Before they left Alex's room, Joe picked up her hairbrush. The long black hair weaved in and out of the brush teeth sticking up. Antoine looked at Morelli with the hairbrush.
"We can't pull her DNA." Antoine said.
"We can at a crime scene." Joe said and took the brush with him out of the room.
"If she has a lawyer, the lawyer will have a fit." Antoine said, "my name is on the files of this case not yours."
"The feds pulled it from you." Joe stopped and turned back to him bringing the hairbrush up and pointing it at him, "they aren't playing by the rules here. This kids life is on the line. If she doesn't belong to Ramono, she has to be someone's daughter. The feds aren't going to worry about that. Until I know for sure, she needs someone to look out for her. She need someone who will fight for her and find out the damn truth. If it is in my ability to find out who she is and where she belongs, damn it, I'm going to do it. It has to be better than this fucking hell hole she's been living in. Take a good look around you and tell me she doesn't deserve better than this."
Antoine shook his head, "I heard you were a lone cowboy, not always playing by the rules, but a damn good cop, with intuitions. Always holding the cards and not showing everything you know. If we get caught our jobs are screwed."
Joe grinned at him, "I haven't got caught yet. Besides, I'll think of a way to get her DNA legally other than this crime scene if that is what you are worried about. Until then, I'm going to protect that kid the best way I know how."
"We don't even have her to protect her. How the hell are we supposed to do that when we don't know where she is?" Antoine asked.
Joe smiled, "Alex is in the wind." He started walking out of the apartment with Antoine following.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Antoine asked.
Joe just laughed and shook his head. "You can't see the wind. As long as she stays with the wind, she's protected."
Ranger won't let anything happen to her. Hell, he's forked out a hundred grand. He isn't going to let his investment walk right out his door. What if I can't find out who she is or who she belongs too? Ranger said she was his if the feds didn't step up and pay him back. I wonder if he will want to keep her if I can't put this puzzle together? Joe thought, I'm normally not into sharing, but, Christ this kid needs a break.
Joe got into his SUV and watched as Antoine got into an old beat up mustang that had bondo all over the frame. It looked like it was almost ready to be put into paint.
Lester came back into the kitchen, he saw Alex on her side on the floor holding her ribs. His stomach was hurting from laughing so much he knew Alex was probably in worse pain because of her ribs as well. He went to the refrigerator and pulled it open looking for something she could drink and take the pain medication with.
"You are taking a pain pill and I don't want to hear no for an answer." Lester told her as he found an unopened can of coke in the refrigerator.
Ranger had stepped into the kitchen, he heard what Lester said and his eyes focused on Alex who lay on the floor.
"No!" Alex hissed through gritted teeth.
"Yes, you will," Lester said and went over to her. He squatted down beside her while looking at his watch. "It's going on thirty-six hours, Alex. You can't tell me your ribs don't hurt this time."
Alex sat up bending her knees and placing her arms over them, letting her hands dangle in front of her knees. "They are hurting," she took a breath, "hurt like hell." She looked at the coke in Lester's hands. "But I'm not taking that shit."
"Alex, you don't always have to be in control all the time." Ranger said as he moved towards the island in the middle of the kitchen and leaned up against it. "When you're in pain, its better to let others around you take that control and help you out, until you can regain it on your own."
Leaning her head back against the kitchen wall, Alex closed her eyes and took another ragged painful breath, "Fucking control has nothing to do with it. You tell me. When have I been in control here? Fuck your damn control."
She is hostile when she is in pain. Damn perceptive as well. She knows she's not in control here. Street smart, but she hasn't once talked street. Ranger thought, he thought back to her school transcripts. He knew she had honors advanced placement classes in English. She's articulate, grew up in the streets but you wouldn't be able to peg her as a street. She uses the ghetto to her advantage, she uses it with her wit, and mind. It's not a control issue. Interesting!
Lester answered seeing that Ranger was lost in thought, "You haven't been in control since we picked you up. If it isn't that Alex, what are you afraid of the pain medication doing?" Lester pulled the orange bottles with the white labels from his shirt pocket, he put the antibiotic back up and kept out the pain medication.
"I'm not afraid of taking it. I don't like the way it makes me feel." Alex told him. I don't like the way it makes me dream at night either. Normally I can't remember any dreams, I don't like that vivid feel of being stuck in them. I don't like not being able to think clearly, I can't trust myself. Alex thought.
"Are you sure it isn't being in control then, because you lose control over how you feel on it?" Lester asked trying to understand this.
"It isn't a fucking control issue. If it had to do with just control don't you think I would have already taken the damn things." Alex sighed. You just don't fucking get it.
It's not control. How it makes her feel? Ranger thought. He moved and squatted down in front of her. Feel? She's playing with her words, hiding the real issue. She's clever. She can't think while she's on it. She loses her reasoning ability. I know exactly what that is like, and it is not fun. I can't believe Lester hasn't picked up on this.
"Alex, Lester and I are not going to put you in a situation where you need to think clearly while you are taking this medication." Alex snapped her eyes opened and jerked her head off the wall and glared at Ranger. Ranger grinned, "It's not control. Lester should have figured this out sooner. It's not often we actually meet someone of your caliber that only doesn't trust anymore. But doesn't trust themselves more. You don't trust your actions while you are on the medication do you?"
How did he figure that out? What did I do to give him that information? Or was it something I said? Or not say? I don't want to go back on that limb of trust with the medication again. What little bit I did with Lester was enough today on the trust factor. Alex thought.
Lester could see Ranger was right. He could see it now, he totally missed it that she didn't trust herself. He could see it in her eyes as she glared down Ranger.
"I don't want to make another mistake because I'm impaired." Alex said.
Ranger looked at Lester. What is she talking about? Ranger thought.
"What mistake Alex?" Ranger asked.
Ranger looked at Lester after Lester hung his head. Lester knows, what is she talking about? Ranger thought.
Alex turned her head away from both of them. Lester lifted his head and looked back at her. "Alex, there won't be any mistake this time. Trust me, you won't be taken advantage of because the pain medication may impair your judgment." Lester placed the coke beside her leg on the floor and put the pain medication bottle on top of it. He stood up and walked to the other side of the kitchen.
Ranger listened to what Lester said. He saw Lester get up and move away from her. He looked back at Alex who slyly glanced at Lester's retreating back. These two have been flirting with each other. Ranger stood up and followed Lester. He placed himself in front of Lester when Lester had stopped near the other wall on the other side. "Flirting with her is one thing. Don't let it go past that. You keep it innocent."
"I'm not letting it go past innocence. I don't plan on screwing her over. I think she's had enough of that in her life." Lester said.
He likes her. Shit Lester! This is Morelli's kid. She has to learn to trust Morelli first before she can trust anyone else. Ranger thought. "Then you are going to have to let Morelli gain that first step of trust she needs. She needs that with her father. You be careful how you flirt with her."
Ranger's phone rang and he reached for it and hit the button as Lester answered, "I know. Morelli would probably kill me if he knew I liked her."
"Yo!" Ranger said into the phone after hearing Lester's answer.
A pause was heard by Ranger then Joe asked, "how's Alex?"
"Alex is doing fine Morelli." Ranger said. He heard Lester groan, watched him pivot and start hitting his head up against the wall. Did Morelli hear what Lester said? I know that is what Lester is thinking.
He heard the pause on Joe's end. "Look, I may have stumbled upon something concerning Alex. I think you need to know." Joe said.
Ranger turned and leaned up against the cabinet that Lester was standing near. He looked over at Alex. She was turning the pill bottle over and over in front of her. Ranger could see the concentration in her creased brows. "Are you sharing information with me now willingly?" Ranger asked.
Lester turned back around and watched Alex but kept his ears straining to pick up what Ranger was getting from Morelli. Ranger listened as Joe explained his suspicions about Alex not belonging to her parents. He told him about the portrait and the odds of her coming out with her eye color the way it was. He even expounded on the picture of James and Alex on her dresser giving Ranger information that was much needed. As he listened he saw Alex open the pill bottle and shake two out and open the coke and take them. Ranger nudged Lester who nudged him back in return. Joe explained how he was going to get DNA test run to confirm his suspicions.
"How soon will you know?" Ranger asked him. Damn Babe! How the hell do you always end up with the fun skips like this? I never get any good skips like this. I love this mystery shit.
"Monday morning. I'm putting a rush on it, I'm going to pull some strings, just so I can get it back that early. Can't get it any sooner." Joe told him.
Monday! Christ! You'll get served papers on Monday. Need to avoid Morelli if at all possible on Monday. Maybe till Monday evening. Ranger thought looking back over to Alex. She looks like you Morelli, but for her eyes and her nose. She has too many of your features, temper, shrewd look with her eyes.
"And then?" Ranger asked.
"And then I'll try to find who she belongs too. I'm going to be pulling up missing children and double check resource files. She might be one of them. She needs someone she can go to. Someone who can give her a better life than what she's had." Joe told him.
You already have a father's attitude, even if it only comes out when you're being a cop. "Maybe you'll find what you're searching for. I wouldn't count anything till we know the facts." Ranger told him.
"What about the hundred grand?" Joe asked. "You said if you didn't get the money back she was yours. Are you willing to back that up, if I don't find who she belongs to?"
"I'll let you know sometime Monday on that issue." Ranger hung up the phone. He didn't want to give anything away. Morelli, you won't be asking me that again. I'd back it up, but she's yours and I know you'll come demanding her.