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 25. MondayAfter breakfast and workout they split up. Annie decided to work in the electronics room, as long as Hector was OK with that. Tank went to his office and called Ranger.
They both felt that the next step should be to contact the FBI. Since Ranger was the one who had worked the most with them, he said he would try to get hold of one of his old contacts, and then he would call Tank back.
"Has Morelli said anything?"
"Not really. But he got really pissed off when I left him yesterday, and on my way out said that I now had my own curly haired brunette, thanks to him and his stalking.
"Maybe we could ask the FBI if they have a psychologist that could talk to him?"
"I´ll ask them when I talk to them."
They hung up, and Tank called in Binkie. Together they finalized the work plans for the next month, and checked the pay-roll. Annie came up and had lunch with Tank in the break room.
x x x
Ranger called in the afternoon.
"It seems more complicated than we hoped."
"Yeah?"
"My contact said he wasn't sure of Johnson. And the mob connection Ford has is with the Grizoli family, who mostly deals in drugs and prostitutes. Johnson has been around them before, and not gotten the evidence needed. So now we don't know if he is involved with them. The assignment here was partly so the FBI could check how he acts."
"So we have a crooked police commissioner, Joe Morelli who is blackmailing said commissioner and stalking women, a possibly involved FBI-agent, and the mob. Fan-fucking-tastic. What the hell should we do next?"
"I´m coming up to meet with some FBI-agents I know personally, and can vouch for. And even if we're on a secure line, I don't want to talk more on the phone."
"Thanks man. And give my best to Steph."
"Will do."
Tank had planned to go down to Morelli, but decided that he didn´t want to talk to the cop. So far Morelli hadn't said anything worthwhile, and for all that Tank cared he could rot in the hidden cell. Binkie had made a good dent in the paperwork, and Tank thought that they really ought to hire an administrator. The problem was how to get a person that would fit in with the company. And the current employees would do almost anything not to have to handle the administrative side.
He went out to the break room for coffee, and saw that Frank Plum and Joe Juniak were sitting there talking to Woody and Zero.
They looked up when he came into the room.
"Tank."
"Frank, Juniak."
"Please, call me Joe," Juniak said. "Even if it´s a bit tainted by the connection to Morelli."
"I've never called him 'Joe', so that's not a problem. I'll gladly call you Joe."
He took a sip from his mug.
"So, have you been up to anything today?"
"Right now I'm mostly enjoying the peace and quiet. I know I´ll have to get out in the real world soon, but I've needed this time to ground myself. I've talked to my secretary, and we have decided to meet with the administration tomorrow, plus selected a couple of journalists for a meeting the day after.
"We've had a good time in the gym as well. As former soldiers we know better than to get this out of shape, but now we're working on it."
"And you, Frank?"
"Oh, I´ve definitely enjoyed the peace and quiet. The law firm called earlier. They have given the divorce papers to Helen. She has one week to sign them, if she doesn't I´ll rescind the offer to let her keep the house, and take it to court. Considering the result from Valerie's paternity test, and the fact that I've supported her there´s a good chance Helen would need to pay me from her parents' inheritance. And that's without including the infidelity."
"Have you heard from her?"
"She´s called, but I must confess I didn´t feel up to talking to her right now. Maybe tomorrow. I've talked to Valerie and Stephanie, though."
They chatted about insignificant things for a while, and then Tank returned to his desk. He called down to Annie, who said she was on a roll with a fragment, and that Hector had gotten her coffee. She´d be up at the latest by six o´clock.
Ella came by, and Tank asked her to make dinner that evening, something that would be OK reheating, because probably Ranger would come. Ella was excited to meet her nephew, and said so. Although Tank thought that she would have been even more excited to meet Steph, not to mention baby Stella.
After Tank had worked his way through a bunch of documents on his computer Ranger called with an approximate time for the company jet´s landing. Tank told Woody and Cal to pick him up. A quick look on the time told him that Annie would soon be ready for dinner, and it would be too long until Ranger arrived to wait on him. He checked in with Ella, and asked her to bring the dinner to his apartment. He went to the electronics room, where Annie was just about ready to call it a day. Hector and Tank talked a bit about Ranger´s information, and then Tank and Annie had dinner. They talked about Morelli and the commissioner for a bit, but mostly enjoyed the food and discussed books they both had read.
Around nine o'clock they got a message that Ranger would soon be at Haywood, and they went up to the fifth floor. Bobby, Cal and Hector were also there, and Ella had made some sandwiches as well as coffee for the meeting. There was also some dinner waiting for Ranger.
When he arrived he first of all went over to Annie and said hello.
"I must thank you for dealing with the Morelli situation," Ranger said. "The fact that you contacted the police and then managed to get Helen Plum to talk… It has been an immense help in getting Steph to understand a bit about the way they both treated her. Now we'll just have to tie it all together."
Annie looked at him and thought for herself that he was a good looking man, but that she definitely preferred Tank.
"I suppose I´ll have to thank you," she said. "Or maybe Steph, because if Morelli hadn´t confused us I wouldn't have met all the Rangemen and especially Tank." She gave Tank a smile, which he returned.
"Do you want me to stay or get out of under your feet for the meeting?" she asked.
"I think you´d be a great help."
Ranger checked the time.
"My contact should be here soon. Why don't you give me a briefing."
"Ella´s made you some of your favorite food," Tank said. "You´d better eat."
Ranger laughed and filled a plate. The others filled their coffee mugs, and they all sat down around the conference table. Tank gave a succinct briefing, while Ranger efficiently ate his dinner. When he was finished his phone rang.
He talked quickly with the other person, and the hung up.
"My contact´s here. I´ll meet him in the garage. I don't want to take him through the reception with a risk to be spotted. I believe the commissioner is experienced enough to have this place under surveillance."
"I agree. We haven't had anyone over since Jackson was here. And I'm glad we only let him in on the ground floor. Hector has checked for bugs, and haven't found anything, but still."
Ranger went down to the garage with Hector. They were back in the conference room a while later. Hector had made a sweep for bugs, and hadn't found anything. Annie looked at the FBI agent. It was a tall Asian man in his forties, with a no nonsense attitude. Ranger introduced him as special agent James Yeoh.
"I got a thorough briefing over the phone yesterday. Are there any new facts since then?"
"Just that Joe Juniak will meet with administrators tomorrow. Interestingly enough he hasn´t been called to the police station to give information about the blackmail when he was a police commissioner."
"You still have Morelli?"
"We can get a hold of him in half an hour."
"It´s alright, I don't want to know where you keep him."
Yeoh took a sip of his coffee.
"Has he said anything?"
"Not really. For the first days he had the DTs, and when he got better he still didn´t want to talk. We've had him isolated, but he got to listen to the talk Annie had with Helen Plum plus Joe Juniak´s press conference."
"I think he honestly looks at himself as God´s gift to women," Annie said. "But his obsession with curly haired brunettes is creepy."
She looked around in the conference room.
"If you want any input from me I´ll be in Tank´s apartment. I´m just a civilian and don´t have anything else to say right now."
She gave Tank a quick kiss and left the room.
"She might be a civilian, but she is very perceptive," Yeoh said. "I was a bit uncomfortable with having her sitting in right now, so I'm glad she left for now.
"We've found some clues that Morelli indeed is obsessed with curly haired brunettes. We've checked his out of town-assignments, and there´s a correspondence with two rapes. We have DNA from one of the rapes, but haven't had anything to compare it to before. But now we have a DNA match. Both victims are curly haired brunettes."
"When did this happen?"
"The two rapes were within two days of each other, two years ago, both in Chicago. After that we haven't got any reported crimes we can connect with Morelli."
"He´s been bothering the prostitutes on Stark Street for at least half a year. I suppose you scared him enough to behave for a while," Tank said to Ranger.
"Fuck. The guilt will eat Stephanie. If we had reported him maybe they could have matched the DNA before."
"Then maybe you should point out that he got his DNA sampled more than two weeks ago, and obviously Trenton PD hasn't made any special efforts to get hold of him," Tank said.
"I agree," Yeoh said. "Nothing´s going to get better with the blame game. We must take this forward, but right now he's not out and around, plus we need his blackmail material so we can get his biggest enabler, commissioner Ford, locked up."
"And what do you propose we do to that end?" Tank asked.
"The FBI wants to take Morelli off your hands. Hopefully we can get him to give us the blackmail material."
"And then you'll give him a short sentence and he'll be out again harassing, or maybe worse, curly haired brunettes in his vicinity."
"We won´t make a deal that has him out and about for at least fifteen years. We can offer him a lesser sentence for some of the crimes he has committed under commissioner Ford, but the rapes alone are fifteen years. If you take the case of kidnapping to court it is five years. And then there's the breaking and entering with the assault on top. Even if the sentences aren't sequential he'll be put away for a long time."
"And if he refuses to tell you anything, or give you the blackmail material?"
"Oh, we have more people in the TPD than Johnson. And we have connections within the Grizolis as well. We have enough to put away quite a lot of people for some time, it´s commissioner Ford we're trying to haul in as well. And whoever's been helping him."
They discussed a few different plots to continue the work. Ranger offered agent Yeoh an apartment in Haywood, and he accepted.
"It´s better not to be seen around town right now," he said.
Ranger and Tank talked for a while.
"You know I´d be more than fine with you on the seventh floor?" Ranger said.
"Yeah, but I have my house, and an apartment here for shorter stays. But if you plan to invite more people to stay over we'll have a problem. Juniak and Frank Plum are already sharing an apartment, and the one for Yeoh just got free due to Zero finally moving in with his girlfriend."
"Talking about live in-girlfriends…"
"Where´s the subtle man of few words I used to know? Spit it out if there's anything you want to know or say."
"Just where you and Annie are headed."
"Right now I'm heading to bed. And we've talked about not moving too fast. But our forced cohabitation has worked out just fine."
"How long will she be in the US?"
"Her visa´s good until February next year. And she´s got her apartment ´til August. We've talked about her moving in officially then."
"I´m happy for you, man."
"Thanks."
They stood silent for a while.
"Morelli´s down in the hidden cell," Tank said. "I presume you're going down to talk to him?"
"If the FBI wants him, they´ll get him, but not before I´ve had a chance to talk. And Steph gave me back my promise to not hurt him. I've only promised not to kill him. And to not let any other Rangeman kill him either."
"Too bad you gave that last promise. But I'm sure Hector will have connections in whatever prison Morelli´ll turn up in."
"I believe that as well."
Tank returned to his apartment, and Ranger went up in smoke. At least he disappeared silently and without a trace on the surveillance cameras.
When Tank want into the apartment Annie was sitting in the sofa watching TV.
"Hi. You didn´t need to wait up for me."
"I didn´t need to, but I wanted to. Did you get anywhere in your planning?"
"I think so. Are you watching the show, or are you ready to head to bed?"
"I´m not even sure what show is on, so I'm definitely ready for bed."
Tank took a quick shower while Annie brushed her teeth, and then they went to bed. They were both tired and just cuddled until they fell asleep.
x x x
In the meantime in the basement…
Ranger silently opened the door to Morelli´s cell. He lay on the bed snoring. Ranger went over to the bunk and lifted the sleeping man up by his neck.
"What the…" Morelli fell silent as soon as he saw who was holding him.
"Not so cocky when you're not the biggest and strongest, are you?
"But then again Annie has managed to beat you off, and she seems to weigh about 120 pounds."
"Let me down!"
"Of course."
Ranger let go of him suddenly, and Morelli fell down on the floor. He scrambled up.
"You look better than when I saw you last," Ranger said. "Drying up alright?"
Morelli was silent.
"You think the silent routine´s going to work?"
Morelli continued his silence.
Ranger shrugged.
"It´s not like I want to talk to you. I´ll just pass on a message from my wife."
Morelli ended up on the floor clutching his crotch.
Ranger raised him from the floor and gave him a punch in the stomach.
"And that´s for the two women you raped in Chicago."
"And this is from me."
Ranger punched him in the face, and left the cell after leaving Morelli in semi-prone position.
He went to the surveillance room.
"Keep an eye and ear on Morelli. I don't want him dead. Not yet, at least."
"Will do," Woody said.