Chapter 27

The next morning brought a visit from Ella bearing a tray of breakfast treats. Ranger had left early hoping to clear his desk so he could spend time viewing the videotapes with me. We both thought it was important to identify Rafael's other victims. He'd be looking for help now that he'd killed his sister, who'd been, on some level, his accomplice. And who better to ask for help than someone you could coerce?

Ella set the tray filled with an assortment of fruit and pastries on the counter and then turned to me. "Ranger told Louis about your help in capturing Rafael Acosta," she said.

I knew he had shared the general story that everyone knew with them, but I felt nervous discussing it with her. It turned out that wouldn't be necessary.

"I just want to say thank you," Ella continued. "He's an awful man and I'm sorry you were hurt by him. And I'm thankful you've helped Ranger capture him. Nothing will bring our son back to us, but knowing Mr. Acosta has confessed and will be held accountable helps somehow, and Ranger tells us it wouldn't have happened without you, my dear. We owe you an unpayable debt of gratitude."

"You owe me nothing," I said. "What I did by allowing my story to become public was the only way I could gain freedom from him. I'm happy it also brings some justice for your son, for David."

We cried and we hugged and after she left, I felt a sense of peace, until I remembered the bastard was on the loose walking the streets doing what he pleased while I was basically under house arrest.

It would only be a matter of time until Rafael was located. He was most likely staying in a hotel and using Uber. He wouldn't be able to access his car or his home until the police finished their crime scene investigation. Ranger had a man watching Rafael's office and Silvio was monitoring his financials. So far, there had been no hits on his credit cards, so he was operating with cash or maybe staying with someone.

That thought brought me right back to the facial identification task. I did feel a true sense of sadness for Alicia Campaneros. He must have something especially good on her. At the same time I sympathized with her, I was angry. I'd found the courage to step forward and so should she, although in her case she would most certainly go to jail for her bogus alibi.

I spent the rest of the morning fielding phone calls from Connie, Lula and my mother. Just before lunch Ranger came back to the apartment.

"We found him," he said. "He's at his office and apparently has been there since he got out of jail late yesterday afternoon."

I shivered at the thought. Had Rafael equipped his new office with a space where he could pursue his unholy passions? He could certainly stay in his office for a few nights if that was the case.

"I've got two men on him. They will work alternating twelve-hour shifts. If you're careful and pay attention to your surroundings there's no reason you can't get back to a normal life."

I threw my arms around him and hugged him as tightly as I could. "I'll plan on going to work tomorrow," I said. "This afternoon we'll identify the women on the tapes."

"It's a plan," Ranger said, "but first, I'm hungry."

"Okay, I'll see what I can come up with for lunch," I said. "I know you have peanut butter. Do you have olives?"

"I don't want to eat peanut butter and I don't want to eat olives," he said.

"Well then, what do you want to…oh, oh!" The look in his eyes told me exactly what he was hungry for.

After a late lunch we started in on the tapes and by five o'clock we had identified all but two women. Alicia Campaneros was not one of them.

We were sending out information to Silvio as we obtained it. I wasn't sure how he was doing it, but he was verifying ID's and sending back current addresses.

"I know there is only one Ranger," I said, "but there must be two Silvios. How can he access this information so quickly?"

"He's a genius, and there is only one of him, but I pay him as if there were two. He's invaluable to me. And look at what he's just sent."

Ranger pulled up a message on the screen and I read with amazement. Two of the women were sisters and their mother was Alicia Campaneros. That explained so much.

"I want to deliver these tapes to the women," I told Ranger. "I want to hand them the tape and explain that I don't know if there are copies, but we think not. I want them to have some peace."

"Even Judge Campaneros?" he asked.

"Especially her," I said. Ranger raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I want her to have the peace of knowing she's protected her daughters, and if she has the tapes and Rafael gives her cause, she can revoke his bail. I want him behind bars."

"Let's go."

"Now?" I asked.

"Yes, now. Call Morelli. Ask him to use his contacts to locate her. It's possible she could still be in her office. If not, we'll visit her home."

"She's a judge. We probably can't just walk up to her home," I said.

"She's a client. We do her home security. I've had her on my radar since I learned she'd alibied Acosta. I don't think we'll have trouble finding her."

I called Morelli and after a few questions as to why I needed to find her, he reluctantly agreed to help. He called a friend in the DA's office and discovered that she was working late. We left immediately to go to her office and met her as she was exiting the building. She had a security escort.

Ranger stayed in the Macan and let me approach her by myself. I must not have looked too threatening because when I called her name the security guard didn't jump forward to tackle me.

"Yes, I'm Judge Campaneros," she responded.

"I'm Stephanie Plum and I have something for you." I held out two generic video tapes, easily identifiable as they were not in cases.

She looked toward her security escort and said something softly. He backed away and gave us some privacy.

"I broke into Rafael Acosta's home last week," I said. "I stole eleven video tapes that turned out to be illicit recordings. I was on one tape and two of your daughters were on other tapes. Here they are." I thrust them toward her and she took them.

"I don't know for certain, but I think these are the only copies."

She nodded and accepted the tapes from my outstretched hand. She turned toward the large hulking man twenty feet away and she resumed her journey to her car. I returned to the Macan and we drove away. It was anti-climactic, but still I felt better than I had since I'd heard Rafael was out of jail.

We were on our way back to RangeMan when I was struck with an idea. "Do you have plans for the evening?" I asked him.

"No."

"Could you, I mean, would you go…can we go to my mother's house?"

"Just show up at dinner?" he asked.

"She won't care," I said.

Silently, Ranger turned from his course and headed toward the Burg. I wasn't sure why I asked. I glanced at my watch. A few minutes until six. As long as we were there by six we'd be welcomed in for dinner. He'd said he wanted to be a couple, and I'd said I didn't want the Burg lifestyle, but I still wanted dinner at my mom's.

Grandma was standing at the door when we arrived.

"How about that!" she said. "I had a feeling you'd stop by."

My mother came from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron, to see who had stopped by. "Stephanie, uh Rang…may I call you Carlos?"

Ranger smiled at her, "You may."

She smiled back and once again I was struck with my resemblance to my mother. She was me in twenty years, and my future wasn't looking so bad.

"Carlos, then. You're just in time for dinner. Let me set two more places."

"If we're not intruding," Ranger said. "We came unannounced right at dinner time apparently."

"It's not an intrusion at all. We have plenty."

What followed was enjoyable, at least for me. My grandmother ogled Ranger for the course of the meal and my father, after a few questions about Ranger's military service, basically ignored us all and concentrated on the cabbage rolls. My mother was the perfect Burg hostess and with my newly gained knowledge of her, I watched her with pride.

She was getting ready to serve dessert, a peach cobbler, when Ranger's phone dinged an incoming text.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I need to go. We have a situation at RangeMan." I looked at him with concern.

"The IT problem is back," he said. "We've lost a server again and most of our commercial accounts are down. I need to get manual patrols organized."

My mom rose from the table. "Wait two minutes," she said. When she came back in, she was carrying a brown bag. "Here is dessert for you," she said. "You can take it with you."

I took the bag and thanked her. I knew from experience there'd be two healthy portions of the cobbler and I knew I'd be eating Ranger's. I was happy, both at the thought of a double dessert and with how well the meal had gone. I was going to spend some quiet time in the near future contemplating couplehood with Ranger. Maybe it would work. I was beginning to see that it might.

When we were nearing RangeMan I asked, "Is this the same problem you had a few days ago?"

"Yes. I thought we had it fixed but it seems we did not. When we get there, I'm going straight to five."

"Do you need me to help with anything?" I asked.

"I need to talk with our IT guy and see what the prognosis is. I don't know exactly what needs to be done, other than getting guys on the street. If I don't have electronic surveillance capabilities, then I'm going to have to use all my manpower."

"Including the manpower you've got watching Rafael?" I asked.

"Potentially," Ranger said.

That meant less freedom for me, but hopefully it would be a temporary situation.

I spent some time in Ranger's apartment eating both his dessert and mine. It reminded me of the night only a little over a week ago when I had eaten both pieces of cheesecake from Shorty's and awaited Ranger's return. That night had changed everything. I decided it wasn't good to wait. I went down to five.

The chaos I'd expected to find was missing. Things were quiet. Ranger was in his office, a headset on and his eyes focused on his computer screen. I stood in his doorway for a moment. He sensed my presence and looked up. I gave him a brief finger wave and then moved away. He was obviously busy and I didn't want to cause more disruption for him. I walked toward the monitoring desks and found Tank and a new hire whom I hadn't met, each staring at a bank of monitors.

Without taking his eyes from the monitors Tank growled, "Whaddya need?"

"Nothing," I said. "I just wondered if there was something I could do to help."

He took a moment to stare at me and then said, "Yeah. Sit here and watch this bank of monitors." He stood and motioned me to the chair.

"I…I don't know…"

"It's easy," he said. "Sit here and watch the monitors. It's boring, but it's important. If you see anything you think is suspicious pick up this phone. Someone will answer it. Tell them what you see."

"Okay," I said. "I can do that."

I sat down and began to watch. I stayed in the chair for four hours. I had a pleasant conversation with my monitor-mate, Charlie, the new hire. Our eyes never left our screens, but we managed to make a connection. My butt was numb and my mind was wandering, but my eyes stayed focused. There had been no untoward activity. There had been no activity at all. Good thing I was doing this job for free. Ranger couldn't pay me enough to do it on a regular basis.

Finally, when I couldn't put it off any longer, I asked Charlie a question.

"Do we get bathroom breaks?"

"You do, Babe." I swung around to see Ranger standing behind me. "Normally, you get a break every hour, but we are short-staffed tonight as everyone available is out on patrol. We're finally about fifty percent back online. I've called some of the guys back in off the street and the rest of the monitors will come online shortly. You look tired. Go on up and get some sleep."

"What about you? You must be tired, too."

"I'm fine. Tank and I are going to see this thing through. I should be up in a few hours." He held out his hand and I let him pull me from the chair. My legs were wobbly and my bladder was full, so I didn't stay to talk, and ten minutes later, I was in his bed.

It was six a.m. when Ranger came into his bedroom. I was showered and dressed and he was surprised.

"I thought you'd still be in bed," he said. "I'm going to try and get a couple hours of sleep before I go back down."

"Is the problem fixed?" I asked.

"It is and this time I think it's good. Why are you up so early?"

I glanced at my phone lying on the bedside table. "Joe called. He needs to see me. He said it was official. I told him I was trying to avoid Rafael and he said I'd be okay to come in."

Ranger looked at me for a moment. Everything I had told him was true, I just hadn't told him everything Joe had said. I knew he wanted to ask more questions, but he just nodded his head and said to wake him when I got back.

As I was on my way to Joe's I replayed everything he'd said. He'd said he needed to talk with me somewhere we could be assured of complete privacy. Not my apartment. He thought Ranger probably had it monitored. Not the department, because he wasn't sure if what he had to say was official business or not, but he insisted it was important.

Minutes later I walked into Joe's house expecting to be knocked sideways by Bob, but the house was eerily silent. Before I could ask, Joe volunteered, "He's at Elizabeth's. I've been working crazy hours and she has more time for him right now than I do."

I had lots of questions to ask about Elizabeth, but my curiosity about her wasn't as strong as my curiosity about why I'd been summoned by him.

"What's this all about?" I asked him.

He picked up his phone and showed me a photo. "Does this look familiar?" he asked. I shook my head. It was a note, written on what looked to be a piece of paper from a legal pad. I hadn't read the entire note when he flipped to another picture.

"What about this one?" he asked. It was another note written on a similar piece of paper. Again, I shook my head and he flipped back to the first picture.

"This is Eddie Abruzzi's suicide note."

I knew the note existed, but I hadn't seen it before. It was a short note. "My business is failing. I'm depressed. I can't go on." I looked down at the faint burn scar on my forearm where Eddie Abruzzi had started to torture me before Valerie intervened. Joe and I knew it hadn't been suicide. We knew Ranger had killed him to save my life.

"Now look at this note again," Joe said. He showed me the second note. It was even shorter than the first note, but it was remarkably similar. "I can't spend my life incarcerated."

"This one is Rafael Acosta's suicide note," Joe said.

"What!"

"He was found in his car about two blocks from the farmer's market where Eddie Abruzzi was found, in the parking lot of an abandoned warehouse. Self-inflicted gunshot wound. Look at the notes again, Stephanie."

I did. It looked as though they had been written by the same hand.

"We both know these weren't suicides," Joe said.

"But it wasn't Ranger!" I said. "I know where he was all night."

"Acosta's death is being ruled a suicide. There is an investigation ongoing, but preliminarily there is no evidence of foul play. I was notified and I went to the scene. I saw the note and I remembered I had taken a picture of Abruzzi's note. His death was also ruled a suicide. Stephanie, you're living with a madman. He can't go about killing whoever threatens you. No matter what kind of pond scum they are."

"I am not living with a madman! Ranger didn't do this. He was in his office all night and there are several witnesses to that. He's probably on video. They had a server problem and he was working all night long to get things up and running. He only came into the apartment as I was leaving to come to see you."

"News of Acosta's death will be public soon. This was not a suicide and we both know it. If Ranger didn't do it, someone else did, and since it looks like the same M.O. as Abruzzi, it's someone connected to you. It looks as if you've got your own avenging angel, Cupcake. Be careful."

"You're not going to pursue this?" I asked.

Joe hesitated for a long time. His cop face was firmly in place, and I tensed as I waited for his answer.

"No," Joe said. "It's not my case. I believe you believe it wasn't Ranger. I believe it wasn't suicide, but there are no leads, no evidence of anything else. You know you can always come to me if you need help, Cupcake."

I nodded. I wanted to say, "Thanks," but it seemed inappropriate so I left without comment. I drove straight to RangeMan where I found Ranger still in bed. I stood in the doorway of the bedroom and watched him sleep for a long time. When he stirred, I walked forward and sat on the edge of the bed. He came awake quickly and fully, a remnant of his military days most likely.

"What did Morelli want?" he asked.

"Did you kill Eddie Abruzzi?"

I saw a flicker of surprise in Ranger's eyes, which steadied me.

"No. I planned to, but someone beat me to it." The starkness of his statement rang with truth.

"Rafael committed suicide. They found him in his car in a parking lot a few blocks from the farmer's market where Abruzzi was found. I saw the notes, Ranger. They were written by the same hand."

"I promised to deliver him alive," Ranger said, "and I—we did. Is Morelli investigating his death?"

"Not officially," I said. "He said there was no evidence to suggest that it was anything but suicide. It hasn't gone public yet, but it will any time. Do you know who did this?"

"No." He threw back the covers and slid from the bed. "I need to tell Louis and Ella." He moved with his usual grace toward his bathroom, but he moved slowly. This was going to be a hard task for Ranger.

I was in bed waiting for him when he came back. He peeled his clothes off and slid wordlessly into the bed beside me. We made love and fell asleep with our arms and legs intertwined.

It was mid-morning, closer to lunch than breakfast but I had a bag of donuts in my hand when I entered the bond's office. Connie and Lula were intent on reading something on Connie's screen. I had a moment of déjà vu, remembering the day they'd told me Rafael had come back.

Lula looked up at me. "Hey, we was just reading about you. You made the digital Trentonian. You'll probably be front page when the print version comes out."

"Great," I groaned. "I guess I'm ready to be the pariah of the Burg. Hit me with it. How bad is it?"

"It ain't bad at all," Lula said.

"Yeah, it kinda makes you sound like a hero," Connie agreed.

"What?" I pushed my way between Lula and Connie and read for myself. I was listed as a member of a RangeMan security team who had responded to a break-in at Rafael's house. His sister Paloma was identified as the intruder, and during the altercation I and the other members of the RangeMan team heard Acosta confess to the murder of David Guzman. Someone at the police department had done some creative reporting, and someone at the Trentonian had done some equally creative writing.

"Good thing you brought donuts for celebrating," Lula said. "Look here!" She lifted her left leg so I could see her foot encased in a Louboutin sneaker. "We need to have a big ole party. I'm back in action, Vince is still gonna help us out for a while and your secret is still safe. We need to party."

"Oh no," I said. "I have no more secrets. My life is an open book."

"You say that now but wait until the next time we ask about you and Batman," Lula groused.

As I sat on the Naugahyde couch and ate my Boston Crème a sense of peace settled over me. The day outside was warm and full of sunshine and promise. I was looking forward to getting back on the track of my next FTA.

It felt good to have no secrets. But someone close to me had secrets. One old murder and one new murder. And the thing is…secrets are nearly impossible to keep in the Burg.

Not quite…

The End

Epilogue coming