Chapter 23

What the fuck was Lester up to? Looking to the front of the cab I noticed that the meter wasn't running, so focused on the id that was hanging from the knob.

Frank Plum! Why was he driving? Was he even supposed to be the cab that Lester had arranged to pick us up?

"Chill out Ranger. Once we get to our destination, you'll get the full story"

It was times like this that I could throttle Lester but decided to stay silent. Speaking would only affirm to him just how pissed off I was feeling. Instead, I looked out of the window at where we were going, but even doing that was confusing.

"Take the battery out of your phone"

Came from Lester as he began to dismantle his own. I did the same understanding why. We certainly didn't want anyone to know where we were going. Checking on our surroundings I was aware of the turns that Frank was making and also how similar looking taxis would occasionally pass us, slow down or take a turn. If I didn't know better, then I'd think that they were running a distraction for us.

The last place that I expected for us to arrive at was the garage that the taxis worked out of, but that was where we were. Both Frank Plum and Lester opened their doors, so I did the same and then found myself following them up some old wooden stairs. To be honest I didn't know what to say so kept quiet. Hopefully Lester would fill me in on why we'd had to make this clandestine journey with Frank Plum of all people. As I stepped through the door at the top of the stairs, I came to a halt at what I was seeing. The room seemed to cover the entire space of the ground floor area with the slope of the roof coming down on two sides. In the center was a large table with a number of laptops laid out. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting but that wasn't what stopped me. It was seeing the two men slouched over paperwork that surprised me.

"Coffee Ranger?"

Had me looking at Frank Plum and nodding my head. Why the hell were Ajax and Flynn here? I took the mug offered to me and took the hint from how Lester was watching me before sitting down next to him. He knew me well so would assume that I'd go ballistic with someone. Frank Plum took the seat opposite me, so I waited for some sort of explanation, surprised when it was coming from Frank Plum.

"These two boys, well they came to me for a bit of advice. Flynn's father served with me back in the day and we were good friends. I always told him that if his son ever needed my help then I'd be there for him. I offered them this place for them to work from"

By now Ajax and Flynn had both stopped whatever they were doing and were between Frank Plum and me. I wasn't sure how to feel. Annoyed that they'd gone to someone else and not me or that they'd gone to Frank Plum of all people.

"Sir. I know that we should have spoken to you or Tank but, well, he, he kept badgering us"

Okay, that was interesting but before I started to pester them for any more information I sat back and decided to wait them out.

"Hell, he even brought this damn pen holder in, full of highlighters, saying that it would be useful"

At this point Ajax turned to a very worried looking Flynn, I suppose wanting him to carry on with their story.

"He gave me the creeps. The way that he'd try and look at our work on the boards, I just didn't trust him. So, I bought one of those scanners. The fucker had bugged our room"

At last I was following what they were telling me and my first thought was that it had been Oslow. I wanted for them to say who it was, if they even knew his name, though surely him being the only man in the building who used a wheelchair would give a description. I waited but eventually my patience ran out.

"Who was it?"

"The man in the wheelchair, Oslow I think he's called. I mean at first, we kinda felt for him, knowing that he'd been injured so bad, but in the end, he was so persistent and that was when Flynn suggested that we talked to Frank"

"Especially as those damn pots were all over the place"

Christ, this was turning into a clusterfuck. That man had to be picked up and questioned and looking at Lester I could see that he was in agreement with me.

"Ranger, I know that you run a tight ship. These two boys weren't sure what to do so I offered them this place. I was working out a way to talk to you but things kind of got complicated for me today'

Looking to Frank Plum I think that I knew just what the complication was.

"Morelli?"

I offered knowing that Morelli would have gone round to the Plum's house looking for Steph.

"Yes. Stupid bastard came round to the house and when he discovered that Steph wasn't there tried to blame her for her being missing. Hell, even Ellen was shocked that he didn't know where Steph was because as far as we knew she'd left town with Morelli. Then the old bat, well she didn't hesitate to have a go at both of us and told us what she thought of Morelli. I knew that I needed to talk to you, somewhere private, for you to know where these two were. Edna came to me with a plan for tonight, though I'm not too sure how she's got herself involved. I need to ask you if you can find my baby girl"

I suppose that Frank Plum would know that I always looked out for Steph even if he'd never acknowledged it to me. Not an easy position for a father to be in when according to his wife Morelli was such an ideal man for Steph. Oh and of course that me and my men were thugs and criminals.

"Give me a minute"

I wasn't sure if what I was thinking of was for the best or not, but it wasn't my decision to make. Fortunately no one questioned where I was going as I exited the room and went down into the garage. It was dark with no sign of anyone else being here. Taking out the burner phone I found a quiet corner ,where I had a view of my surroundings and hit the number listed.

"Hi. You're early"

Came the voice that I was desperate to hear.

"Babe"

Was the first thing that came from me because I wasn't sure how she'd react to what I wanted to ask her.

"Is everything okay?"

Trust Steph to pick up that something was indeed not okay just from my utterance of that one word.

"Morelli turned up today. He's been everywhere looking for you"

"Yeah, well, let him look"

I could sense an edge in her voice with her reply but at the moment I had other things that I needed to talk to her about.

"Babe, two of my men got spooked by that man, Oslow, when they were working on a case. Believe it or not they went to your father for advice because their father was a good friend of his from his time in the army. He hid them and then brought me to them"

I waited for Steph to respond to what I'd just said and was surprised with what she said next.

"Dad's worried isn't he?"

"Yes. He asked me to look for you. What do you want me to tell him?"

I wasn't sure how Steph would respond to that. If she wanted to, she could talk to him on this phone or she might ask me to say nothing.

"Just tell him that I'm safe, please. If I talk to him, he'll want to know where I've been and for me to come home. I can't do that, not yet"

"I know Babe. I'll tell him that you're safe and hiding out, okay?"

I heard a sigh and knew that this conversation was upsetting her, but I still wasn't sure what the hell was going on.

"Ranger. I am safe you know. There's a lot that I don't know but I'm trying to figure it out. Please be patient with me"

What the hell was I supposed to say to that.

"I will, but I still don't like that you're with that man"

Did that sound right coming from me? I heard a laugh and knew that maybe Steph had taken it the wrong way, or had she? Yes, I was worried about her being with that man Gabe, because he could very well be an extremely dangerous man. As I considered what I'd said I had to admit to myself that it was because I was jealous of him. It should have been me that was keeping her safe.

"Let's talk tomorrow. Go talk to my dad"

I was disappointed at talking to Steph under these circumstances because there was so much more that I wanted to say. Hearing the call end, I knew that wasn't going to be happening tonight. Talking to her father was not a conversation that I was looking forward to. Frank Plum was an unknown quantity to me and before now I'd only seen him as a passive bystander at dinner at the Plum's. Now I wasn't too sure. He'd certainly helped me out by supporting Flynn and Ajax and made sure that Lester and I were here incognito. Was there more to him that I'd always assumed? All talking stopped as I went back up those stairs and I was conscious of Frank Plum and Lester watching me as I sat back down.

"Mr Plum, Stephanie is safe, though I don't where she is. She asked me to tell you that she's okay and not to worry. She wants to keep a low profile, so won't be coming to Trenton or talking to any of her friends or family"

I eventually looked at Frank Plum trying to gage his reaction to what I'd said. I almost felt like adding don't shoot the messenger, but refrained. I'd take his annoyance or questions.

"What's she got herself involved in?"

A question that I hadn't expected and one that I honestly didn't know the answer to, yet.

"I don't know but I'm working on it"

Not wanting to divulge to anyone just yet that she was in fact with the man that the FBI had us tracking.

"You make sure that if she needs help then she gets it"

Was his single statement aimed at me which felt more like a warning. All that I could do was to nod my head at him because as far as I was concerned what he'd said was a certainty. His change of subject surprised me though, maybe I should have seen it coming.

"Morelli. What the hell is he up to? Apparently, he's telling people that Steph has run away because as usual she's got herself into trouble. Pfft, more like he created the trouble. I've got eyes and ears on him, let's see what he does next"

Now normally I would have done the same, added trackers to his vehicle and even put a tail on him, but from how Frank Plum had told me of his intentions with regards to Morelli I decided to leave him to do that.

"If you need any help with that, then just ask"

Was all I said as he began to stand up.

"I need to get back home before Ellen gets suspicious"

Everyone was quiet as Frank Plum left the room but as the door closed, I was prepared for the onslaught of questions from Lester. He certainly seemed annoyed that I'd kept him in the dark about being in touch with Steph.

"Were you even going to tell me or just let me worry about her?"

I leant forward with my arms on the table because whilst he was right to be annoyed it didn't mean that he had the right to know how I was in touch with Steph.

"With a mole at Rangeman, no, I had no intention of telling anyone. I don't know where she is but as long as she assures me that she feels safe then I have to respect her wishes"

Yeah, that had Lester quieten down and hopefully he could understand the position that I was in.

"Oslow needs talking to, preferably in a cell with me and Hector"

"Do it"

Was my reply to his outburst. Lester was holding back a lot of annoyance so maybe he could take it out on Oslow and to be honest him interfering with an FBI case was certainly an opportunity too good to miss. That said, with Lester hopefully feeling vindicated for my omission of the truth, I turned to Flynn and Ajax seeing that they were trying very hard to look busy with their papers.

"What have you found out since the last time we spoke?"

That had their attention, but from how they looked at each other and then at the papers in their hands, for some reason that had me feeling nervous with what they were going to tell me. Also worried, because I'd left Steph on her own with that man.

"The whole lot began to unravel"

"What?"

Not understanding what they were talking about. Okay, so maybe I sounded frustrated because that was how I was feeling.

"What we were told. That intel that you had us working on"

Both Lester and I were staring now at the two men sat in front of us. I replayed what they'd said over in my mind but eventually just had to ask them to explain themselves because if I'd understood them right then the intel that had come from Ashworth and Interpol was false.

"So you're telling me that all of this time we've been looking for the wrong man?"

I was probably frowning by now, and I could have sworn that I heard "What the shit" from Lester, because Ajax and Flynn had spent a lot of time and energy trying to find and identify that man.

"No, well not really. Let me start from the beginning. You gave us intel from the FBI that included details from Interpol. We followed the threads, the most logical avenues to investigate, which was how we found a Mat Duncan on that flight into New York. From there it was a question of tracking his movements, something that I'm sure we were supposed to do"

Ajax had succinctly put our contract for the FBI into a few sentences, so what did he mean when he said that it had started to unravel?

"Flynn, he, well, some of the reports just didn't sit well with him so when we delved deeper and compared the reports that we had with local police reports, news articles, online media and our own contacts there were too many inconsistencies"

Flynn was quick to add his thoughts as well and to be honest he made a good point.

"Plus, if our man was responsible for those explosive devices then he wouldn't hang around to see the effects. He'd have been long gone"

What I was hearing had a myriad of questions rush through my mind. Had Interpol got it wrong, made assumptions based on a series of reports or had the FBI misconstrued what Interpol had sent to them.

"Who's lying then?"

Came from Lester whose confusion was mirroring my own. Accusing someone of lying was a serious thing to say, especially when it involved the FBI and Interpol.

"I don't know, but that man that we identified, he's no bomb maker. It's almost as if someone was setting him up as the fall guy"

That statement alone had a sense of relief rushing through me because it meant that Steph wasn't with a man wanted as an international criminal. That then had me asking just who the hell he was. He certainly had the money and expertise to enter the country and the skill to lay a false trail with his various identities. Then there was his knowledge of explosives, the buildings in the Ozarks and the house. That house had been rigged with surveillance and an escape route which pointed to someone who, well, was as good as me. Who was he and why would someone want to discredit him? Was Steph in danger because she was with him?

"Ranger"

I looked up to see that Lester had obviously been talking to me so nodded my head for him to continue.

"Ajax was asking what you want them to do now"

I sat back because we'd moved into a very delicate situation.

"Accusing Interpol or the FBI of fabricating or manipulating intel isn't something that we can do without proof and even then, I'd have to convince someone of higher authority to hear me out. Ajax, is there even such a person as Chevré, a man who provides explosives for a cost?"

"No, we don't think so. The explosions used different detonators, from timers to motion sensors to being cell phone activated. The types of explosives were different. Some dirty bombs, some used household substances and others dynamite"

And I was pretty sure that the targets were totally unrelated as well. All of that didn't help with shaping a plan for what work Ajax and Flynn did next. Me, I wanted to talk to Gabe and maybe tell him what we knew in the hope that he'd be open with me. He was definitely up to something.

"Lester, you deal with Oslow. I have no idea if him being at Rangeman is a coincidence or not. I've asked Charlie to have two of his investigators do some background work on him down in DC, but it wouldn't hurt to check with Hector where his trackers have been. Ajax, Flynn, could you find out what you can, without raising any red flags, information on a man named Gabriel, mid thirties, with a younger sister Millie who was born in Ozark, Missouri. He became a seal, probably special forces, though I have no idea what happened to him after he left the navy"

If anyone was curious where I'd got that name from no one asked which I was grateful for, though I was sure that Lester wouldn't let it rest.

"Morelli?"

He asked, making me thankful that he'd brushed over the whole Gabriel thing.

"Frank Plum says that he has a handle on that, but it wouldn't hurt to have another perspective of what he's doing. What's bugging me was why Morelli is so keen to find Steph and where he's been for the past few weeks"

I waited to see what the others would say but each of them nodded their heads as though they knew what they were going to be doing. That was fine by me because somehow Lester and I had to find some transport to leave here by and come up with a story as to where we'd been. Seeing as it seemed to have been Lester that had arranged for Frank Plum to get us here, I was curious with how that happened.

"How was it arranged for Frank Plum to pick us up?"

Lester was just replacing his phone into his pocket as he looked over to me. The smirk that he had on his face told me that his answer wasn't going to be that straightforward.

"Mac. He decided to introduce himself to Steph's grandmother"

I knew that Mac had come across Edna Mazuur and remembered his description of her and how she was going to be helping him with any rumors.

"He sussed her out pretty quick. Asked her if she wanted to help him so when she was keen to do that, he threatened that it would only happen if she kept her hands to herself. Edna knew how upset Frank was with Morelli and it was her and Mac that came up with a way for us to meet. Mac should be here in a minute with our ride"

"Anything that you need?"

I asked Ajax and Flynn as I made my way to the door. At their shaking heads Lester and I started going down the stairs, hearing a bolt slide on the door that accessed the upstairs room. We used a rear entrance from the garage appreciative that it was very quiet outside in the darkness. No need to advertise to anyone that we'd been here. This was the Burg so I was sure any rumor would spread like wildfire. The sound of an approaching engine had us both hiding in the shadows of the back wall, waiting and watching for who it could be. No lights indicated that whoever it was didn't want to attract any attention either. The outline of the truck slowly began to take shape and we quickly got into the back of the cabin. I remembered from being inside Mac's truck before that the rear windows were heavily tinted but that didn't stop me from sinking low in my seat.

I felt less stressed once Mac pulled into the garage at the back of Lester's house and we were able to get out and move into the house. Lester had bought the place a few years ago after a mission had gone FUBAR on him. Very few people knew of its existence and usually Lester stayed in his apartment at Rangeman unless of course he felt the need to destress and wind down. As houses went it suited him. A small detached place set in a small plot of land that was easy to maintain, with the interior already modernized so little work was needed to make it how he wanted. Lester wasn't one who would procrastinate over décor or furnishings so in his words it was minimalist. To me it lacked any character, but each to his own.

Once inside Mac went straight to the coffee machine that he must have set up before he came to pick us up and placed three mugs down on the counter between us. Sat on the bar stool I was going through the events of the night to be sure that I hadn't missed something important.

"Mac, anything new?"

I asked knowing this might be the only opportunity to talk to him for a few days.

"I told you that I'd come across Edna Mazuur. It was when I had to collect an old lady for assault. Her and her friends sure made that hard to do. Anyway, it led to them asking me why it was me doing the job. Edna was real interested when I told them that I was filling in for Stephanie Plum. Then she got all close and personal, if you know what I mean, and told me that it weren't my job. To cut a long story short she went to the station with me and the FTA, and I dropped them both off at the hair salon. That was when I asked her about her daughter and that was when I got the whole of the gossip traversing the area"

Which was how Mac had come across Edna. I suppose that it was inevitable, as was Edna's desire to look out for Steph. I remembered that Steph had told me that she would often go to her grandparent's house when things became tense with her mother.

"What was weird was what happened this afternoon. I was about to drive away in my truck from the bonds office when my truck door was yanked open by this fella, none other than Detective Joseph Morelli. Gave me grief to start with until he realized what job I was doing and then he was all nice and friendly as he told me that Stephanie, his fiancé, wouldn't be doing the job when she got home"

Morelli just wouldn't give up on that line. When was he going to realize that Steph was through with him and would never marry him. That she had no intentions of giving up her job just because he told her to. Was that his way of trying to save face because Steph wasn't here?

"What excuse did he give you for not knowing where she was?"

"Said that she'd disappeared because she'd likely got herself into trouble. Once he'd gone Edna was suddenly sat next to me. I wasn't sure what her intentions were but seems she don't care much for that detective, so we came to an arrangement. Her and her ladies would keep an eye and ear on Morelli and pass on any information"

Looking at Mac I wasn't too sure how they had come to that arrangement and had to admit that I was a bit worried about Edna trying to do that.

"Why would she do that?"

After all she had no idea who Mac was or that he would be interested in what she learnt.

"I told her that I was interested in moving over to Rangeman to work. She seems taken with you and the guys"

Yeah, that was said with a smirk, but to be honest I had no desire to know what Edna had said about me or my men.

"She has my number and asked if I could help arrange for her son in law to meet with you. Lester and I came up with the idea for last night"

At least that explained how Edna and Mac had got together and maybe it wasn't such a bad allegiance to have. It gave us a way to communicate with Frank and I was damned sure that those old ladies would be able to keep tabs on Morelli. A look at my watch showed that it was already 0520 which meant that I needed to get back to Rangeman before too many questions were asked.

"Lester, what's our story?"

Knowing that everyone would be curious about Lester being ill at Shorties and then us disappearing.

"Mac will drop us off at the clinic over in Ewing and then I'll have Ram pick us up"

I was pretty sure that Lester would have a cover for us so wasn't going to question that now. After a quick bathroom stop, we were once again in the back of Mac's truck. As I predicted Lester had our alibi covered with a young woman greeting us at a rear door and guiding us through the corridors to the front entrance. She was a pretty woman, petite with short blonde hair and smoky grey eyes. Going from the demonstrative manner in which Lester showed his appreciation I might even think that Lester actually liked her. Don't get me wrong, Lester was known as a lady's man, playing the field through one night stands, so his behavior toward this young woman seemed out of character.

I didn't get the chance to question Lester because Ram was waiting outside for us. Fortunately, it was a quiet ride back to Rangeman with I suppose both of us planning for our day. I made for the stairs to go up to my apartment suddenly feeling the effects of lack of sleep. A quick shower and a change of clothes helped to rejuvenate me so after some breakfast I was soon down on the fifth floor.

"How's Santos doing?"

Came as I was about to open the door to my office. Turning I watched as Tank strode toward me and then followed me into my office.

"He's fine now"

"Yeah, that's what he said. He said that he was a hell of a lot better"

I wasn't too sure if Tank believed that, because like me, Tank knew that Lester could eat anything with no ill effects. I wasn't about to expand on the story. Walking over to my desk I started to sort through the files that were laid out, pulling together the new employee files that I needed to finish reading.

"I didn't realize that Ajax and Flynn had a few days leave. Does that affect our progress on the FBI contract?"

I assumed that Ajax and Flynn had somehow been in touch with Tank to request some days off and was relieved with their quick thinking to cover their absence, so quickly came up with a response.

"No. We were at a bit of a stand still anyway. Hopefully by the time they get back we might have some more info to follow up on"

That seemed to satisfy Tank and as he was probably aware of what had happened down in Missouri, he'd know that. As I walked around my desk and booted up my computer, I was aware that Tank was still stood there with no indication that he was about to leave.

"I think that we agree on who to call for interview for that accountancy position, so we need to look at the other position"

Looking up to Tank I could tell that he seemed a bit nervous.

"What is it Tank?"

I'd rarely seen Tank fidget but that was exactly what he was doing. Moving from foot to foot and gripping his hands tightly behind him. Now what the hell was making him so nervous?

"Well, it's just that, I know one of the applicants"

I raised an eyebrow at him as I sat back in my chair wondering who it could be that he knew. Obviously, Tank felt more comfortable sitting down so once sat and leaning toward me he started his explanation.

"The woman that I'm seeing. Well, she's applied for the office manager's roll"

No wonder he felt nervous. Then as I thought about it, I'd brought Steph in on jobs without ever clearing it with the core group. That redecorating job, distraction jobs and even doing research for us. She'd just morphed her way in, not just into the building but into the lives of the men as well. Hell, she was only paid for work done but had never been given a contract. Who was I to question the fact that the woman that Tank was involved with had applied for a job here.

"Have you any concerns if she did work here?"

Tank looked as though he was about to answer me but then seemed to rethink what he was about to say.

"No. She's good at her job but feels underused, that she doesn't use her skills to their full advantage"

I considered what he'd said and compared that to how I'd integrated Steph into our work. I had no problem with her working here.

"Could she take time off from her current job and work here for a couple of weeks. She may not like working here or being in close proximity to you"

I said the last part with a hint of a smile knowing that it would piss Tank off.

"A kind of trial period?"

I nodded my head and noticed that Tank seemed to relax a bit.

"I'll talk to her and see what she thinks"

The man who walked out of my office seemed a hell of lot more relaxed than when he came in, so we'd have to wait and see what this woman of his, Maggie Peterson, was like. It was at times like this that I'd welcome Steph's opinion on the situation using her intuition to sense things out. Sighing I picked up the first file and began to read through the information on Jerry Bergen, the older man that Tank had taken on.

It must have been at least an hour later when Lester knocked and walked into my office. His behavior and expression reeked of annoyance. Now what? I knew that Lester was going to pick up Oslow this morning so had Oslow said something that had annoyed him?

"What did he say?"

I closed my eyes for a second before standing up and picking up the damn ceramic pen holder and walking into the adjoining bathroom. I threw it into the toilet so hard that it shattered into pieces splashing water over the floor and my cargos. That taken care of I returned to the office to find Lester pacing the floor.

"He isn't here"

That had never stopped Lester before from picking someone up.

"Where is he?"

Thinking that maybe he was with Cal picking up files, though that excuse didn't account for Lester's annoyance.

"According to Bobby he left this morning with the excuse that he had an appointment with his specialist"

"And?"

Because that still didn't account for why Lester was so annoyed. We knew that Oslow had taken an injury to his back so having regular check ups wasn't unusual.

"I tracked his movements from the trackers that Hector attached to his car and wheelchair. He parked his car by the train station and then caught a train"

Now that did surprise me because I'd assumed that a doctor's appointment would have been here in Trenton. So, one tracker down but we could still track his wheelchair and probably find him through the GPS on his phone.

"Oh, and did I say that his damn wheelchair turned up at New Brunswick and his phone is offline"

I still wasn't sure what Lester was trying to say to me but from what I was hearing I was verging on the fact that Oslow had done a runner, abandoning his wheelchair and phone.

"First get rid of those listening devices and have Hector search his room. He must have had someone help him, provide him with another wheelchair"

So why had he rabbited now, what had he learnt that had him disappearing? Had he found the trackers so knew that we were on to him or had circumstances changed? It still didn't help in finding out what Oslow had been up to or what he was planning on doing now.

As Lester left the office I messaged for Bobby and Tank to meet with me. It was time for them to know exactly what had been going on. Even as they both came into my office, I knew that this conversation wasn't going to be easy and in my mind I was already highlighting the areas that I would omit to tell them. Keep it simple was what I was going for.

"The offices were bugged by Oslow?"

I knew that Tank would be annoyed so hoped that his anger would continue to be focused on Oslow.

"Core team's, break room, monitoring station, the conference room next door, some apartments on four and my apartment. I had no idea who it was to start with and didn't want to spook our mole, so I backtracked where those ceramics came from. Ella was the one who actually placed them which is why they were randomly positioned. Lester is removing them now"

"Why?"

I had no answer because I had no idea what Oslow had been after.

"I don't know. I've got Hector searching his room and he'll dismantle the receiver. Bobby, I need for you to research the medical center and specialist that he was under. See if there's a specific reason why he told you that he had an appointment. I've got a couple of Charlie's investigators looking around for information on him in DC. Maybe they'll turn up something"

"The FBI case, could he be working with the unsub?"

A fair question but I didn't think that was the case. It didn't mean that Oslow hadn't been interested in what Ajax and Flynn had been doing because he'd tried to get a listening device into their room and often invaded their privacy.

"I don't think so, but he was interested in what Flynn and Ajax were doing. They're in a safe location now, following up on some leads"

I left it at that because I didn't want to compromise Frank Plum's involvement or the work that Mac was doing.

"Is it a coincidence that as soon as Morelli turns up, that he disappears? Both cops, both have been involved on task forces with the FBI"

Looking at Tank I knew that he could be right but were we looking for connections that just weren't there?

"I don't know. I'm not inclined to contact anyone from the FBI just yet, until we know more. Let's meet up in the morning when we may have something to follow up on"

Tank hung back as Bobby left having me hope that he wasn't going to ask me something that I wouldn't be able to give him an answer for.

"Maggie's gonna be doing that trial. She'll be here Monday morning. I've asked Ram to line manager her"

I knew that Ram was a big help to Tank when I was away, he became Tank's second in command, so he would know enough of the job to be able to help Maggie to settle in. What the core team would need to discuss if we were taking on civilians who would be based solely with administration tasks was what training we should expect, even if they were women. With that in mind I messaged Ella to expect a female worker and to talk with Tank about uniform. I knew that Steph had never been opposed to wearing our black cargos and T-shirts. Thinking of Steph, I wondered what she'd be doing, whether or not she'd be bored stupid. Steph never had liked to be confined or on lock down. I hoped that Gabe and his sister Millie had ways of keeping her occupied.

I spent the rest of the day continuing to look through the financials for the Miami office. Where Boston was logical and organized, Miami was the total opposite. That came down to the different foci of the offices and also the men who were managing them. Marco in Miami was too slap dash with the records, and it usually took me days to organize his files and make sense of them.

Having spent the day sat at the computer I decided to work out in the gym to relieve some of the tension that was evident in my neck and back. I spent nearly two hours going through the various muscle groups before I felt the effects and was then ready to go up to my apartment. I was pleased to see that those ceramics had been removed and after devouring the meal that Ella had prepared for me, I was keen to phone Steph. An hour later I was feeling frustrated, a little annoyed and a lot worried. Numerous calls that I'd tried to make had failed to get through to her. Either the phone was switched off or it was out of power. I was hoping that it was the second reason because that wasn't unusual for Steph. I left the phone close to me while I showered and plugged in to the charger next to the bed when I eventually slipped into bed.