I walked into my apartment, dropping my keys and purse by the door. I smelled something amazing coming from the kitchen and followed my nose. Ranger was moving around in the kitchen, looking surprisingly domestic as he put groceries away. It felt like a tiger pretending to be a house cat. Well, tigers are pets too right? Jasmine had one. Yeah, right. And a crocodile is just like a dog, but with more teeth. I leaned against the wall and watched him move.

"Hungry, babe?" I looked up and met his dark eyes. I suddenly got some mental images of things that had little to do with food. Focus, focus. My head started to itch. Right, the eggs.

"I need a shower." I waved to him and trudged down the hall. I could just feel him smirking at my back. I grabbed some clothes to change into and quickly slipped out of my stiff clothes. My scalp was seriously itching by now and my skin felt tight and crusty. Ugh, I hate raw eggs. Throw me some nice hard boiled ones and I would be good to go but freaking raw eggs? Ugh, I scratched at my head. It was a relief to shower and I spent a long time in there. When I got out, I grabbed my brush and pulled on my comfy clothes. I was still brushing my sopping wet hair when I went back to the kitchen.

Ranger was making a salad to go with the chicken curry and rice. Somehow I doubt that salad is authentic Indian cuisine but I ignored the details. Ranger liked salad. I figured let him have his salad.

The mail was sitting on the counter beside him. I randomly flipped through it, counting the bills and not paying much attention to them when I got to the bottom and found an unusual envelope. My name and address were embossed in silver on the front of the cream colored front. It was actually beautiful by itself. I traced the writing with my forefinger. It was postmarked from Pennsylvania, which made me frown. I didn't know anybody in Penn state. At least, not this well. I was assuming that it was a wedding invitation. I flipped it over to open. On the little triangle flap, the address was printed. No name. I carefully tore into it.

Ranger's attention became focused on me. I read the little note inside and frowned. "Something wrong, babe?"

"Its an invitation. To a ball." He raised an eyebrow and looked down at it.

"A ball?"

"Uh huh. A masquerade on Halloween night. Halloween is next Friday." I felt the excitement wash through me. I looked up at Ranger with my eyes shining. "Wanna be my date?" He kissed me and handed me a bowl of spicy curry.

"Wouldn't miss it."

XxXxXxX

We sat on the couch in our usual style, my legs draped across his lap. I had just finished telling him about my day.

"I can't believe her! Who steals cars in their spare time at age twelve? Why isn't she in school?"

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to get my car back." I frowned and looked at the muted TV. The news was flashing on the screen. "Maybe the chop shop?" I shrugged. I'm seriously hoping that he has an idea where to find it. He just nodded. I stared at him, waiting for him to realize that I wasn't a superhero.

"I've heard that things are going on down Nelson." He supplied after a pause. Nelson Avenue was a stone's throw from Stark. It wasn't my favorite place in the world, but I could cope.

"West?" He nodded. West was much worse. Beautiful.

"I have a big takedown tomorrow. Dawes. How about I send one of the guys to back you up?"

"The more, the merrier." He kissed me gently. He had been trying to get Dawes for a week. The guy was originally arrested for child rape but he killed a couple of cops when he was making an escape. Jail inmates usually didn't treat baby rapers kindly. Ranger had actually been hired by the sheriff's office to take the man down.

I stretched and grabbed my laptop to check my email, falling back onto the couch next to Ranger.

"Uh oh, babe."

I looked over at him. Ranger was watching the silent news, totally focused. I turned and watched, trying to figure out what had his attention. There was a high speed chase on the turnpike. I reached for the remote and turned it up.

"And the police have confirmed that this is the escaped inmate Jack Finney. For those of you just tuning in, Jack Finney, an escapee from Morningside Mental Institution, has stolen a car and has so far lead the police fifteen miles in a high speed chase." The talking heads then went into how dangerous this was and they gave the likelihood of a fatal ending. My cell started buzzing.

"Hey."

"Hey, have you seen the news?" Andy's worried voice came through the line.

"The car chase?"

"Yeah, don't you know who that is?"

"Jack Finney? No, never heard of him."

"About ten years ago, his daughter called the police and told them that she was sure that her father had killed someone because she found a body in his bedroom when she stopped by to take care of him. The police conducted a search and found dozens of bodies in his basement. He had been stealing them from the funeral home he worked for years. They sent him to Morningside and get this, he is still denying his guilt after ten years. I'd say the guy's pretty unstable."

"Cripes. How do you know all this? You're from Chicago."

"It happened about thirty miles from where my grandparents live in New York." We sat and watched the chase for a few more minutes. Jack Finney's car suddenly swerved off the turnpike on an exit for Trenton. The car missed the road and flew into a ditch. By the time the police converge onto the car, it was empty.

"So, there's a body snatcher on the loose." I murmured to Andy and Ranger.

I still own nothing, except my OCs. Just a side note, Jack Finney was the author of the novel The Body Snatchers, which was turned into Sci Fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. However, the body snatchers were actually aliens and the bodies were still alive.