Chapter 36

I didn't want to wake up. I couldn't bear to be on some rancid mattress with an anonymous man threatening me. As I took stock of my surroundings through my senses, I decided that there was no smell and I actually felt dry and warm. I tentatively opened my eyes surprised that there was a low level of light that seemed to come from various places. The ceiling had those white tiles that suggested a suspended ceiling and my hands felt the softness of fabric underneath me. Turning to the side I was almost shocked to find myself looking at an oval table with chairs set around it and carpet on the floor.

A sound had me looking the other way and it was a cross up between a sigh and a groan that came from my mouth as a wince came from my neck, reminding me of those last moments before I lost consciousness. That wasn't what caused the sigh because my eyes were tracking the movement that I'd become aware of. Storm was standing up and walking toward me. I watched as she detoured via what was obviously a fridge and took out a bottle of water, so I decided to test how I was feeling. I slowly sat up, relieved not to set off a headache or feeling of nausea. Sitting up and pulling my feet to the floor resulted in a blanket falling from me and pooling at my feet.

"Here, you'll need to hydrate"

I refused to move and accept the bottle of water, even though I did feel thirsty. Instead, I raised my head and looked at her in true Jersey girl fashion.

"What I need is to know what the fuck is going on"

She raised an eyebrow at me before she sat down in a chair that was off set to where I was seated. I never took my eyes off her because I was honestly waiting for the room temperature to drop and the air to start swirling around me. Even as I watched her face, I could almost see expressions cross her face so was surprised when she squinched her nose up and then smiled at me.

"I like you, you're nothing like I expected. My name's Kinley"

Her attitude seemed so open and damn it, I actually liked her. Her short blonde spiky hair and her petite features reminded me of a pixie. I suppose seeing as she was presenting herself in such a friendly way my Burg manners just took over.

"Stephanie, but I prefer Steph"

I realized my mistake as soon as I spoke because she'd taken me by surprise with her friendliness, so I knew that I had to take a step back and find out why the hell I was here.

"Why, why would you basically kidnap me?"

Maybe I was so used to that happening to me that to be honest I wasn't feeling scared, or it was the surroundings that had sent my brain in a loop.

"Sorry about that, but with Juan disappearing and then ending up in the hospital we felt that we needed to step in. I don't even know how involved you are but for some reason Juan was worried that maybe you'd caught the attention of some very dangerous men"

That took the wind out of my sales. Not that she knew Juan but that she thought that I was in danger. The memory of seeing those gang members at the hospital came to me but I had no reason to think that they were after me.

"Kinley, that's nothing new. What's new is a kidnapper telling me that"

I had no idea why she'd had me brought here but if Ranger knew where I was there would be hell to pay and the idea of him coming to blows with Jackson Sinclair sent an involuntary shiver down my spine.

"I need to get back home before people get really worried about me"

I saw her eying me up and her tilting her head to the side had me wondering what she was thinking.

"Jack will bring Carlos here, if that's who you're worrying about. When they get here then we can explain things to you, depending on what you already know that is"

I didn't like the way that she used Ranger's given name as she had done. That implied that she knew him and knew him well. A little green monster was growing in my head at that idea wondering just how well they knew each other. Then the rest of what she said managed to infiltrate through the green fog. The only thing that I knew Juan had been interested in was what I might know about Silas Sullivan. Was she after that information as well? Which had me asking myself whose side was she on, was she friend or foe?

"Is there a bathroom that I can use?"

I asked in the hope that maybe it was beyond the door to this room so might give me some idea of where I was and look for potential escape routes.

"Sure, follow me"

That was when I noticed that she used a palm print to open the door before she led me out onto a corridor. The corridor was empty and silent with only doors leading from it with a double door at the end and from a quick look they all seemed to have the same screen next to a handle. Shit, this place seemed more secure than Rangeman with little option of making a run to anywhere. At least the bathroom that I was shown opened up with an ordinary handle so at least I wouldn't end up locked inside. For a works bathroom it was pretty sophisticated with sensors for flushing the toilet and releasing water from the taps. It was bright, clean with a fragrant smell but none of that was easing my nerves. Kinley was waiting for me outside which I suppose didn't surprise me, but I slowed down when I was aware of the double doors ahead of me beginning to open.

I knew that I was smiling because I could sense who was on the other side of those doors and had stopped in the middle of the corridor. Kinley looked back at me obviously puzzled with what I was doing and then she was looking at the doors as well. Jackson Sinclair was the first to walk through but my eyes were on the man next to him. As soon Ranger's eyes saw me, I sensed and recognized the tension in his body and face. His blank face was no longer fooling me now. It was almost as though I was sensitive to the small nuances of his looks and posture. As soon as he saw me, he began to relax, well let's just say that his beast was retreating. It was as though I could sense that beast now, the uncoiled danger that it possessed, but I wasn't afraid of it.

"Are you okay?"

Were the first words that he said as he came to stand in front of me, his eyes scanning my entire body just in case I'd been hurt and his hands running down my arms.

"Better now that you're here"

I replied as I looked deep into those brown eyes trying to convey that I wasn't super happy being here on my own.

"Carlos. We need to have that conversation now"

I raised my eyebrows at Jackson Sinclair because I really didn't like his tone of voice or that he seemed to think that he could order us around. I felt Ranger take my hand as he followed Kinley back into the room where I'd woken up. Someone had been in while I'd been in the bathroom because the oval table now had coffee pots on them next to mugs. There were trays of food spread down the middle with fruit, cheese, bread and salad. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw another man seated at the table. His face was sporting a dark bruise to the side of his cheek which would definitely develop into a black eye. Well shit. Was he the one in the suit that I'd managed to kick, which had me wondering why he was here. I felt blood rush to my face when he looked up and actually smiled at me.

"Please, it's been a long day and I'm sure that you're in need of some refreshment"

I glanced at Kinley before I made a beeline for the coffee and started to pour some into a mug, pleased to see some sugar and milk. Even as I sat down next to Ranger, I had already taken a sip from the coffee waiting for the caffeine to mainline into my brain. For some reason I stopped before taking the second sip and looked around the table. Jackson Sinclair was just looking at me and Ranger was trying to look interested in the fruit in front of him, but Kinley had a brilliant smile on her face.

"I knew that I would like you. I told you Jack, coffee is only any good when it has sugar and cream in it"

Okay, if for nothing else I was actually beginning to like her.

Jackson Sinclair's expression didn't change but I was pretty sure he was fighting to stop from smiling. His face went blank again as he looked down at the papers sat in front of him giving that dangerous aura that I'd seen at the hospital. How was it that men who were so good looking like him and Ranger could contain the essence of power and danger?

"Let's get down to business. Juan was working for me so because of his past history he was adamant that he was the best person for the job"

I'd finished swallowing and as I listened to that little speech, I suddenly felt that I was the only person in the room who had no idea who Jackson Sinclair was or what the hell he was talking about. Hadn't Les told me that he was a powerful man who had a lot of contacts that were not necessarily, shall we say legal?

"I'd really like to know exactly who you are and what this job you're referring to is about"

I placed my mug down on the table to show just how serious I was with my question and stared back at Jackson Sinclair.

"That is classified information Miss Plum"

Was his reply as those damn steel grey eyes pierced into me. On the inside I might have been intimidated by him, even a little scared, but since when do I back down. I picked up my mug and stood away from the table deciding to call his bluff.

"Okay. I'll sit this out then"

Because I was damned sure that he was expecting me to just roll over and tell him whatever it was that I knew. I saw the way Ranger's lips quirked up at the edges in a smile and how Kinley raised her eyebrows at Jackson Sinclair. I could feel his eyes following me as I made my way over to the couch and sat down with my back to him.

"Ranger. Talk to her"

"Why, she has every right to question your motives Jack. I told you that any interaction between us was a two way street and only if I was sure that it was safe"

Yeah, go me, because I was sure that was exactly how Ranger expected me to behave. He knew me too well, hell, he'd been trying to work with me for years so knew that I wouldn't be swayed by some good looking devil like man. I'd worked with Ranger too long for him to know that no one bulldozed me into anything unless I was included in all of the details. I was almost tempted to turn around to see how Jackson Sinclair was reacting, but I didn't. Instead, I continued to pay homage to the coffee in my hand.

"Christ, what is it with women. Why is it that the ones that I come across can be so, so"

"Jack. She's right. She has every reason to know what's going on"

That did have me turning to look at Kinley and I was surprised at just how fierce she looked.

"Tell her then"

Was all that Jackson Sinclair said as he stood up from the table. Obviously, he'd been talking to Ranger because as Ranger came over to me, the door was opening and closing leaving just the two of us in the room. Ranger sat next to me, pulling me against him and holding me to his side. I had a bad feeling about this and suddenly I wasn't sure that I wanted to know what he was going to be telling me.

"I have a history with Jackson Sinclair"

No shit came to mind because that seemed obvious when they confronted each other at the hospital.

"He and I crossed paths when I was a teenager down in Miami. He came from the streets and even then, was a very astute kid. I lost track of him when I joined the army but one of my missions, crossed paths with him. I would have said at the time that Jackson worked for the highest bidder but as I followed the rumors over the years it seems that Jackson does have some moral code. He does a lot of work for the government that even I would never attempt and whilst I have an understanding of the groups with power in Trenton, Jackson takes that to whole new level internationally"

Okay, I knew that Ranger had worked with some of the bosses in Trenton. Hell, even I had at times. The whole debacle of meeting Alexander Ramos coming to mind and even Vito Grizolli had been amicable when it came to me needing to haul one of his goons in as FTAs.

"He uses his position to ensure some sort of mutual existence exists between some of the more powerful groups and their governments, but he won't allow certain exploits to happen"

"Exploits?"

I asked because to me anything that these groups were doing weren't legal as far as I was concerned.

"He hates human trafficking and ensures the organizations maintain their boundaries diverting all out war between them. Drug and gun running is never going to be stopped but I suppose it can be contained with minimal impact"

I wasn't too sure how I felt about that. I mean drugs and guns on the street created death and havoc so how was that containing anything? Then when I started to really think about it, I suppose that he was right. There would always be another person who would want to fill that gap, the profits were just too high for that not to happen. Was that what Les had meant when he said that Jackson verged into the illegal. Did that mean that the government sanctioned what he was doing?

"How does that involve us?"

A sigh came from Ranger which had me worried, Ranger never sighs unless something was seriously pissing him off.

"From what he's told me, Jackson has been contracted by the Attorney General to investigate a situation that's beginning to cause concern. Judge Laithwaite was the catalyst that brought attention to a problem that apparently has developed over the years. He insinuated that there was a group who were taking the law into their hands. That was what Juan was looking at"

That didn't really explain what had happened to Juan and I was still a little confused with how we were involved.

"Babe, Juan was sure that somehow Sullivan was involved, so that led him to you. Everyone thinks that you hold the key, that somehow Sullivan's insurance would bring those responsible tumbling down which was why Jackson decided that he needed to talk to you"

I was probably frowning at what Ranger had said and also how anything that I knew would be seen as important. Then I remembered some of the verses that Sullivan had written. They had never conveyed to me just how serious he had been, or I had just never let my imagination to go there when I'd first read them. Hell, nothing that I'd seen or read would have led me down that route. That so many people thought that I knew something so important was now hitting me. Those men from the bank and even Joe, but did that mean that Joe was part of this insidious group or was he just trying, as usual to use me, to steal information from me to make him look good?

"What are you thinking Babe?"

My mind had taken me back to that weird meeting with the judge and some of the things that he'd said. His regrets when a mad man was released on a technicality or when the evidence didn't pan out.

"Does Jackson think that things are still happening now?"

Because I was remembering what Juan had told us when we were at Ranger's house. I mean I understood what Juan was getting at, that murderers were being taken out but had assumed that it was Laithwaite who had been the one doing that.

"It wasn't obvious at first, but it seems that Laithwaite felt guilty and yes it does seem to be still happening. It looks like some villains who should have been convicted, but for some reason were released, died soon after. Men like Sergio Ricci"

So that meant that someone decided to dole out the justice as they saw it? Vigilante on a whole new level? That someone was acting as judge and jury. Two other lines of thought suddenly intersected which had me reeling from the enormity of the situation.

"People who have died when it's clear that they're guilty"

"Babe?"

I knew that Ranger would understand that I was thinking out loud but not where that thinking was coming from, because I had first hand knowledge of when that had happened.

"Reeves, she killed people, knifed them then she was killed by a hit and run and there was Victor Cutliffe. He was charged with murder for poisoning, but he was released when the witness was killed. Cutliffe died from electrocuting himself"

Were they just a coincidence? And Harley Chroma committing suicide, was that what had happened? Were there others that I'd never considered and had just ignored? That meant that there was someone in Trenton that was targeting people who were criminals and getting away with it. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Was it so wrong that people like that were removed from society permanently? No, I couldn't live with that. Ranger had once told me to believe in the system, that the courts would be judge and jury and people would get from that what they deserved.

I jumped at the sound of the door opening and turned to see Jackson and Kinley walk back into the room. As they stood together looking at me, I had a sinking feeling hit my stomach as Sinclair looked at me before speaking.

"A new development that isn't good"

I allowed Ranger to pull me up from the couch so once again we were sat around the table. I felt nervous and was just about chewing my bottom lip off as we waited to hear what Jackson had found out.

"It seems that a warrant has been issued against Stephanie Plum for the murder of Judge Laithwaite and is a person of interest in the murder of Detective Joseph Morelli"

I closed my eyes and tried to control my breathing, but it wasn't working. My heart was pounding in my chest and my stomach was convulsing against the coffee that I'd just drank. How could anyone pin that on me? Why would they do that? I felt as my head was pushed down to my knees and felt Ranger's arms wrapped around me.

"Breathe Babe. We all know it's a setup"

A setup, of course it was, but that meant that someone had planted evidence, so what was the evidence against me? I sat up, taking that deep breath to steady myself and opened my eyes to look at Sinclair. I was so angry now. Fed up with people trying to fuck with me.

"What's the evidence?"

Sinclair returned my look but raised an eyebrow at me before he looked down at the paper in his hand.

"Video of you entering and leaving the judge's property on the night that he died. What's worrying is that a gun was found in Morelli's back yard, one that is registered to you and has your fingerprints on it. They're waiting for a ballistics report on the bullet"

I knew that gun would come back and haunt me, but I had an alibi for when Joe was killed. As for the video, well I knew that I'd visited the judge's house so there'd be a record of that. What I wasn't sure about was exactly when the judge had died.

"Who's lead on the case?"

I looked at Ranger wondering where his question was going, not really sure why it was important.

"Detectives Sorenson and Michaels. Why, is that important?"

I knew that name and I frowned and looked at Ranger as it came to me how I knew him.

"They were the ones who came to Rangeman and questioned me about Joe's murder"

Now why was that too much of a coincidence? Had he thought that he could frame me for Joe's death at the time? That couldn't happen because I, well Ranger, had proof that I'd been inside the Rangeman building. The more I sat there thinking through what was being said the more pieces of a puzzle came to me. My bag at Joe's house had my apartment keys inside. Had Joe stolen my gun and box of ammo?

"I need a laptop"

What I really needed was a phone and to call up some people, but I wasn't sure how well that would go down.

"Steph. You're obviously working something out. What do you need?"

I looked at Kinley and shrugged my shoulders not sure if voicing those ideas would help.

"A laptop"

"Okay I can do that"

I was sat with my mouth open as Kinley calmly walked over to a large cupboard at the back of the room and brought two laptops over to the table. She placed one in front of me and then sat down with the other one in front of her. Ranger was on the phone and I'm sure from listening to his curt responses he wasn't pleased with who he was talking to.

"We use a secure network here. What are you looking for?"

I turned back to Kinley to explain what I needed to do.

"Access to my email account and my iCloud account. Oh, and cases that those detectives have worked on"

"Not a good idea. I'm sure someone will be keeping an eye on any access to those accounts and if they have important information, they've probably already looked through them. Let me hack into them first and then you can take over. That way no one will know you're looking"

That I just believed what Kinley had said and had no problem with her doing that didn't really bother me though it did have me wondering if she'd already done that herself. If Juan had thought that I had information, then maybe that was why he'd been at Rangeman.

"All yours"

Two open tabs revealed the two accounts making me wonder how she'd done it so quickly.

"You've already looked, haven't you?"

A smile was all that I needed to confirm that suspicion. I looked at the two tabs at the bottom of the screen with doubts going through my head. I was asking myself why I was intending to look at those photos. I suppose the answer was that Joe was still fucking with my life from beyond the grave and something just didn't add up. I was pretty sure that Joe was involved but why would he steal my gun and enable it to be used to kill him? It just didn't make sense, unless I'd made a really stupid assumption. I looked back at the laptop and opened up my cloud account.

The thing was that I had a way of filing and labelling things in my cloud account so maybe she wasn't interested in trawling through what seemed irrelevant. I opened the file with pictures in and then found the file labelled birthday. Within that I went through the thumbnails to the last four photos and then opened them. I sighed as I looked at the first one because that scene had really come out of the blue at the time. Lou had sent the photo to me because she knew that I would want to know.

She'd taken her mother to a show in New York City because she felt she owed her mother some one on one time. The fact that it was a show that had good memories for her mother of her father meant Lou was doing the right thing. The photo was captured as she'd entered the hotel close to the theater where she and her mother were staying overnight, and it showed Joe with his arm around Rita as they'd sat at the bar. Their faces were clearly visible reflected in the mirror behind the bar so Joe would have no idea that Lou had seen them. On first sight I'd tried to talk myself out of what I was seeing. Joe and I were supposed to be on an on phase and I really thought we were doing well. That he'd told me he was working a case so would be busy for those days had hurt but I suppose I'd tied to push it into denial. Maybe he was with an informant, but that didn't explain anything especially when Val had told me that the woman was Rita Garside and she was a nurse at St Francis hospital.

I skipped the next photo knowing that it was of him kissing her at the bar and moved onto the third one. I'd taken this one so knew there was no denial to fall into. I'd been looking for a skip, Tobi Debus and had been in Allentown talking to his mother. I'd decided that I needed to regroup after our conversation so had chosen a small café to fuel up on coffee and food. As I'd sat by the window, that was when I'd seen Morelli walk down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. I was curious why he was there because it was outside of his normal jurisdiction so had followed him. That sinking feeling had engulfed me as a silver BMW had stopped outside of the hotel where Joe was stood waiting. My immediate thought was that it was Terry Gilman from the long blonde hair and expensive clothes. My phone was in my hands taking photos because I now knew that the feelings that I'd had, that Joe and I weren't right for each other, had strengthened. That was just before I met Joe at that restaurant and to be honest, I'd never really looked at those two photos again. Why would I?

I transferred the two photos to the desktop of the laptop and then went into my emails and looked at my inbox. The mail that I was looking at was from Les that he'd forwarded to me regarding my information on Latasha. I was pretty sure no one would have looked at the attachment. I downloaded that onto the desktop as well and then closed down those two accounts because I had no interest in any new emails that had come in. I was busy comparing the photos of the FBI woman with the photos of who I thought was Terry.

"Who are the women?"

I looked up to find Sinclair stood behind me and feigned my surprise that I didn't even know that he was there.

"Those are of a woman that the FBI are looking for. They reckon it's the same woman but in different disguises. I thought I knew who this was, but now I'm not so sure"

I added as I pointed to the one with Joe in it.

"You think it's the same woman?"

I nodded my head as I worked my teeth over my bottom lip. Was I jumping to conclusions? When I'd read about the murders that the FBI believed that woman had done, they could never find a motive other than she was possibly a paid assassin. Could she be the one who had finished the judge off and maybe killed Joe? Joe would never allow a stranger into his house but her? Maybe he'd let her inside. Studying those photos of Joe, I really couldn't say that it was definitely Terry. The stupid thing was that it wasn't the face or clothes that had me doubting it. It was her calves and feet.

"Not easy to decide. What's caught your eye?"

"The Jimmy Choo shoes"

If Sinclair thought that I was being stupid, then he didn't say anything, but I just knew that the photos were all of the same woman. That woman had class, expensive taste and a penchant for Jimmy Choo shoes. Any photo that included her feet all sported the same designer and all of them showed well defined calf muscles that emphasized that the woman worked out. Terry may have been a class above me in how she dressed and maybe she might own a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes, but she definitely wasn't into fitness.

That had me wondering why Joe had been meeting with this woman.

"The police have a search warrant for Rangeman. Tank's dealing with it and has told them that the last he knew you were at the hospital and that he has no idea where you went to after that"

Looking at Ranger I could see that he was annoyed but from what he said at least that put him in the clear, didn't it?

"You can tell them that's where you last saw me then. I'm sure he'll have trawled the cameras and seen you there on your own"

I really didn't want Ranger to get caught up in my shit yet again.

"Well, about that. I may have jammed them when we were there"

I turned to look at Kinley at she said that not in the least bit surprised. She wouldn't want her or Sinclair to be seen there would she.

"Is Juan okay, is he in danger?"

I asked of Ranger immediately remembering the reason that we were even at the hospital.

"No. I had Santos and Cal move him to a private hospital under an assumed name. He has protection but he's still unconscious."

I watched the interaction between the two men relieved that they seemed to be in a place to work together. Maybe it was like Ranger had been with Joe, they disliked each other but put their differences aside when work called for it. That didn't mean that I wasn't still curious with why they didn't really like each other, something that I would definitely be finding out about later.

"This is a list of the cases that Sorenson and Michaels have worked. What names are you looking for?"

"Joanna Reeves, and Victor Cutliffe"

"They're here. Why them?"

I had a sinking feeling with that information and was dreading the outcome of my next request.

"Of those cases are there any people that were charged with murder and then died?"

If Kinley thought that it was a stupid request, she never said anything, so I watched transfixed as her fingers ran over the keys. Not two minutes later I was looking at a spreadsheet that had the names of any detectives where a suspect had died. Looking down the list I was relieved to see that most who had died had been extremely old or seriously ill, but one name had me looking twice because I really didn't see how he fit into the pattern that we were looking for.

"Harley Chroma"

He'd been one of Sorenson's cases but why would he be targeted to be killed? No, that was probably just a coincidence, so I pushed that away for now because I was sure that he wasn't a victim. Interestingly there were two others that tied into Sorenson and one that tied into Joe. I remembered the case because Joe had told me about it. Cruger Wallace was his main suspect for the stabbing of several women. The problem was twofold really, not enough strong evidence to support a charge and probably that the women were escort girls. I felt deflated as unwanted thoughts raced through my head. Were Sorenson and Michaels involved in pinpointing victims that needed to be assassinated?

I hadn't realized that Sinclair was still stood behind me until I watched him walk away with a phone in his hand. I leant back in the chair wondering what the hell to do now. Both men were busy on their phones, and I had visions of Jimmy Choo shoes floating in my mind. I was pretty sure that the woman with Joe was the same one from the FBI file, but how that helped to identify her I had no idea. I needed some space to think things through because I was sure now that the whole thing with Sorenson was tied into Sullivan and the secrets that he was hiding. I knew that Kinley had closed down her laptop and moved away and felt Ranger arms snake over my shoulders to hold me.

"Kinley will look after you. I need to go to Rangeman and do some damage control with those detectives"

I turned toward him because I wasn't feeling very happy for him to leave me here on my own. I mean I didn't have any idea of where I was, nor did I really know these people that he was entrusting me to.

That earned me a bone melting kiss, one where my toes curled, and heat rapidly descended to my core. I was sure a whimper escaped from me when he pulled away. He held me close to him as we both needed some time to get control and judging by how his cargos were flexing it seemed that he was just as turned on as I had been.

"Don't get shot"

I called out to him as he went through the door.

"Don't go crazy"

Wafted back at me before the door silently locked into place. Great, now what? As far as I knew there wasn't much that I could do to occupy myself. I had no idea on how to identify that woman so considered what else I could do.