Eliza Higgins and Henry Doolittle

What if fate had dealt the cards just a little bit differently?

Lester swirled around what beer was left in his bottle and eyed his friend. "Fine with me. The fewer women you get involved with means more for me."

"And you can have them, man-whore." Ranger held out his bottle for a toast. "I've found the only one I need ... again."

Chapter 8

While Stephanie waited for her searches to run and print, she spent some time searching online for information about soul mates and past lives. There was no lack of information, but there was also no clear cut consensus on how these things worked, though some theories were more widely accepted than others.

She decided to make a list of questions and go back to visit Stella. Certainly she should be able to get some solid information from her. One article said soul mates do not always have a romantic relationship when they meet up. They can be good friends in one life, lovers in another life, co-workers in yet another life and even brother and sister or parent and child. Ewww, Stephanie thought. Going from lovers to brother and sister just didn't seem right, but then she realized she was thinking of it from her own very narrow, current lifetime, frame of reference. She definitely had more questions than answers.

Most articles said karma and reincarnation go hand in hand and some of the people who wrote the articles actually believe we pick our own parents before we are born into each lifetime. Fascinating stuff, but totally foreign to Stephanie.

Stella also said that she, Stella, had met Ranger many times in the past and Stephanie wanted to question her more about that. Last, but certainly not least, she wanted to see if she could get some more information about Pete Saffron. Stephanie had a bad feeling about him and wanted to be able to help Ranger bring him in safely.

Once her most urgent searches were completed and the pertinent information noted and her suggestions written, she faxed them back to her clients.

There were six messages on her office voice mail. She listened to each one and returned the four that were waiting for a reply. Three were requests for searches which she turned down, much to the dismay of the clients. She apologized and felt bad for letting them down, but she wanted to lighten up her schedule for the next couple of weeks so she had time to spend getting to know Ranger better.

Glancing at her watch, she noted she had four hours until it was time for Ranger to pick her up for their date. Plenty of time to go see Stella and still have time to get back and be ready.

In the kitchen, she removed her stun gun from her utility belt and checked to make sure it had a full charge. Next, she removed her .38. She strapped on two ankle holsters and added the stun gun and the .38. She didn't want to go down to Stark Street without weapons, but she also didn't want to go down there with them on display. Earlier, she didn't mind because she was with Ranger and he was also 'dressed', but she knew there were gang members down there who would laugh if they saw a woman 'dressed' and would feel compelled to challenge her to show her who was boss.

She swapped out her boots for a pair of running shoes and stood in front of the full length mirror to make sure her jeans were long enough and make sure it didn't look obvious she was carrying. After turning around and peering over her shoulder and then at a side angle, she declared herself good to go.

She tore her list of questions for Stella from the pad of paper on her desk, grabbed her purse and keys and headed for the garage.

r/s + r/s

Sixteen minutes later, she was knocking on Stella's front door. There was no answer and Stephanie wondered if she was in the middle of a reading. She waited another minute and then tried the door knob. The door was unlocked, so she went inside.

She made her way down the hallway to the office where Stella did her readings, but the room was empty. Stephanie frowned when she looked at the tarot card spread on the table. It was the same T shape with the same cards turned up as when she and Ranger had been there earlier. Apparently, she hadn't had another customer between then and now.

Stephanie heard the front door open and a woman called out Stella's name. She made her way back to the front door and found a short, stout, middle-age woman wearing a flowery blue house dress, her brunette hair wound in old-fashioned pink foam curlers.

"I'm Emma," the woman said. "I have an appointment with Stella and I'm a couple of minutes late."

"I'm Stephanie. I don't believe she's here, although I haven't checked the rest of the house. It's very quiet and she's not in her reading room ... er, office."

"Do you have an appointment?" Emma asked.

"No, I had one earlier today. I just came back to ask her some follow-up questions."

The two women stood in the hallway and made small talk while waiting to see if Stella would show up. Finally, Emma hiked her cloth drawstring bag up on her shoulder. "I guess she's out. I hope it wasn't an emergency, it's not like her to miss an appointment. I guess I'll go and call her later to reschedule."

Stephanie opened the front door for her. "I'm going to wait a few more minutes."

Emma nodded and left and Stephanie closed the door. She walked to the end of the short hallway to the entrance of the living room and called Stella's name. There was no reply, but a tingle crept up Stephanie's spine and she knew the woman was somewhere in the house.

Walking as quietly as she could, she checked out the kitchen and two bedrooms, but found no one. The door to the bathroom was open and it was apparent no one was in there either. She made her way back to Stella's office and walked in. Instantly, she knew something was wrong. Her Spidey sense was going bonkers. She no sooner crossed the threshold when she was struck on the back of her head with a heavy object and everything went dark.

A/N - It's been a busy weekend, so this is just a short chapter to tide everyone over until I can get a longer one posted. Hope to have one up by Tuesday night. Giant thank you to everyone who is reading along and for all the wonderful feedback.