I use them for fun and not for profit.

Chapter 8

The move from Joe's house, their house, to the RangeMan apartment went smoothly. Most of what was community property she left behind, just as she had when she'd left Dickie. She was an almost forty one-year-old woman with no toaster, and while it could have been depressing, she found it somehow freeing. The apartment at RangeMan was fully furnished so she had the use of a toaster in any case, and a Keurig, and she had those wonderful high thread count sheets that were Ella's mystery shopping secret. No one knew where she found them and no other sheets felt just like them.

As she entered the elevator with her last load she saw a big black hand come around the elevator door and hold it open a little longer for her. "Thanks," she told Tank. He was looking at her curiously. She'd thought Ranger would have told Tank, but maybe it was her place.

"I'm moving out of Joe's and into RangeMan," she said. He didn't seem surprised or disconcerted by the news. What he said next left her with her mouth agape, and definitely left her disconcerted.

"You moving in on seven?"

"No. I'm taking the other apartment on six, across from Julie. It's just temporary until I find something suitable."

"Shit," Tank mumbled. "It will be like a girl's floor at a college dormitory. You'll probably be having sleepovers."

"So what if we are?" she asked him. She was happy he was more concerned with her and Julie living in close proximity that he was about her leaving Joe. She never liked to be the center of attention, although she found herself in that spot many a time.

"You better damn well put up a sign that lists the visiting hours for men," Tank told her. She thought he was joking, but it was Tank, so she couldn't be sure.

"You'd better take care of that," she told him. "It's your men I'd be leading astray. Julie is a newlywed and Ranger's daughter. I think she's safe from being hassled."

"So are you," Tank said, "because you are a RangeMan employee. If you have any trouble, you come to me." She was strangely touched by his words. He and Ranger had talked after all it seemed.

"Thanks, Tank." The door to six slid open and she hefted the box higher on her hip and made her way to her new home. The couch was neutral both in design and color, but it was comfy. She flopped down on it and looked at the boxes, suitcases and laundry baskets she'd dropped helter-skelter. There'd be time to get settled and unpacked later. It was one p.m. and her breakfast of a Boston Crème had been a full six hours ago.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Julie. Scott had been scheduled to leave earlier in the morning. Julie was going to go into the bonds office sometime today to sign papers and get ready to start work the next day. This might be a good time for a girl's day out. They were both beginning new phases of their lives, but not this afternoon.

Julie's nasal sounding "Hello," confirmed Stephanie's suspicions. It wasn't time for solitary tears. It was time for pizza and a visit to the Plum household for a Burg gossip update.

They didn't have pizza. Julie had never in all of her eighteen years had a meatball sub and Stephanie couldn't let that go any longer. Pino's was local and there were looks of speculation when Stephanie walked through the door. It was unclear if the speculation was about her and Joe, or who the tall, beautiful, young girl with her was. It was probably both. They ate without interruption, but when they got up to leave Carl Costanza made his way to them.

"You're here a little past your lunch hour, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yeah, but so are you," Stephanie replied.

"We had a homicide to work this morning," he said. "It put us off schedule."

"Did Joe draw it?" she asked.

"Yeah, and it was a bad one. Young woman, mutilated," he stopped abruptly and looked toward Julie. Stephanie was used to this kind of police talk, but not everyone was.

"Carl, this is Julie Freeman, Ranger's daughter."

"I thought it was you," Carl told Julie. "You won't remember me, but I was there the day your father was shot." What was left unsaid was it was the day a brave ten-year-old girl had shot the man who'd kidnapped her and by doing so had possibly saved her father's life. "It's good to see you all grown up." He reached out and patted her arm and Julie rewarded him with a smile.

Carl leaned closer to Stephanie. "How are you doing?" Carl may have been a police officer, but he'd been her friend since second grade. His loyalties would lie with her if he had to choose, but he didn't have to.

"I'm good, Carl. It was a mutual decision and Joe is still one of my best friends. After the Burg gets over it, things will be just fine."

They left the restaurant and, because the day was sunny and not sweltering, Stephanie put the top down on her Miata. She took the long way from Pino's to her mother's. When they pulled up her mother was standing in the doorway. It gave Stephanie a jolt because it was her mother and not Grandma Mazur. Grandma was still in St. Michael's rehab facility and although she was doing well and would soon be home it was a warning to Stephanie.

Gravity hadn't been kind to Grandma and she'd looked more than her years for a long time. Her age was finally catching up to her looks. She'd been a spry seventy something when Stephanie had married Joe. Now she was in her eighties and Stephanie knew the time was coming when the Burg residents would be lining up to see her grandma. It would be an open coffin. It was in her will. She refocused on her mom in the doorway.

"C'mon, Julie," she said. "You moved from Miami to get away from your disapproving mother. It's only fair I share mine with you." Helen was gracious, remembering the last time she'd met Julie. She didn't bring up the subject of failed marriage number two, but Stephanie knew it was on her mind. They had warm pineapple upside down cake at her mother's kitchen table and then they decided to visit Grandma Mazur.

St. Michael's rehab facility was a small wing attached to the larger assisted living and nursing home. Grandma was in a private room and was sitting in a recliner watching a re-run of the Nanny. Her eyes lit up when she saw her visitors. The hip fracture and subsequent surgery had taken a little zip out of her grandma, but her mind was sharp. And the news had reached her. "Where are you gonna live now?" she asked Stephanie. "Mabel came to visit and said you're moving in with Ranger. Is that true?"

Stephanie was surprised this piece of news had made it around so quickly. "I'm moving into an apartment Ranger owns," she said.

"Well, he's getting a little age on him, but I imagine the man's still got a nice package. You should move in with him." At Julie's giggle Stephanie decided to change the subject.

"I'm going to be doing a little bounty hunting again. I thought maybe you could help me with some information."

"Sure I could. This place is a hot bed of gossip. Who are you trying to find?"

"Tinley Hicks," Stephanie said. "Do you know him?"

"No, but I do know his worthless granddaddy. I never had no liking for that man. I'll keep my ears peeled for the 911."

"The 411, Grandma."

"Yeah, that too."

Stephanie took Julie back to RangeMan and made her promise to call if she needed company, and then she went to her office. She was determined to find out everything she could about the man she would soon be partnering with.

Part of the reason she was good at research was she was naturally curious. It was like putting together a puzzle. She ferreted out little pieces of information and then when she had enough pieces she put the puzzle together. The picture at the end was always worth the work. She'd gathered an amazing amount of information on Santeria, and a fair amount on Naldo Montara, but nothing damning. Ranger had told her to research R.C. Madrid, and she was getting background before she dove into the main event. The search engines available to her were far superior to the Google-searching Grandma and her friends did. She could probably get a pretty good backlog of information on R.C. without using Silvio. On the other hand, if she could get into the DEA's personnel files, her work time might be cut in half.

When she accumulated all the data she could she picked up the desk phone and called Ranger.

"You're in the office late," he said.

"I'm in the middle of something good, and I don't want to quit. I need the login and password we talked about."

"I'm upstairs. I'll be down in five." Stephanie heard the dial tone in her ear and sighed. Brief and to the point. On some level she appreciated that, but hello and goodbye were never wrong. She leaned back in her chair and stretched to work the kinks out and then she waited.

She didn't hear the stairwell door or the elevator door open. Ranger was suddenly just standing in the doorway to her office. "Babe, it's 2100. You've got as long as you need with this."

"I'm putting off unpacking. I thought this would be a better use of my time."

"Let me sit for a moment," he said, indicating he wanted to use her computer. She stood and he sat and immediately began typing. When he motioned her back over, there was a new icon on her desktop. "This will be here for twenty-four hours and then it will disappear. When you open it, it will ask you to choose a password, also good for twenty-four hours. You can email him, or right now you can message him as he's available if you want to chat. Request the information you need and it will arrive securely. You can make notes, but you won't be able to download or save anything he sends you."

"Thanks," Stephanie said. "Do you use Silvio often?"

"Often enough, but no one else is aware that we, Silvio and I, are still in contact. You should keep the connection quiet."

"No problem."

"Don't stay down here all night," he said. "Did you get hold of Rodriguez?"

"No. There is no need. I'll delegate what I can, and I'll work evenings on the stuff that's mine."

"You'll be overworked."

"Maybe, but I'm not giving my job away." He stood for a moment letting her words sink in. He reached out his hand and ruffled her curly hair, something he hadn't done in years. Electricity shot through her, but she remained still, hoping he wasn't feeling it as well. She glanced up briefly and one look at his face told her he felt it. He turned and left the office and she went back to work.

The next morning Stephanie was up and dressed by six o'clock. She'd finally made it to bed sometime after two, but the short night and early morning were nothing to complain about. What she was learning was really interesting. Her apartment had a fully equipped kitchen, but her cupboards were bare so she made her way to the break room on five. There was a similar room on three for the call center employees, but it wasn't stocked like this one. This room wasn't off limits to any employee, but it was mainly used by the originals, the men who'd been with Ranger from the beginning, or at least early on. There was a crowd this morning. Lester, Tank, Bobby, Vince and Hal were all present and talking. The conversation was loud and punctuated with laughter.

"He's all right," she heard Hal say.

"He'll do," Lester said just a little less enthusiastically.

"Who'll do?" she asked. The group swung around to see her and quieted. Uh oh. She'd been afraid of this. In times past she'd been part of the group and her question would have brought forth a simple explanation and she would have joined the conversation. Now their attention was on her and she saw more than one speculative glance. The news of her new digs on the sixth floor had made the rounds. She wanted her life at RangeMan to go on as usual, but they all knew. They knew she and Joe were divorced and they knew she was living at RangeMan, and there was an awkwardness she'd hoped to avoid.

After a moment's silence Lester pulled his feet off the table and brought his chair back down to all four legs. "Well, well," he said. "I don't think I've seen you in here this early in…ever."

"Stuff it, Lester." She breathed a sigh of relief. It would be okay.

"We heard you were going to do some skip tracing," Bobby said. "Is that true?"

"Yup," she said. "Who'd you hear it from?"

"Rock," Vince said.

"Rock? Who is Rock?"

"Madrid is Rock," Hal told her. "R.C. was a hard name to get used to. Just letters and they don't stand for anything." Stephanie knew better, but she said nothing. "He went with a couple of us guys to get Bixby Lewis out of a bar over on Stark Street last night. And now he's got a nickname, Rock."

"We found Lewis," Lester said, "but he ran. We went tearing out of the bar after him and no one wanted to draw their weapon because the street was crowded. Madrid bent and picked up a rock, it was really a chunk of concrete that had broken off the curb, and he nailed him. Ole Bixby went down in a crumpled heap and Madrid's got a new name. He's Rock."

"It was pretty amazing," Tank said. "Rock's got an arm on him. He used to pitch in the minor leagues. Maybe the Trenton Thunder." Nope, Stephanie thought, the Toledo Mud Hens.

"Is that so?" she said. "Well, I'm going to ride with Rock a couple of times. He's looking for a guy from the Burg and Ranger asked me to ride with him, to show him the ins and outs." She pushed past the group of men and made her way to the refrigerator. Silence fell as she bent over and stuck her head in deep. She rummaged through wrapped sandwiches and fruit until she found what she was looking for, tucked under a turkey sandwich far in the back corner. She pulled out a cellophane-wrapped butterscotch krimpet she'd hidden there two days before. As she turned and stood she noticed the silence in the room and the way no one would meet her eyes. Again, there was the smallest bit of awkwardness, as if they were all trying to define her new status in the group. There had to be a way to show them she was still the same person.

"What?" she asked and then she caught the teasing gleam in Lester's eyes. Thank you, Lester, she said silently. She went over and poked her finger into Lester's well-muscled chest. "My ass isn't that big."

"No," he said. "No, it's not, but there is open time in the gym."

"You can kiss my 'not that big ass', Lester."

"With pleasure, beautiful." She saw the relaxation in the group and knew it would be business as usual with them. It occurred to her maybe they didn't want things to change either. Maybe she should have come forward about her divorce from the beginning. Maybe she had underestimated these men.

She headed toward the door of the break room intending to go to her office, but had a sudden thought. She swung around and posed a question to the group in general. "Who is Bixby and why did it take so many of you to get him?"

"Bixby is a cantankerous old drunk," Tank said. "He likes Lester and he'll usually come in for him with no problem, but last night…"

"It was a hazing!" Stephanie said. She understood completely what had gone on the night before. The guys were testing him. "How'd he do?"

"Good," Hal said. "Rock did good."

The morning passed quickly. Stephanie's door was open, but her level of concentration had completely distanced her from the comings and goings in the hallway beyond. When her phone rang she looked up, startled, not realizing for a moment where she was. The ringtone announced Lula.

"Hey, what's up?" Stephanie asked.

"Come down here and eat lunch with us today. Connie is bringing chicken from Cluck In A Bucket. It's a welcoming present for Julie."

Stephanie glanced at her watch and saw it was lunch time. The mention of Cluck In A Bucket made her stomach growl. "Okay, I'll be right down. How's Julie doing?"

"Julie's doing good," Lula said. It reminded Stephanie of Hal's opinion of Rock. She was already thinking of him as Rock. She knew the initials were not just letters but stood for names, and she couldn't think of him as Ricardo, or Carlos. To top it off he looked like Ranger. She'd wondered if it was coincidence or something else, but after a thorough search, she knew it was just coincidence.

"I'm on my way," Stephanie told Lula. She was waiting on one file from Silvio and her work would be done. She could turn the report into Ranger later today and then tomorrow they could begin the search for Naldo Montara.

Once again Stephanie took the stairs. Going down wasn't so bad, but since she was eating Cluck In A Bucket, she'd be taking them back up as well.

Julie was filing when Stephanie walked into the office. Lula was sitting on the couch flipping through the pages of Elle Décor. "I see the training is going well," Stephanie said.

"Damn Skippy," Lula said. "I told Julie I started out as a file clerk and look at me now." Stephanie took a moment to do just that. Lula was wearing a grey skirt that came almost all the way to her knees. It was her attempt at the new kind of professional dress, but remnants of her old profession were showing through. Her feet were shod in impossibly high-heeled bright orange Via Spigas. Her tank top was a rainbow of sequined stripes, none of which was grey. And in her ears were chandelier earrings that were so long they dusted her shoulders. Her hair was red and worn in a head-hugging bob. It should have looked hideous, but she pulled it off. Julie paled in comparison in navy slacks and a white blouse.

"How's it going?" Stephanie asked her.

"Fine," she said. "Tomorrow I am going to enroll part-time at Rutgers. I'll start taking classes in the fall."

"That sounds like a plan," Stephanie said.

"It's a good plan," Julie said smiling, "and Dad is going to give me a tour of the campus." Stephanie smiled and wondered if Ranger had learned his lesson about delegating tours.