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Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.

Italics - Spanish

Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.

Chapter 8. An ordinary Monday, part II

Tank went up to his office and phoned Ranger. He gave a quick summary of what he and Gazarra had talked about, and what Hector had said about the rumors on Stark Street.

"I´m meeting Annie after her work later today. Would it be OK if I told her about what happened to Stephanie? I trust her. And I´d need to tell Brown as well. Santos is in Boston indefinitely, so I don't include him. And I´d prefer to at least be able to hint about some things to Gazarra. Hector as well, but he´d probably just kill Morelli."

Ranger was quiet for a while.

"I hear you. I´ll call you back in about an hour after I´ve talked to Steph."

They both hung up, and Tank decided to go down to the gym for a while. He needed to get an outlet for a lot of anger, and usually he thought better during and after a workout.

There were only a couple of men in the gym, and he just nodded at them before he went over and beat the shit out of the sandbag. Afterwards he was glistening with sweat, and he took a quick shower. He checked his watch. 58 minutes since he´d talked to Ranger. Two minutes later his phone rang.

"Yo."

"Yo. I've talked to Babe, and she's OK with you telling Annie and Brown. Concerning Gazarra she's afraid he'll do something stupid, like trying to beat the shit out of Morelli, so she's not certain it´d be a wise move to tell him. Honestly, I´m a bit unsure of that myself. And Hector we're both sure would kill him."

"I promise to rein Gazarra and Hector in, if I have to. And I don't know if I'll tell them everything, I just needed to know that I could tell them at least some of it. Gazarra needs to know Morelli´s been this unstable for quite a while."

"I agree. And I know you won't be gossiping. Just know that Steph´s still really upset about it all."

"Upset. Upset! Fuck you, she was kidnapped and almost raped. And he was assisted by her own mother. I´m not upset, I'm absolutely furious. I just hope Little girl will be able to deal with this, and I think it would be better for her to know why it happened, and that no one else will be subjected to Morelli."

"I hear you. And you know I wouldn't have let I be if I hadn't promised Steph."

Tank sighed. "I know."

"Babe said that her mother´s behavior is strange even considering the alcohol and the pressure to be as Burg as possible. Try to check on her."

"I will. I'll call you back when I have any news."

Tank went down to the electronics room, but Hector wasn't there. He didn´t want to leave any messages on the phone, so he went back up and wrote a short mail and sent him over the company's intranet. In the mail he asked Hector to check Helen Plum. He didn´t specify in what ways.

After another look on the watch Tank went to the medical suite. Bobby was in.

"I´ve some information you'll surely want to do something about after I've told you. Before I tell you anything you've got to promise me you won't act on it without permission from me, Ranger and Steph. If you can't make that promise, I won't be able to give you the information."

Bobby gave him a long look.

"Oh, and you can't tell anyone without Steph´s permission."

"And you think I need the information?"

"Definitely."

"I promise."

Tank told Bobby everything that Ranger had said.

"This is some sick shit. And I definitely want Morelli to disappear, and send Helen Plum to Siberia with only a toothbrush."

"I agree, but it's not our call. It´s Steph´s decision. And we hopefully can get enough evidence from Stark Street and from Annie to have him locked up. But there's something rotten at TPD as well. I've asked Hector to work the Helen Plum angle, and Gazarra´s trying to find out what's going on at the police.

"Now I'm out of here. I´m not officially working tomorrow, but I'll probably be in touch."

Tank went down to the garage. Before he drove away he called Annie.

"Would now be a good time to come and pick you up?"

"I´ll need to put the papyri away, but I could be ready in about fifteen minutes."

"Excellent, the drive over will take about that time. See you soon."

x x x

Fifteen minutes later Tank drove up to the townhouse at the same time that Annie came out of the door. She got in the car, and gave him a smile and a kiss.

"Hello."

"Hi. I got a recommendation for a restaurant with good vegetarian food if you want to eat out, or if you want take away we could eat at my house."

"I´d love to see your house. There´s a good thai place a couple of minutes away where we could get take away, if that´s OK."

"Sounds good. Just tell me how to drive there."

Half an hour later they got out of the car at Tank´s house. He opened the door after turning off the alarm.

"Well, this is me."

"I´d like a tour, but I'd rather eat when the food's still hot. Maybe you could show me around later."

"Sounds good to me. The kitchen´s over here, if that's OK."

"Of course. I fed you in my kitchen."

They ate and talked a bit about Annie´s research. The cats drifted into the kitchen and Annie couldn't help but laugh.

"They seem quite curious."

"Well, it's been quite some time since it wasn't just me around."

"Thanks for sharing your home with me, Tank. Have I told you about the cat I got when I was ten years old? It came from a shelter and had one and a half ear, half a tail and patrolled the whole neighborhood. My parents thought we´d come home from the shelter with a cute little kitten, not with this huge tom cat. It had been neutered at the shelter of course, and nobody could really tell how old it was. We had him for seven years. I named him Ulysses."

"Two of these are from a shelter, but I've had them since they were kittens. The third was a neighbor's, their daughter became allergic."

He gestured to the black and white cat.

"That´s Applejack, the neighbor's cat, and these are siblings from the shelter – Cinnamon and Ginger. Ginger´s the marmalade, of course."

Annie cuddled with the cats.

"I promised you the grand tour of the house."

Downstairs there was the kitchen, the laundry room and a sitting room and a guest toilet. Upstairs was the master bedroom, a bathroom, with a huge shower, a guest room and a study. Annie peaked at the bookshelves. Quite a lot of history and biographies, but definitely fiction as well, and quite a lot of fantasy.

"We have some overlapping interests," she smiled. "I also like Eric Flint´s alternate history series, and Raymond Feist."

She gave him a serious look.

"Now I think we should sit down and talk about Morelli. You look like you've got more information, and don't know how to tell me."

Tank gave her a disbelieving look.

"I´m quite good at reading people," Annie said. "Any chance for a cup of coffee or tea?"

They went back to the kitchen and made coffee, and drank it in the living room sofa.

"So, spill."

And Tank told the whole story for what felt like the tenth time, after first getting Annie to promise not to tell anyone.

When he had told it all he looked at Annie. She was definitely paler, her freckles stood out against her skin.

"This is more serious than I thought. There's no way he hasn´t got support from higher up at the police. And I definitely get why the prostitutes on Stark Street is afraid to report him."

"I agree. Right now we're trying some different angles. Gazarra handles the TPD, and we'll try to check out the Stark Street angle plus Helen Plum."

"It all seems like a bad movie. You know, good cop gone bad. And I don't want to sound so needy and frightened, but I really don't like that he knows where I live.

"By the way. I called the building´s supervisor yesterday, and told them about the break in. The police hadn't given them any details. The door to the apartment is the tenant's responsibility, but they promised to change the lock on the outer door. It will take a couple of days, since they have to get in touch with all the residents and give them new keys."

"I'd prefer if they had some extra security, but I know I'm biased considering my work," Tank said. "Please, promise me to have the door bolt engaged when you're in the apartment, and your cell phone with you whenever you go somewhere."

"I promise. It´s not like I want to run into him somewhere," Annie said with a shudder.

"Now I have a somewhat more technical question." She gave Tank a look from under her lashes.

"Yeah? Is it a question I can help you with?"

"I hope so. It concerns how to avoid getting a crick in my neck."

"Oh, that technical question," Tank said. "Well there are some different solutions to that…"

They spent quite some time testing different solutions.

Tank finally gave her a sweet kiss.

"Shall I take you home? I´d love it if you stayed the night, but this has been quite a whirlwind, so I understand if you want to wait."

"I´d love to stay the night."

Tank rose and easily lifted her up and carried her upstairs to the bedroom.