Chapter 33

I woke knowing that I was alone. A look at the bed next to me told me that Ranger hadn't come up to bed which had me worried. After a quick shower I went through to the kitchen to look through the fridge and cupboards for something for breakfast. That was when I noticed a note propped up against the coffee maker with Babe written in Ranger's handwriting.

"Sorry but too much work to get done. Am heading up to New York this morning for an early meeting with Luke. Ranger"

Great, was the word that came to my mind as I read his note. Why had I even thought that he was opening up to me. It was as though we'd taken one step forward and two steps backwards. I'd thought that we would be able to do some work on Sully's last clue but seeing as I had no idea where Ranger had put any copies, I'd have to come up with something else to do.

After a simple breakfast of toast and jam I debated whether or not to call my mother. I hadn't had any messages or calls from her since the incident with Bella at the bonds office and was trying hard to think that what she'd said to me was a turning point in our mother daughter relationship. In the end I relented but blocked my number as I realized that she wouldn't have it. Maybe that was why I wasn't aware of her calling.

"Plum residence"

Came the prim voice of my mother, a voice that she would use when she didn't know who was calling.

"Hi mum, Steph here. I was calling to see how you were"

I wasn't sure how else to address her so went with something polite.

"Well, I suppose I'm well, given what happened"

My heart dropped at how she was answering me and was waiting for her to somehow blame me for her involvement. So I was struggling to know what to say next.

"People are asking me why you didn't go to Joseph's funeral"

I wasn't sure if that was a criticism or that she was asking because my absence was doing the rounds of the gossip.

"I couldn't face all the people who would be there. What Joe did, taking me to his house from the hospital and lying about us being back together, was something that I'm still trying to come to terms with. I did visit his graveside afterwards, so said my goodbye"

I would never regret not going to that funeral and was hoping that my mother wasn't going to say anything more about it. I held my breath as I waited for what she would say next.

"That's good then. Angie has moved away from the area. I don't blame her really, I think that after both Joseph and then her mother dying, she was struggling. Your father and I are thinking of taking a vacation"

Okay that took me by surprise, not the news about Angie because I already knew about that. In a way I was pleased that my mother and father were thinking of going away for a vacation, but I was wondering what had brought that on. They hadn't been away anywhere for years. Hell, even when we were kids, the furthest we went was to Point Pleasant and only for a couple of days.

"That'll be good for you and dad to have a break. Have you decided where you're going to go?"

"No. Anyway, I need to go now, I have a cake in the oven that should be ready. It was nice talking to you Stephanie"

I looked at the phone as it went dead, WTF? It was as though my mother had been talking to an acquaintance, not her daughter. Maybe I'd misinterpreted her after Bella had been arrested. Oh well, at least I'd tried, so it would be up to her now to reach out to me.

With that out of the way I took Ansgar down in the elevator and to the lobby because he probably needed to go outside for a walk and do what dogs do. I was about to pull the door open when I heard someone calling my name from behind me.

"Steph. Would you mind if I took him out?"

I turned to see Cal stood behind me looking as though he was about to leave the building to go out for a jog in a track suit. I thought, why not, it would be good exercise for Ansgar that he wouldn't be getting with me.

"Are you sure?"

I asked because I didn't want to inconvenience Cal. His response was to take the lead from my hand and proceed through the door, with Ansgar looking keen to keep up the pace. I went up to five with the intention of looking some more at that FBI woman but as I came out of the elevator I was met by Les.

"I spoke to Sebring last night and gave him the place that you suggested for finding their FTA. He called back this morning and asked if you wanted to meet his guys at that cabin, you know just to be sure"

Yeah right. More like Sebring or his bounty hunters didn't believe me and wanted me there when it turned out to be a waste of time.

"Hector can go with you, so it'll be perfectly safe"

I looked at Les and frowned because that was the last thought that crossed my mind.

"That's not what I'm worried about. The worry is that I'm wrong and those two bounty hunters will lord it over me and say what an idiot I am"

I didn't mean to sound so whiny but that was how I felt so when Les put his arm around my shoulder and proceeded to give his opinion I started to feel better.

"You won't be wrong and even if you are they haven't done any better. Besides they won't dare say anything if Hector is with you"

I smiled at the idea of that happening because I really did want to go to see if I was right and Harley Chroma was hiding out there.

I made sure that I was dressed appropriately, yeah, I had on a Rangeman uniform, but I also had my gun and several trackers on me courtesy of Hector. It was strange how he would be with me as soon as Ranger was unavailable, but I remembered how he'd explained to me that when Ranger wasn't around then he would watch over me.

Ansgar had been brought back by Cal, along with a dog whistle. Cal had told me that if I needed to find Ansgar then just to blow the whistle, that even if I couldn't hear it that Ansgar would. It was just the three of us in the SUV, but I was pretty sure that we had a shadow as well, which to be honest made me uncomfortable. Since the incident with Les when he was taking Loretta into the station nothing else had happened, so I was pretty sure that it was just a coincidence. You know, someone who ran the light and then bolted when they discovered that no one was hurt.

Hector took route 95 and then the 206 before we turned to travel on minor roads. It was a good job that Hector knew where he was going because I was totally lost. It took an hour to get there but I was so nervous that I hardly spoke a word the entire journey. As we turned into the parking area there was only one other vehicle parked there, a dirty cream colored station wagon. As I stepped out of the car, I was glad that I'd put on my boots and a thick jacket because it felt cold with the threat of rain hanging in the air. The sound of car doors opening had me looking to the parked station wagon and I watched as two men got out of the car and then slammed their doors shut.

Even though they were both bundled up in coats with their hoods pulled over their heads I could see that one of them was a lot bigger than the other. To be honest I could almost feel the hair on the back of my neck rise as they turned toward us and shouted across the parking area.

"We'll go ahead and check the place out. If he's here, then he shouldn't be a problem"

Us following seemed like a good idea so with Ansgar by my side and Hector behind me I made my way down the well beaten path that led to the creek. We passed a building that advertised canoes for rent, but it was locked up tight no doubt the owner realizing that no one would be looking to hire a canoe in this weather. Past the building it was obvious where the canoes were launched from, but we needed to be downstream from that site. Hector pointed out a track that seemed to follow the creek, so being sure of my footing on the rocky path I began to follow the track.

I wasn't aware of the other two men ahead of us so assumed that they must have been faster and more sure footed than me, but as I came to a slightly wider section of the track I spotted one of them slightly in from the creek. That was probably where the cabin was that Janice had mentioned to me, so I headed that way. A wave of disappointment came over me when I saw the two men stood outside the cabin talking, because it meant that Harley Chroma wasn't there. As I approached, I was trying to come up with an apology for leading them on a wild goose chase, but the smaller guy held up his hand to stop me.

"We're too late"

I had no idea what he meant by that other than thinking that maybe Harley had been here and that maybe he might have left a clue as to where he'd gone to next, I walked around the men toward the open door.

"I wouldn't go in there if I was you"

Came too late because I was already in the doorway, but how I wished that I'd taken more notice of what I'd been told. My reaction to the sight that I saw was to turn and bolt back toward the creek, where I bent over and heaved up everything in my stomach and probably more. I squatted down with my head in my hands trying to bleach the image that had met me inside that cabin, but I was sure that I'd always remember it.

Harley Chroma was there alright, but he just wasn't alive. His body was dangling from the end of a rope that was attached to the beam above him. In my mind I was aware of the stool knocked over underneath him, but it was the sight of his face that wouldn't go away. Eyes wide in a greyish blue face with red raw marks around his neck where the rope had bitten into his skin. Had he realized too late that his actions couldn't stop the inevitable?

"Estefania. Let's go, the police are on their way"

I acknowledged Hector by standing up and decided that I really didn't want to talk to those bounty hunters. I had no desire to gloat on how I'd been able to find Harley Chroma and to be honest they'd both been very unsociable with me. They hadn't really said a word to me the entire time that I'd been here. I probably wouldn't even recognize them again because they'd never come close enough for me to get a good look at their faces. All that I could remember was that they were sporting trimmed beards, wore jeans with a black jacket and had black caps on their heads before they pulled their hoods up.

We made our way back to the SUV in silence, but I was thankful for the bottle of water that Hector passed over to me once he had the doors open.

"By the looks of him he hadn't been dead for long, maybe last night"

I looked at Hector as his words hit me. If only someone had acted sooner, then maybe Chroma would still be alive.

"Estefania, you did what you could and tracked his whereabouts. Santos gave that information to Sebring. No one could have stopped the man from killing himself"

I sighed knowing that Hector was probably right, but it didn't take away some of the guilt that I was feeling. If it had been me then I would have been out here as soon as I realized that it was a possible place to look. I suppose that not everyone worked on their instincts like me and coming this morning was the sensible thing to do. Swirling my mouth out with the water got rid of most of the foul taste in my mouth and it wasn't long before we were heading back to Trenton.

I spent my time stroking Ansgar's head as he sat in the footwell with me, his head resting on my knee. It calmed me as Hector drove and wisely, he didn't say anything to me. I just wanted to get back to Rangeman and take a long hot shower to try and wash away the memory of what I'd seen. As we approached Rangeman though the traffic came to a standstill and we both looked at each other wondering what the hell was going on. Hector pulled the SUV to one side of the street and we both got out.

"I'll walk you back to Rangeman"

Was all Hector said as we wove between cars and people just stood idly chatting in groups. I think both of us stopped at the same time when we saw what the commotion was about. My eyebrows hit my hairline when I saw a large, double trailered truck on its side right up against the lobby entrance and garage entrance of Rangeman. How the hell that had happened surprised me. First this wasn't a street that trucks that big normally used and secondly how on earth had it managed to topple over and slide right into the building.

Spying Les and Bobby stood talking to a fireman I headed toward them hoping that they'd have some answers. Looking around I couldn't see Ranger, so assumed that he was still at his meeting with Luke in New York. He'd be totally pissed when he learnt about this accident. The sound of the fire alarm from Rangeman rang out, screeching in the air around me, reminding me of when I'd set it off in order to get out of Rangeman, and to add to that there was the sound of sirens getting louder. Someone must have made cars move in order for the firetrucks and ambulances to get through which had me worried if anyone was badly hurt.

I never did reach Les and Bobby, but I have no idea exactly what happened. One minute I was slowly walking toward them and the next, nothing.