Chapter 22

"He sodomized you."

I didn't know how to respond. I'd poured my heart and my horrors out to Ranger under the influence of way too much wine only a few nights before. Perhaps I hadn't been as clear as I could have been. I remembered the feelings generated by what I'd said more than the actual words. I wasn't interested in saying anything else.

I looked toward his bedroom and the office beyond. "Let's get to work. I'm anxious to identify the other women Rafael has extorted."

"You mean terrorized?" Ranger asked.

I shook my head. "No. I think I might be the only one he terrorized. I'm lucky that way."

My sarcasm had tickled Ranger's funny bone because I saw the beginnings of his almost smile. It eased the tension somehow. "I'm starving," I said. "I'm going to raid the refrigerator and then I'll be right in."

"I'm sure you'll find something. Ella was in earlier restocking the kitchen. Bring me a bottle of water when you come." He went toward his office and I went to the kitchen.

My hand was on the refrigerator door when my phone dinged an incoming text. I left the kitchen and went to the hall where I'd set my phone on the credenza. I leaned back against the wall as I read the text and slowly slid to the floor. Ranger found me sitting there when he came to look for me five minutes later, my phone in my lap and my head bowed.

"Criss-cross applesauce," I said as his feet entered my field of view.

"Babe?"

"Criss-cross applesauce," I repeated. "That's what Mary Lou's kids call sitting this way."

He squatted in front of me and reached out a hand to tip my chin up. His eyes met mine and I could see the anger from earlier had been replaced. He was concerned about me.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes," I said and then, "No. I'm not." I handed him the phone and watched as he read the text I'd just read.

Ms. Plum, you can run and hide, and I think you're trying but you can't avoid me forever. I have no desire to disrupt your current relationships, but I will claim my right to one night a week. Based on our history, I'm sure you understand. I will see you on Wednesday at my home, 7:00 p.m. Please be prompt and don't even consider not coming. I assure you, I still have every reason to ensure your compliance.

"The bastard," I muttered. "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I'm not the only one he terrorized. He might have a woman, or man I guess, for every night of the week. This has to end, Ranger, for me and for you. I can end it for you, I'm sure of it. I can get a confession from him and then he can be arrested. But I can't do it without your help. Will you help me?"

Ranger reached out a hand to me and pulled me back to my feet. He gave me back my phone and ran a hand through his hair in a very un-Ranger-like fashion.

"I'll help you," he said. "Text him back. Tell him you'll meet him as he requested, but the terms of your relationship need to be redefined and that you are anxious to discuss it with him."

My thumbs were stiff with tension, but I managed to text a message back to Rafael. I texted verbatim what Ranger had said and then hit send. After only a few seconds my phone dinged again with an incoming message. I looked at it and then turned the screen toward Ranger so he could see the laughing emoji Rafael sent back.

"We'll see if he's still laughing by the end of Wednesday night," Ranger said. "Let's go get some lunch and think about what needs to be done."

It was well past lunch time and I would have been happy with a healthy sandwich from his kitchen, but he had other plans. He called the control room and said he'd be offline for a few hours, and we left the building. As we stepped onto the sidewalk, Ranger reached for my hand. I didn't remember ever walking hand-in-hand with Ranger. I wasn't sure if it was a sign of affection or just a simple device to make sure I didn't fall behind. Mostly, I kept up. A few minutes later we entered a nondescript café. It was surprisingly busy considering the lunch hour had passed.

"We're eating here?" I asked.

"Humor me," he said. "I'm feeling a little nostalgic." It was only then I realized it was the café where I'd first met Ranger.

"Wow, it's been a long time since I was here," I said.

"I come here regularly," he responded, surprising me. "The owner is Shorty's cousin. He allowed me to use this place as an office of sorts when I was first establishing myself in Trenton. I come once a month or so to remind myself of where I started and where I am now, and because the food is good."

"So once a month the body isn't a temple?" I asked.

"I make good nutritive choices," he said. He raised an eyebrow only slightly before he continued, "they have a wide variety on their menu."

What he said proved to be true. He had a grilled chicken Caesar salad. I had a patty melt with fries. Throughout the meal my gaze met his occasionally and every time he was staring intently at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Do I have ketchup on my face? Is something stuck in my teeth?"

"No."

"Then why are you staring at me?"

"I like to look at you. You're beautiful."

I shook my head. "I'm not, I mean my nose is okay. It's pretty good actually, but the rest of me is ordinary."

"Eye of the beholder, Babe. Does it bother you to have me staring at you?"

I sensed this wasn't a casual question, so I hesitated before I answered. Ranger stepped into the gap.

"Because if you go through with what you've committed to with Acosta, this time next week everyone in this place might be staring at you. Your history with him will likely be public. Are you ready for that?"

I grabbed the napkin from my lap and wiped my mouth. I was done eating. "I may not like it, but I'm ready for it. I'm doing this for me and for Ella and Louis."

"And if life here becomes intolerable?"

"What makes you think my life is tolerable to start out with, Ranger? I've been the talk of the Burg forever, and even if my history with Rafael miraculously stays hidden there will still be people yammering on about me. I don't like it, but I can handle it."

"I didn't realize you considered life intolerable."

I sighed. "I don't. At least I usually don't, but there are moments. To be honest, now that Joe is removed from my life things have kind of smoothed out. I was just trying to say I've been the flavor of the week before and if I am again, I can handle it. I just hope those around me can handle it."

"Your family?" he asked. "I thought you said your mother was prepared to deal with the talk."

"She is," I said. "That doesn't mean she wants to. And not just my family. My friends. I don't want to lose friends over this, but if I do, then I do. I need to get Rafael out of my life and I want to help Ella and Louis. I can handle it, Ranger!"

"I believe you can," he said. "And maybe, if things work well, we'll get him and your relationship can remain relatively private, or at least most of the details can be sheltered from the public domain."

"Do you have a plan?" I asked, half hopeful and half terrified. A plan would mean it was beginning and that was something I both wanted and dreaded.

He nodded. "I have an idea that will need to be fleshed out, but this is something that will take more than you or me. I'm thinking there will need to be five in the operation. I'll be one of the five and I'd like Tank to be another, and Babe, the men involved will have to know the story. Not the details, but they need to know who and what they're dealing with. I'll let you pick the other two because they will have to be men you can sit at a planning table with and talk about Acosta and what kind of a man he is. Think about whom you'd be most comfortable working with."

"Lester," I said immediately. "He already knows about Acosta. He doesn't know about my involvement, but when he does find out, I don't think he'll judge."

Ranger reached across the table around the detritus of a mostly consumed patty melt and fries and grabbed hold of my fisted hand. He gently uncurled my fingers, and I was surprised to see the remnants of a shredded napkin fall to the table.

"Some might judge you, Babe, and I think you're afraid of that. It took more than a bottle of wine for you to tell me, and you should have known there'd be no judgment from me. You're right in thinking Lester won't judge you. In fact, I don't think any of my men would. You were a victim and not a willing participant in Acosta's madness and you need to keep that thought at the forefront."

I nodded and made another quick decision. "I want Vince. I know he's not back at RangeMan full force, but he will do this for me."

Ranger hesitated only briefly before saying, "I'll contact them this afternoon. We'll meet tomorrow for the planning."

I sat for a moment, unsettled but trying to tamp the feeling down. I was going to be sharing my story with Tank, Lester and Vince and eventually the whole of Trenton. Then the words Ranger said came back to me.

"Wait, you said I could pick two, but you said there'd be five men. Who's the fifth? Who picks the fifth?"

"I do," Ranger said. "It's Morelli."

"Oh no!" I exclaimed. "He's history. I'm not telling him about this."

"It needs to be Morelli, Babe. We need a cop. You said you'd get Acosta to confess and then he could be arrested, but we can't get an arrest if we don't have a cop. Morelli was a young detective when the murder occurred and he worked on the case as an assistant. It makes sense for him to be the one."

"And that's where the judgment will come from," I said. "Not Joe, but from his family."

"You care about his family's opinion because?"

"I don't give a rat's ass about his family for me, but I'm afraid it will bring back my mother's hurt…when they said she wasn't good enough for their family."

"I understand that, but they will have that attitude whether Morelli is involved or not."

I nodded my head in acquiescence.

"I'll take care of informing Morelli," Ranger said. "Would you like to talk to Vince and Lester one-on-one before we settle in to plan this op tomorrow?"

Op. I was momentarily startled at the realization I was going to be the center of an op. It was getting real. "Yes," I said. "I want to tell Lester and Vince, but I want to tell them together. I'm going to ask them both to come to my place tonight. That way I'll only have to say it once."

Ranger frowned. I could tell he didn't think together was a good idea, but I thought it would work. Vince wanted back in the RangeMan fold, and he and Lester were going to have to work together for that to happen. And besides, Lester told me he was going to speak to Vince and apologize. I hope he had followed through.

Lester was the first to arrive, right on time at seven. I had just closed the door behind him when there was another knock, and I opened the door again and ushered in Vince.

"Thanks for coming, guys," I said. "Would either of you like a beer?"

"Yeah." Vince's response was abrupt and I looked over to see him standing in my foyer, feet spread and arms tightly crossed against his chest. I recognized a defensive posture when I saw one.

"Me too," Lester said. "Looks like I'm gonna need one." Lester was standing the exact same way as Vince.

I was perplexed for only a moment. It dawned on me that they thought they were there to get some sort of 'be a team player' pep talk. They were going to be surprised. I went to the kitchen and returned with three bottles of beer. I sat in the one good armchair I owned and looked directly at my empty sofa.

"Sit down, boys." I used the beer bottle to indicate the sofa. "Take a load off and get over yourselves. This isn't about you. This is about me. I have a big problem. It's so big that Ranger said it would take him and Tank and two other men to solve my problem, and he asked which of his men I wanted. I want you two."

Their posture changed immediately and amazingly they both sat on the sofa, not quite side by side, but at least they were no longer defensive about what I was going to say.

"Are you in trouble, Beautiful?" Lester asked.

"You could say that," I told him. "I have a secret and I'm going to tell you all about it and then I'm going to tell you another secret which you can't share with anyone, and as soon as I tell you, you'll understand."

They were looking perplexed. "It's about Rafael Acosta," I said.

Lester took a big gulp of beer. "That explains why you were in the meeting," he said.

I took a deep breath and told them everything from how Ranger had discovered I knew Rafael to the text message I had received earlier in the day. I didn't go into excruciating detail as I had with Ranger, but enough that they got the picture. Strangely, I told them without the shame or embarrassment I'd had when telling Ranger, but then I wasn't explicit. Remembering the night I'd told Ranger I knew I'd come a long way in a short time. I was starting to feel confident. I could face Rafael and I could worm a confession out of him.

"So that's my secret," I finished. "I've kept it for years and until last week only Rafael knew the details. I'm not exactly thrilled about it all coming out, but if it gets Rafael Acosta off the streets and saves Ella and Louis the trauma of seeing their son's murderer going unpunished it will be worth the humiliation."

"What's the other secret?" Vince asked. "The one you said we couldn't share?"

"I know you have all kinds of secrets from your days in the service you can't share and this one goes right up there with those. First off, will you help me? Ranger says he has a tentative plan, which he hasn't shared with me, but it will take at least five people."

"Yes," they said in unison. Then Lester continued, "Ranger already texted me to be in the conference room at 1100 hours tomorrow. I imagine you got one, too?" He looked over at Vince and Vince nodded.

"Okay," I said. "You know I got my videotape back, but we don't know for certain if it's the only copy. There were other tapes of other women and one with a man. The man is David and it's obvious he and Rafael had an ongoing relationship. I couldn't watch all of David's tape, but Ranger did. It's not quite a snuff tape, because Rafael didn't record David's death on it, but the torture is all there. I think Rafael thinks he erased the tape, but he did not."

"Both sides of the street," Lester commented.

"Yeah, but it's a street through Hell," I said. "I'm not sure what Ranger has planned, but I think you should know that the tape exists. It's graphic and horrible, and Ella and Louis must never know of its existence. I'm planning on taunting him and I may have to tell him I've got the tape to get him to confess."

"Are you gonna be wired?" Vince asked. "Do you think we'll hear your conversation?"

"I don't know, but someone is going to have to hear him confess. We'll need to use it to get him arrested."

"I don't want David's story to come out," I continued. "I want to use my relationship with Rafael and tell him I figured it out because I saw him with David. But if that doesn't work, I will tell him about the tape. I don't know how this is going to work out. I'm counting on Ranger to have a workable plan."

"Ranger's had a lot of experience planning and initiating ops. He's got a good success rate and this one will be no different. We'll wait until tomorrow and see how things fall out," Vince said.

"I can barely stand to say this," I said. "Ranger is bringing in one other person. Joe Morelli, because he thinks we need cop involvement and Joe worked the case originally."

"That's gonna be hard on you," Lester said.

It was my turn for the big gulp. "Ya think?" I asked before I tipped my bottle up and drained it.

"Uh, if that's all, I kind of need to leave," Vince said. "I told Lula I'd pick her up around eight. We're going to meet my sister, Vicky. Lula wants to thank her for letting me use her discount for the shoes."

"Sure, no problem," I told him. "We're done." I stood up and saw Vince to the door. He gave me a hug and said, "See you tomorrow. Try not to worry. Things have a way of working out."

Lester looked confused, probably at the thought of Vince and Lula. As Vince reached for the door, Lester stood. "Say hi to Vicky from me," he told Vince.

Vince's lips compressed only slightly before he said, "Will do," and walked from my apartment. The anger management courses were working and that made me a little happy, despite what I'd just been discussing with them.