grid for personal reasons, but I might be able to get him to agree to train you."

My pulse sped up. "How soon can you find out?"