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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 9. Nothing messes up your Friday like realizing it's only Tuesday, part I

The next morning Annie woke up sweating. Tank had her plastered to his front, and the man felt like a furnace. She wiggled to get some space, but it only resulted in his arms getting tighter around her.

"Stop wiggling," he rumbled. His morning voice was deliciously dark, Annie thought.

"You're toasting me, could you please leave just a little air between us.

"Absolutely not." He gave her a quick kiss and then let her go. "I do need a bathroom break, but I expect you to be exactly where you are now when I get back."

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh yeah."

They had quite a satisfying morning, and were glad to discover that they both were morning persons. After a hearty breakfast Tank drove Annie to her apartment. The plan was that she would change clothes, and then he would drive her over to Ms. Anderson´s townhouse.

When Annie opened the apartment door she became rigid. Tank immediately moved in front of her. On the door mat he saw a cupcake decorated with sprinkles, under it was a paper with the word WHORE in big letters.

Tank immediately called Gazarra.

"We're at Annie's apartment. Someone has broken in again, and left a cupcake and a message. Of the one word variety."

"I'll be over. And I´ll make sure the apartment is thoroughly investigated."

Tank made another call.

"It´s me. Someone´s broken in at Annie's apartment. They left a cupcake and a paper with the word 'whore'. We haven't gone inside, we're waiting for the police. Has Morelli´s car been in the neighborhood?"

"The trackers didn´t show any movement at all yesterday. But he probably got another car, or got someone to drive him. In fact; the Plum car´s been close by."

"I´ll call you back later."

Tank turned to Annie.

"Sorry, I had to check out a couple of things."

He opened his arms, and just held her.

"I need to call Ms. Anderson. I'll be late today."

Annie made a quick call to the butler.

"Maybe we should close the door and go downstairs to let the police inside."

"Would you be OK with letting them in? I´d rather watch the door here, since we haven´t checked the inside of the apartment."

"Sure." She turned around.

"Annie, how are you? You're so quiet…"

"I think I'm just numb. We'll talk later."

Annie went downstairs, and waited by the door. Gazarra arrived after a couple of minutes.

"Hello, Ms. Morrison. How are you doing?"

"A bit numb, I suppose. Should I wait to let in any more people?"

"I´ll wait here with you, they'll be here soon. Can you tell me about it in the meantime?"

"Tank drove me home this morning, and when I opened the door to my apartment there was a cupcake on the doormat. Or rather there was a paper on the doormat, with the word WHORE written on it, and a cupcake on top of the paper. Pink frosting and sprinkles. It looked absolutely poisonous. The lock felt completely normal as well. I thought it would feel different when it had been tampered with, but I suppose that´s just a cliché from Agatha Christie-books."

"If the perpetrator knows how to open the lock, it doesn´t need to feel any different. Oh, here comes the team."

They let the team in, and went upstairs. Tank was still standing outside, talking on his phone.

"I´ll call you back later." He finished the call.

"Tank."

"Gazarra."

"Annie gave me her version, can you give me yours?"

Tank quickly corroborated everything Annie had said.

"We haven't been inside, so I don't know if there's more than what's on the doormat."

"We'll check. OK, it´s all yours," Gazarra said to the team.

"I'll walk you down," he said to Tank and Annie.

"Anything else?" Gazarra asked when they were out of earshot.

"Morelli´s car didn´t move all day yesterday. But the Plum car was just one street away last night around eight o´clock. And it was at Morelli's house half an hour before that."

"This is more and more fucked up," Gazarra said. "And I´ve checked at the station. There´re rumors about a DUI and Morelli, but nothing that´s on file. And I can't find any reports regarding curly haired brunettes.

"And the only gossip Shirley had regarded Kloughn. Steph´s sister´s husband," he explained to Annie. "Apparently he's been seen lunching with his secretary a lot, but if there's anything more than lunch, Shirley didn´t know."

"Considering that his last secretary was Valerie whom he got pregnant and married… Well, who knows," Tank said.

They said goodbye to Gazarra, and went to Tank´s car.

"What do you want to do, Annie? I can drive you to your work, or you could come with me to Haywood, or if there's anywhere else you´d like to go?"

"I don't think my work would be any good today. I´d like some clean clothes, and maybe a gym."

"Then we'll go to Haywood. Ella´s got clothes, and there's a gym. I need to talk to Hector and Brown as well."

x x x

At Haywood they first found Ella who gave Annie two sets of clothes, one for the gym.

"Tank said you're a vegetarian, I´ll make sure to make you something for lunch."

"Thanks Ella, I really appreciate all your help."

"You're quite welcome. I don't think I've ever seen Tank with a smile that lasts more than two seconds before."

Annie blushed faintly, and then gave Ella a small smile.

Tank and Annie went towards the gym.

"Here´s a small locker room for disabled people. We don't have any handicapped personnel right now. Or women, except for Ella, and she lives in house."

"Thanks. See you in the gym."

Since it was midmorning the gym was empty. They both started at the treadmills.

"I´ve got to talk to Brown and Hector later."

"Can I come with you, or do you want to talk to them in private?"

"You're welcome. I mean, this obviously concerns you."

They ran in silence for a while.

"I don't want to seem pushy, but would you like to stay at my house for a while? At least until we hear that they actually have locked Morelli up this time?"

"Please, either that or you could stay with me, but you have your cats, plus a much bigger bed."

"We'll drive by the apartment and pick up some of your things later."

Tank went over to the sand sack, and Annie tried some of the machines.

"You´ve got an impressive gym. Some machines I don't even know what they're for, and I go to a gym in town, plus I used to train quite a bit in Cambridge."

"Well, we're about forty men working here, with pretty strict physical demands, for example at least five hours of physical training each week. We need a good gym."

"I don´t complain," Annie smiled. "I´m benefitting from all your training."

Tank laughed. "Likewise, you´re quite fit. And now I'm ready to hit the shower before we go talk with Brown and Hector. You ready?"

"Absolutely. Ella even got me the hair serum."

Tank stood waiting outside the small locker room when Cal came by.

"Tank."

"Cal."

The door to the locker room opened and Annie came out.

"Hello, Annie! I didn´t know you were here."

"Hello, Cal. You can see it as the fortunate outcome of a less pleasant occurrence. Much the same thing as when I met you and Bobby at the mall."

"And is the less pleasant occurrence the same person´s doing?"

"Yes. Morelli broke into my apartment and left a message and a cupcake. At least we're pretty sure it´s Morelli."

"He what!?"

"We've already called in the police, and Tank and I are meeting Bobby and Hector."

Cal turned to Tank. "I´m in. When you go after him I'm coming along."

"Right now we're giving the TPD a chance to prove that they're able to handle it."

"And when they screw it up again I'm coming with you. This is non-negotiable."

Annie just looked at Cal. He was scary when he was this angry, and the flames around his skull tattoo flared red.

"Calm down. I promise to let you know if we go after him. If you promise to do as I say."

Cal looked at Tank, then at Annie.

"I promise."

x x x

Tank and Annie met Brown and Hector in the electronics room.

"I've had trackers on both Morelli´s and Plum´s car. And also a bug on the Plum phone. I haven't found out if Helen´s got a cell phone, there isn't anyone listed on her. I suspect she´s got a burner phone, ´cause there wasn't any calls on the landline last night from Morelli."

Tank turned to Annie to and started to explain.

"Oh, I got that. My Spanish isn't fluent, but good enough to understand that."

"You mean you've understood what Hector´s been talking about all the time?"

"Uhh, yeah. Is that a problem? I thought I said that I'm good at languages?"

"So when you listed which languages you speak, you only listed the ones you're totally fluent in?"

"Yes. I mean, I know French and Latin, there's not that big a step to understand Spanish. My pronunciation isn't perfect, but I know enough to get by."

"If you include the languages you think you're not fluent in, how many do you speak or understand then?"

"Oh, I get by in Danish and Norwegian and Spanish, understands Flemish and Icelandic, Romanian and Hungarian, Portuguese and Italian. I can read ancient Hebrew and Arabic, my cuneiform is so-so… What do you really want to know, Tank?"

"I suppose I wonder if you understood what Hector and I spoke about Morelli, and if we freaked you out."

"You mean when you talked about him disappearing? You sounded calm, so I thought I could at least talk to you before you or Hector did anything. And no, I was more freaked out about Morelli himself."

Annie stepped up to Tank and hugged him.

"I won't freak out when you talk about protecting me. Even if it is in Spanish. But maybe you should try another language if you don't want me to understand."

"Sounds like it would be difficult to find one, Annie," Bobby said.

"Oh, I don't know any modern East Asian or African languages. I've never gotten around to them. But now maybe I have an enticement."

She gave Tank a final hug and stepped back.

"But really, we have other things to talk about. We all suspect Morelli´s the one who broke into my apartment and left the cupcake and the message. When Gazarra reports back we'll know if there was more."

Bobby had been briefed by Hector before Annie and Tank came, but he was still angry.

"I think we´d better put a shadow on Helen Plum. Morelli´s more probable to spot us."

"I'll try to place a tracker at least in Helen´s purses."

"Is everyone convinced Stephanie´s father´s not involved?" Annie asked.

"I think the problem with Frank Plum is that he hasn´t been involved in much of anything ever since he came back from the military. That man is a walking advertisement for PTSD, and I don't think he´s ever gotten any help. He seems to coop by not really engage in anything. He drives the cab, watches TV and eats. Sometimes he meets up with some old buddies, but not that often," Bobby said.

Tank´s phone rang.

"Hi, it's Gazarra. How about lunch today?"

"Sounds good. Same place as last time."

They both hung up.