Ranger came into the apartment soaking wet, and I could tell by looking at him that he wasn't happy. "What's wrong?" I said after he said hello to Connie and Lula.

"Dickie", said Ranger. He turned around and went into the bedroom and shut the door.

Connie and Lula looked at me, and Lula made little sweeping motions with her fingers to tell me to skedaddle into the bedroom to find out what was wrong. Personally, I thought the word 'Dickie' pretty well summed up the reason for a bad mood, but since I thought I should support Ranger in his frustration, I left Lula and Connie eyeing the last quarter of cake and walked into the bedroom. The shower was running when I got in, and I walked into the bathroom. "Can you grab me some dry clothes, babe?" said Ranger as he warmed up. I left the bathroom for the closet and picked a dry long-sleeved t-shirt and another pair of fatigues, and paired it with a fleece sweater, and some boxers and socks. In each case, the clothes I picked were all black. It was always easy to pick clothes for Ranger since his entire wardrobe was black. I was never sure if it was because Ranger particularly liked the color, it didn't show bloodstains, or it was more efficient as it eliminated the need to color coordinate in the morning. Whatever the reason, Ella said it made doing laundry easy.

By the time I returned to the bathroom with dry clothes, Ranger was stepping out of the shower and drying off. "You looked cold", I said.

"It's sleeting out", he said, "and Dickie disappeared. We were walking the neighborhood for the last three hours."

"Did you finally find him?"

"Yeah."

"Too bad. Where was he?"

"He was up a tree in someone's backyard and a dog was taking offence to the fact that Dickie was in his yard. He was snarling at the base of the tree and threatening to chomp off Dickie's leg. Dickie was terrified and crying. It was a sad day for men everywhere."

"Why was he out in the sleet?"

"Apparently Hector scared him too much, and he decided that the bookie was less scary than his protection detail. I brought him back to your apartment and now have Ramon looking after him. Hector apologized to me several times, but I told him that he was doing a good job. He had Dickie scared, and that's what we wanted. The best scenario would be for Dickie to decide to no longer use our services and, because we had asked for a fifty-thousand dollar retainer, for him to do so quickly. But in the meantime, I played my role as the person offering protective services to him. I rescued him from the dog and helped him out of the tree, took him back to your apartment, and stayed with him until Ramon showed up."

"So Hector just scared him? It's hard to believe that Hector was so scary that Dickie tried to leave."

"That's what I thought, so I talked to him for a while to find out more about the bookie. He is concerned about staying at your place – not because it is your place but because the bookie left him a message that said that, if he didn't pay him the money that he owes him, the bookie would contact you since you are his ex. It scared the hell out of Dickie. Not that you are in danger but because Dickie's afraid they'll show up at your apartment."

"So are you planning on moving him to another safe house?"

"I can't. We have another one in use, and our third is currently being redecorated. Your place is still the best place for Dickie to use."

"What do you think about the bookie?"

"I got the details for the bookie from Dickie, and I'm planning on sending Hector out to the bookie to scare the crap out of him. Perhaps we'll be able to figure out a solution to this mess."

"The best solution to protect him from the bookie's wrath is to allow him to be arrested by the FBI."

"True. That will ultimately be what happens as well, but that's the end game. How we play it to get there will just give us a little bit of fun. I can't believe that Dickie was so stupid as to run away from his protection detail."

"So Ramon is protecting him now?"

"Yes, and I read the riot act to Dickie. I told him that, if he has a problem, to talk to me about it before he puts himself into more danger by putting himself out there and potentially causing a problem. I pointed out to him that, if the bookie knows about you, the chances of your apartment being monitored by the bookie is high, and I told him that, if they were monitoring the building, he would have played directly into their hands with his little hissy fit. He didn't like what I had to say much."

"I imagine he wouldn't. He has never liked being told that he was wrong or that he fucked up."

"Most people don't."

"Yes, but most people don't scream and shout and stomp around about it afterwards."

"True."

"Do you want lunch? Lula stopped at six helpings, so there is a little left."

Ranger smiled. "Is Lula asking for a tour of the offices?"

"Not yet, although she did ask Hal for a tour of the efficiency apartments."

"Okay. I can handle that. Sure, I'll eat lunch with you."

"I have to warn you, I don't think there is any black forest cake left."

Ranger smiled. "That's okay", he said. "I think I can live without it."

"There is an assortment of salads and things to make sandwiches with. Do you want me to heat up some chicken broth for you to drink, or would you prefer coffee?"

"Both. I'd like some chicken broth with my lunch and coffee afterwards. I'm still chilled."

I followed Ranger into the kitchen as he raided the refrigerator. I pulled a container of chicken broth out of the freezer and heated it in the microwave before decanting it into a cup. I handed it to him about the same time as he finished making himself a sandwich and portioning out some salads for his lunch. I put on a pot of coffee and returned to the table. Ranger joined me at the table as I looked at my plate. The rest of my black forest cake was gone. I looked at the cake platter. The remaining quarter was gone. "Where did my black forest cake go?" I said. I looked at Lula with squinty eyes.

She looked at me with guilt in her face. "Can you blame me? That cake was seriously good."

I huffed out a laugh. I could hardly blame Lula. It had been very good, and I knew something that Lula and Connie didn't know – there was leftover banana cake from the lunch with my mom and grandmother. I wasn't going to tell Lula that, but I would have some after dinner when we were sitting in front of the television. After all, the black forest cake had been amazing. It had real whipped cream on the cake and loads of cherries between the layers. But the banana cake was even better. It had cream cheese frosting that was to die for. Judging by Ranger's frustration with Dickie, I suspected that we would be doing an especially long training session that afternoon, and with doing a longer training session I would be able to justify a second piece of cake later today. Besides, banana cake had bananas in it and that was a fruit, and everybody knew that fruits and vegetables were important components of your diet, and the cream cheese frosting had cheese in it, didn't it? See? Healthy.

Ranger spent the next hour visiting with Connie and Lula before Connie said that they had to return to the bonds office. She gave me the two files to research, the house mover file and the other as yet unexplained file, and picked up her keys. "It's been fun", said Connie.

"Yeah", said Lula. She turned to Ranger. "Thanks for inviting us. You'll be glad to know that Steph didn't let us look in your underwear drawer, and she didn't let me have a nap in your bed or Connie have a shower. We wanted to, but Steph said no. I haven't once asked for a tour of your offices, even though I am curious, and I only once asked for a tour of the efficiency apartments, and I didn't complain too much when I had to leave my gun at the reception desk. I was good."

Ranger smiled. "Thank you", he said.

"However, if you want to let us sleep in your bed or take a shower or give us a tour, we wouldn't complain."

Ranger laughed. "Not on your life."

Lula looked disappointed. "I had to try. But hey, at least we didn't shoot Rex."

"Things are looking up."

We all left the apartment and got in the elevator. As it descended levels, Lula turned to Ranger. "Do you know what this elevator needs?" She paused. "Music. All elevators need music to keep people happy."

Ranger smiled. "That's what Grandma said as well."