9. Silent but Deadly

Lil felt good after her time with Bobby. Her shoulder hurt like the dickens, but it was worth it. She really liked Rangeman's medic. Him being so easy on the eyes made the pain easier to bear. Go figure. After calling up to the fifth floor, she and Woody made a plan to take a ride to the TPD after lunch. Ella was gracious enough to offer her services for Tilde while they were gone. Lil wasn't keen on the idea of taking her daughter to a police station. When she dropped a fed and napped Tilde off on the sixth floor, she saw a child's tea set already set up in the corner with a few teddy bears and books. Ella was amazing. Lil told her to let herself into their apartment if they needed anything else for their play date. The two of them were already chatting about tea flavors before Lil could kiss her daughter goodbye. She was glad they liked each other. Tilde had never had a grandmother figure in her life.

Lil grabbed her copied police reports and stuffed them into her messenger bag. Binkie had picked Magnus up a while ago, so she was all set to meet Trenton's finest. She couldn't help but think she was probably already living with Trenton's finest. Everyone else was going to seem sub-par. Woody met her at the elevator in the garage. Decked out in full Rangeman shit-stomping black, he still emitted a southern aura. "Your horse or mine Cowboy?" He shoved his thumbs into his belt loops and rocked back on his heels. "How about I drive this time, you can drive next time." Um, yes and yes. Lil giggled. "Sounds like a deal." They ambled over to a black Explorer. "Do you have your tracker and panic button?" She pointed to her ears. "The tracker is in my earring. The panic button is in my pocket." Woody nodded, appeased that he didn't have to argue or remind a client to follow protocol. Though it was really hard to think of Lil as a client.

The drive to the Trenton Police Department only took fifteen minutes. Woody was quiet, in a zone of his own. Lil was watching her surroundings with fascination. Morbid, curious, fascination. When they had arrived a few nights ago, it had been too dark to make out most of anything. Over the mere nine mile drive, Lil made a few interesting observations. 1. Most of the people she saw carrying about their business either dressed like throwbacks from the 1950's or like they belonged on a reality TV show. Ya, that one. 2. Aside from one park and a historical building in the distance, Trenton was not as attractive and Vegas. Even the crummy parts off the strip. 3. Crime was prevalent. She counted three cars that ran red lights, two people selling something nefarious on a corner, a group of teens trying to jimmy the door of a Mercedes, and a hippie looking guy selling purses out of a van. No wonder Rangeman did so much business. And this was all in the 'nicer' area of town… A small part of her hoped to never see the 'bad' part of Trenton.

When they pulled into the side lot of the police department, Lil did a double-take. It was small. There were Taco Bells in Vegas bigger than the TPD. Geez. She counted a whopping three police cruisers in the parking lot. They climbed out of their respective seats and headed for the door. Woody opened it for her, such the gentleman. Rangeman had a fragile working relationship with the TPD. Neither liked the other very much, trust was limited. But they got by well enough. Mostly, the local police were intimidated by Ranger's men, dipped in a healthy dose of paranoia. Rumors of their thuggish dealings, mysterious black cars, and sketchy take-downs only fueled the divide. Not all the cops were bad though. One in particular was standing at the intake desk with a female officer. Lil walked up and cleared her throat. "Good afternoon. My name is Lillith Peyton. I just moved here from Nevada and wanted to pass on some information about a possible threat to my safety." The two officers, whose names were Eddie and Robin, gave her a bewildered stare. It was rare for a person to voluntarily bring info in to the police. Lil asked if she needed to speak to anyone in particular as she pulled her file out of her bag. At that point, two more officers whose name-tags read 'Carl' and 'Big Dog' (Really?) walked up.

Woody stood to the side, biting the inside of his cheek. Lil had balls. He liked that. As Lil presented her paperwork to the nearest officer, Robin spoke. "All of our detectives are out on cases right now, though one is due back soon. The Chief is in a meeting in the Mayor's office. If you would like to wait a few minutes you can speak to the detective, or I can pass this on and have them call you if they have any questions." Lil considered the offer. "I can wait a little while." Woody bit down harder. He could tell she was less than impressed with the TPD, didn't yet trust the locals to follow through. The officers asked her questions about her file while also probing for personal information. Was she married? Kids? Pets? Her last Tetanus shot? (Eye roll) She gave them an overview of what had happened and the possible threat to her family. When they realized the Mob was involved they all looked uncomfortable. When they found out she was living at Rangeman, the men turned four shades of red while Robin fanned herself. She refused to tell them anything personal. Woody switched cheeks before he started to draw blood.

The sound of a car that was thirty years passed its expiration date could be heard clanking and sputtering into the parking lot outside. "Ah, that would be Detective Morelli." Eddie had turned in the direction of the offending racket. Yup, that was blood Woody was tasting. A relatively attractive Italian-American male strutted (literally) into the station. He wore faded blue jeans over work boots and an un-tucked dress shirt. Lil's first thought was that he needed a haircut. Like a bee to a hive, Morelli zeroed in on the pretty blonde woman. "Officers. Miss. I'm Detective Joseph Morelli, is there something I can help you with?" He was giving her his 'bedroom eyes', Lester's were much better. She shook his outstretched hand. Lil, again, gave her spiel about the file, Vegas, and the Mob connection. Detective Morelli didn't seem all that concerned but thanked her for the information anyway. She noticed that Robin kept eyeing his backside. Huh, it wasn't bad as far as asses go, but she had seen far better.

"So, you're new in town? How about I show you around, give you the nickel tour? Did you say you moved here with your husband?" He was overtly looking at her ring finger for traces of a mark. "Yes, I am new to town, just a few days ago as a matter of fact. No, no husband, but I do have a brother, maybe you've met him?" At Morelli's confusion she added, "his name is Cal, he works for Rangeman. You know, he's the one with the flaming skull tattooed on his forehead." Morelli and the other men blanched. Robin fanned herself again. Woody was going to need stitches in his cheek. Spluttering was really all the Detective could come up with at that point. "As far as the tour goes, no thanks. I have a building full of men who have first dibs on that. If I still have the energy to walk after touring with each of them, I'll let you know." Lil thanked the officers and turned to Woody. "Ready Cowboy?" He tilted his head with a wink and they strode outside together.

As soon as the doors to the Explorer closed he completely lost it. "Lil that was awesome! That Morelli is a pain in the ass sometimes. Don't get me wrong, he's a decent detective, but he's generally a schmuck. He's known around town as the Italian Stallion." She was miffed. "What was with the third degree about my personal life? Don't these people have anything better to do? Shit, I've had gynecological exams that were less invasive." Woody continued to laugh as he buckled in. "It's how it is here. Small town, lots of busy-bodies with no lives of their own. You will be the talk of the town in less than a day. By tomorrow, the little blue haired ladies at the Clip-n-Curl are going to think you are keeping the Rangemen as your harem. Or that you're about to become the first Mrs. Joe Morelli." Lil made a gagging noise. "You handled them well though. Most people end up in a screaming match in Jersey. Just ignore the nonsense." She nodded her head in understanding. "How about some music on the ride back?" Lil's face lit up which was all the answer Woody needed. Hitting play on the CD player, the Rolling Stones filled the SUV. When Lil's melodic voice started singing with Mick to Wild Horses, Woody almost drove off the road. "Those are some beautiful pipes you've got there." Lil blushed to beat the band. They enjoyed the short ride home before parting ways at the elevator. Lil wanted to see how the Peanut and Ella were doing.

Ranger had been having an off day, again. What's worse, he swore Lil's dog was stalking him. This morning, Binkie had brought Magnus up to five to hang out while she was downstairs with Bobby. Ranger wasn't exactly pleased by this, but understood it was better than leaving the canine unattended for long periods of time. At nine, Ranger had gone into the break room to get a water. When he entered, the room was empty. He opened the fridge, pulled a bottle out, and shut the door. There was the dog, staring at him from out of no where. He would never admit it out loud, but he was startled. Magnus was well over a hundred pounds and quieter than a fucking ninja. Later, after a long conference call with Boston's office, he got up to go meet a client. When he opened his office door. Bam. Magnus was there. Staring. He scooted around the massive beast and shut his door. Two hours later when he returned, the eerie mutt was sitting IN his office, looking out the window. Ranger questioned three different men, rather forcefully, no one would admit to letting the dog in…

Currently, Ranger and Magnus were having a staring contest in front of the copy machine. The dog was winning. What. The. Fuck. Woody stepped off the elevator, which broke their beam of concentration. Before the elevator doors could shut, Magnus sauntered on and sat down. Ranger meant to follow his progress on the monitors, wondering which floor he would end up on, but was distracted by the love-struck look on Woody's face. Ranger knew he had been with Lil. "Report." "Shit, Ranger, Lil was awesome at the TPD!" This caught the attention of Tank and Lester who were nearby. "Explain." Woody decided to ignore the fact that Ranger sounded even rougher than normal. "We drove over, she met the local officers, gave her file copy. Nothing doing there. Really she just wanted to be polite and not leave the local authorities out of the loop." Ranger nodded. It was a courteous thing to do. Likely useless, but professional. "But then, Morelli showed up and started hitting on her." The sound of Woody laughing drowned out someone's growl. "She told them about Cal being her brother, which shut most of them up, but you know Morelli..." Woody, through bouts of laughter, explained her comments about 'touring' with the Rangemen. Tank was grinning like a fool, Lester was wagging his eyebrows and rubbing his hands together. Ranger just stood frozen. So she turned Morelli down… interesting.

"But then", Woody added, "we listened to music on the ride back. Hot damn that woman can sing! She has THE most beautiful voice! It was the sexiest version of Wild Horses I've ever heard. I can't wait til I can shadow her again!" He moved off to the break room, leaving Ranger and the others lost in their own thoughts. *Manny, who was on the monitors, stopped the elevator on four so Magnus could get off. It seemed, the dog DID have at least one person helping him out…