Chapter 31

SPOV

Oh shit. I'd fallen asleep when Ranger and I were in the middle of talking. I was intending to get up but ended up laying on my back on the bed instead. I hugged Ranger's pillow to my face which had my eyes closing as I inhaled the mix of Bulgari and Ranger. I remembered that I'd talked Ranger through the research that I'd done on Justin's family and then as I'd taken him through how I'd followed the money. I was surprised at Ranger's reaction when I mentioned where I thought the money had come from. Huh, who would have thought that I'd stumble into one of his missions. That Hernandez must have been an evil SOB. Was Diego the same, maybe. Probably, if what Millie had told me was true.

I hoped that Millie was okay, that she was getting on okay with Gabe's wife and son. She was a good kid, so I hoped it worked out well for her. As I lay there thinking I knew that I was avoiding the one thing that had surprised, or even annoyed me. Yeah, it annoyed me. Okay, I'd put off thinking about what my dad had said when he visited. I'd kept myself busy doing that research but now, well, Joe was front and center in my mind.

Why the hell would Joe have been looking at the Ozarks? I wondered if he realized that Danny had seen the place when he'd used Joe's computer. Idiot, he was always so blasé about leaving his computer on, and using the same damn password, for everything. There were only two reasons for Joe to have been looking at that area. The case that he eluded to be working on, possibly. But Joe was a homicide detective. He'd moved across from vice so investigating drugs was no longer his problem, unless someone involved had been murdered.

The second reason for his interest in the Ozarks wasn't what I wanted to even vocalize internally. Terry Gilman. Could Joe have gone over to the dark side? Succumbed to Terry's guiles. I may not like the man, but I had always considered him as being a good cop. Hell, I'd known him most of my life, very intimately over the last few years. Nah, he wouldn't be that naïve, he'd know that he'd get found out. So that was my dilemma. Or was it?

I never got the chance to figure that one out because I felt the mattress dip next to me. Slowly pulling the pillow down from my face I was looking up into Ranger's face.

"You okay?"

Did I sigh before I answered, maybe, because I hadn't really worked anything out with regard to Joe.

"Yeah, just thinking"

I saw how he raised an eyebrow at me before he bent down and brushed his lips across mine. I raised my head hoping to deepen the kiss, but I was too slow, and he moved away from me.

"Ella just brought dinner and then we need to go down to Hector's to listen in on Myla's date"

Crapitty, crap, I didn't realize how long I'd slept for. I was soon following Ranger from the bedroom, with a quick stop in the bathroom. My hair wasn't too bad after sleeping but I pulled it back into a ponytail. I straightened my T-shirt over my cargos before joining Ranger in the kitchen. To be honest I wasn't feeling overly hungry, maybe that meatball sub had been more than I normally ate. Ranger had just sat down at the breakfast bar where there were already some bowls set out. Between us was a very large bowl of salad.

"Apparently you told Ella that you'd been enjoying a change of diet"

"I have. It came about when I was with Danny and Millie. We spent a lot of time foraging for fruits, nuts and other edible plants. Her grandma, well she was amazing at putting together a meal with what we had"

I was helping myself to the salad, pleased at the variety of ingredients, puy lentil, spiced roast carrot and feta, with honey and onions. Exactly what I needed.

"So what were you thinking about?"

I shrugged my shoulders not sure if I wanted to tell him. I didn't want to sound as though I gave a fuck about Joe, that would be disloyal to Ranger. I was where I wanted to be, and I didn't want to screw that up. No way did I want Ranger second guessing how much I loved him. I needed to come up with another idea and quickly.

"Millie and I suppose Gabe. He reminded me so much of you. How he took control and was all calm and collected. He always seemed to have a plan"

Which was true. He was focused on keeping us safe and always seemed to be one step ahead. Money was no problem which was how he flew us by private jet to Trenton and the way that he always had a different car. Oh, and let's not forget about the cash that he sent to me. That was in a bag sat in Ranger's bedroom because I had every intention of paying him back.

"He certainly had a plan for leaving that house"

I nodded at the memory of that. Sheesh, talk about a get away. If Ranger hadn't been there, I wasn't sure that I'd have had the courage to jump into that tunnel.

"How do you think we were found?"

Because I know that it had bothered Gabe. I'm pretty sure that he thought that Ranger was responsible purely because of his arrival. No way would Ranger lead someone to me, not on purpose.

"I'm not sure. Afterwards, when I found a tracker on my car, I thought that maybe that was the source, but to be honest, those men arrived too soon after me and they were well organized"

I'm sure that I was frowning when Ranger said that. He was right though, so how were we found. Didn't Gabe say that the cottage was compromised as well. That was something to think about. Hell, I hoped that Gabe was okay.

Ranger picking up my bowl had me moving and helping. I was keen to get down to Hector's and hear how Myla faired with Joe. I just hoped that she would be able to get something useful from him.

"He was being evasive"

Was all that I said as we rode in the elevator back up to seven. I'd just spent nearly two hours hearing Joe block Lyla's questions with questions of his own or answers that were so lacking in detail they weren't worth bothering about. I couldn't blame Myla for trying, she really had tried. Maybe he suspected that she was a plant. Nah, he was too full of bullshit for that especially when he suggested a second date. He probably only did that because Myla declined his invitation of a nightcap at his house. Did he really think that he was so irresistible that a woman would fall into his bed on the first date? Yeah, the shmuck probably thought that they would.

"I agree but then again maybe he just wanted to enjoy her company"

I didn't agree with what Ranger had said because I was sure that he was holding back. Maybe Myla was asking too many questions. Nah. To me it seemed reasonable to ask how he got injured. "Arresting someone" was way too glib for an answer. Hell, he usually loved to embellish how he'd overcome a villain. It highlighted how macho he was. Arrogant pig. What that date had highlighted to me was how good he was at getting someone to open up. Fortunately, Myla's answers were close to what she did as a job so was never tripped up. No, she'd done as well as she could.

What it did highlight for me was how naïve I'd been. I'd always been honest with Joe with what I was doing, who I was looking for and probably volunteered far more information than I should have done. Was he using me to glean information from me? Sheesh, surely there had been more to our relationship than that. Okay a shared love of watching a game on TV, food from Pinos and great sex. I sighed as I came to the conclusion that what Joe and I had wasn't a relationship at all. It was friends with benefits which had me wondering why Joe was still insistent on looking for me.

As Ranger took my hand when the elevator door opened it had me wondering what kind of relationship we had. I'd have described us as friends with benefits but somehow even I knew that it was more than that. We had a mutual trust where we would both help the other person out. Okay, so even I knew that Ranger had done a hell of a lot more for me than I had done for him. But when he'd needed my help, I'd never hesitated. No price took on a new definition for me. It wasn't about money it was about what we'd do to help the other person out. Joe had never offered to help me out unless he got something out of it for himself.

Huh, that was a revelation that I hadn't considered.

"Babe? You're miles away. Are you okay?"

Was I? I think that I was more than okay. I knew that Ranger and I had danced around each other for years but what we had now was based on a solid foundation of friendship and loyalty. That he had expressed his feelings for me, well that was a dream come true. I smiled up at Ranger, seeing that he truly was concerned.

"Better than okay. If nothing else, listening to that conversation made me realize that I'm exactly where I want to be"

I stepped into his arms and just absorbed the feel of his arms around me, holding me to him.

"I'm sorry that I acted like a jerk. When I got back home to find you gone, I realized just how much I needed you in my life. Te amo, Babe"

I knew why Ranger had kept me at arms length, well I think that I did. I was this white girl from the Burg playing with the big boys. Ranger probably thought that I'd grow tired of the drama and go running back to become what every Burg girl was destined to be. I suppose that from the outside Joe was that respectable Burg man that would enable that to happen. I could almost understand my mother's nagging for me to settle down, almost. I wasn't that person though.

Weird as it seems, going to Missouri had been a turning point in my life. I'd had several weeks of not having to worry about anything and had enjoyed the new things that I'd experienced. I accepted Ranger's past and what he'd had to do without reservation. He wasn't the cold mercenary that he viewed himself as. He wouldn't have a conscience if he was. I'd taken on board being proactive over my eating and even exercising so that left one last thing for me to overcome.

I needed to be more of a team player and not go off on some hairbrained idea on my own. Pfft, that was going to be hard to do, but if I wanted to be with Ranger then I knew I had to work on it.

All of that soul searching had me feeling very needy and it was me that initiated a long soft kiss, me that slowly led us into the bedroom. It was as if I needed affirmation that Ranger really did want me, really did love me.

Somehow Ranger had left me in bed asleep. I'd wanted to go down to the gym again with him this morning but vaguely remembered him mentioning that he had a client meeting offsite this morning. Maybe he'd missed his workout as well. After a bathroom visit, I opened the closet to see what clothes I had here. Darn, more Rangeman uniforms. I'd brought some clothes with me from Washington, but not many. Some smart skirts, blouses and trousers with appropriate dressy jackets. Any dresses that I'd bought for going to those bars had been dumped because they were more trashy than the ones that I wore when I did a distraction for Rangeman. I had a yearning for jeans and T-shirts. Sighing I pulled out a Rangeman uniform. In other words, black panties and bra, black T-shirt and cargos all of which had the Rangeman name embroidered on them. I needed a visit to my apartment to pick up some things and also to check the place over. I was pretty sure that the rent would be due soon along with utility bills.

That decided after some fruit and yoghurt that I assumed was for me I made my way down to the fifth floor. I'd taken what Gabe had told Millie and me, to always be prepared so I had my gun at my back, a knife in my boot and had asked Hector for a tracker and panic button. Okay, I don't think he stopped laughing all the way up to seven when he heard my request.

"Make sure that you take someone with you"

Were his parting words. The question was who. It was Les who met me as I walked along the corridor which had me hoping that maybe he was free to accompany me.

"Beautiful, Ranger's at a client meeting but I'm available"

Him waggling his eyebrows at me told me that he was flirting with me, God, I'd missed him. As he held me for a hug, I took advantage to whisper in his ear.

"Available to take me to my apartment so that I can pick up some clothes?"

I felt him tense before he stood away from me with his hands still holding my shoulders. Surely if I had someone with me then I'd be safe. I was only going to collect some stuff that I needed.

"Please. I suppose I could always go by myself if everyone's busy"

"No. I'll go with you. I'll go let Bobby know"

A reply that I expected because past history would tell him that I was quite serious. As I waited for Les to come back, I wandered toward the monitoring station with the intention of saying hi to them. As I came closer I realized that they weren't the guys that I knew well. I watched as they worked and realized that the two men were ones that I'd interviewed with Tank. If memory served me they were Hank Avery and Jerry Bergen. Men appointed who would be suitable for the less arduous tasks here at Rangeman.

"You ready to go Beautiful?"

Turning I followed Lester down the stairs to the garage. I suppose this would count as exercise. Les was silent as he drove the Cayenne, far more quiet than usual, which to be honest was wreaking havoc with my nerves. I watched as his eyes darted between the mirror and the road ahead of us.

"Are we being tailed?"

Was a question that I just had to ask.

"Nah, just being vigilant"

Sheesh why was he being so over the top? Did he know something that I didn't? That was when I thought back to how Ranger would treat me when I was in danger. He'd keep me in the dark while he dealt with the problem. So much for an open and honest relationship.

"Les, is something going on that I don't know about?"

Les quickly looking at me with a frown on his face had me second guessing myself.

"No. What we know, you know. Hell, you probably know more than we do. Ranger's just worried about you. No one really knows if anyone is after you, but it's better to be prepared"

I suppose he had a point and I know that Gabe was worried that somehow, we'd attracted somebody's attention. I sat back and endured the silence glad that it was only a short drive to my apartment.

I smiled as I spied my car parked where I'd left it and without any obvious damage. Maybe it was me that carried bad car karma. Even as Les looked around as he parked, I hadn't seen any cars that seemed out of place, but Les was spooking me with how he was behaving. Gone was the carefree friend and in his place was the bodyguard. I opted for the stairs not wanting to bump into Mrs. Bestler or any of the other elderly residents. I didn't want them to worry that I was back and might bring trouble with me. They'd lived here and had to endure the disasters that befell my apartment, so I wasn't going to have them worry. It was as we approached my door that I realized that I had no keys with me.

"Err, Les, can you pick the lock?"

I felt embarrassed at having to ask and stupid for not asking Ranger for my bag. I knew that it was safe at Rangeman, but I'd need it at some stage for my car keys and my phone. My phone. I was curious how many messages were on it. Les never made a comment as he picked the lock. That was definitely something that I needed to learn.

"I'll give you some lessons on how to pick a lock, and handcuffs as well"

There was Les, back to joking with me with his innuendoes. Stepping into my apartment made me realize how long I'd been away. Everywhere was covered in a layer of dust. At least the place was tidy. I went through to the bedroom, leaving Les in the kitchen. I made short work of pulling clothes from drawers and stuffing them into a bag. Mmm, matching lacy bras and panties that I was sure that Ranger would appreciate. Opening the closet I found jeans, T-shirts and sweaters but stopped short with some jeans in my hands as I looked down at my boxes of shoes. Did I leave some of my shoes out of their boxes? Nope, definitely not.

I re examined the drawer of underwear and checked the items that I'd already packed. I was damn sure that my black lacy Victoria Secrets bra, panties and negligee were missing. The problem was that I couldn't remember which clothes I had taken with me down to Missouri. Don't be stupid. No way did I take anything sexy with me. I knelt down and carefully re boxed my shoes, now I knew that I never took any FMPs with me, and I knew that I'd left my shoes neat and tidy. As I looked more closely I definitely knew that a new pair of black strappy shoes were missing. Okay, they were knock off Louboutin that I'd picked up from Dougie, but they were as sexy as hell.

A quick scan through the dresses hung up didn't immediately register if any were missing. I wasn't sure why someone would take some of my clothes. Looking around nothing else looked to have been disturbed, except maybe the covers on my bed. Carrying a couple of bags, I returned to the lounge area to find Les sat on the couch.

"Les, I think that someone has been in here while I've been away"

Now why did Les look so guilty?

"I know Ranger visited looking for you but, well I took a look around in case there were any clues for where you'd gone"

Okay. Ranger must have found my letter that I left for him. I'd kept it as vague as possible just in case anyone else decided to invade my privacy.

"So you stole some underwear, clothes and my black shoes?"

I knew that Les wouldn't take anything, but it was fun to wind him up.

"What, no, I didn't take anything. Are you saying that some clothes are missing? Are you sure that you didn't take them with you?"

Shaking my head, I took a better look around the room. Thank heavens I'd thought ahead and made sure that any documents or bank cards were safe. Nothing looked out of place as I cast a critical eye over the shelves and drawers until I looked more closely at my dining table. The dust above one of the drawers seemed, scuffed? As though someone had opened the drawer. I usually used that table to work at and kept any information or research in that drawer. Walking over to it I opened the drawer to find it empty.

"Beautiful?"

Les was standing behind me and had obviously been watching me.

"All of my paperwork has gone. I started to keep records on my skips when so many re offended and I had to find them again"

It made sense to me. I'd always preferred to make notes on any research from my laptop or from phone conversations that I'd had. It helped me to narrow down any routines or habits of an FTA that would help to locate them. Why would someone take those notes?

"How about we get out of here?"

Yeah, because the apartment wasn't feeling as safe as it usually did. In fact, walking back in here had felt strange. Now that was definitely a weird thing to be saying. As Les picked up my bags I grabbed my cookie jar from the counter before following Les out. I waited as he locked the door trying to work out why I was feeling this way. This apartment had been my refuge for so many years. I'd come here after my divorce from Dickie, after being made redundant from EE Martin. It wasn't much but it was mine. So why did I feel like a stranger in the place? My brain was in overdrive as I went down the stairs. So many things had happened in that apartment, good and bad, yet I'd clung to it.

Floods of memories were racing through my head. Joe ransacking the place when he was looking for his distributer cap but then as he knocked on my door after that whole mess of him being FTA with a cupcake. Evenings when we'd lounged on the couch watching a game before retiring to bed. Ramirez and his partner Jimmy Alpha, Allen Shempsky, Scrogg. I closed my eyes momentarily as I thought through how he came to be in my apartment and that had Ranger come to my mind. How he would break in unannounced and scare the shit out of me. Then there was the deal. A sweet bitter experience, one that I would never forget. There were so many memories inside that apartment and yet I felt that it was time to move on. I had more memories to make and hopefully they wouldn't have anyone breaking into where I lived, leaving dead bodies or even firebombing the place.

It was with a light heart that I stepped into the apartment on seven. I breathed in the atmosphere, the calmness that I felt. Les left my bags inside the door while I placed my cookie jar on the kitchen counter. I was running my fingers over the face when I nearly jumped out of my skin as arms came around my waist.

"Looks good Babe"

I relaxed back into Ranger's arms, forgetting my scare and making a comment. The cookie jar did look good.

"Lester messaged to say that you were sure that someone had been inside your apartment"

I nodded my head as I remembered what had been taken. Sexy underwear, FMPs with other things, though I wasn't too sure what. Strangely my missing folders were bothering me the most. Why would someone take those?

"Yeah, it was weird. A few pieces of underwear, black FMPs and"

Oh shit. My little black dress, I didn't remember seeing it. Another memory came to me of an evening a long time ago when I'd worn that dress along with some sexy underwear and shoes. I'd procrastinated who I should call, pretending to pick a name, but I chickened out. I should have chosen Ranger but instead it was Joe who had walked through the door.

"Joe. I should have chosen you, but I suppose I was frightened that you'd turn me down. I went with who I felt was safe"

I was turned to look at Ranger who probably had no idea what I was talking about.

"I wore the dress and similar underwear and shoes. It was after your Porsche was flattened by the garbage truck"

Ranger pulled me to him, his arms surrounding me. Why had I called Joe? Would Ranger have come if I'd have called him?

"There's no point in wanting to change the past, I've learnt that the hard way. We're here now, together, neither of us were ready then. Maybe we needed those past moments to build the foundation for what we have now"

I squeezed him back, feeling the muscles in his back underneath his shirt as my hands splayed around him. He was right. No regrets.

"Are you thinking that it was Joe who took those things from your apartment?"

I nodded against his chest. In some ways it made sense, but why take my folder, unless he thought there was something inside that would be of interest to him.

"My folder was missing as well. Notes that I made on my FTAs, in case I needed to go after them again"

I knew that the searches were on my laptop but those snippets of information that I'd collected were irreplicable.

"Let me go change and then if you would, Tank asked if you could work your magic on some applicants that we have for a financial assistant"

Yeah, okay. At least doing that would take my mind off wondering why Joe would steal my folder. Seeing as I would be using the computer in my cubbie down on five I stayed in my Rangeman uniform. I'd seen the job adverts that had appeared on the internet, come on, I was always curious as to what was going on. I knew that I didn't have the experience for either job, but it did make me wonder and probably worry if Rangeman would get to the point that they no longer needed me for the occasional search. I'd need to get my but in gear and get back to Vinnie's. Ranger had said that the man that he knew was only doing the job temporarily so hopefully Vinnie would let me back. I was better skilled than I had been so maybe I wouldn't get covered in garbage as much. That had me thinking of Connie and Lula.

I needed to thank Connie but the idea of falling back into the same old routine with Lula didn't inspire me. I just didn't trust her anymore. Though if I was being honest with myself, she had never really had my back. Ranger walking back into the kitchen caught my attention and I raised my eyebrows at seeing my red bag in his hand. I'd totally forgotten that he had it.

"Your phone is on charge in the bedroom"

"Thanks. I'll be down in a minute"

Ranger left to do whatever work that he needed to do so I took my bag into the bedroom. Removing the envelope that held any official papers I placed those on the bedside cabinet. I'd have to ask Ranger if there was somewhere safe where I could keep those. Picking up my phone I was almost afraid to turn it on. Seeing the number of messages that had accumulated was daunting, so I did the sensible thing and began to delete them. I knew that Ranger had looked at it, but he'd only opened up the messages that I'd managed to send to myself.

What surprised me were some messages that had come in over the last couple of days. My mother of course so curious I began to listen to what she had to say.

"Stephanie Michelle Plum. What do you think you're doing? You need to get back home now. Joseph is looking for you and he's worried about you"

Pfft, when would she ever listen to me. She was like a record that was stuck in a groove. I deleted that message and opened the last one that had come through noting that it was from Joe.

"Cupcake, where the hell are you? Why are doing to this to me? We need to talk, we need to get back to where we were before. Please Cupcake"

Huh. He'd started the message sounding annoyed and as usual turned it to being all about him. The last two words were said after a sigh, almost as if he needed to add them, but didn't want to. His message got deleted because no way was I going to reply to him. Something felt off with what he'd said, and I was damn sure that it had nothing to do with him wanting me back in terms of a relationship. No, I was so done with him.

A notification appeared on my screen with a reminder that I'd scheduled months ago. Oh, I'd totally forgotten that I was due a PAP test and needed my birth control jab. A quick phone call and I had secured a booking with my gynecologist for late tomorrow afternoon. I'd ask Bobby to go with me for that, feeling a tad embarrassed if I had one of the other guys with me. I was sure that Bobby knew where I attended because he usually dealt with the report that was required by the Rangeman medical insurance. That dealt with I left my phone to finish recharging and headed down to five.