Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money. I'm just playing.

Trial no.5

The sound of clattering downstairs in her kitchen woke Connie with a start. She looked blearily at her clock; it was nearly 9 o'clock and either she had slept straight through her alarm or someone had turned it off. She swung her legs out of bed and walked towards the door, accidentally stubbing her little toe on the chair that wasn't normally there on the way.

"OW! Damn!" She hopped around on the floor holding the throbbing toe in her hand. "Shit!"

"Connie?"

She heard a male voice call her name at the same time as there was a loud pounding on the stairs. Hal burst through the door. She started with surprise and overbalanced, landing on her ass with a thump.

"What happened?" he asked, extending a hand to pull her to her feet.

She waved weakly at the offending chair. "When furniture attacks." She sat on the edge of the bed and massaged her foot. "I didn't know that an all night guard was part of the RangeMan employment package?"

She was too busy inspecting her sore toe to notice Hal looking a little shifty.

"Got to look after our people until they find their feet."

"Yeah, except the chair got there first."

His jaw set as he noticed the fresh bruise blooming on her cheekbone. "Son of a bitch got you bad. You got any ice in your freezer?"

"Yeah, in a bag near the bottom somewhere."

"I'll be right back."

o0o0o0o0o

After a few minutes Connie threw on a robe and headed downstairs. She found Hal peering down into her freezer doubtfully.

"No luck?" she asked.

"I can't see any."

"Let me look." She pushed in front of him and leaned precariously over into the freezer. She started moving packages around, continuing to talk as she looked for the ice. "You know, you're living proof of the male-as-hunter theory1. If the bag made a break for it I bet your macho, prey-spotting vision would have spotted it, but can you see something sitting still right under your nose? Noooo."

While the top half of her body was still inside the freezer she heard the back door open and a familiar voice call out to her.

"Hey, Connie, any chance of some… and who the hell are you?"

She straightened up to find her brother standing at the open back door engaged in a stare-down with Hal. Hal had his arms folded and the patented RangeMan blank look on his face.

"Oh, knock it off, Tony."

The younger, dark haired man broke away grinning. "It's the brotherly thing to do." Then he caught sight of her face and his went dark and thunderous. "You want to tell me where that came from?"

He moved towards Hal with angry intent. Hal unfolded his arms and looked prepared to stop him getting much closer.

"Enough!" She crossed the room and stepped between them, facing her brother and stopping his forward motion. "I got this," she pointed to the bruise, "doing bond enforcement work, which has been agreed to be my business and no-one else's as you damn well know. The guy that gave it to me is probably in the hospital. He," and she jerked her head back over her shoulder towards Hal, "is the reason why he's in the hospital, and he's here at my invitation. So back the fuck off out of my business unless I say otherwise."

She took a step backwards and leaned her back against the wall of muscle behind her; much the same way that Stephanie did with Ranger occasionally when she wanted to make a point, or when she thought no-one was watching.

She immediately realized why; it felt like the safest place in the world. Hal wrapped an arm around her waist and she jumped slightly in surprise.

Tony was backing away, shaking his head. "Okay, I won't intrude, but Connie, be careful. You get hurt and this is going to get real bad, real fast."

"I know, but I'm fine. You still want breakfast? I assume that's why you're here."

"Suddenly, I'm not hungry." Tony went back out through the back door and slammed it behind him.

Connie sighed. "Hal?"

"Yeah?"

"You can let go now."

"Sorry."

o0o0o0o0o

She wrapped crushed ice in a washcloth and made coffee while Hal finished cooking the breakfast that he had started earlier.

Just as they were about to eat, Hal's cell rang.

"Yeah?… Shit, how long?… Thanks, man, I owe you one."

He jumped up from the table and headed for the front door. "Gotta go. Ranger's back on-line and headed for the office. You're covered for the bonds office today and not expected in, so just take it easy."

He was almost at the door when he turned around and rushed back to the table. He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. "Sorry for that, too," then he was gone.

She blinked in confusion for a few moments, then finally shook her head and carried on with her breakfast.

Stephanie woke in her apartment at around 9.30. She thought that she could smell Bulgari faintly in the room, although that might have been from Ranger's tee-shirt that she currently had hidden under her pillow. The tee-shirt wouldn't account for the slight rumpling of the other side of her bed, though, nor would it tell her the actual cause under interrogation. Neither would its original owner; if she confronted him he would just give her a blank look and a non-committal 'Babe'.

She picked up her cell and called Hal. "Good morning, how is she?… Good….I'll ask Lula to take some lunch over for her later…. Aww, are you wasting away? I'll get you something on my way in if you want. If you want to hide in the gun cupboard while you eat it I'll even make it an Egg McMuffin.… Welcome to the slippery slope of bad nutrition, my friend. Now, are you in, or do you want to find some bran cereal with skim milk in the break room?… For what you did last night, I'll throw in a room deodorizer too.… Of course I know what you did.… Well how do you think I know?… If he is planning to kill you, he didn't tell me on the phone…. The way I see it, you might as well make your last meal a good one…. Okay, I'll see you in a little while. I'll call you from the basement and you can eat it in my car."

o0o0o0o0o

Stephanie spent the morning at RangeMan doing searches and making calls for her open cases as well as watching Hal jump every time a door opened or closed. Eventually she took pity on him and wandered into Ranger's office.

"You busy?"

"Come on in anyway."

She wandered over to his desk and took her usual seat perched on his lap. She inspected the papers in front of him. "Timesheets? You must be bored half to death."

"You have no idea. Sometimes I wish I was still just a bounty hunter."

"I remember you back when I was trying to catch Joe. No uniforms, just bling and ghetto-speak."

"And you trying to catch skips in a skirt and giving them your gun to shoot me with," he replied dryly.

"Interesting times."

"Good times."

"Only you could remember being shot and think it was good. And maybe Lester."

She decided that it was safe to bring the subject of Hal up. "You know that Hal is dying in slow degrees out there waiting for you to catch up with him about last night."

"I know. He's not in trouble about last night."

She was speechless for a second. "You think maybe you could let him know that?"

"No. Letting him swing for the day is punishment for eating the Egg McMuffin that you smuggled in to him this morning."

She shook her head. "You are unbelievable. And how did you know about that anyway?"

"I have ways. Interested in a deal?" His expression was bland.

Stephanie's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"I'll let him off the hook right now if you let me come with you this afternoon to hunt skips."

"You must be really bored."

"Just make my day and tell me you've got some that might fight back," he said.

"I'm sure I can find you one. You go and put him out of his misery and I'll meet you in the garage with the open files."

o0o0o0o0o

They met up downstairs and took the Cayenne out.

Ranger's manner had eased noticeably as soon as they started driving. "So, tell me what we've got."

"Is that eagerness I detect in your voice, Mr Manoso?"

"Is that the voice of a woman that wants to go back onto permanent search duty?"

She winced. "Okay, no more teasing. It'll take me a while to sort out the files with the best chance of some action for you, though. What do you want to do until then?"

He took his eyes off the road long enough to give her a heated glance.

"Apart from that. Jeez, enough with the testosterone overload."

"Just find me someone to hit and maybe you'll get back to the office with your virtue intact."

"You're scary sometimes."

"Glad you're finally working that out, Babe."

After a few minutes sorting through files, Stephanie found one. "Okay, I've got a possible. Gordon Hoskins, assault with a deadly weapon plus assorted smaller charges. Stated address in Newark plus an address for the girlfriend in Trenton. She arranged the bond with Vinnie. She has priors for petty theft and prostitution. He's worth $40,000 to us, and you'll be delighted to know that he resisted arrest when they picked him up."

"Sounds perfect. Let's check him out first."

o0o0o0o0o

Hoskins' apartment was in the basement of an old house. The door was at the bottom of a short flight of concrete steps. Iron railings partially hid the entrance from the road.

They moved cautiously down the steps and got into position then knocked on the door. There was no answer.

Ranger surveyed the area. "Perfect."

"What? Why is him not being home perfect?" Stephanie asked.

He took one of her hands and opened it flat, lazily tracing small patterns across the skin of her palm and fingers as he did so. Her breath caught and she watched his fingers move through hazy vision as her skin heated wherever they touched. Suddenly he placed a small pouch into her hands and pressed her fingers closed around it, jolting her out of her reverie.

"Because, Ms Plum, you have yet to pass the company B and E exam. You get to open the door." He stepped aside to take a position where he could keep watch.

"Asshole," Stephanie muttered under her breath as she bent to the lock and got to work.

To her surprise, she opened it in less than five minutes. She stayed crouched down in position as the door swung gently open in front of her.

Ranger pulled her to her feet and kissed her fast and hard. "That's my girl. Now let's go find me a bad guy to take my frustrations out on."

Stephanie furrowed her brow. "What frustrations?"

He swung round in the doorway and stared at her.

"Oh. Those," she murmured.

They stepped over a large pile of junk mail and quickly worked through the dingy apartment looking for traces of recent occupation.

Stephanie opened the refrigerator and recoiled. "Either he's running a cheese factory or he hasn't been using the milk."

"I don't think he's been here lately, and there's no mail of interest. Let's move on to the girlfriend's place."

o0o0o0o0o

The girlfriend's apartment was on the top floor of another converted house. There was a strong smell of overcooked cabbage in the stairwell and the walls were painted a sludgy yellow color that spoke of decades of cigarette smoke and grime. The carpet was blackened and tacky with ancient grease and they could feel their feet tearing free with each step across it.

They got to the top floor and knocked at the door. A middle-aged woman with a head of frowsy platinum blonde hair with dark roots opened the door. She had a leathery tan and a sagging neck to go with it.

"We're looking for Gordon Hoskins, ma'am. Is he home?" Stephanie asked. Ranger stood silently behind her, blocking the doorway.

She looked nervous, and she wouldn't look directly at either of them. "I don't know anyone by that name."

"Now why do I think you're lying?" Ranger asked.

Stephanie cut in. "We represent Vincent Plum Bail Bonds and we are authorized to apprehend Mr Hoskins. We know that you arranged bail for him, and since we suspect that he is on the premises, we do have the right to enter and conduct a search. Now, you can help us or we can do this the hard way."

"He ain't here," the woman answered.

Ranger gave her a mirthless smile. "Shall we find out?"

Stephanie took the woman firmly by the arm and drew her out into the hall. "Come with me, please. You can go back in after the search."

"He can't just walk into my place like that!"

"You want to be the one to tell him that?"

The woman fell silent and allowed Stephanie to guide her to a corner in the hallway outside the apartment where she stood in front of her.

Ranger walked through the apartment and started checking the rooms. He cleared the living room and bedroom before finding the bathroom door locked. "Who's in the bathroom, ma'am?"

Stephanie still had the woman penned in a corner outside. "You'd better tell him."

She just shook her head.

"She's not going to answer," Stephanie called back.

"What a shame," Ranger answered as he raised a boot and gave the door a hard kick. The bolt ripped off the door as it swung open.

A heavyset man with thinning hair rushed out with a section of shower pole in his hands and swung it at Ranger's head. Ducking under the path of the pole, Ranger rose up and knocked it out of his assailant's hand before he could start another swing. At the same time he kicked one of the man's legs away. As he dropped to the floor Ranger turned him over and quickly secured him in a painful hold with one arm twisted behind his back. It was over almost before it had begun.

xxxxx

When she heard the bathroom door crash Hoskins' girlfriend panicked and tried to push past Stephanie to get back into the apartment.

Stephanie pushed her back into the corner as gently as she could and pinned the woman's arms to her sides as she used her weight to hold her there. "Don't. You can't stop this," she said gently. She restrained her there for the minute or so that it took for Ranger to take down Hoskins and bring him out.

She finally released her when Hoskins was out of the apartment and on his way down the stairs in cuffs. "You can go back inside now. We're taking him straight to the station; you can call the bonds office for someone to meet you there if you want to bond him out again, it's up to you." Then she followed Ranger and Hoskins down the stairs and helped shackle Hoskins into the back seat of the Cayenne before they drove to the station.

"Good work, Babe," Ranger commented as they pulled out. "I was wrong about something, though."

"What about? This was a textbook job."

"Having someone to hit hasn't solved anything."

Her face flushed as she remembered Lula's violent movie theory and she buried her face in the pile of case folders to hide it.

xxxxx

They were heading out of the station with the body receipt when they met Morelli coming in through the door from the car park. He and Stephanie stopped for a moment, not quite sure what to say to each other. Ranger carried on quietly and went out to the Cayenne to give them some privacy.

"Hi, Steph." Joe spoke first.

"Joe."

"Who'd you bring in?" he asked.

"Hoskins."

"Good catch."

She shrugged.

"I won't keep you. I just wanted to say one thing, Cupc… Steph. Don't avoid me. You don't have to, okay?"

She nodded, then headed for the door. When she got there she stopped and looked back. "Thanks, Joe."

She opened the door and went out to the Cayenne.

xxxxx

It was a quieter drive back to the office than it had been coming out. Ranger was in his zone, his face firmly shuttered. The chatter about cases and getting out of the office had ended, and when he finally spoke as they drove into the garage, he was all business.

"I have to get back to work. You can take the body receipt for Hoskins in tomorrow when you make the bonds' office run. If you stop by my office tomorrow morning before you go I'll have Connie's next job ready for you as well."

Stephanie came into the office at 9 o'clock the next day and headed straight to Ranger's office. She stopped short in confusion when he wasn't there. She was sure that he'd said the morning. She assumed that something had come up and went back to her desk to do some searches while she waited for him

At 11 she gave up on waiting and went to Tank's office instead.

"You seen Ranger?"

"Out seeing a client. He gave me this to give to you." Tank held out a manila file.

She took it and flipped through it. "It's a skip file. Shit, Tank, he's got a rap sheet for violent crime three pages long."

"So take back-up."

"No, you don't get it. This isn't for me, it's for Connie."

Tank sucked in a breath. "Fuck that. You take Hal with you, like usual. Then you pick Lula up and go shopping for the day or something. Out of town. You understand me?"

She walked around the desk and hugged him. "You're a good man, Tank. I may have to take Lula to Victoria's Secret, just for you."

"Just get out of here before Ranger sees us and shoots my ass."

"Yes, boss." She saluted and walked out of the office to go and find Hal.

Tank pulled his cell out of his pocket and dialed. "It's done…. Hal…. Will do."

xxxxx

Hal and Stephanie arrived at the bonds' office at midday. Connie was in her usual position at her desk and Lula was half-heartedly filing using a method which involved a large bite of donut for every file put in the drawers.

"Hey, guys." Stephanie grabbed the donut box and threw herself down on the couch. She jerked her head towards Vinnie's door and mimed as she mouthed the words, "He listening?"

Connie shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

Lula held her finger up in the universal gesture for 'one moment' then said in a loud voice, "You know, I ran into Jackie last week, and you wouldn't believe what she told me. Some sorry-assed john wanted to know if she'd get it on with a horse while he watched. Do you believe that?"

They fell silent and listened for a response in Vinnie's office.

"Reckon we're clear." Lula said.

"Excellent. Connie, your next job is a skip. He's bad news, so I've arranged for Hal to help, provided you don't tell Ranger."

Lula gave Hal a searching look. "This is Hal? From the other night?"

Hal looked up from his inspection of the contents of the donut box. Stephanie nodded.

Lula stood right in front of him with her hands on her hips. "You worked Sonny over real good. He's still hurtin' bad. And I got a message for you from some people on Stark Street."

Hal tensed.

Lula put one hand on each side of his face and laid a huge kiss square on his mouth. "Thank you. Ain't many of us in that life by choice, and it ain't often that we get a chance at payback. Thank you."

He opened his mouth several times before managing to get anything out. "You're…. you're welcome."

Lula carried on. "And the second part of the message is that your money ain't no good in certain quarters. Just visit with ol' Lula so that I can make the introductions."

Hal turned beet red. "Please-" He stopped to take a deep breath and started again. "Please tell the…. ladies that that won't be necessary. I'm glad that I could help."

Lula winked. "Oh, they ain't all ladies. The boys appreciated it just as much. Whatever floats your boat, honey."

A look of panic crossed his face.

Stephanie cut in. "Before you expand his horizons any more, Lula, we need to get out of here. We have shopping to do, and I have a gift to arrange for your man. Hal, if anyone asks, you guarded my body all day."

"Got it."

xxxxx

When the girls were gone Hal waved the manila file at Connie. "Want to see what we have to do?"

"Pass it over."

"Not a chance."

She raised her eyebrows. "You expect me to sit on that couch with you? You forget, I've seen the visitors that sit on it."

He jumped up, and she smiled evilly. "Gotcha."

"I burn toast for you in the morning and this is the thanks I get?"

"No-one said being a hero was easy." She got up from her desk and flopped next to him on the couch. "Fine, I'm here. Talk to me."

"Sam Picket, aggravated assault."

"I remember him. We have half his apartment in the store-room. Works at a food factory up on Route One."

"We'll start with his apartment then go and see if anyone at the factory has seen him."

xxxxx

The apartment was locked up and quiet. Connie used her new lock picking skills while Hal kept watch. It looked as though Sam had been there recently. The food in the fridge still looked like food and there was recently opened mail on the table.

"We'd normally wait for him to come home in situations like this, but I don't know how long I have since I'm not supposed to be here," Hal said. "Let's head up to the factory and try our luck there. We can check a few other places on the way."

xxxxx

By the time they got there it was nearly 4 o'clock. The food factory turned out to look a lot like a small, run-down warehouse from the outside. The main building stood to one side of the lot, and there were a series of sheds to the other. Half a dozen women wearing grubby white overalls were clustered around a side door smoking. An unmarked white truck was being loaded up with boxes at the main entrance.

"You join the group and see if they'll tell you anything. I'll try the guys loading the truck," Hal directed.

Connie nodded and walked over to where the women were collected. He watched her for a moment then headed for the truck.

"Hey guys, I'm looking for a buddy of mine, Sam. He around?"

The two men didn't stop loading the boxes.

"Nope," one of them answered.

"Know where I might find him?"

This time they both stopped and looked him up and down, taking in the buzz cut, the black jeans and the green polo shirt that strained across the muscle underneath.

"Nope."

Then they carried on loading boxes.

Possibly this undercover stuff was a little harder than it originally looked. He looked over to the gaggle of women on their cigarette break and hoped that Connie was having better luck.

Possibly it depended on whether your definition of luck included a smoker's cough, because she was leaning against the door with a lit cigarette in her hand, and she was deep in conversation with the women. He watched her say something, and as one they shifted their gaze to where he was standing. Two of the younger women giggled and the older ones looked positively predatory. He was sure that he'd seen that look before when he was watching the National Geographic channel, usually just before something got dragged down and eaten while it was still kicking. They turned back to Connie and she nodded once, then they all laughed. At that moment, he was absolutely certain that he didn't want to know what Connie had said to them.

The vehicle behind him started up and pulled out of the lot, leaving just the women outside. They were putting out their cigarettes and starting to go back into the building, so he walked over to where Connie was standing. As soon as the last woman was inside she had ground the cigarette out on the ground with distaste.

"How did you get on?" he asked.

"I can get you a date for Saturday night if you're interested."

"I've seen kinder looking wolf packs, and never tell me what you said to them to make them look like that. Just tell me that you have a lead on Sam."

"Better than that, he's here somewhere. Came in looking worried a couple of hours ago and disappeared into the site somewhere. They suggested that we might want to check out the sheds. Turns out that Sam hasn't made many female friends around here. A little too free with his hands, if you know what I mean."

For the first time in his life, Hal wished that men talked as much as women did. Then he remembered his mother and sisters and changed his mind. You could have too much of a good thing. "Let's go for a look round. Do you have a gun?"

Connie produced a gun from her purse that looked like it could take down an elephant. "This do?"

"Damn. Remind me not to piss you off."

xxxxx

The factory was starting to wind down for the day, so there weren't many people around. They found the security guard and warned him that they were hunting a bail jumper on site. He didn't seem much interested and stayed in his booth at the gate with his portable TV and flask of coffee.

They worked out a simple system as they gradually checked out the storage sheds. They would open the door cautiously, then Hal would move in with gun drawn and check out the room. Connie would stay at the door, watching for Sam in case he was outside and ready to prevent an escape if Hal flushed him from a hiding place inside. The first four sheds revealed nothing, just cartons of empty packaging in one, trays of wrinkled fruit in the next, cans of fruit puree and drums of cooking oil in the third. The fourth held dry goods. Sacks of flour and sugar were stacked five high on pallets in the center of the room. Hal skirted carefully around the edge of the stack. There were way too many places to hide around here.

Something rustled in a corner and he spun to face it with his gun raised. A rat looked back at him through beady eyes. "Fuck."

"What's going on?" Connie called from the doorway.

"Rat."

"I notice you didn't scream."

"If it ran over my foot I might have."

xxxxx

The door to the fifth shed was unlocked and when they eased it open quietly they found the lights already on. Large vats of uncooked cake batter sat in the center of the room and more drums of oil were stacked around the edges. They drew their guns and moved silently into position, Connie by the door and Hal further into the room.

Something moved in a corner and Hal turned to cover it, half expecting another rat. Instead a skinny man with long, greasy, blonde hair emerged from a corner behind the oil drums with his hands up.

"Sam Picket?" Hal asked.

The man nodded and moved out of his corner. "I'm coming in. Shoulda know better than to try and run anyway."

He got level with the vats and Hal started to lower his gun. As soon as he did, Picket ducked behind the vats and heaved at one of them. Thick batter poured across the floor from the vat, followed by more as he tipped another, then another. Kicking the upended vats so they would start rolling, Picket scrambled for the door on his hands and feet in the confusion. Hal jumped out of the way of the rolling vats and raised his gun.

Connie saw the movement. "Don't shoot him!"

Hal cursed and tried to grab him instead, but the batter all over the floor had made it dangerously slippery. He slipped and slid across the floor trying to keep his footing. Finally he just made a dive across the vats and made a grab for him. They both fell to the floor in a chaotic tangle of arms and legs, Hal trying to keep hold of Picket as he squirmed and thrashed.

The trip to the floor had coated them both in batter and Hal was badly winded from landing across one of the vats on his wild dive. He felt his grip slipping. Picket felt it too and renewed his efforts to break free. Finally he managed to get away and slipped and slid towards the door.

He flung open the door, dismissing the woman standing next to it. It was a mistake. Connie reversed the gun in her hand and rapped him smartly across the temple with the butt. He went down like a falling tree to lie senseless on the floor.

She pulled a pair of cuffs from her pocket and rolled him to the rail that ran alongside the walkway outside. When he was securely cuffed to the rail she came back into the shed.

Hal was sat on the floor in the puddle of batter, covered in it from head to foot.

Connie put her hands over her face. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I just didn't want him shot. You wouldn't believe the trouble we get into when skips get shot."

Hal waved a hand helplessly. "Whatever. Jeez, I'm covered in the stuff."

"Let me help you." Connie extended both her hands.

He looked at her dubiously. "I'm a little heavier than you."

"Since it's my fault you're down there, at least let me try," she said, and she took one of his enormous hands in both of hers.

"Connie, I don't think-"

Connie leaned back and heaved, and one foot shot out in front of her on the slippery floor. She landed flat on her back in the same puddle of batter that he was already sitting in.

"-it's a good idea."

She sat up gingerly and rubbed her hands together to try and scrape some of the batter from them. "Ya think?"

"Possibly not," he said. "You okay?"

She reached a hand out toward his face and flicked away a glob of batter that was dripping from his ear. A giggle bubbled up in her throat. "You look ridiculous."

His face creased into a smile. "So do you."

"We are possibly the worst bounty hunters in the world."

He started to laugh. "No, Steph and Lula burned down the pot house, remember."

"Yeah, but I'm not sure Steph ever got her bra filled with cake batter, even on her worst day." Her giggles were fast becoming uncontrollable laughter.

He was laughing too. "Seriously?"

"Oh yeah. And it's cold, sticky and uncomfortable."

"Well, no gentleman could allow a lady to stay cold, sticky and uncomfortable. Let me help you," and he made a playful grab towards the vee of her sodden tee-shirt.

She shrieked with laughter, "Oh no, don't you dare!" and promptly slipped backwards into the pool of batter again.

He followed her down, making a show of trying to tear the tee-shirt off her, and tickling her until she squealed.

"Get off. Get off. I am so going to get you for this. Hal, you swine!"

And then his lips were on hers, and suddenly the pool of batter didn't matter and revenge was the last thing on her mind.

xxxxx

"Hello? Somebody? Help!"

Sam Picket's plaintive calls dragged Connie's attention away from the kind of kiss that she'd always heard whispers about in school. The kind that went on in the quiet under the bleachers. The kind that she had always wished that she could have and had never gotten. If she could just get rid of the cake batter it would probably count as one of the best moments in her life. Unfortunately, as soon as Picket's whimpering dragged her back to reality, she was reminded about the cold, sticky mess over and under her clothes. It was starting to make her itch as it dried on her skin.

She broke the kiss and pushed Hal away. "We need to get going before someone hears him."

He nodded and climbed to his feet, then reached down and pulled her up as well.

Picket was sitting up looking as sticky and uncomfortable as Connie currently felt. She unlocked the cuff from the rail and relocked it around his other wrist behind his back while Hal stood over him daring him to try anything else. Together they frog-marched him back to the SUV.

As they passed the security booth, the guard inside looked at the three sticky figures in horror.

"Your rat problem is way out of hand," Connie said to him. "They're have a colony in the cake batter. They nearly took us down. You should go check it out. Take your gun."

Hal nodded impassively in agreement and they walked out to the SUV, got in and drove away.

1 An interesting little theory discussed in Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps: How We're Different and What to Do About It. Finally, evidence for why neither my husband nor my son can ever find the cheese in the fridge. Answer – because it's not running away. An interesting and entertaining book, although not one to slavishly believe every word of.

./Dont-Listen-Women-Cant-Read/dp/0752846191/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1200839764&sr=8-1