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 26. Tuesday, part IRanger called Tank early the next day and invited him and Annie up to the penthouse apartment for breakfast.
"We'll be up after our workout," Tank said.
They met Ranger in the gym.
"You should´ve taped your hands," Tank said. "Steph will notice."
"She´ll be content knowing I used my knee for her signature move. But considering I´m stronger I thought that it would have even more of an effect than when she does it. I suppose she´s faster in small spaces."
Tank laughed, and after the workout and shower he and Annie went up to the seventh floor. They met Ella in the door, she had just delivered the breakfast. She quickly explained to Annie which dishes were vegetarian, and Annie thanked her.
Inside the apartment Ranger laughed a little at her breakfast.
"You look quite a lot like Steph, but you most definitely have totally different eating habits."
They ate and talked, but not anything about Rangeman or Morelli. They talked a bit about Annie´s work, of travels and hiking, and of course they got Ranger to show them some pictures of his family.
Taking a sip of her coffee Annie finally asked if there was anything she could help them with, otherwise she´d leave them to their own devices and continue with her work.
"Hector´s not in the electronics room today," Ranger said.
"You could use my desk, or work from the apartment again, just take care of your back and neck," Tank added.
"Thanks, I'll probably stay in the apartment at least until lunch."
She kissed Tank and thanked Ranger for the breakfast and left.
"She seems pretty perfect for you," Ranger commented.
"I honestly believes she´s perfect, period," Tank answered. "We have quite a lot of things in common, but are definitely different enough to have lot of things to talk about and discover together."
"We're meeting Yeoh in the conference room in fifteen minutes. Anything else since we talked last night?"
"No. And even though Annie´s not as against being cooped up as Steph, even I´m beginning to feel a bit claustrophobic. We´d better get a solution ASAP."
"I agree. Oh, and I went back to talk to Morelli before today´s workout. He´s willing to talk to the bureau, and told me how to find the blackmail material."
"And how much did you have to persuade him?"
"Not a thing today. And yesterday really was just a quick hello from Babe. And maybe two more punches. I think being locked up for so long and just meeting you was getting to him."
Tank gave him a look, and then nodded.
"I suppose the knowledge of what we both can do and would be willing to do, was helping."
"Probably. Oh, and I´ve sent Hector to collect the blackmail material. This way we can have our talk with Yeoh and still be able to say that we haven't seen it yet."
"OK."
They met Yeoh, Brown and Cal in the conference room.
"When would the FBI be able to pick up Morelli, and where do they want him?"
"Preferably after dark, and preferably somewhere else than Haywood."
"How about the private airfield I flew to yesterday?"
"Sounds good. 0200?"
"Will do. Are you able to tell us about your plans for today, or is it classified?"
"I´ll talk to Johnson, and one of my colleagues talked to the other person at TPD yesterday. Ford seems agitated, and Internal Affairs have talked to him. So far he hasn't admitted anything."
"Juniak´s meeting with administrators from the mayor´s office today. But he said he still hasn´t heard anything from the police, neither regular TPD or Internal Affairs," Cal said.
"We need a detail on Juniak today. The fact that it's more or less known he´s going to talk to the administration today makes him a target for the media, and also quite possibly for Ford," Tank added. "You got the task yesterday, Cal."
"It's all planned."
"And Frank Plum is going over to the house to talk to Helen after lunch. I´ll go with him," Bobby said.
Ranger looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Or you can do it if you want to," Brown continued. "But I honestly think there´s a point in having a medically trained person tagging along. Annie said Helen Plum looked like she would have a heart attack in the park, and then she got violent."
"I´m just fine with never having to see her again," Ranger declared. "I´ll talk to Frank later."
The meeting broke up, and Yeoh left for the meeting with Johnson.
"Have you talked to Gazarra lately?" Ranger asked.
"No. He was here together with Johnson last Thursday. I really hope he managed to get some time with his family this weekend, so he probably hasn't had the time to look into it more. It´s not as if he's on official time with it."
"Delivering Morelli got trickier with the airport as the meeting point. Get Binkie and Woody to plan it."
Ranger and Tank kept discussing different scenarios, and then Hector came back. They met in the electronics room.
"It was hidden at his old buddy´s hunting lodge in the Pines," Hector said. "I don't think anyone else knew it was there, especially not his old buddy. He had put up some things to ensure that he would know if someone found it."
"And he told me that if he didn´t log in on an account every month a mail would be sent to the district attorney with information on where to find the blackmail material," Ranger told them. "He had obviously put some photos in them as well. And one week after that there would be a mail to some big news companies."
Ranger looked pissed off. "He said that he even used to have an automatic mail to Steph´s address. But since he didn´t have her current e-mail he had no way to contact her anymore. But he thought that she wouldn't want the authorities to be able to put the lid on. The son of a bitch really thought that she would do him that favor."
"Did you get his email address? I think it would be better if Hector stopped those messages."
"I did that before I even left for the Pines," Hector said.
He opened the cache. It was a weather proof capsule with some debris still on it.
"He had hidden it inside one of the outer walls at the lodge. I had to pull out some nails and remove two boards to get it. And before you ask, yes I put everything back in order."
"Honestly, I never thought you wouldn´t."
Inside the cache there were two plastic boxes, one about the size of a legal pad, the other one a bit smaller. Hector had gloves on and carefully pried the lid off the bigger one. Inside there were plastic bags with photos. A quick perusal showed more Joe Juniak together with Helen Plum than anyone wanted to see. There were also naked pictures of Ford. But in the case of Ford there was not only photos of him without clothes and in the company of much younger women, there was also photos of him sniffing cocaine and at the poker table with a lot of money. The quality of the photos was so good it looked like a professional photographer had taken them. In comparison the older footage of Juniak with Helen Plum looked grainy and almost blurred.
"He must have known where Ford would be and what he would be doing well in advance. Those photos are almost too good," Tank said.
"I agree."
"I suppose Morelli still was on good terms with Terry Gilman. She could have helped him."
After a moment of thoughtful silence Ranger agreed.
"And the time of Gilman´s death in that car accident corresponds with when he stepped up his pursuit of Stephanie and those two rapes in Chicago."
The smaller box held three memory cards.
"I'll get copies of everything, and then I´ll put it back in the boxes, so you can give it to the fed´s."
"Thanks Hector. I really appreciate all your help. And I know that Steph does as well."
"You´re welcome."
They all went up to the break room to get some lunch. Tank went to the apartment to get Annie.
She was sitting at the small table in the breakfast nook, writing furiously on her laptop.
"Hi. You want to come get some lunch?"
"I could do with some food and coffee. But I´ve had a really productive day so far. I've written almost a whole chapter."
Tank gave her a kiss and escorted her towards the break room.
"And has your morning been productive, Tank?"
"Yeah. And I really want this to be over, I want to go home to my house and snuggle up with you and the cats. Even Mrs. Gonzales would be nice to talk to right now. I like my work and my colleagues, but I don't want to be around them 24/7."
"I agree. I look forward to being outside and not look over the shoulder, I´d really like to just run in the park or take a walk to work. And I want to go on another picnic with you."
"I promise you´ll get to do that and more soon."
They helped themselves to some food in the break room and sat down with Hector at a table. Ranger, Frank Plum and Bobby were sitting at another table, Frank sporting what looked like a new black eye on top of his old more yellowish one. Bobby had a fresh scratch down his left cheek.
"Frank, Bobby," Tank said.
"Hello." Annie said.
"Hello. Come over to our table? We can talk about my crazy soon to be ex-wife. Or not talk about her. I´d like that better."
Annie, Tank and Hector moved over to the table with the other men.
"If you want to talk about it, I´d be glad to listen," Annie said.
"The Reader's Digest version is that Helen didn´t want to get a divorce, and when I told her I would draw back the offer to keep the house if she didn´t sign the divorce papers she launched like a missile, clocked me in the eye and continued to scratch Bobby when he came over to get her away from me. Obviously we are both gentlemen enough, or stupid enough, not to be able to hit a woman, so it took some time to make an orderly retreat. I think she got the point about signing before Monday or losing out on the house and most likely meeting in court with the added threat of having to pay me. I had hoped to be able to pick up some of my clothes, but I relinquished those plans. We stopped and bought some stuff on the way over here."
"I would say I´m sorry, but really, I think you got out of there with just minimal damage, it could have been a lot worse."
"I agree. We even went inside a trailer dealer and got some brochures on the way."
"Trailer?" Ranger asked.
"Yes, I´ve been thinking of driving around the country, stopping where I feel like it. I have nothing holding me in Trenton anymore. Of course I´ll visit with my daughters and grandchildren from time to time. I´m really looking forward to not living in the ´Burg anymore."
"I hope you'll visit us in Miami before you get on the road."
"Of course. I´ve promised Stephanie to come for the christening, and I want to meet her and Stella too. Maybe I´ll just rent a trailer first and see if it's something that suits me."