Ranger was in the shower when I let myself into his apartment. There were parts of me that wanted to join him. Lucky for me, there were other parts that really wanted a peanut butter sandwich. I took a moment to consider my options and the peanut butter parts won by a landslide.

I was still in the kitchen when Ranger stepped out of his bedroom. He was dressed in a pair of sweatpants, his body still damp from the shower. I choked on a piece of sandwich and knocked over my beer, flooding Warner's file.

"Sonovabitch," I said, mopping up the mess with a wad of paper towels.

Ranger crossed the room and looked down at the soggy papers and before I could help myself, I leaned forward and inhaled his scent.

"Babe," he said. Then he pulled me toward him and kissed me until I thought my knees would buckle. My hands grasped for T-shirt but came up empty. Instead, they found themselves mapping out his chest, taking in every well-defined muscle as they made their journey south. I skirted my fingers around the waistband of his sweats and then pulled away. Ranger stared at me, his eyes completely dilated.

"What are you doing?" asked a voice in my head. It was the same voice that told me to look both ways before I crossed the street or to not super-size my value meal at McDonalds. Most of the time I told the voice to take a hike, but this time it decided to stick around.

"I can't do this," I said.

Ranger's eyes flashed. "Don't worry," he said. "I'll talk you through it."

Then he grazed his lips against my neck. I closed my eyes and melted into him for a moment. Then the voice came back. "Bad idea," it said.

I shrugged out of Ranger's grasp and walked into the kitchen, putting some distance between us. "I can't do this," I said to Ranger. He leaned on the counter, palms down. "Where is this going?"

"Babe."

"I'm serious. Where can this . . . this thing" I made a hand gesture between Ranger and me "possibly go? What, we're just going to sleep together until one day you decide it's been fun while it lasted, and take off for God knows where for the next four months?"

Ranger's eyes locked onto mine. "It's possible."

And then there was Morelli. Despite whatever animosity might be going on between us on the outside, I still loved him in my own way. And I had a strong suspicion that he still loved me, too. Except that didn't seem to be enough anymore.

I sighed and leaned back against the refrigerator. Thinking of Morelli got me sad, and being sad made me feel vulnerable. Not a welcome feeling when Ranger was around. An uncomfortable silence lapsed between Ranger and me. Then I pushed myself away from the fridge, collected the files on the counter and shoved them in my bag.

"I'm supposed to meet Tank and Butch in the control room."

"Be careful," Ranger said.

I nodded and let myself out of the apartment.

Tank and Butch were waiting for me at my cubby. I sidled past them, and sunk into the black leather chair. A new cell phone was on my desk. I tucked it into my pocket and dropped the file on the desk. It was still soggy and smelled strongly of hops. Butch gave me a quizzical look.

"I had an accident," I said to him.

Butch shrugged in a whatever-you-say kind-of way. "You got a plan?"

"Of course," I said. Tank and Butch waited, and I sighed. "Okay, not really. But take a look at this."

I passed the timesheets I'd swiped from B & S over to Tank.

"There's no Grayson Warner listed. I've double-checked."

"Maybe he's a contract worker," Butch offered.

"Maybe. I've gone through his bank statements. No bad checks. And he's been making deposits every two weeks, like clockwork."

"How many months did you go back?" Tank asked.

"Just three. I took what I found laying around."

Tank nodded. "We can get a twelve month history on the account," he said. Then he took down the routing and account numbers and made a couple phone calls. When he was done, he turned back to me. "Do you have any other leads?"

I thought about it and took a mental inventory. I'd checked out his apartment and potential employer already. Both of those had been dead ends. There had been a few contact numbers listed on his bond application, but those had all been disconnected. Right then, all I knew about Grayson Warner was that he was still in town and he was stalking me. So I guess I was doing something right.

"No," I said. "I've got nothing. I'm out of ideas."

"Have you talked to his landlord?"

I shook my head, no. "Not yet."

Tank dipped his chin a fraction of an inch. "Let's check it out," he said. "Anything else?"

"I'm starving. What are the chances we can stop by McDonald's on the way?"

The apartments on Tioga Street had been traced back to Blue Moon Properties, a real estate agency just outside of center city. We pulled into the lot outside a small square brick building and Tank cut the engine. All the windows were shaded and darkened. A large CLOSED sign was placed in the window above the mail slot. I forced the last French fry into my mouth and wiped the grease on my pants leg. Then I reached for the door handle.

"Sorry, Bombshell," he said, "but you're staying. I'm on strict orders not to let you get dead."

He pressed a button and the locks slid into place. I tried the handle. The door wouldn't open.

"No way," I said. "I don't know what Ranger told you, but this is still my case. I'm going in there."

Tank and I locked eyes for a moment. Then he sighed and asked, "You got a gun?" I rummaged around in my bag and pulled out my Sig. "Loaded?"

Good question. "Let's hope we don't have to find out," I said.

"Nice try." Tank and Butch angled out of the SUV. "And don't bother trying to follow. I've activated the child-proof locks, and this Explorer is equipped with a motion-sensitive alarm system. You try anything, I'll know about it. And I'll tell Ranger."

Tank shut the door and pressed a button on his key fob. There was a loud click as the doors locked, followed by two short beeps from the alarm system.

"Jerk!" I yelled, pounding on the window at Tank's retreating back. "Creep! And I'm taking back your Christmas present!"

I felt a tingling sensation at my hip and realized my cell phone was vibrating.

"Where are you?" Morelli asked. "And why the hell haven't you been answering your cell phone?"

"I'm in a car," I said, "and I haven't been answering my cell phone because it was broken."

Morelli gave an exasperated sigh. "I'll be tied up here for a few days. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want you to stay with Ranger until I get back. Do you understand?"

"Not really."

Morelli said something in Italian which I was sure would have made his mother slap him upside the head, had she heard it.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I just got a call from one of the guys in homicide. We have a positive ID on the hand in your freezer. Apparently it's been on ice for a while. Erika Bartlett, reported missing eighteen months ago. That name sound familiar?"

"No. Should it?"

"There was some pretty heavy press coverage at the time of her disappearance. A few private companies signed on to help with the search."

Mental head slap. "Rangeman."

"For starters."

A large blue Nissan Xterra passed by the SUV, blinding me with its high-beams. It slowed as it passed the Explorer, but had rounded the corner by the time I had it pegged in the rearview. Morelli started talking again. I told myself I should probably be listening, but alarms were going off in my brain. I crawled over the gearshift and into the driver's seat and adjusted the mirrors so I had a better view. I made a few noncommittal sounds into the phone and kept my eyes peeled for anything strange. I didn't have to wait long. Within seconds, the Xterra bolted down the street, the lights cut. It was dark out, but I was able to see the driver as he passed under a streetlight. Too bad he was wearing a ski mask. Then he pulled out a gun and pointed it at me.

I dropped the cell phone and flattened myself against the floorboard. He fired five shots, one right after the other. Glass flew everywhere, shards of it stinging my hands as I buried my head into the passenger seat. When it was over, the only sound louder than the ringing in my head was that of the car alarm.

The door to the Explorer wrenched open, and I felt someone scoop me out of the SUV with one arm. It was Tank. He stood me up against the rear hatch and brushed some glass out of my hair. He had the same tight-lipped look that Ranger always got when I was shot at.

"You okay? You're bleeding."

I touched a hand to my left temple and brought it back sticky with blood. I nodded shakily. "Yeah. But can you do something about that alarm?"

Tank pressed a button on his key fob and the blaring stopped. He guided me around to the other side of the Explorer. Butch held the rear passenger-side door open and I climbed in. Then he flipped open his cell, and auto-dialed Ranger.

A few minutes later, The Turbo rolled to a stop beside the Explorer. The passenger door opened and Tank shoved me inside. He dropped my bag and cell phone onto my lap, nodded once to Ranger, and shut the door. We rode in silence to the office and took the elevator to seven. Ranger put a hand to my back and steered me into his dressing room. Then he helped me out of my coat and brushed my hair away from my face, and tilted my chin to the right. He ran a fingertip gently over my temple, and I winced.

"Ow," I said. "Bad?"

Ranger shook his head, no. "Just a scratch. Here," he handed me a stack of towels, "I'll let you get cleaned up."

I stepped out of the shower squeaky clean and bundled myself up in Ranger's bathrobe. He was waiting for me in the living room. The tips of his mouth turned up slightly when he saw me. He picked up a mug of steaming liquid and handed it to me. Hot chocolate. I took a sip and took a seat on the couch while Ranger settled himself on the edge of the coffee table.

"Want to tell me what happened?"

"Want to tell me about Erika Bartlett?"

Ranger looked almost amused. "You first."

I sighed and pulled my feet under the bathrobe.

"We went to talk to Warner's landlord. Except when we got there, Tank wouldn't let me go inside. He locked me in the Explorer. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Ranger smirked. "No," he lied. "But remind me to give Tank a raise."

I rolled my eyes and continued. "Anyway, I was on the phone with Morelli-" I stopped and did a full-on head-slap. I had forgotten to call Joe. "Oh, shit."

"Babe, Morelli called my cell after Tank checked in. I told him you were okay."

I rested my head on my palm, feeling completely guilty. Then I took another sip of hot chocolate and felt a little bit better.

"I didn't see much," I said. "It was dark, and he wore a mask."

"What about the car?"

"Nissan Xterra. A blue one. Royal Blue."

"Get the license plate number?"

I shook my head. "No. But I don't think we'll have a problem finding it. Definitely it was a custom paint job. That color blue doesn't come standard."

Ranger nodded.

"Your turn," I said to Ranger.

"Rangeman did some pro-bono work on the disappearance of Erika Bartlett last year. Mostly it was handled by outside contractors. I'll have the file on your desk tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we're making Warner a number-one priority. Which means you'll have a lot more help from now on."

"Right," I said with an eyeroll. "You give me any more 'help' and you'd might as well lock me up in that cabin in the woods."

"That's still an option."

I glared at Ranger. I was seething on the outside. But on the inside, I was oddly comforted by the gesture. Go figure.

"You gave me a week," I reminded him.

"Your gun wasn't loaded, Babe. That negates our agreement."

Ranger leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. I tried to shrug away, but Ranger held my arms in a vise-like grip and kissed me again, this time on the mouth. I stopped struggling about two seconds into it and kissed him back. We pulled apart, and I said breathlessly, "I'm still mad at you."

"You'll get over it."

Ranger let go and moved into the bedroom suite. I leaned against the door frame and watched him sort through his gun drawer.

"I'm going out. Hal, Ram, and Woody are on the night shift. Let them know if you need anything." He checked out his gun and attached it to his belt. Then he turned to me. "If I asked you to stay in tonight, would it do any good?"

"No."

"Then I'll be sure to equip the men with tasers." Ranger smiled like he was kidding, but I knew he probably wasn't. He stuck his hand inside the robe and kissed me again. It was short. No tongue. "Don't wait up."

Then he plucked his keys from the silver tray on the sideboard, and closed the door behind him.