Sorry this is so late, would not let me post until now, really, this one isn't my fault…

Thank you all so very much for your reviews and suggestions. If I didn't get to thank you in person, I appreciated them so very much.

A special thanks to Stayce for her help and patience, without her, there'd be no Prayer.

Becky, it is finally here…

Disclaimer: Nope, still not owning anything but Teddy.

Rating: PG13 because of language

Spoilers: None directly, up to TS implied

Living on a Prayer

Chapter 31

I craned my neck to look at Ranger. He had stood up but stayed behind. "I think Ranger should come, too," I told Jeter as I tried to dig my heels into the floor "He knows more about the case than I do." I wasn't even sure they wanted to talk about the case, but it seemed like a good argument.

Jeter stopped and looked at Thomalla. Thomalla shrugged, "I think Miss Plum will feel safer with Mr. Manoso close by," he explained and I sent him a grateful look. Let him make me sound like a little girl, I thought, as long as I don't have to be alone in a room with those two.

Jeter nodded and motioned for Ranger to follow us. I waited for Ranger to catch up with us until I let Jeter lead me into the conference room again. I didn't know if they had ever talked, but it was definitely time for Ranger to share what he had learned about Teddy. How Jeter could still think about 'building a case' to accuse Teddy of murder was beyond me, the evidence was clearly there.

Again, Jeter busied himself with taking out his files and arranging them on the table. I put my hand on the pile he was busy sorting. "Tell me. Now." I said. Not loud, but not friendly either. Jeter nodded and sat down opposite me and Ranger. Thomalla remained standing.

"So far, so good," Jeter began, "Gardner was denied bail, he was denied a relocation of the trial, but most importantly, the judged denied the motion to dismiss the trial. Jury selection will start in January"

I let out a long breath and Ranger squeezed my hand. Thank God. Granted, I think my testimony hurt Teddy's case as much as his actions in the courtroom did, but still, it felt like my victory.

"What happened to his face?" I asked. Jeter grinned and looked at Thomalla. Thomalla cleared his throat to cover a laugh. "It appears," he said after regaining composure, "Harry the Hammer had an inmate extend his welcome to Gardner." I could see Ranger grin out of the corner of my eye. Harry? Harry had ordered a hit? Not that I was against it, Teddy's wounds had looked painful, but I was afraid my tab was going to grow and grow. Still, it was impossible not to smile along with the men. "That must have hurt…" I said.

Jeter nodded. "It was apparently the reason for the motion to move Gardner to another prison and the trial to Newark. But the judge didn't see any reason to do either, said it could have happened anywhere…" again, he shared a smile with Thomalla.

I leaned back and allowed Jeter to continue shuffling his file folders.

"Now what?" I asked him because I got the feeling he was getting ready to dismiss me. He looked up at me and sighed.

"Phase one of my plan has been successfully completed, Gardner is staying where he is. I don't have to worry about him flying the coop and you don't have to worry about any more attacks."

Ranger cleared his throat next to me and I knew he wanted me to speak up. Fine, I decided, I'll do it.

"My car was attacked yesterday, a message left. This happened with him in prison." I was quite proud of how calm I sounded.

Jeter nodded, then looked at Thomalla again. "Yes, I heard. The feds assured me they'd be looking for Gardner's accomplices a little harder. It's not as important for this case as it is for the others," He said and picked up one of the file folders.

"I have three cases I'm trying to merge, Miss Plum." When I didn't respond he continued, "One, your kidnapping. I chose it for this hearing because I thought it would have the best chances of denying him bail. I was right. Two, murder one. He planned and executed the murder of a veteran officer." My stomach clenched at the way he mentioned Joe's death so casually, but I kept my mouth shut. I decided I really didn't like Jeter though.

"Three, assault with a deadly weapon, if I can pull it off even attempted murder, on RangeMan employees, breaking and entering and a couple minor charges, all happening in Point Pleasant."

"He had help for that last one, too," I pointed out. Why the hell wasn't he focusing on the guys working with Teddy? Was he really convinced Teddy was a lone gunman?

"I'm not really comfortable discussing this ongoing investigation," Thomalla threw in and sent me a sharp look. I remembered the missing evidence and wondered if that's why he was so up tight.

"Okay then," Jeter said, "We'll pick this discussion up when you have concluded your investigation. Let me know as soon as TPD are done and I will contact you, Miss Plum." He shuffled files around on the table some more before he picked one out.

"It is my understanding that you're also leading the murder investigation?" He looked at Thomalla who nodded. I was pretty sure it was just a pro forma question. Jeter looked at Ranger, "Then I would like to conduct a witness interrogation, with your permission of course."

Since when was Ranger a witness to the murder? I was 100 per cent sure Ranger would have shared that piece of information, so what was Jeter getting at? Thomalla just waved dismissively, clearly Jeter had blindsided him.

"I understand you listened to and copied Miss Plum's voicemail messages?" Jeter asked Ranger with a polite smile on his face.

Ranger nodded. Jeter read through something on a piece of paper. "I show here two messages from the victim, Detective Morelli, is that correct?"
Again, Ranger nodded. I had all but forgotten about that, Ranger had only mentioned a second message during one of the meetings, way, way back. It seemed like a year ago somehow. Now I knew Ranger had been working with the FBI even then, that's how Jeter must have gotten the information. I was glad I had found out about all that beforehand, I didn't really want to cause a scene here.

Jeter leafed back and forth through some papers, then he looked at Ranger. "I'm missing the transcripts for all messages, not just the two," he picked up a pen, "Can you give me the gist of the messages? They might be essential for the case."

Ranger cut his eyes to me, then looked directly at Jeter. "I think it can wait until later. You probably want to wrap this case up first."

Jeter was almost squirming under Ranger's look. And I was debating whose side to take. Did I want to know what Joe had said in his second message? I remember almost passing out when hearing his first one.

Jeter lowered his eyes. "No, I don't think it can wait. Detective Thomalla would have to ask you to come to the station for a statement, and you're already here today. It's easier this way, too. If you like, I can have the court reporter transcribe everything. Unless you think you need your lawyer present for your statement?"

Was he playing Ranger? I wondered how well they knew each other, if at all. Ranger knew who Jeter was, they had greeted each other in the foyer, but did they know each other?

Ranger's eyes narrowed a bit, I doubt Thomalla and Jeter noticed. "That won't be necessary," he said coolly.

Now Jeter's grin looked triumphant as picked up a pen, "Okay then," he said, "Do you recall the approximate timeline of the calls?"

"The first message was left on November 5, at around 1000. It was a personal message to Miss Plum," Ranger replied, his voice still void of all emotions. November 5 was a month ago. I had made it through the first month without Morelli. Jeter's voice brought me out of my reverie.

"Can you –" he started but Ranger cut him off, "When I say personal I mean nothing of value to the case." His look made it clear that he wouldn't discuss it further. Thank God.

The grin disappeared from Jeter's face and he cleared his throat, making some notes. "The second message?"

Ranger cut his eyes to me, and there was an emotion in them I couldn't identify. I held my breath when he continued.

"The second message was made from the victim's cell phone after he was shot, but it was not the victim calling," Ranger said. He hadn't broken the eye contact and I knew he read the question clearly in my eyes now.

Jeter looked up from his notes. "Can you elaborate on that?" he asked.

"The suspect made the call to Miss Plum's cell phone, detailing his actions and giving audible evidence of it," Ranger said and I sucked in some air when I had deciphered his legal-speak.

"You mean he…" I almost whispered, but Ranger begged me with a look to stay quiet.

"And by the suspect, you mean…" Jeter motioned for Ranger to go on and I closed my eyes for a second to remain calm.

"Gardner," Ranger replied. Jeter nodded and made more notes. "What was the message and the evidence?"

I focused on my hands as I felt tears sting my eyes. I was pretty sure I didn't want to hear what Ranger was going to say, but I didn't see a way out of it either. Ranger took my hand.

"He said 'It's taken care of Angel, nothing stands between us now, say goodbye to your past.'" He took a breath and squeezed my hand, but I still didn't look up, even though I could feel all eyes on me.

"There was some noise and then another male voice could be heard groaning," Ranger finished. I bit down hard on my lip to keep from crying out loud. I knew who that male voice was, we all did. I was pretty sure I cut off all circulation to Ranger's hand when I squeezed it, but he didn't pull it away.

I could see Jeter scribbling in my peripheral vision. "Could you identify the other voice?" He asked. Jesus! How much longer? When would I be allowed to leave? I suddenly felt way too warm and I was having trouble breathing, it felt like I was suffocating.

Ranger nodded, "Detective Morelli." I heard Thomalla suck in some air at that.

"How did you identify the suspect's voice?" Jeter asked. "At the time I heard the message, I recognized it from Miss Plum's answering machine tapes. When I met Gardner face to face in Point Pleasant I was able to identify his voice as the one on the message," Ranger explained.

"Was anything else said?" Jeter asked. I could hear his pen scrape over the paper and it made my ears hurt. I was about to explode.

"He said 'We'll be together soon' and hung up," Ranger responded. I tried to take a breath but it came out more like a sob and I covered my mouth immediately. "Sorry," I muttered.

Thomalla appeared at my side and put his hand on my shoulder, "That's enough," he said, "Why don't I take Stephanie home while you finish the interview? I will have Mister Manoso sign a transcript to verify later." He looked down at me and squeezed my shoulder lightly. "Let's go home."

Finally! I looked at Jeter, he nodded his approval, then I mouthed 'Call me' to Ranger and got up. Ranger reached into his pocket and handed me his key. "Your bag is still in my car." I'd forgotten all about that and would have gone home unable to get in. I sent him a weak smile and took the keys.

Thomalla took me by the elbow and led me to the door. I heard Jeter shuffle some papers and ask Ranger about the timeframe before Thomalla closed the door behind us.

I let out a whoosh of air and straightened my shoulders. It was over, the hearing and the interview. I felt like jumping up in the air or something.

"Steph?" I heard Eddie Gazarra's voice and turned around. "How'd it go? Are you okay?" he asked and gave me a quick hug.

I gave him a rundown of the hearing and told him about Jeter interviewing Ranger. "Do you need a ride home?" Eddie asked when I told him Ranger was still in the room.

"Thanks, Frank will drive me home," I said and hugged him good-bye. "I was the lookout," he said, "I had to get the scoop for all the men at the station." He winked at me and left.

Thomalla and I walked out of the building and over to Ranger's car, both lost in our own thoughts. I tried to think of a shoe sale at Macy's or the Coach counter, something to distract my mind from what Ranger had just shared. I now knew the reason he had kept the message to himself. And I was glad I hadn't made it that far through my messages that day. I got my bag out of the SUV and locked it. Thomalla stood by my side as if he thought I was going to faint at any minute. I appreciated the thought, but he was back to smothering me again.

"Do you want to stop somewhere?" Thomalla asked when we sat in his car and he started the engine. "Do you want me to drop you off at your parents, or do you want to grab lunch…"

I shook my head no, "Just home, please." He nodded and put the car in gear.

When we stopped at a red light he turned to me. "You okay?" I nodded. I was getting to okay, I just didn't want to talk about it. Thomalla left it at that since the light changed.

"I hate to bring this up again," he said a few blocks later. I sighed. "I know, the evidence. I'm sorry I haven't had the time to look for it yet, I really meant to."

"How about now?" He asked, "I could help you." Right, I thought. Pull yourself together, Stephanie, and get on with it. By now I was sure Thomalla thought I didn't care whether Morelli's name was cleared or not. "Sure," I agreed, "Now is fine."

"Want to get some grub first?" Thomalla asked when the golden arches came into view. I shrugged. "Sure," I said again as if it was the only word I could say anymore.

Armed with a couple paper bags of junk food, we parked at my apartment building and took the elevator upstairs. I couldn't wait to get my feet out of the shoes and my butt into a pair of sweatpants.

Since I didn't want to play damsel in distress anymore, I stepped out of the elevator first with my key in hand, telling myself there was nothing in my apartment that could scare me. But I still held my breath when I opened the door and didn't let it out until I saw the coast was clear and I could hear Rex getting his exercise on his wheel.

I motioned for Thomalla to go into the living room while I hobbled into the bedroom to change. Once I was dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt and thick cotton socks, I could enjoy my meal properly.

"Why don't we split up," Thomalla suggested when we were almost done eating and I was sucking up the last of my milkshake. "You take the bedroom and I take the living room, or vice versa, we just start looking for anything that could be it."

I thought about that for a moment, but since I was by now convinced the missing evidence was the CD Joe had given me, I suggested the vice versa. That way, my chances of finding it first were pretty good. For some reason, that was important to me. I tried to ignore the fact that my way also meant Thomalla was going to search through my clothes. Sacrifices had to be made, I reasoned.

Thomalla agreed and after we balled up our trash and took care of it, we 'split up'. I stood in my living room and turned around slowly, whispering "If I were a CD, where would I be?", but I didn't get a flash of inspiration.

I could hear Thomalla rummaging in my bedroom and I cringed. Since I couldn't for the life of me remember what I'd done with the CD, I started at the obvious place, the CD rack.

While I was searching, I tried to remember when Morelli had given me the CD, hoping it would give me a hint as to what I'd done with it. But I couldn't even remember how long ago it was, much less the how and where. I searched the bookcase next, taking out each book and leafing through it. I wasn't the world's best housekeeper, and nothing in my apartment really had its own place, except for Rex's cage maybe.

I drew a zero on the bookcase, so I was back to standing in my living room, hands on hips, looking around. My gaze fell onto my small DVD collection; I only had about five movies. I shrugged and crouched down in front the rack that held my TV and DVD player.

There were two disks in the second DVD case I looked in, incidentally my copy of Ghostbusters, my favourite movie of all time. I knew immediately I'd found the missing evidence, because there was no reason to stick an unmarked CD with the movie.

I was about to call Thomalla when I thought better of it and grabbed the laptop that was sitting on the floor next to the TV instead. Joe had told me to never listen to the CD on my laptop. The only reason he would have done that could be because there were files on the CD he didn't want me to see at the time, right? At least that was the only reason I could come up with, so I booted the laptop up and stuck in the CD.

I was so excited, my hands were shaking when I opened the CD folder. Sure enough, along with about ten song files, there were several text files and a few pictures. Without really thinking, I copied the entire CD to my hard drive before I opened the first file.

I checked out the pictures first. They were clearly surveillance photos, the kind that was taken with a telephoto lens. I had to squint to even recognize the first picture showed a couple of men. The second picture showed the image much larger and the first person I recognized was Thomalla. I didn't know the second man, it was a Hispanic looking man in an expensive suit, and he was handing Thomalla an envelope. I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach when I opened the third picture. There were more men in this one, but again I only recognized Thomalla. They'd been photographed on board a yacht, all sitting around a table on deck. The pictures all had date and time stamps but didn't really tell me anything so I continued with the text files.

There were some scanned images of bank transactions and Western Union receipts in the first file. No doubt this was part of the evidence, although I hadn't a clue how it would clear Morelli's name.

I accidentally opened a file that I thought was a music track, I had meant to open the text file next to it. What came out of the tiny speaker on my laptop wasn't music though, it was a conversation between two men. I turned up the volume to hear it better.

"This has to run smoothly," the first guy said, "if my name shows up anywhere, I'm done."

My Spidey-sense started tingling although I didn't know why. "No problem," the second guy said, "we have a fall guy picked out. Your name will stay clean."

"When?" Guy number one asked. "Depends on you. You call the shots on this one. Is your guy reliable?"

The first guy snorted and my heart stopped. I'd recognized the voice. "He's so obsessed, he'll do whatever I ask. No one will even think to look any further. I'll tell him when and where and he'll be more than happy to do what he thinks will bring him closer to his goal." I knew I was listening to Thomalla. When I heard movement from the bedroom I quickly closed the file. I hadn't figured out what exactly I'd heard, but from what I'd seen, Thomalla had been the focus of the investigation, and my gut told me he'd been suspected to be the rat in the department, not Morelli.

I looked up to find Thomalla leaning against the doorjamb. I would have given anything to be able to pull off a blank face, but I knew my efforts were useless. As soon as our eyes met, Thomalla's expression changed.

"So now you know," he said with a voice that made my blood run cold. All warmth was gone. I swallowed hard. Actually, I didn't know until he said I did. Up until then it had been a guess.

I caught up quickly though. Thomalla was the rat. Morelli had found out. Thomalla had hired Teddy. Teddy had killed Morelli. This CD was the only evidence left that could incriminate Thomalla.

Thomalla was still leaning against the doorjamb, seemingly casual. Of course he was effectively cutting off my way to the phone, my gun, anything that could be used as a weapon and any way out. He could relax, all right. Of course there was a slim chance he wasn't thinking in that direction at all, that he would swear me to secrecy and leave. I grimaced inwardly at just how improbable that option was though.

I popped out the CD and closed the laptop. "I think I found what you were looking for," I said, my voice almost normal, and held the CD out to him. Thomalla's upper lip curled up in a smile that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"I think we both know the idea was for me to find it first," he said slowly and crossed his arms over his chest. He made no move to take the CD from me. Maybe he thought I could overpower him if he got too close?

Yeah, right Stephanie, I thought, keep telling yourself that. He'd probably been telling the truth when he said Morelli'd told him all about me, so he'd know exactly what I could and couldn't do. Keep him talking, I thought, buy time. Ranger would be done at the court house sooner or later, and then he'd check on me, right?

"Well, do you want it or not?" I asked, waving the CD for emphasis. "I do," he said, "but I was hoping I'd leave here with only the evidence. Now you'll have to come with."

I'd been afraid of that. I realized he'd either let me go now that he had the CD or had to eliminate me because I'd seen it. Damn. Shit. Why hadn't my Spidey-sense tingled before? I should have listened to my gut feeling at Val's, when I'd really disliked him.

I realized I'd walked right into his trap. And now I thought about how many times I'd been alone with him and shivered involuntarily. He'd slowly made me trust him. Mental head slap.

I was still sitting on the floor in front of the TV cabinet. But if he wanted me to come with him, he probably didn't want to kill me. If he wanted to kill me, he could do it right in my apartment, right? That had to be true.

"Where…" I croaked and had to clear my throat, "Where are we going?" I was trying to keep him talking, to buy some time.

Thomalla reached behind him and produced a gun. "Don't worry about that. We won't go far. Just do as I say and I won't have to use this." He pointed the gun at me. I was so fucked. If I screamed to get anyone's attention, he'd kill me right here. One look into his eyes and I knew nothing was beyond him now. His career, maybe even his life was at stake, probably he didn't care if murder was added to the list.

I chewed on my lip, wondering how to stall for time. "Why?" I asked, because it sounded better than 'What the fuck?!'

Thomalla sneered. "Why are we here? Why do we die?" He threw his free hand up theatrically, "Why indeed, Cupcake. You don't need to worry about any of that anymore. Now get up and bring the disk with you!"

I wanted to scratch his eyes out for calling me Cupcake. He had no right to use that name. But at the same time, I had a strong urge to survive, so I bit my tongue as I slowly got up. Thomalla snatched the CD out of my hand when I was within arm's reach, then he took a few steps back but kept the gun pointed at me when he motioned for me to keep going.

He took my jacket off the hook in the foyer and threw it at me. "Put it on," he instructed. As if I'd do anything else with it, I thought. I knew what he was doing. He didn't give a shit if I froze my ass off outside, he just wanted me to look normal. He picked up my purse and I was hoping he'd let me take it. My gun was in that purse. So was my stun gun, my pepper spray.

Instead though, he turned it upside down and let the contents tumble to the floor. He picked up my wallet, make-up bag, hair spray and other things men probably expect in a woman's purse and left all the weapons, the cuffs and my cell phone on the floor. He kicked my gun out of the way and threw the purse at me. "Put it over your shoulder, like you normally do," he said, shrugging into his own coat.

He put the gun in his pocket; I could see the barrel poking at the fabric. "I've shot people before," he said, "and it gets easier every time I do it. So don't think I will hesitate to silence you. Be a good girl and I'll be a good boy."

It took a lot for me not to roll my eyes and ask him what movie he stole that line from, but I managed. I figured it wasn't a good time to tease him.

Thomalla had me lock up and he made sure he stayed a couple steps behind me on the way to the elevator. "Don't try to trick me," he said when we rode down, "I'll know it and you'll pay for it. I've been doing this for a long time." I rolled my eyes this time, since my back was to him, but I bit back the comment. Apparently the gun had turned him into a John Wayne wannabe.

"My car or yours?" I asked when we left the lobby through the back door. I tried to give my voice a submissive tone so that he'd believe I'd given up. "You'll drive my car," Thomalla replied. He was still behind me and I knew he was still pointing the gun at me.

This wasn't the first time I was held at gun point. It wasn't even the first time I was kidnapped. But I couldn't remember feeling this stupid. I had trusted him because he had wanted me to trust him. I mentally thunked my head on the ground. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He remoted his car unlocked and followed me to the driver's side. When I was buckled in, he walked around the front of his Chrysler, never taking his eyes off me. He handed me the single key when he was seated, then he took the gun out of his pocket.

"You're gonna start the car and put it in drive, then you're gonna stay close enough to the speed limit so we won't get pulled over, but not slow enough to be suspicious. Got that?"

I nodded. Shit, this was serious. I didn't like the tone of his voice at all, it was cold and determined. For the first time since I'd found out, the first tendrils of panic started curling up in my stomach.

What if no one was going to check on me? What if Thomalla took me out of Trenton? He was a cop, I reminded myself, no one would suspect him. I tried to take calming breaths while I did as I was told. Panicking now wouldn't help me.

I had paid close attention to what Thomalla had put back in my pocketbook. There was a nail file in my cosmetic bag. And he also let me keep the hairspray. If I put my mind to it and had some time alone, I might McGyver myself out of the situation.

"Do you know how to get to 295?" Thomalla asked and interrupted my escape plans. I nodded. "Take 295 South," he said. I waited for more, but that was it. He sat facing forward, but his eyes cut from me to the road and back again all the time. My guess was he was also keeping an eye on my speed. He was right, he was good at this. The hand with the gun rested on his thigh, pointing at me. That way it couldn't be seen from the outside, but he wouldn't even have to move it to shoot me.

I took Hamilton to Franklin, hoping to see someone I knew. I figured I could maybe signal with the high beams or something. But I didn't even see a familiar car. I had to stifle a desperate sob when I got off Route 29 and onto 295. No one would notice us from now on.

I slapped myself mentally and told myself to stop thinking in that direction immediately. Just in time, too, I was about to drive myself crazy. 'Think Stephanie!' I ordered myself. There had to be something I could do. I just had to push all feelings, fears and memories about Joe to the background, I had to force myself to think straight.

"Relax," Thomalla interrupted the silence, "You're way too tense. Just cruise for 30 miles now."

"Where are we going?" I asked, I'm not sure why. I had both hands on the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip and I had to force myself to take a breath and tell the panicky voice in my head to shut up. Yup, where we were going seemed like a good start.

I could see Thomalla smirk out of the corner of my eye. "It's a surprise. You're going back home, in a manner of speaking," he said and laughed at his own joke.

Now I was officially creeped out.

TBC

A/N: Your reviews suggested that you never trusted Thomalla, so this turn of events probably wasn't a surprise for you…but where do you think he'll take Steph and what is his plan for her??