Chapter 49

"No Joe, I don't want you here. Go away, please"

"You don't mean that Cupcake. You look like shit, have a run in with a skip?"

I rolled my eyes as I heard the usual dribble that Joe would come out with but him being here in my apartment was definitely beginning to worry me.

"Why are you here Joe. I thought that you were in the witness protection scheme?"

I watched as he opened my fridge and closed it in disgust seeing that it was empty. Then he was walking over into the living area and sitting down on the couch. He looked too comfortable for my liking which had my nerves going into hyperdrive. Subtle or obvious went through my mind as I played with my phone in my hand. I went for obvious hoping that Joe would see my movement as being innocent.

"My sister. I just need to reply to her message, Lisa's been ill so they couldn't visit"

Joe seemed quite happy with the excuse that I'd given to him, so I took my time to send a message to my Merry Men Whatsapp group. "Help, Morelli is here" Once done I placed my phone on my lap and looked over to Joe. To me he looked too happy which had me wondering why.

"Joe, why are you here?"

He sat back on the couch and looked at me before giving me an answer.

"It's over, the job that I was doing is all wrapped up"

I didn't want to show any reaction to hearing that so shrugged my shoulders in the hope that Joe didn't notice my surprise. I'd honestly talked myself into believing that Joe had turned to the dark side and was complicit with targeting villains to be killed.

"I'm relocating to Las Vegas. It's a great opportunity to get away from here, start over"

I suppose if he was going to be a long way from me then I could live with that, but I got the feeling that he was wanting to say more.

"How about coming with me. A new life, a new start. We could pick up on where we were before. You know you'd love it Cupcake"

I couldn't believe that he was talking that shit to me gain. What part of no didn't he get. Besides he was dead, how did he think that was going to work out for him?

"For the last time Joe, no. I've had enough of your bullshit and how you treat me. I don't trust you or anything that you say"

Him sitting forward in the seat had me almost regretting shouting at him, almost. Maybe I had a death wish and wanted to goad him, who knew.

"I know you misunderstood what was going on, but I had a job to do that was confidential. What would you have done? I kept those men from really hurting you and kept you safe"

Liar, was what I wanted to say knowing that somehow Joe knew those men who had taken me and beaten me up. Maybe he had kept them away from me, but it didn't excuse the other crap that he'd piled on me. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to win at arguing with Joe so went down a different tack.

"So that was why my bag was at your house, why my apartment keys were missing? My gun was stolen, and you molested me? That was you protecting me? I don't think so"

"Cupcake. I wanted you to feel comfortable so had your bag at my house. The gun, I actually thought that once you came to your senses and realized how much danger you were in that it would be there for you to protect yourself when I wasn't there"

In some ways he may have been telling me the truth about that though I thought that it was ironical that it had been used to shoot him. I didn't want to press him about being shot because I really didn't want him to start thinking about that too closely.

"I broke the case, Sorenson, he was the one behind it all along with some judge. I had to maintain my cover. I'm sorry that it involved you, but you just had to get in the way and screw things up"

He used that phrase again which was really pissing me off. I searched my brain for a rebuff to throw back at him.

"So that contact that you mentioned?"

I never had a chance to finish what I was going to ask because I could sense that Joe was ready to give me one of his lies.

"Sorenson had me meet her to pass on his information, that's all that was"

That alone told me that he was lying to me. Katrina always stayed anonymous as to her role in the whole operation. Joe couldn't have known that she was the assassin so how did he meet her? Was it Katrina who had approached him, but why would she do that? Did she suspect that he was working undercover?

"You know what Joe, I don't care anymore. I'm tired and I'm sore so just leave. Enjoy Las Vegas"

I grabbed hold of my phone only then remembering the message that I'd sent and wondered whether anyone had seen it. As I stood up a knock came from the damn door making Ansgar jump to his feet and bark.

"What's with the dog Cupcake?"

"He protects me"

Which Ansgar gave a demonstration of as he growled at Joe. As I opened the door I was expecting to see Ranger or one of the Merry Men. I decided that I'd definitely had enough but found myself staring at a tall woman with blonde hair. Looking at her face I was sure that I recognized her but when she tapped her foot and I looked down and saw her shoes, recognition hit me. How the hell was Katrina here, now. I turned and headed for the bedroom with Ansgar following me, shouting back why I was leaving the two of them together.

"I'm due my pain meds and going to bed. Lock up on your way out"

I felt totally shattered with a lot of aches and pains. Tonight, was meant to have been a quiet evening for me to relax and it turned out to be nonstop visitors. I needed a new address. I was contemplating how to get the hell out of here. Katrina was in the doorway and to be honest I really wasn't too sure if she was here to finish me off or for Joe. I supposed that she had reason enough to hate me especially if she'd worked it out that it was because of me that she'd been taken in to the FBI. But how the hell was she here? Did they have to let her go because they didn't have enough evidence. I was really beginning to worry about my situation. Where the hell was Ranger? Why hadn't I seen him since the hospital? Turning back into the room I left Katrina at the door to see that Joe was looking too smug. Shit. How to get out of here when I really wasn't physically able to defend myself. I decided that maybe if pushed it then I could use the fire escape, it wouldn't be easy but at least it was a way to escape.

I wasn't sure what the hell was going on but definitely didn't want to be in the vicinity of Joe or Katrina. As I closed the bedroom door behind me I almost thought that I'd had a reprieve until I felt a gentle breeze and panicked at seeing the drapes billowing. Someone else was inside my apartment but strangely the panic subsided as I recognized the outline of the figure now stepping through the window from the fire escape.

I left the light off as he approached me and welcomed the feel of his arms around me. He was here and that was all that mattered to me. I was gently led toward the bed and ended up sat against the pillows with my tablets in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Ranger toed off his boots and sat next to me and pushed my hair away from my ear pushing an earbud inside it.

"Katrina is here to get him to talk"

I leant against Ranger totally confused with what was happening. Had Ranger brought her here? Why would he do that and how had he arranged for that to happen?

"Just listen"

I didn't have much of a choice as the sound of voices accosted me and to be honest, they totally dragged me out of the sleep induced state that I was sinking into.

"Darlene, what the hell are you doing here?"

I suppose that the name suited the blonde image that Katrina was playing and she must have done her homework because she did look a little like Terry Gilman so would know that Joe would be attracted to her.

"Joey, what the hell. You told me that we'd be together. I looked everywhere for you and then some guy said that you'd be here"

I waited, knowing that Joe would be thinking of how to answer her, but I still couldn't work out what was going on, what Katrina was going to say.

"Look, Darlene, it's over. Dresden has disappeared, Sorenson has been arrested so there's nothing left and we're in the clear"

Hell, was I hearing right? Had Joe just admitted that he was involved?

"Oh Joey, we can still make this work. We can start up again, another city, and more opportunities"

So had Katrina told him who she was and what she did?

"Are you going to still be a detective?"

"Yeah, over in Las Vegas"

Interesting that the powers to be were confident that he was clean. Joe must have really turned on the charm to make that happen.

"How the hell did that happen if the chief was skeptical about what he was up to?"

I whispered mainly to myself because that seemed so unfair. Ranger's response was to pull me closer to him, I suppose he didn't want us to talk in case we were overheard, or we missed something being said.

"Then we just set everything up again. You highlight the target, I find them, just like we were doing"

I suppose that I shouldn't have been surprised with what I was hearing but something felt off. Why would Katrina come here knowing that she was being listened to and say that to Joe. Ranger had said that she was here to get Joe to talk and she was certainly achieving that, but why would she compromise herself in order to help us?

"Darlene, how the hell can we make it work again. We need sponsors who are willing to pay, people who feel the same way as we do"

"Joey, it'll be easy to do and you were brilliant at laying the blame on Sorenson. It was so lucky that the information that man had didn't work out"

"Yeah lucky. I told you that Stephanie would find it though. I should have told Dresden to use his men to finish her off"

Well shit. Hadn't he just asked me to go away with him? Now he was saying that he'd wished I'd been killed?

"So why are you here. You making sure that she still believes that you're innocent"

What the fuck! Was that his reason for asking me to go to Vegas with him?

"If she comes with me then I'll know what she knows"

"Clever man. Dresden has disappeared, but I heard that it was something to do with his nanny dying. The information that Sullivan left, that your girlfriend found, was totally corrupt, so no one will discover the role that you had, and I have the names of the judges on the panel, so we're all set my darling"

I wasn't sure how to feel as Ranger removed the bud from my ear. Disappointed I suppose that the man that I'd known all of my life really was a lowlife. Ranger had said that he was an opportunist, but Joe was much more of one. He'd used his power as a police officer turning his back on the system that he was supposed to serve. Him getting information from me wasn't part of his undercover work it was to be sure that I didn't find out his involvement. Katrina had baited him and allowed him to think that he was in control, but he never stood a chance against her. Resting against Ranger my last thought was why had she done that?

When I woke up, I felt warm and comfortable until I moved. My arm was throbbing and my ribs really didn't want me to move. An arm around me stilled me from moving but I still opened my eyes. We were still in my bed in my apartment, and the light was bright as it infiltrated through the drapes. I had no idea why I'd woken up until I realized that my mind was working in overdrive. I wanted some answers for what had happened the day before.

"Stay here while I get you some breakfast"

I could go with that so watched as Ranger moved away from me, admiring his bare chest and the low slung silk shorts as he disappeared through the door. Not long after he returned but he was also carrying a tray.

"Ella dropped these off for you"

With a flourish he removed the dome from the plate revealing doughnuts. That was the last thing that I expected Ranger to serve me for my breakfast, but it did have the effect of me forgetting all about the way that my arm hurt. It also had the effect that I wasn't going to be talking until they were eaten.

"Thank you, those were delicious"

Probably even better than the ones from the Tasty Pastry.

"So, are you going to tell me what the hell has happened?"

I took the tablets from the bedside table and downed them with a swig of water while I waited for Ranger to answer me. He slid back under the sheets and pulled me over to him which had me thinking that this was going to be a long story.

"Sinclair called me before we got to his house asking for me to meet and talk with him. I've never seen him so pissed off before. He'd been backtracking some of the stuff that Kinley had been doing, something about a discrepancy with what she'd told him and what he was seeing on his laptop. As I told you he isn't stupid, he's probably in the same league as Kinley"

Okay, I was following the story so far and was pleased that Sinclair and Ranger hadn't come to blows. It must have taken a lot for Sinclair to call Ranger for help which meant that he really must have felt threatened.

"He noticed that some of the logged times for activating the sites seemed off so had backtracked through a useful internet tool called IP Geolocation Lookup, the exact location. You can get pretty close, depending on a variety of factors, to finding the physical location of someone's IP address so when it gave his office as the source, that was when he knew that he was in deep shit"

Which meant that he wasn't responsible for the addition of the contract on Kinley and confirmed what I'd already worked out. Kinley had been the one to set Sinclair up.

"Remember telling me that you lost one of your team on that mission that Sinclair screwed up?"

That had Ranger tensing up and it made me sorry that I'd had to mention it, but he needed to know what I'd found out about Kinley.

"The man who died was Kinley's fiancé. Her real name is Sasha Delaney and the woman who died was his sister, Anna Reebock"

That had Ranger's head fall back against the bed head as though thinking through what I'd said.

"I never put that together. The name Reebock is a common name and it happened so long ago and to be honest, it wasn't something that I wanted to remember"

From how that was said I was pretty sure that Ranger carried the blame for Stephen's death even though it had never been his fault.

"Because of those coincidences it made me think that Kinley was trying to set you up, that she wanted you to kill Sinclair for her"

I mean it made perfect sense to me as to what Kinley's plans had been.

"That was her plan, but it goes much deeper than that"

I turned at hearing that, surprised at what Ranger was implying. How could it be much deeper than that, what the hell had I missed? As I opened my mouth to ask what he meant his finger pressed onto my lips to silence me. What the fuck, he had to finish his story.

"Let's get you dressed and over to Rangeman. Then we can sate that curiosity of yours"

Did I growl, maybe, did it have Ansgar rushing into the bedroom, oh yeah. Ranger actually laughed and ruffled Ansgar's head as he got up from the bed. He lifted a black bag onto the bed and pulled out some clothes that I was sure were for me before he gently pulled back the covers. Fortunately for me he dressed himself first, but I was sure that he was enjoying making me watch. I knew that I wasn't capable of doing anything about the feelings that had started to emerge and with a sigh began to slowly ease myself from the bed. After a bathroom visit, he made me stand in front of him as he sat on the bed.

"I'm so sorry that you had to confront Kinley, but you were amazing, Babe"

Well I thought I'd done a pretty good job as well, even if I was suffering for it now. Ranger was very gentle as he pulled down my pajama bottoms, kissing each bruise that had formed. I wasn't sure if he realized just how turned on that was making me feel. He helped me to step into my panties before pulling up some lose jogging bottoms and then moved me to sit down on the bed. Fortunately, the top was buttoned at the front so came off easily, but I frowned when no bra appeared.

"Wear this instead so there's nothing pushing on your rib cage"

I suppose that he was right, a bra would have been uncomfortable, so I was okay with the sports top that he pulled over my head. Next came a thick shirt that fortunately had wide arms allowing the cast to slip down the sleeve. After he fastened the shirt up, he added the obligatory sling. I hated having to wear one again.

Ranger was dressed in his Rangeman uniform and had ensured that all of his weapons were in the right places, which reminded me. I hobbled to the side of the bed and pulled the small gun from underneath the drawer where I'd taped it the night before. The two knives were in the kitchen drawer along with the rest of my cutlery but at least no one could come in here and steal them now.

"Your other gun?"

I saw the smirk on Ranger's face but knew exactly where that was. Well almost where it was.

"Back at Latisha's. I tried to use it on Kinley"

Like that had gone to plan. Even as Ranger drove away from my apartment I wondered if I could have handled Kinley any better. She'd told me that she was there to kill me though I'm pretty sure that Ranger would never have believed that it had been Sinclair. No, Kinley was grasping at straws if she thought her plan was going to work. She must have been really desperate, so I was sure that us fighting had been my only option. That had me remembering my evening visitors. Would I ever tell anyone what my mother had done? When it was time, was what I'd advised her, so I suppose I'd follow my own advice on that as well.

"What's happened to Joe?"

Because the last thing that I could remember was listening to him through an earbud laid in my bed with Ranger.

"All in good time"

Was the only answer I was given. I hated when Ranger did that because I ended up thinking the worst. Though even I could remember him admitting to being a part of the vigilante group. But how was Katrina there? Too much to think about and as we pulled into the Rangeman garage I knew that I wouldn't have long to wait for some answers.

The garage was unusually quiet when the car stopped, and Ranger was soon helping me down and across to the elevator. Even that short walk had made me feel tired, but I was determined not to show it.

"Where is everyone?"

I asked as we came out onto an empty corridor. This was beginning to feel weird and had me worried as to what was going on. I wasn't sure where we were going so allowed Ranger to guide me, walking me into a very packed conference room.

"Three cheers for Bombshell"

Came from a smiling Tank, as I entered, followed by three loud responses.

"Hooah, hooah, hooah"

I may have been smiling but I had tears come to my eyes at hearing that from the men assembled. I really didn't know why I'd received such a welcome, but it felt so, I don't know, as though I was being welcomed as part of them. Yeah, so not easy to describe. As they all sat down, or in some cases remained stood up, Ranger led me around to the head of the table where I was surprised to see Sinclair and Katrina sat. Okay, now I was confused.

"Men, thank you for Steph's welcome"

At hearing that from Ranger the men slowly began to leave the room with only nine of us remaining, oh and Ansgar as well. I sat between Ranger and Katrina feeling a little off kilt with what they would be telling me.

"Steph, thank you. I know I may not have shown you much respect over these past few days, but I have to admit that you've surprised me"

I suppose that was a compliment coming from Sinclair, but I wasn't about to spoil it by saying anything.

"How about we fill everyone in on what's happened"

Came from Ranger as he looked around the room. I was all for that and from how the guys were looking at Ranger I think they were keen to know as well.

"Sinclair"

All eyes moved from Ranger to Sinclair giving him the floor to start his report.

"Over a year ago, I was approached by Homeland who were concerned that they seemed to have a leak of information. It was to be a solo investigation by me because of the sensitivity of intel that I might come across. To be honest there weren't many clues to follow, and Homeland didn't make it easy. Eventually I began to see a pattern, or what I thought was a pattern, so followed that trail. People who had been placed into witness protection were disappearing. These were people, criminals who had turned state's evidence by admitting guilt and then testifying as a witness for the state against their associates or accomplices. Not people that would be missed to be honest"

Okay, I was seeing a theme here. Someone was knocking off these people because they didn't like the idea that they'd got away with a serious crime.

"Then two people approached me. The Attorney General and Katrina Cashelle. It seemed that we had a bigger problem than we thought and that someone was actively killing these people. Katrina"

That Katrina had approached Sinclair surprised me and had me doubting everything that I'd believed. She would hate me for thinking so badly of her.

"Being a journalist, I began to see a similar pattern within the crimes in the area. I suppose what had happened with my father struck home so I spoke with the Attorney General and he suggested getting in touch with Sinclair. After talking we decided that the only way to discover what was happening was for me to, I suppose, go undercover. Sinclair arranged for the FBI to have a new face on their most wanted list because I was going to be a candidate for assassinating these victims. I had the memory of Judge Laithwaite's opinion from years ago, so used him to work my way into the inside"

I was confounded with the risks that Katrina had taken in order to do that job. She had taken on a very risky and dangerous role to play and had done an amazing job. Hell, I had followed the clues and they'd led me to her.

"Steph, how the hell you worked it out blew me away. Sully had told me some of his history but left out the bad parts. I think that maybe he was responsible for my father dying, but before Sully died, he did imply that he wanted it to finish and that he felt ashamed and guilty for what he'd got involved in"

Okay, so that was what he'd written in his book so from what Katrina was saying he'd actually intended to put things right. It was just a shame that he hadn't confided more in Katrina, it would have saved us a lot of hurt, especially me.

"I became their new assassin but had no idea who was running the show. Everyone remained anonymous. Any targets were removed to safe accommodation or to prison under a false name. Then Sully died and any evidence that he'd had was lost. Which was where you came in Steph"

So at that point both Sinclair and Katrina had nothing to follow and were once again chasing ghosts. I knew that it was at the bank that I'd come across Sully but those men were already on to him. Who knew that Sully had anything at all?

"Those men who robbed the bank, and took us afterwards, who employed them?"

Because someone must have known that Sully was on the verge of revealing everything. This time it was Sinclair who continued the conversation.

"We had no idea that you had possession of that book of Sully's. We had three avenues to follow then. Detective Sorenson approached me, as a man who could be trusted, venting his own frustrations at what he was seeing. Detective Morelli had raised his concerns with his boss and talked him into letting him work the case, so Katrina decided to find out what was going on with him. That someone had employed those men concerned us and how they knew to target Sullivan and then you"

So Joe was already being looked at before the incident at the bank. I remember that I'd been looking for Toby when I'd caught a glimpse of him with another woman. I was avidly listening now as the story unfolded because I was sure that I was going to be surprised by what was going to be said.

"Juan was to stay close to you to find out if you did actually know anything and to keep you safe"

I looked over to Juan and raised my eyebrows at him wondering if it had always been the plan for him to separate me from Ranger. I looked away because that whole incident with him at Ranger's house was water under the bridge now, and to be honest his actions had been a catalyst that brought Ranger and I closer together.

"I suppose it became apparent that somewhere there was someone who also knew what was happening. I just never imagined that it was someone close to me. Kinley, or Sasha, she knew every move that I made and what information I had. When I realized that she'd been the one to access those sites everything fell into place. Yes, she was out for revenge for her fiancé, but she had been the one accessing intel through Homeland. She was the one who masterminded the resurrection of the vigilante group from things told to her by her fiancé's sister. Apparently, Dresden was pissed off with how his career had gone and wanted the power so was happy to work with her"

I frowned at that piece of information because I'd always assumed that Anna had accidently come across that information. That Anna knew all along what was going on confused me.

"Why did Anna give Sully that disc then?"

"Kinley knew there was little information that would point to anyone, and I think by then she'd worked out a way to frame me"

I sat back in my chair totally overloaded with what I'd learnt. I needed time to fully digest what I'd heard because I was sure that there were questions that I would want answers to.

"Let's take a break. Babe, maybe you need to rest up a bit. We can meet again, or I can answer those questions that I'm sure you'll have"

I nodded my head because Ranger was right. I did feel a bit overloaded and would appreciate resting for a while. I was prepared to make my own way upstairs because I was sure that there was more that needed to be talked about. That he stayed with me surprised but pleased me. Once in the apartment that feeling of familiarity swept through me. The quietness and ambience had me feeling far more comfortable here than in my own apartment, or maybe it was because Ranger was with me.

I toed off my trainers and made my way into the bedroom welcoming the feel of the bed as I lay down. I felt the cover being pulled over me and then the warmth at my back as Ranger curled me into him.

I thought that sleeping would be difficult, but I must have been really tired because I fell asleep almost straight away. On waking I was clinging to a pillow so knew that Ranger must have left me. I lay on my back with the details of the meeting going through my head, trying to unravel the story for it to make some sense. I realized that had I not gone to the bank that day then I might have been oblivious to what was happening. Of course, that had me thinking of all of the questions that I still hadn't figured out the answers to. Laying here I knew that I wasn't going to go back to sleep, and I realized that I needed to use the bathroom. I'd no sooner placed my feet on the carpet when Ranger suddenly appeared at the door, as if he knew that I was awake and about to get up.

"I thought that you'd sleep for longer"

Looking at the clock on the bedside table I was surprised that I'd only slept for two hours.

"Bathroom"

I said as the excuse for why I was on the move. I was pleased that Ranger didn't come rushing over to help me because I wanted to test out what aches and pains I had and whether or not I could manage on my own. As I stood up, yeah, my ribs complained, but the all over aches seemed to have subsided.

"Ella brought some lunch"

While Ranger disappeared, I made the most of my time in the bathroom. My hair was pulled back again into a ponytail, and I used my right hand to wash my face and brush my teeth. The bruises on my face were beginning to change color but at least the swelling had gone down. Walking over to the kitchen area I did feel a bit more human than I had done earlier. I collected a piece of paper and a pen from the coffee table where Ranger had obviously been working on his laptop on my way. Questions, yeah, I really needed to write down any that I had before I forgot them. I suppose that I was hungry, having spent the last few days in the hospital I hadn't had my usual appetite. Looking at what Ella had prepared for us had my stomach rumbling with anticipation.

"Wow, she made me meatball subs?"

I didn't expect Ranger to say anything though I did observe the way that his mouth quirked up in a slight smile. At least the swelling on my lips had gone down enough for me to bite down on the sub. As I chewed, I began to make some notes about what I wanted to ask. Didn't quite work out like that because in order to decide what I wanted to know I had to clarify what I already knew.

"Babe?"

Had me looking over to Ranger as he removed my empty plate from in front of me.

"What are you working on?"

I looked down at the jumble of notes that I'd made, some in capitals, some circled and some with connecting lines.

"Just trying to organize my thoughts"

Okay, that him raising his eyebrow as he looked down at my scribbling.

"What do want to know?"

I opened my mouth and then closed it unsure of where to start. Start with the obvious, came to mind as I looked down at the paper.

"What happened to the real assassin, before Katrina took on the role?"

"He took on a contract in Eastern Europe and got himself killed by the target's bodyguards. Sinclair had taken on the job to protect this pharmaceutical mogul, but it took some time for him to pull together the complexities of how he worked. And maybe at the time it wasn't a priority"

That was easily answered and seemed a plausible explanation. I suppose that there were people in this world whose aim in life was to make a lot of money and being an assassin, I assumed paid well.

"Who employed those men to track down Sully and how did they know that he had that information?"

Because for me the start of my life falling apart had been when I'd accidently met him at that bank and those men had taken me.

"Kinley. She talked Anna into downloading information from Dresden's computer. We think that Kinley was worried with what might have been on it to start with, especially as she was involved with Dresden. We may never know why Anna gave it to her uncle. Maybe she had second thoughts which could have annoyed Kinley. We're still questioning Dresden but he's lawyered up. It could be that Kinley suggested to Dresden that Anna was a lose end that needed to be dealt with. That it never betrayed her gave her an opportunity to come up with a way of getting rid of Sinclair, to stop him from investigating both the vigilante group and the goings on at Homeland"

So if Ranger hadn't killed him for the target on me then she would have framed Sinclair as the mastermind behind the vigilante group and been free and clear of suspicion by Homeland. She really was a devious person.

The name, Albert Creighton was already written down so after Ranger mentioned him, I circled it and put a question mark next to it. Did Albert know what was going on or was he a genuine friend to Sully? That Kinley who had employed those men made some sense to me now. She'd know how to contact people like that from her time working at Homeland and had certainly spun them a believable yarn. How did they tie into Joe? One of them had mentioned him so obviously knew him.

"Those men knew Joe"

Just came out because that was a link that didn't seem obvious to me.

"Morelli's keeping quiet and pleading that he's innocent and being set up. He could have been aware of them watching you when you were at his house and confronted him"

Okay, maybe that explanation was a reasonable one. Joe would have been aware if someone was watching his house, hell, his neighbors certainly would have raised the alarm.

"So where did the money come from?"

Because no one did what they'd done for nothing.

"Hector traced some of the hidden accounts from Kinley back to a holding company. It seems that Dresden had a lot of influence with rich and powerful people who donated to a charity that he'd set up. A charity that was supposed to support the victims of crime"

My eyebrows shot up at that because in a way that was exactly what he'd done, well if you counted bringing some justice for the victims. I suppose I needed to ask the one big question that had been plaguing me.

"Joe?"

I was aware as Ranger sighed as though he knew that question was coming but didn't really want to answer it.

"Morelli was a good cop, maybe too good. I think that he became frustrated with people getting off the charges that he'd worked hard on. Add to that the money involved and he was sucked in. Maybe he could sense that the net was closing in on him, so it was him who approached the chief with the concern of villains dying. He was going to make sure that any evidence pointed away from him and to someone else"

"Sorenson"

I interjected with, getting a nod from Ranger. Okay, I already knew how Sorenson was working with Sinclair, hell this whole thing had become so complicated that even I believed that he was involved.

"Why did Joe turn up at that meeting?"

Even now it seemed such a weird turn of events. Okay, I got that he wanted me to think that he was working undercover but to agree to being dead to the rest of the world just seemed so extreme to me. If his name had been a part of Sully's evidence, then there were a lot of people who would have known about it.

"You. Babe, look at some of the names that you've written down. He was worried that you'd begin to question his past history. He was around when you stumbled into cases that were a lot bigger than just finding your FTA"

I looked down at some of those names that Ranger was hinting at. Those drug dealers dying when I was looking for Uncle Mo. Joe had always been a step behind me. Then there was Abruzzi. Had Joe had something to do with his suicide.

"Dunst, gave him away. Morelli was part of an undercover case that was investigating the abduction of lone women drivers who turned up mutilated. Morelli went ballistic when Dunst was released after the defense proved that his truck was nowhere near the scenes. As far as he was concerned Dunst was responsible. Dunst died eight months later when the brakes on his truck failed"

As in failed or tampered with? I knew the answer to that one. So Joe had been trying to control me so that I wouldn't begin to question his involvement or start to look at some of my past cases that he'd involved himself in.

"What will happen to him?"

Please tell me that he isn't going to be put into witness protection or end up working over in Las Vegas. I felt my hand being held as Ranger smiled at me, shit had I said that out loud?

"He is being charged with accessory to murder and internal affairs will throw the book at him with regard to his behavior as a police detective. Do you want to bring charges against him for kidnapping and imprisonment? You certainly could"

I was sure that my eyes went wide at hearing that. Not the first bit but the idea of me pressing charges. Did I want to do that? I frowned as I considered the consequences that might inflict. I had my mother to think of and I didn't want her to be dragged into this which might happen seeing as she was at his house during that time.

"No, I don't want to involve my mum in that. As long as the other charges stick, and he gets put away for a very long time"

Ranger seemed to accept that answer as he looked over my piece of paper reading through what I'd made notes of.

"You haven't asked who shot Morelli?"

"Not interested"

Was my glib reply hoping that the truth would never come out. Okay, Katrina knew but she probably didn't get a good look at my mother, and it was dark so probably wouldn't recognize her anyway. I felt Ranger lean into me and as he kissed me just below my ear. What he whispered to me though had me sitting up and looking at him.

"Your secret is safe with me Babe"

Oh shit, did he know it was my mother? How would he know that and did anyone else know?

"I was annoyed that Brown had taken you to your apartment because I didn't want you left on your own. Katrina was worried that Morelli would try to get to you, so we were both at your apartment and saw your mother arrive and then leave. Katrina recognized her and told me what had happened. As far as she's concerned, he deserved it and no one is looking for a shooter, hell, Morelli has no idea who took a shot at him and thought the worst. The bullet hit him in the shoulder, so he wasn't badly injured"

Okay, that answered, relieved some of the anxiety that I'd had, and it also revealed that Ranger was already close by during the time that I was in the apartment. Katrina was right to assume that Joe would visit me and I was grateful that she had the foresight to intervene.

"Any other questions?"