Disclaimer: Chuck Norris, Aaron Norris, CBS and others own the characters of "Walker Texas Ranger". Any new characters and story lines that come into play are of my own creation and no copyright infringement is intended. This is a fan fiction intended for entertainment purposes only and I am not making any money from it.

Chapter 7: Coffee and Chinese Food

Darryl walked into the small, yet enchanting, entranceway that had long windows on either side of the doorway that allowed plenty of natural light inside to fuel the large potted plants on either side.

There was a knock at the door and he went to open it. There on the small porch stood his partner, her hair looking more golden than strawberry in the morning light.

"Excellent timing," he said as he grabbed his keys from a bowl on a table near the door.

"Good morning, Lucy," Malha said as she stepped into the room from the kitchen. She wore jeans and a simple red t-shirt and had her long, ebony hair tied back into a gentle ponytail.

"Morning, Malha. I see your garden has already started to grow." It was easy to see that Malha had quite the green thumb that Lucy suspected was a natural talent and what had drawn Malha to opening a shop selling natural remedies and other homemade products like shampoos and lotions.

"Thank you," she replied her gentle eyes the color of an acorn studying Lucy. "Let me know when you need more tea."

"Thanks, I would appreciate that."

"We have to be going. I have a feeling I'm going to be late tonight, so don't wait up for me," Darryl said as he placed his hand on his wife's chin, leaned down and kissed her.

"I will be up late anyway working on a new recipe so I will see you tonight. I love you."

"I love you too."

"See you later, Malha. Come on partner," she said as she headed to her car.

When they had got into the car, she turned toward Darryl whose eyes hadn't left Malha who had stepped outside to check on some of her plants that were in pots on the front porch. "Let me buy you a cup of coffee."

He nodded in response and sat in silence as she drove. They had a rule about the morning commute and that was no talking about a case until they each had a cup of coffee.

"Nice place," he said as they pulled up to a coffee house that he hadn't been to before. As they walked in through the door, he took it all in. It was a place with lots of flowers. Four large intricate windows brought in the sunlight. There were a few knick-knacks and other homey touches that made it seem as though they had walked into someone's sunroom than into a coffee house.

A girl about nineteen with bouncy blonde hair turned towards them from behind the counter. "Hey, Lucy," she greeted before she turned and smiled at him. "Good morning. What would you like?"

"Good morning. I'll have a large coffee with two sugars and milk," Darryl said with a smile.

"Coming right up," the girl said as she turned around and began to get their drinks ready.

He looked at Lucy. "She didn't take your order."

She shrugged and gave him a smile and a couple of minutes later, the barista came up to them with two to-go cups in each hand. She handed one to Lucy and the other to Darryl. "I'll put that on your tab. Enjoy."

"Thanks, Tess," Lucy said with a wave as she turned and followed Darryl to the door.

He turned and waved at Tess before he turned back to his partner. "You have a tab here and she knows what you drink?" He asked, opening the door for her.

"Yes," she replied heading toward the car and opening the driver's side door.

When they had settled into the car and had pulled out of the parking, they each sampled the coffee before turning their attention to the case.

"So, who else is involved in the case?" Darryl asked noting that his partner hadn't brought up the case first, which usually meant that she hadn't found anything yet.

She shook her head as she took another sip. He looked at the cup of coffee in his own hands and decided to take time to drink some of his own allowing the flavor to activate all of his taste buds.

"Trivette and Gage have been going through everyone who came in contact with Welles," he said once it seemed as though they both had enough coffee in their systems.

"Yes, and there is no link between her and the hostage takers. I find that extremely odd."

"It is only a matter of time."

"Perhaps but I feel that we are missing something," she said as she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, a clear indication to her partner that she was frustrated.

"Ok. What do you want to do?"

She looked at him. "Find what is missing."

"Right," he replied with a grin and a shake of his head. It was a few minutes later when they arrived at Ranger Headquarters to work with the Rangers to find out the identity of Ana's killer.

The day had ended with no new leads. She had dropped Darryl off at his home at quarter to eleven and had gotten home fifteen minutes later. She heated up some Chinese takeout from the night before and brought it in with her when she went into her home office.

She leaned on her desk, staring at the board as she took a few more bites of her late supper. She enjoyed ever bite because even though it was a day old, it somehow tasted just as good at it did when she had brought it home the night before. After taking a little more time to eat, she returned her focus back to the board. The only thing she had added in the past few days was the word 'murdered' below the picture of Ana Welles.

There had to be a link from the hostage takers and Ana to the one who was behind all of it. Digging back into the backgrounds of all of them hadn't led to anyone who had the capability to pull it all off. She still didn't believe that it had been a typical bank robbery so she had to find out what the man or woman behind the whole thing had really been after.

She set her half-eaten plate of food down on her desk and closed her eyes. After taking three deep, slow breaths, she opened her eyes that immediately focused on the picture of the bank that hung on the left side of the board.

She stood up and walked up to the board to take a closer look. Her eyes drifted from the doors of the bank upwards to the businesses that were located on the other floors of the building. Those businesses were an accountant firm and a financial planning office owned by one man, Kurt Kingly.

She felt something in her gut and decided to take a deeper look into Mr. Kingly and his businesses. She went to sit down at her desk, fired up her laptop, and started to find out all she could about the man. She wondered if this would lead to another dead end or if it would finally be the beginning to solving everything.