Chapter 24

We were both quiet as he drove the short distance which was normal for him but not for me. I was busy taking in the scenes around me and wondering if we had a team shadowing us, though if we did, I never spotted them. As per usual parking karma prevailed and Cal pulled the car to a stop in front of the office, so it was a short walk across the sidewalk and entering the office.

Connie looked up from behind the desk, smiling like she hadn't seen me for ages. Which was probably right. Hell, before everything had happened to turn my life upside down, I usually called in at the office every day.

"Steph. I wasn't sure what had happened to you seeing as no one has seen anything of you"

I supposed that she was right, it had been longer than usual for me not to have called. Then again hadn't I told Vinnie that I wouldn't be picking up his skips.

"I'm working at Rangeman helping to find the skips"

"Good for you. You always were really good at working out where they were"

I took what Connie had said as a compliment and ignored the unsaid comment that implied that I sucked at actually apprehending them.

"How's Lula doing?"

It was too early for Lula to have been in the office, but I remembered our last conversation and how it seemed that she'd be out of a job as well.

"She's working out her months' notice, helping me to get the files transferred over to the computer but she seems happy and is putting in more time with that organization"

That was good because I was sure that Lula would be really good at helping other young girls and women to sort out their lives.

"There are two files for Rangeman. Vinnie's been away for a couple of days with Lucille, something about keeping Harry happy, whatever that means"

I stepped forward to pick up the files when the sound of the door crashing open behind me had me turning around. Cal was instantly at my side because it was obvious that even he had been spooked with the sound. Turning I was surprised to be looking at Bella, Joe's grandmother, and my mother walking into the office. What the hell were they doing here? My mother, she was all smiles but Bella, well she looked evil most of the time anyway, but she looked even worse with the scowl on her face. I sensed Cal relax a little, I suppose the sight of the old, small hunched woman dressed in black and my mother in her usual knee length coat not seeming to be a threat.

I knew different and from how Connie was crossing herself and sinking lower in her chair, so did she. This was all I needed, to have a confrontation with Joe's grandmother, Bella, and for her to give me the evil eye and curse me.

"Sei una persona malvagia, una puttana"

I looked to Connie for a translation but from how Bella had looked at me and spat out her words I was guessing it wasn't very pleasant.

"Hai ucciso il mio Joey, tu e quei teppisti. Allora uccidi mio cugino. L'occhio รจ troppo buono per te"

I was once again looking to Connie as I moved to the side of her desk because I had no idea what Bella was shouting at me.

"She said that you killed her Joey, you and those thugs and that you then killed her cousin. Look on the bright side because she said that the eye is too good for you"

Movement caught my eye, and I watched transfixed as Bella scrambled inside her bag and was totally shocked when she pulled out a large old fashioned gun. Several things happened after that, all of it in slow motion. My mother was turning toward Bella, her smile now replaced with shock, as Cal literally pulled me down to the floor behind Connie's desk. As I hit floor, I heard the explosion of a shot ringing out within the confines of the office and ended up with Cal wrapped around me, his gun held out in his hand. Seeing Connie with her gun out as well I was thinking of getting to mine but with the way Cal had hold of me there was no way of getting to it. I did manage to push down on the panic button before the sounds from behind the desk filtered through to me.

Bumps and grumps which had me panicking for my mother. Had she known what Bella was going to do or had Bella hurt my mother? It was the silence that followed that unnerved me, but Cal wasn't about to release me for me to find out.

"Cal, my mother?"

"Wait till we get the all clear"

Like that helped with the worry that was taking over. Noticing Connie replace her gun in a drawer in her desk gave me a hint that someone had arrived and Cal helping me to my feet gave me the opportunity to see exactly what was going on. I caught a glimpse of Bella between two police officers being hauled down the street, but it was my mother who was causing me the most concern. Bobby was crouched down to one side of the couch and as he moved slightly that was when I caught sight of her. She looked as white as a sheet as she slumped forward toward Bobby and as he held her hands in his I could swear that she was shaking.

I walked over toward her and sat next to her on the couch noticing that Eddie was approaching us.

"Mum?"

Had her attention and she turned to look at me, her eyes tearing up.

"Oh Stephanie, I didn't know, I just never thought. It's all my fault"

My hand was on her shoulder as we watched Eddie take Bobby's place, no doubt he was after a statement from her which I was keen to hear.

"Mrs. Plum. Talk me through what happened"

Eddie held out a digital recorder in front of him which to me was a better idea than having to write everything down. I watched as my mother took in a deep breath before she started with her explanation of what she'd been involved with.

"Bella, well she called last night and said that she'd found something valuable at Joseph's house that she was sure Stephanie would want back. Joseph left the house to his brother, so they've been clearing everything out. I didn't know where Stephanie was living so told Bella that I'd let her know if I found out where she was"

That made me thankful that I hadn't told anyone where I was living and knowing my mother, she would be in denial over the idea that I might be at Rangeman.

"I called Maggie, next door, I know her mother well, and asked her to let me know if she saw Stephanie visit here. When Maggie called me to say that Stephanie had just arrived, well, I did the courteous thing and offered to bring Bella down here"

I couldn't believe how gullible my mother was, especially when it came to the Morelli family. Hell, everyone knew how evil Bella was and that she would never do anything unless she had an ulterior motive.

"As we came through the door, she was shouting in Italian, so I have no idea what she was saying but from her tone it didn't sound very nice. I think I froze when she brought this big gun out from her bag but suddenly my arm just seemed to move. I hit her wrist with my handbag so maybe that was why she ended up shooting the ceiling. Then this nice young man was suddenly there and took the gun before cuffing Bella"

It was only then that my mother seemed to acknowledge that I was even sat next to her because she turned and looked at me.

"Oh Stephanie, I'm so sorry, I had no idea that she intended to hurt you. This is all my fault"

An apology from my mother was a very rare thing for me to hear and I honestly believed that she had no idea of what Bella intended to do. To be honest I was almost in shock hearing what my mother was saying. Hadn't she basically said good riddance to me the last time that I'd seen her. I was in two minds with how to react to her but then decided that maybe this was an opportunity for us to at least be civil towards each other. But why had Bella tried to shoot me? Had she been so mortified with Joe's death that she felt that I was to blame for him being killed and needed to avenge him and shoot me?

"Mum. It wasn't your fault. No one would ever think that Bella would behave like that. Besides it was because of you that no one got hurt"

I must have said the right thing because I was aware as she moved her arm and held her hand to my cheek.

"I'm so sorry for what happened before. I've been giving everything a lot of thought and I think I understand you better now, so know that I'm so sorry for what I said to you and will always be there for you"

A cough interrupted anything that I might have said which was probably a good thing. Affection from my mother was so alien to me that I didn't know how to respond to her. Had aliens taken her over or had she really had a change of heart on how she saw me. Time would be needed now for me to get my head around that. I looked up to see Eddie stood patiently in front of us, but I was curious to know what the police would get from Bella.

"Eddie, will you let me know what you find out?"

I asked Eddie as Connie's translation went through my head. I mean who was this cousin that she'd mentioned that was also dead? I had no idea who he was.

"Will do Steph. Mrs. Plum, when I've written this up, I'll call by the house for you to sign your statement. How about I take you home?"

As Eddie helped my mother to her feet, I was aware of the sea of black that was surrounding me, sheesh, the danger was over with now so why the extreme behavior from them? One look from Tank though was all that I needed to get to my feet and feel the pressure around me to get myself moving outside to the cars.

As we travelled the short distance, I was still trying to work out what Connie had said but never got the chance to ask anyone if they knew more. There was also the conversation with my mother to think about. After everything that she'd said to me could I even begin to trust what she'd said? I was hustled from the car with Tank, Bobby and Lester, into the elevator and then into the conference room on five. I was surprised to see Hector and Juan already sat there so was now curious what this meeting was about. Once sat down I was surprised when it was Hector who started to talk.

"The man who was seen asking about Estefania, well he turned up in the morgue last night. His throat had been cut. The police have no leads on who is responsible for that, but I followed them to a local motel where our mystery man was staying. They came out carrying a rifle which looked an older model to me"

I was following what Hector was saying and to be honest was pleased that the man was no longer a threat to me but who was he and why would he want to shoot me?

"That crazy old bat, she mentioned that her cousin was dead, so I listened in as the police spoke to her in one of their cruisers. Hector, I think that the man who took a shot at Steph is that woman's cousin"

I had to admit that I hadn't been aware of Juan being near the bonds office but conceded that he may have been part of the team that was shadowing us. It was what he was implying that confused me.

"Are you saying that Bella asked her cousin to shoot me and when he missed and was then killed that she decided to do the job herself?"

Les sat back in his chair and grinned as though he knew a secret that no one else did so I looked at him hoping he'd break under my stare.

"His name is Giuseppe Valente. I spoke to the motel manager, and she told me that he was here for a funeral. I did some research while I waited for you to get here and it seems that in certain parts of Italy it was rumored that he carried out certain types of jobs for one of the families, sicario"

I'd heard that name before, but it was a film that came to mind. Okay, not a film that I found easy to follow but the film was called Sicario and was about a hitman who wanted revenge for the deaths of his family. So, was Les saying that this Giuseppe Valente was cousin to Bella and was a hitman? I jumped at the sound of the phone going off behind me, maybe because I had never noticed it in here before. Bobby didn't look to be too pleased with the interruption but answered it anyway. After a few minutes he turned to me and held out the phone. Who would be calling me here and for it to be so important that the meeting was interrupted?

"Eddie"

Was all Bobby said as I took the phone.

"Hi Eddie"

"I promised to keep you up to date Steph. It's been one hell of a morning, anyway that woman wouldn't shut up all the way to the station and even as we walked her into a room to talk to her. Seems she asked her cousin, who was here for Morelli's funeral, to kill you. Seems she thinks that Joe is dead because of you. Apparently in his days this cousin was used by their family to get rid of people. Well, he turned up dead yesterday, murdered, so I think that sent the old bat over the edge which was why she decided to go after you herself. She kept saying that it was because of you that her poor Joseph and now her cousin, Giuseppe Valente, were both dead. What to do with her was taken out of our hands because she keeled over with a heart attack and died"

I was stunned with the last part of his news because Bella had always seemed to be an old woman who never ailed any illnesses.

"Steph, you still there?"

"Yeah. God, Angie will be devastated"

To lose her son and then her mother so close together wasn't something that I would wish on anyone.

"She's down at her sister in laws and refused to come back to Trenton. Seems she knew what Bella was planning and wanted her to stop. When Bella refused Angie moved away with no intention of coming back, she's even put her house on the market"

Now that did surprise me, but then again maybe it was her only way to cope with what had happened.

"Thanks Eddie"

Was all that I could say as I thought through what he'd just told me. After returning the phone to its cradle I turned to see all of the men just watching me and they didn't have to say a word for me to know that they wanted an update from my telephone conversation.

"Exactly as you said. Giuseppe Valente was Bella's cousin, a hitman in a past life, and with both Joe and him dead she blamed me. She died at the station from a heart attack"

I watched as one by one the men seemed to relax but I don't think that it had anything to do with Bella dying. Then it hit me, with the threat against me gone then that meant that I could go back to my apartment and go out of the building on my own. I was practically skipping as I made my way back to my office. Once there I noticed the new files on my desk and assumed that Cal must have picked them up and left them here. That was okay, I'd get one done before heading over to my building.

Having finished the work on the first file I left it with my notes on Les's desk. It had been easier than I'd thought because I knew the creep that they were after from high school. He was a creep then and he was a bigger creep now, one of those men who preyed on younger boys. He always was trying to be friends with the younger kids then and it seemed that he hadn't changed his ways. I had always avoided him but was aware of how his class mates would bully him so had heard the rumors that flew around school.

Then one afternoon when we were on a field trip somewhere in the pine barrens, yeah I mean which idiot teacher thought that seeing the flora and fauna firsthand was an experience to be enjoyed? In true Stephanie fashion I managed to get lost from the group but decided that the safest thing to do was to backtrack to where the buses were parked. Just my luck was finding Cedric sat against the wheel of the bus absolutely covered in mud and with one shoe missing. I'd tried to ignore him but in the end couldn't and had ended up having to listen to him complaining about his life. The thing that I remembered was him telling me about an old boat where he would go to hide away from everyone. It wasn't on the water, so there was no chance that it would have sunk, some relative of his had moved it and left it in a yard behind some industrial units. Hell, he'd even told me exactly where that was, so that was where I was suggesting that Les check out first.

Pleased with myself I made my way down to the garage. It felt amazing being on my own as I drove to my apartment and that euphoria continued once inside my apartment. The one mistake that I'd made was to forget to bring my phone charger, but I wasn't worried because there was no one that I wanted to call. After heating up a meal from the freezer I sorted through the fridge to get rid of the veg and lettuce that were way past their best and then looked for something else to do. Maybe I was looking for things to keep me occupied but I dusted and hoovered before changing the sheets from the bed and swapping out the towels in the bathroom. By 9 o'clock I was totally exhausted so after showering literally fell into bed and went straight to sleep.

What woke me, I had no idea, but I was wide awake trying to figure what it was that had disturbed me. I couldn't hear or see anything and a quick look at my phone didn't have any messages coming through. What it did have though was the time, 3 in the morning. I closed my eyes and cursed, hell, it was like this time was my witching hour. Like the previous morning when I'd woken up, I knew that I wasn't going to go back to sleep so like before I got up and dug out some gym gear from my closet. Once dressed I packed a Rangeman uniform and extra underwear into a rucksack and headed for the stairs.

The thing about being up so early in the morning is how quiet it is, how every movement catches your eye and how things stand out. Like the car that was parked at the side of the building with windows that were misted up. I tried not to stare at it as I pulled out onto the street, but to be honest, it was creeping me out. Shit, why the hell had I been so stupid as to come to my apartment. Because I needed to feel independent and not so reliant on Rangeman. Were those bank robbers still out there looking for me? Surely not. I had the image in my head of a grey SUV, but I was hopeless with makes of cars. I didn't waste any time getting myself back to Rangeman.

By the time I came to a stop in the garage my heart was going ten to the dozen and I was telling myself that I was being stupid. It was probably just a couple making out.

"Azulejo, you're late"

Juan startled me so much that I dropped my keys on the floor.

"Azulejo, what's wrong?"

I bent down to pick up the keys then found myself looking straight at Juan. Did I tell him how I felt when I left my apartment, or would he think that I was just being paranoid? No that wasn't it because I'd been looking forward to being on my own at the apartment. Seeing that car had me spooked and my spidey senses going overboard hadn't helped.

"It's probably nothing, I mean I suppose that I over reacted"

"Spit it out Azulejo. What's got you so flustered?"

I could hear the concern in Juan's voice, but I had to look away from his face and down to my hands if I was going to tell him more.

"It's just that there was this strange car parked by the side of my building. I've never seen it before, and the windows were all steamed up like"

"Someone had been sat in it for a long time"

I nodded my head as Juan finished my sentence for me and then waited for him to come up with a perfectly logical reason for the car being there.

"Then we need to have someone shadowing you and see if they turn up again. What car was it?"

"A grey SUV. It looked new and shiny but to be honest I didn't want them to know that I'd made them"

"Come on, you need to work out to get those emotions tampered down"

I worked with Juan for two solid hours in the gym, punching and kicking the shit out of the bag. Of course he made me wear gloves so it allowed me the freedom to use a lot of power in my punches. As I felt the movements come to me easier that enabled me to speed up my actions. I felt so much better and could now understand why the men came down here to cleanse themselves of the mood that they were carrying.

It was weird going up to seven to shower and change, like this was where I belonged. Hell, I felt more at home here than I did in my apartment and that just wasn't right. I had to transfer that feeling of calmness and safety to my own apartment before I ended up not wanting to leave here.

The problem was that I missed Ranger, just having him around. Talking to me, touching me and understanding me. All that I could do was to get through one day at a time and pray that he wasn't being sent on another mission, that he'd be back soon, safe and well. So today was another day and I knew that I had a file waiting for me in my office so that was my job for today and hopefully Les might have more information on that high reward woman.

Latisha Lorreta was the other high bond skip, who'd been charged with murdering a man who the police suspected was her pimp. The photo of her showed a dark skinned woman who looked as though she'd just put her finger into an electrical socket. It made my wild hair look tame. A search on her was a wash out, as her history only went back for a year and there was nothing more after she was arrested. Her arrest record for that year was impressive for such a short time and ranged from soliciting to possession and assault. There were no financial records to find which had me assuming that she either dealt in cash or she had accounts under a different name which made it impossible to track any habits from where she spent her time. This woman had to have another name that she fell back onto.

Out of interest I ran a search on the man that she had been charged with murdering, hoping that he might give me a clue of the area where they tended to hang out. I wasn't sure why the police assumed that he was her pimp, but stranger things happen. He was a bouncer for one of the clubs down by Stark, so I was surprised that he hadn't been able to defend himself against Latisha. Cause of death was asphyxiation from a rope around his neck though the drugs in his blood report showed that he would have definitely been feeling very mellow.

There was only one person that I could think of who might know more about this woman. Even as I pressed the button for the call to go through, I knew I needed to be very diplomatic with what I said to Lula. I didn't want her to think that I was just calling her to get information because I was genuinely interested in how Lula was doing.

"Hi Lula, how's things going?"

"White Girl, I missed all of the action. The one time I could have used my gun and I wasn't there"

To be honest I was glad that Lula hadn't been there when Bella had walked into the bonds office because I hated to think how she might have reacted. Lula may give the impression of being this confident big black woman but under pressure anything could have happened. She was just as scared of Bella as I was, so she'd have been like a dear caught in the headlights before she hit the floor behind the desk with the rest of us. Then her finding her gun in amongst all the crap that she carried in her bag would have taken too long. Lula was always threatening to use her gun but to honest she was a really crap shot so any one of us could have been hurt from a random bullet.

"It was over pretty quick Lula. Actually, it was my mother who deflected her gun"

"I heard. Connie gave me the low down of what went on. I always said that woman was bat shit crazy"

I had to agree with that but in the back of mind I had always been more than a little scared of Bella when she threatened me with the eye because I could swear that she did have some evil power going on for her.

"Yeah well, she died of a heart attack, so she won't be threatening anyone else now"

"I bet half the Burg are thanking you for that"

Did Lula just imply that people thought that I was responsible for Bella dying? I didn't even want to think about that, in fact, I didn't want to know what the gossipers were talking about. Life was so much easier without having to contend with crap like that.

"So how's it going with that job that you talked about?"

I crossed my fingers hoping that I'd asked the right thing and that Lula had been successful at being taken on, on a permanent basis

"Good, real good. I'm doing more hours and they're helping me with the work for my diploma. Once I finish with Vinnie, I'll be given a permanent post at one of their hostels"

Even though I knew Lula couldn't see me I was smiling at her good fortune. It seemed that Lula had found that niche in life that she was good at and enjoyed.

"I'm really pleased for you Lula, I bet you'll be ace at that type of work"

"I'll always owe you White Girl for being there for me after Ramirez. You were the one who believed in me and got me out of being a ho. So you working for Rangeman now? You up close and friendly with Batman?"

Was I up close and friendly with Ranger? I suppose that I was but not in the way that Lula would be thinking.

"Yeah, I'm working for Rangeman, finding their high level skips but Ranger's not here at the moment, he had to leave town"

I hoped that explanation was enough to imply that being here didn't mean that Ranger and I were in any type of relationship.

"The way he looks at you, girl, you need to up your seduction when he gets back because he won't be able to deny how hot he is for you"

"I don't think so Lula, what we have isn't like that"

Maybe I was trying to persuade myself as much as Lula. We may have been living together, even sleeping together but nothing sexual had happened yet and even if it did wouldn't it be like it was before, friends with benefits?

"Yeah right. So, how's it going working full time for Rangeman and all those hotties?"

I was pleased that Lula had dropped the topic of Ranger because I wasn't sure that I was ready to try and explain what we had or didn't have. Plus, it would mean that I'd end up telling her that we'd had sex in the past and I was not going to be answering a load of questions about that.

"It's going well. I eventually manage to track down the FTAs, but I'm not involved with the actual capture yet. Actually, maybe you might know one of them, Latisha Lorreta?"

"She's a real skank, into all that BDSM shit but to excess. She started on the street like we all did and discovered that there was a niche for men who liked it really rough. Not that I aint used some of those techniques, I mean I'm all for cuffs and a bit of whipping"

I closed my eyes because I really didn't want to hear any details of what Lula might do with a man, definitely too much information that would have me wanting to wash my brain out.

"What was she called then Lula?"

"Patricia Horner, would you believe. I heard that she's opened up one of them BDSM clubs out of town, some secluded property out near Titusville, off Nursery Road"

"I'll have a look at that then, thanks for the info. So are we going to have a girls night out sometime soon?"

That was something that we had always indulged in every once in a while with Connie, Lula and I going out for a meal before hitting one of the clubs.

"Sure. Talk to Connie and let me know when so's I can check my work schedule"

"Will do. Take care Lula"

As I finished the call, I was glad that I'd managed to catch up with Lula. Whatever our up downs had been she was still a good friend and now that we'd gone in different directions it would be important to make the effort to keep in touch. I looked at the name that I'd jotted down from Lula and was more hopeful with finding information on Latisha, but my gut was telling me that the BDSM club would be where we'd find her.

"A BDSM club that's into the kinky and fetishes? Why don't I know about this place?"

I rolled my eyes at Les as he waggled his eyebrows up and down because I didn't think that he was joking. Les was a womanizer who never seemed to settle with one woman. He could get a degree in flirting techniques and certainly used his good looks to woo the women.

"Maybe because it's extreme. You into hurting women Les or letting them hurt you? Hell, I bet Latisha's victim just loved the sexual experience of being strangled to death just to have that last orgasm"

Okay, I'd done some research on the whole BDSM lifestyle and could almost feel my cheeks heating up just thinking about what I'd read. That erotic asphyxiation, sometimes called asphyxiophilia, hypoxyphilia or breath control play, had the intention of restricting oxygen to the brain for the purposes of sexual arousal and that seemed too much of a coincidence when I looked at how Latisha's victim had died.

"Okay, maybe you're right. If she lives there as well, then it's going to make capturing her that much more difficult. Can't exactly have a team of men burst into a place like that"

From what I'd discovered about Latisha, through her real name Patricia, I'd made sure to include in my notes for Les that I didn't think that she ever left the place. Everything that she might need was brought in by one of the men who worked for her, and they doubled up as security so wouldn't be easy to intimidate.

"Let me think this through"

I expected that from Les because to be honest it would take a very good plan to get Latisha out of that building and that would have to take into account the clients that used the place.

"Shorties tonight. We leave at 1800hrs from the garage"

I never got a chance to respond to that before Les walked out of his office leaving me stood watching him. Did I want to go to Shorties? I suppose that I did want to go, I mean who wouldn't want a chance to eat some of the pizzas that were served there. I had time for a shower and to change my clothes and without thinking about it ended up in Ranger's apartment. He wasn't there, which both saddened me but also gave me a new attitude. If he wasn't here, then what harm was there in me using it?