Thank you for all the reviews; you guys are amazing:) If you recognize them, they're not mine :)

Thank you Margaret for reading ahead as my beta once again.

Chapter 32 — What's Really Up?

Ella's POV

Once I learned that I was also on Whittier's list, I felt angry at first but then I decided to confront him myself. Cal had paid him a visit earlier and after Bobby went down to have a look at him I wasn't sure what I would find. I just knew as long as bars separated us I felt brave.

I'd learned a long time ago that part of Cal's method of getting information was to deny his prisoner food. But I felt Whittier might talk to me if I brought him something to eat since it had been about twenty hours since he'd been taken into isolation and Cal had already 'spoken' to him.

Eula had made some healthy vegetarian chili as the hot meal earlier in the day and there was enough left over to bring him down a bowl along with some bread.

Our isolation cells are under lock and key, so I'd asked Ram to help me out since he and Cal had keys. He agreed to meet me in our basement where the cells, gun range and mechanical rooms were kept.

That's where I was heading with my cart at the moment.

"Are you sure about this Ella?" he asked me as he opened the door leading to the cells.

"Yes. I need to know why and contrary to your opinion, sometimes you really do catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar."

"And Cal's already tried the vinegar," he mumbled. "Do you want me to stay with you?" he added.

"No, but thank you. He may not talk to me if he sees you. And this is just between the two of us anyway."

"I'll be right outside if you need me."

"Ok. And thanks."

Whittier appeared to be asleep as I approached the cell he was in. I didn't see any outward signs of a beating so I felt better about whatever Cal had done.

"Felix Whittier," I called to him as I approached.

He opened his eyes, looked at me and I noticed recognition.

"We can pretend that you don't know who I am, but I have a better idea. You tell me why you had my license plate and photo on your laptop and I might give you some of this chili I brought down for you. And if you tell me who blew up my car I might even let you eat it."

He was holding the bridge of his nose and looking pained but still hadn't said anything, so I tried again.

"I'll say a name. Mickey Kraven. Is that who you're working with?"

Nothing.

"I guess your stupid pride is going to keep you from having a decent meal. Too bad; it's really good chili." I turned as if to leave.

"It's not pride," he muttered.

"Well if it's not pride, what is it? You have five minutes to talk to me before I bring the food back upstairs."

"I already told the big guy with the skull tattoo, Kraven paid me a hundred thou to stop the curly-haired chick and to scare you."

"So who blew up my car and injured our mechanic?"

"I don't know. He probably paid someone else to do that after he found out I was apprehended."

"Do you know where we can find him?"

A huge smile broke out on his not so bad-looking face. "For the housekeeper you ask a lot of pointed questions. I guess all this stuff has rubbed off on you."

"I'm sorry," I told him feeling a little embarrassed, "I just wanted some answers."

"It's ok Mrs. Guzman, I like gumption in a woman."

Was he flirting with me?

"Just so you know," I decided to tell him before I left him alone to eat, "Stephanie almost died. If she had you would have been long gone too."

"I knew you'd get to her in time. Those men follow her around as if she was the Duchess of Cambridge. And I didn't expect to cut through an artery, she must be exceptionally slight."

"I'll be back in an hour to pick up the dishes. If there's anything else you want to tell me, that would be the time. Enjoy your meal."

I wasn't going to deny him food, he was human after all. He'd earned it and it was good to know that he hadn't meant to cut Steph as badly as he had.

I opened the food receptacle and passed the tray through. Wittier took it from the other side and winked at me.

"Thank you Mrs. Guzman."

"Mr. Whittier," I said returning the formality.

Ram was waiting outside for me, as he had promised.

"Well I see you gave him some food. Did you get any information?"

"Kraven paid him one hundred thousand dollars to stop Steph and scare me."

"We should have you do our interrogating more often," he said as a huge grin spread across his face. "And I think Ranger will be impressed with your tactics."

"Feeding a hungry man isn't exactly a tactic."

"It sure is Ella. And it looked like it worked."

Cal's POV

I actually liked Whittier. Smart guy, similar background. I could almost imagine myself doing that kind of mercenary work if Ranger hadn't hired me. He knew I'd break him as soon as he saw me and spilled his story without much prompting from me. Good. I hated beating the shit out of someone almost as much as the person receiving the beating did. I really didn't have to get violent with Whittier. One blow to a kidney was enough and we both knew he'd be pissing blood for the next few days.

I had to assume that what he told me was the truth. He was paid some pretty big bucks to get to Steph and to intimidate Ella. I kind of liked his tactic with Steph. I guess he'd watched her enough that he knew she'd come to bail Eula out and used that as a way to get to her. And his homeless act was almost foolproof. Too bad Rafe and Hector were the ones following him or he might have gotten away this time.

I doubt he would have gotten away twice though. And an attack on Ella would have have gotten him dead for sure. But I didn't want to dwell on that. I was glad Ella was unhurt and that Ernie's injuries weren't more serious. And with Ernie out for the picture for the foreseeable future, I was also glad Lester hired Collier.

Hector had already run a search on him and he was who he said he was: an ex-Vietnam vet living on the streets with medical and automotive backgrounds. Two useful skills for anyone at Rangeman. Right now he was going to be Ernie's assistant but potentially he could help out Bobby too.

I was due to start my shift on monitors in a few hours, so after musing to myself I made some dinner and went back to Whittier's laptop to see if there was anything else on it we needed to know about.

I found a couple of pictures of Steph and Ranger. I wasn't sure if they were taken to show a couple, obviously in love, or as proof that they were in a relationship. If indeed he was taking his orders from Kraven, and I had nothing to make me think he wasn't, why would Whittier care?

I also found a recent picture of Steph with Morelli. They were laughing and eating subs at Pino's. I knew there was nothing romantic between them any longer, but this picture could be taken any way it was positioned. Wondered if Whittier had planned to try blackmail next? And I wondered what Ranger would do if that were the case. I'm sure he knew Steph was loyal, but after all, her and the cop had some weird-ass history.

I emailed the pictures to Ram and Hector then went downstairs for my shift. I was on with Manny and although we were rarely teamed up together on rounds, we often ended up on monitors together. We got along well and fell into an easy conversation as we took in our screens.

"How's Steph?" he asked, always having a soft spot for 'Wifey'.

"She's ok," I answered distractedly. "Would you have any idea why someone would take a picture of her and Morelli having lunch at Pino's a week or so ago?"

"No, but can you show me this picture? I might have a better answer if I can see it for myself. Binkie and I were discreetly watching her the last time she had lunch with the cop. If something were off that day, I think I would have sensed it."

"I don't know that anything was off. I was thinking someone might have been contemplating a little blackmail. Check your inbox," I added, finding the images I'd sent to Hector and Ram earlier and forwarding them to Manny.

"They look too comfortable together," he mumbled. "Ranger better not see this picture."

"Exactly what I felt when I saw it. Someone was probably using a telephoto lens and waited until they appeared almost intimate to snap that."

"But what about these of Ranger and Steph? If someone was planning on a little blackmail why would they take these pictures too?"

"Not sure. Was that Morelli picture taken the day you were watching?"

"Yeah, I remember that Henley," he paused. "Something feels off," he added after a few beats. "Did you blow these up and look in the background? There's a mirror in this one of Ranger and Steph. Maybe the photographer revealed himself after all."

"No I didn't...," I started to say but Manny was already on the Rangeman line to someone.

"Hec, can you do me a favor? I'm on monitors or I'd bring this down to you. Can I send you..."

"I already did," I said, when I realized he was talking to Hector.

"So now I understand you got some pics from Cal?" "Can you blow up the one of Ranger and Steph at that Cuban place they go to? There's a mirror facing forward, maybe we can see the photographer's face? "Yeah, we'll be here." "Thanks."

"Good call Manny. I saw the mirror but didn't think anything of it," I paused before bringing up what was really bothering me. "I'm still worried about Ella. Thoughts?"

"Not sure. SHIT," he yelled, "Masked men just entered Roebling jewelers."

He pressed a button and entered co-ordinates. All patrols in the vicinity would respond as well as the TPD, but I was sure we'd get there first; there were a lot more of us patroling at night.

Masked men breaching our first line of security was not good. How the hell did they get through our magnetic switches and vibration sensors without tripping alarms or being seen on video? Why was it only the passive infra-red, detecting body heat, that set off the alarm? If I didn't know better, I'd suspect an inside job but the Carrolls didn't hire outsiders.

As Manny was sending patrols to Roeblings, Hector entered the control room with a glossy print out in his hand.

"I have a face," he said, putting the blow up in front of me. I glanced down while still looking at monitors as I knew Manny was busy with other things at the moment and didn't want to stray from watching the video feeds for too long.

I could see a man wearing a cowboy hat and sporting a Fu Manchu. The camera was on a tripod and he was looking down into it.

"Did you run face recognition?" I asked, glancing down once more.

"I'm doing it now but I wanted to show you what I found, in case you recognized him."

"He doesn't look familiar and he doesn't look like he's from around here. How many people in Trenton do you know wearing cowboy hats and rocking a Fu?"

"None. But that should make him stand out if we start asking questions."

"Could be a disguise. Maybe he's really clean-shaven and bald?"

"I wished he wasn't looking down. If I could see his eyes we'd have better luck with the face reco. I was going to blow up all the others taken at the same time to see if there's a better shot of him, but like I said, I wanted you to see this first."

"Let's send out this pic to every team and have them be on the lookout, but I have a feeling we'll never see him again."

"Yeah, me too, but we can't ignore it."

Hector was right; we couldn't ignore it. And I was going to have to pay a visit to Whittier again.