CHAPTER 40
DAY 83
Saturday
The faster I drove, the harder I cried. Leaving was breaking my heart. It felt wrong. I wasn't ready. I hadn't meant to fall in love with this place or develop a bond with Finn. With every mile, the tightness in my chest grew worse. I finally had to exit the interstate when I couldn't see to drive. Pulling into the parking lot of the nearest fast-food restaurant, I gave in and called him. He answered but didn't speak. I let the silence grow as tears flowed unchecked. I tried not to, but a small whimper came out. I was about to hang up when Finn quietly said, "You're scared right now, but that feeling won't last. If you ever need me, you're always welcome here."
He ended the call, and I looked out the windshield as my tears dried. Calling was weak. I now had expectations for myself and the people around me. I should have had those expectations all along, but I hadn't thought I deserved them. Finn helped me see that. I pulled back onto the road, ready to go home and rebuild my life.
Ten hours and two pit stops later, I arrived at the address in Lawrenceville to meet Oz. I was only ten minutes west of Quakerbridge Mall and twenty minutes from Rangeman. I was surprised to find myself in front of Big Ed's Storage. It felt strange being back on my home turf. I parked on the street and took in the run-down area, noting that no one was around. Oz said he'd be here at 6:00 p.m. It was a little before that, so I settled in to wait.
"Drive," someone said as the passenger door was yanked open.
I screamed. At the same time, my brain registered that my intruder was Oz. I punched him in the shoulder. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I wanted to kick myself after getting my heart rate under control. I'd left my doors unlocked. Had I learned nothing?
Taking his first good look at me, he whistled. "What happened to you?"
My hand went to my busted lip and bruised cheek. "I zigged when I should have zagged."
"No shit!" He laughed. "Is Finn still breathing?"
"He's fine. Why did you want to meet here, of all places?"
"Pull up to the gate, and I'll explain." I'd missed Oz, but I could do without all the cloak and dagger.
Grudgingly, I pulled up to the gate and entered the pin number he rattled off. When the gate opened, he directed me to the back of the lot to storage unit 454. I put the car in park and asked again, "Why am I here?"
"This is your storage unit, rented under your LLC, JB Industries." He got out of the car, and I followed, watching as he unlocked the unit and lifted the door. Inside was a fairly new, dark gray Dodge Durango with tinted windows. "It has enough horsepower to take off-road if necessary and is registered to JB Industries." He handed me the key. "It's all yours."
I couldn't speak. It was nicer than any car I'd ever owned… besides my beloved Miata. "How much did this cost?"
"Don't worry about the money."
"Why would you do this for me?" I was starting to sound like a broken record.
Instead of answering, he diverted my attention to the back wall where stacked boxes were lined up. "These boxes are filled with junk from the local thrift store. Except for this one." He knelt and pulled out a box from the lower left side. It was situated so the boxes above didn't come crashing down. It was kinda like playing Jenga but with boxes. At my confused expression, he added, "If someone were to break in, they would open a couple boxes, find them full of junk, and assume the rest were the same."
"Okay. I see what you mean. The thieves would give up and move on to another unit."
"Exactly." He opened the box, and inside was a large black duffle bag. "This is your go-bag. It's got everything in it that you could possibly need to escape in a hurry."
I unzipped it and moved things around to take a closer look. I counted ten burner phones, a laptop, a large stack of Visa debit cards secured with a rubber band, and four envelopes. I picked up the debit cards and flipped through them. They were all in $200 designations. "This is thousands of dollars worth of Visa cards."
"$25,000. They were all bought with cash from different locations scattered across the country and activated with burner emails. They're completely untraceable. Just like cash." He smiled. "Speaking of which." He picked up the four envelopes and handed them to me. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what else he'd done, but I opened them anyway. They were full of cash. "Each envelope has $10,000 in varying denominations."
"That's $40,000. Why are you giving me all this?"
"I know you didn't want recognition for solving the Porter case, but I was paid handsomely, so I thought I'd help you by putting this together."
"You don't owe me anything. I did that to help a friend and to find Charlie. I didn't expect anything in return."
"I know you didn't, but you're getting it anyway. The rent on this unit is paid up for the year. You should add clothes and nonperishable food to the bag. Enough for a few days, at least. I have setups like this in a few locations around the country. It's handy if you need to leave in a hurry and can't return to your home base."
I rummaged through the rest of the bag, noting a first aid kit, Swiss army knife, flashlight, batteries, lighter, and matches. I tucked everything away and stood, shaking my head like I was disappointed. "You've done a pretty thorough job, but I guess I expected more from a bona fide, real-life spy."
He raised an eyebrow, and one side of his mouth twitched as if he knew I was yanking his chain. "Oh yeah?"
"Two words. Duct. Tape. You forgot the roll of duct tape."
"You're questioning my skills because of duct tape?"
I patted him on the back. "You're doing your best, but you're not MacGyver."
He groaned, but I could see he was fighting a smile. Either that, or he wanted to throttle me. "Check the side pocket, smart ass." Sure enough, there were not one but two rolls of duct tape. I laughed, and so did he. He knelt beside me, tucking another envelope in the bag. "These are your LLC papers and a credit card in your company's name."
"Should I put my alternate identity documents in here, too?"
"Either here or in a safe deposit box." I went to the car and grabbed the documents and the $20,000 that Finn had returned.
"I don't know what to say. This is just all so much. Does Finn know?"
"Whose idea do you think this was? Knowing you're taken care of is important to him." He moved to the other side of the Durango next to a large fabric-covered object and motioned for me to follow. "There's one more thing you haven't seen."
"What's under there?" I put my hand on the cover and looked at Oz for permission before pulling it off.
"Go ahead. It's yours."
I whipped the cover off and revealed the coolest motorcycle of all time. My mouth hung open. "This is a Ducati. How? Why?"
"It's from Finn."
I shook my head, tears rolling down my face. "I can't accept this. It's too much."
"It's already done. The title and registration have been recorded under a second LLC I created for you. All the information is in the paperwork I gave you."
A lump formed in my throat. I sat down on the Durango's bumper and cried. "Leaving was harder than I thought it would be."
"I know." He placed his hand on my shoulder as he sat beside me.
"I wanted to ask Finn if I could stay, but—"
"I wish it could be different, but Finn will never make peace with what happened to Deborah and Katie, and he'll never allow himself to move on from them. The way he was with you was an anomaly. I think he gave himself permission to be with you because there was an end date. You need to move on with your life. Mourning him will serve no one."
Oz wasn't saying that to hurt me or to minimize what Finn and I had shared. He wanted me to understand that Finn wasn't an option. I could live with that, but what I couldn't live with was worrying that Finn was hurting and alone. "Will he be alright?"
"He will in time." He squeezed my shoulder.
"Promise me you'll check on him and that you won't let him go back to being grumpy."
"I promise to pester that man every chance I get. How does that sound?"
I nodded, and we talked a bit longer. He told me there were no cameras at the storage facility to track my comings and goings. Still, I should keep my head down to be safe and never drive my regular car to the storage unit. He recommended parking at the Quakerbridge Mall and taking a cab for the ten-minute drive east. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of having a place that no one knew about. It gave me options, something I'd never had a lot of. After he quizzed me for the hundredth time to see if I remembered his contact number, I locked up the unit. One minute he was there, and the next, he was gone. I never even saw his vehicle.
Shaking my head at how he seemed to vaporize, I drove to Daphne's Dinner near the mall to wait for Mary Lou and Jeanne. They were meeting me so Jeanne could drive the car she loaned me back to her place while Mary Lou dropped me off at home. Hopefully, Ranger or Rangeman would never connect Jeanne to my leaving town. I didn't want my friend to get on Ranger's bad side.
I was first to the dinner, so I found a booth and ordered a coffee while I waited. I had my ball cap pulled low and faced the door, hiding my bruised face. Ten minutes later, they walked in. Mare pulled me out of the booth, hugging me as if it'd been years since she'd seen me, and Jeanne gave me a quick but awkward hug. You could tell she wasn't used to expressing her affection.
Mary Lou gasped as soon as we were seated, me on one side of the booth and them on the other. "Oh my gosh, Steph! What happened to your face?"
"It's nothing." I waved off her concern.
"Did Finn do that to you?" Jeanne asked, clearly alarmed on my behalf.
"Yes, but—"
"I asked him to train you, not try and kill you."
"You know how it goes." I shrugged. "Bruises are the price you pay for training hard." Jeanne gave a satisfied nod and settled back in the booth.
The waitress came to the table, topped off my coffee, and filled their mugs. Mare shifted in her seat, looking like she was sitting on a stick of dynamite. She had something juicy to tell me. They declined to order food, and as soon as the waitress walked off, Mare blurted, "Joe's dating Terry Gilman." She blew out a breath, relieved to have that over, while Jeanne glanced between Mare and me as if she didn't know how to handle this level of girl talk.
"Morelli can date anyone he wants. He's no longer my concern."
They knew Joe cheated on me with Terry, and I hoped they didn't pity me. I held Mare's gaze, and she nodded. I guess she bought my indifference. In truth, I was acting a little. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want him back or forgive him, but it dinged my pride to know he got off scot-free—again. It disgusted me that he never suffered any fallout for his actions.
"I just wanted you to know so you weren't blindsided," Mare said. "I know you've loved him since you were six."
"Whatever I felt for him is dead. It's so dead that it can't be resurrected."
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Mare leaned forward with her elbows on the table. "Tell us everything you did while you were away. What did you think of your teacher? Was he awful? Was he like a drill sergeant? Was he cute? Can you kill a man with your pinkie?"
Jeanne laughed full-on, which was a sight to behold since she rarely did it. "Slow down. Let the woman answer." Just thinking of Finn had tears threatening—again—and Jeanne noticed. "Are you okay, Stephanie?"
I blinked several times to keep the waterworks from turning on full force. Mare reached out, putting her hand over mine on the table. "I shouldn't have blurted that out about Joe. I'm sorry."
"It's not that," I told her. "I really am over Joe Morelli."
"Do you want to talk about whatever's bothering you?" Jeanne asked.
I shook my head and grabbed a napkin, dotting my eyes.
"Well, you look amazing… umm… except your face and all," Mare said, changing the subject. "She's so toned, right." She nudged Jeanne. "Do you see those guns? The WWE's gonna be calling."
"Yes, Mary Lou," Jeanne said. "I do see Stephanie's amazing biceps."
I couldn't help but smile as I flexed my new muscles for them. Mare fanned herself, swooning. I rolled my eyes. "To answer your questions, no, I can't kill someone with just my pinkie, but I learned 101 other ways to kill someone. Oh, and I learned how to water ski."
"Cool." Mare seemed impressed. "Will you teach me?"
"How to water ski?"
"No, how to kill someone. Duh."
Mare was more than a little bloodthirsty, so I redirected her. "I also learned how to hot wire a car." Mare's mouth dropped open, and there was this twinkle in her eyes. She was getting ideas.
"You have a nice tan from spending time on the lake," Jeanne said, pulling Mare's attention away from grand theft auto. "How was our friend? I haven't seen him in a while."
A flash of pain sparked, and I looked down to get control. "He's fine." When I looked up, I saw that my reaction had piqued Jeanne's interest. She knew there was a story there, but she wasn't the prying type.
"Ranger and his men have been monitoring your apartment," Jeanne said. "They've questioned everyone associated with you, including your parents. Hector and Lester have taken a lot of heat for your disappearance. So far, Ranger has no idea of my involvement, and we should keep it that way. He can make trouble for me that I'd rather not deal with."
"Are you serious?" Mary Lou asked. "He grilled her parents?"
"No stone was left unturned," Jeanne said.
"Jeez, what's with that guy? She's allowed to leave for a few weeks without his permission." Mary Lou had an excellent point but didn't know Ranger. He'd made it a requirement to always know where I was. I'd allowed it to happen, so I bore some responsibility.
After yawning for the third or fourth time, Jeanne said, "Let's head out. I think Stephanie could use some rest after the long drive." I gave her a smile of gratitude, and we headed to the parking lot. "The ladies and I have been meeting at Kick It while you were gone. Want to join us tomorrow afternoon?"
"Definitely. I'll be there." I smiled, realizing how far Jeanne had come in her quest to make friends.
"Stephanie can show us everything she learned." We chuckled when Mare made this karate kid move and almost fell on her ass.
After getting my bag from the car I borrowed from Jeanne, she went on her way while Mare and I got in her minivan. "Is it okay if I pick up Rex tomorrow?" I asked. "I'm exhausted."
"No problem. We've enjoyed having him."
Mary Lou discussed what happened in our little community while I was gone. I tried to listen but only caught a few words here and there. My mind kept drifting to Finn and what he was doing. She pulled into my lot, and I noticed my Jeep was where I had left it. Small mercies. "It feels a little weird being back."
"Want me to come up with you? I can stay a little while. Lenny's putting the kids to bed tonight."
"Nah, I'm fine," I said after thinking about it really hard. "I'll call you tomorrow." I got out before I changed my mind. Taking a whiff, I looked over at the dumpster. Yup, I'm home.
I lugged my bag upstairs, got my gun out, and cleared the apartment like Finn had taught me. Since I was in for the night, I set the alarm before calling Hector to tell him I was home safely and would see him tomorrow. I'd done laundry before I left the cabin, so I put everything away. I looked at my bed with longing, but first, I had to wash the road off me. Feeling edgy, I brought my gun into the bathroom with me.
AN: What do you think of Finn and Oz's gift to Stephanie? She will be very grateful as the story progresses because everything in that storage unit will be useful. It won't be easy, but Stephanie is ready to rebuild her life now that she's free of the cellar and mostly free of Durant's hold on her. Will she stay a bounty hunter? Ranger's reaction to having her back is in the next chapter. How do you think that will go? Leave a review and let me know your thoughts.