Chapter 26

I wasn't that eager to start the day considering what had happened the previous evening. I felt awfully embarrassed at the idea of seeing Oscar. Fortunately I was first in the office working on my laptop when the others came in one by one. I was conscious of trying to ignore their arrival remembering the scene from Oscar's. I'd thought long and hard about what he had said but it made no difference to how I felt. I liked Oscar, a lot, but only as a friend.

Of course, there was business to discuss, and we had a lot to tell Jonas so trying not to look at Oscar I made my way over to the where the meeting was happening. As far as I could see knowing that Canning was responsible for the threats to our client was one thing, but proving it was another.

"Maybe we should talk to him first. Hear his side of the story"

That had everyone just staring at me until Jonas started to laugh. Come on, that was how I'd always approached my skips. Talk to them and see if we could find a mutual remedy for the situation. I'd allowed for skips to arrange child care arrangements, fed them and even agreed to return them home. On a few occasions I'd got in touch with Albert, Val's husband, for him to be there to represent them. What was so wrong with doing that?

"Annie. Whilst that would never be a way for me to deal with something I think you may have a point. The best outcome would be for Cummings to be arrested but to be honest he hasn't really broken the law. Maybe for sending a threatening email but we can't prove that it was him"

Huh. Who would believe that someone would take my suggestion seriously? We didn't waste any time after that. I felt relieved that Oscar was sent to get eyes on Canning while Jerome set me up with a comms unit. I was wearing the usual flak jacket with a hoodie over the top covering it, though I was sure that Canning wouldn't shoot me, would he. As Oscar kept us informed of Canning's whereabouts we headed for the neighborhood where he lived now. It was certainly a big come down to where he had lived.

It reminded me a bit of Stark Street with the small businesses scattered between the buildings that looked like apartment blocks. Some windows were boarded over, and graffiti adorned the walls with rubbish over flowing from the dumpsters in the alley ways. As I walked down the street with Jerome it seemed quiet, maybe too early for the women to be out touting their services and others would probably be sleeping off a drug or alcohol induced state. The internet café was a dingy diner with dirty windows and plastic chairs. Huh, seemed that a couple of computers sat against the back wall was what gave it the right to the name.

Canning was apparently in the launderette and as we approached, I was aware as a woman and child came out carrying bags of what I assumed to be clean clothes. Jerome remained outside while I walked in. Machines lined the walls though there seemed be a lot that had an out of order sign taped to the doors. Canning was sat on the center bench, his head in his hands as the machine in front of him tossed and turned its items. The place held the stench of damp and mold evidenced from the black encrusted on the walls close to the ceiling. Okay, this had been my idea.

As I sat down next to Canning, he never even looked up to see who was there. He was dressed in a rumpled shirt and trousers, no doubt a last vestige from when he worked. His hair was in need of a cut and fell lank to his collar, but his clothes weren't the only thing that needed washing.

"Mr Canning"

Deciding to get his attention first. His head turned slightly to acknowledge that he'd heard me, but he didn't look up to see who I was.

"What do you want?"

There were a lot of things that I wanted from him, but I got the impression that this man was defeated from how he spoke to me. Resigned almost to his fate.

"I want you to stop threatening people. To stop scaring women and children. Is that too much to ask? They are innocent so don't deserve to be inflicted with you saying that you'll hurt them"

Hey, what was the point in trying to sugar coat what he was doing. Neither was I going to give him an opportunity to deny it. I waited, enduring the silence that had fallen between us, the only disturbance was the clanking and whirring from the machine in front of us.

"They destroyed my life. In one fowl sweep everything that I had was taken away from me"

Maybe I could sympathize with him if he hadn't resorted to blackmail. I knew. Hadn't I taken the blow from the divorce from Dickie that left me in debt and then to add to it I'd lost my job at E E Martin.

"Mr Canning. Life isn't always fair with what it deals us. I know only too well. Why did they sack you?"

Wanting to know just how innocent he was. Working as a financial advisor came with risks, knowing where to invest money, what stocks to buy and when to sell. Was he someone who couldn't take responsibility if it had backfired on him?

"They said that it was for the mismanagement of funds. Hell, I followed their directives, did as they suggested but the bottom line was that my name was attached to the dealings. I should have ignored them and followed my gut, then maybe none of this would have happened"

In other words Canning had been their scapegoat when the shit had hit the fan. Knowing all this didn't solve the problem that we were supposed to be resolving.

"Mr Canning, what you're doing could land you in jail. Where's the intelligent savvy man gone that you once were. Move on. Stop acting out some pathetic act of revenge because it won't ever help you, it won't ever calm that anger inside of you. Get a job, become self sufficient and build from there"

I heard the response.

"Yeah right. Have you ever tried to find a job when you have no references and nothing to back you up?"

That annoyed me because that was exactly what I had done. Okay, I'd refused point blank to follow my mother's suggestion and work at the tampon factory so I'd taken whatever work I could.

"Yes I have. I was made redundant after the feds closed down my place of work. I had no references or experience to do anything else. So I searched and searched for another job taking one on that was so different to what I expected. I've moved on and I'm proud of what I do and who I am. So don't tell me how hard it is. Grow some balls and have some self respect"

That had him looking at me like I was an alien. Okay, so maybe I'd shouted at him, but he deserved it. I think that I'd made my point so was ready for the punch line before I left him to figure things out.

"If you continue to threaten Gifford or McCormick, or anyone else for that matter, we will know. That will bring the police knocking on your door and you will spend time in prison. Don't think that we won't know because we'll be watching. Do the right thing Mr Canning"

I stood up and walked out of that launderette with Canning staring after me. As I walked down the sidewalk Jerome fell into step next to me.

"That was impressive. Do you think that he'll take any notice of what you just said?"

I hoped so but I was sure there were ways to convince him of how serious I was if he chose to ignore my message.

"We'll send him a letter stating what evidence we have, with a transcript of that conversation, along with the penalties for the crimes that he's committed. We could also add in some jobs that he could look at or where to go to get some support"

Gees, I hoped that Mr Canning saw the light and turned his life around, but only time would tell. Oh, and our client who was sure to tell us if the threats continued. I was sure that I wouldn't like to be the one to talk to him. Jonas could have that privilege.

I felt that I'd accomplished something when I walked back into the office. That feeling that maybe Canning would take heed of what I'd said. If he didn't then no doubt Jonas would be talking to the police and if he chose to talk to Detective Bushby then there would be the other incident to throw at Canning as well. So, what would we be doing now?

"I'll put the report together so that we can call this job completed"

Came from Oscar as we walked toward the table where a coffee machine had appeared. I made three mugs of coffee and after asking what each person wanted adding then delivered them to Jerome and Oscar. The wink that Oscar gave me as I placed the mug in front of him had me feeling that he wasn't annoyed or upset with me. I mouthed a thank you to him because I felt that everything was okay between us now.

Back at my laptop I deliberated how to find out information on Agent Calvert. I was making assumptions here but that feeling that was in my gut was what was pushing me to find out about him. In my head I went through what I could remember of the timeline from Isaac returning to find Elijah and those women being murdered. Seven years ago. Then five, two, one year ago three more women had died only they were buried at the settlement. If a man named James was involved then he would have to have been there seven years ago for Elijah to know him, unless of course there were more undiscovered bodies at the homestead. That had a shiver run through me. No, I was sure that Isaac had discovered a better use for the women. One that would bring in money and one that had eventually brought him into contact with Alina and her brother.

Would putting the name Calvert raise a flag to that agent? Maybe, did I care? No. If he had nothing to hide then there was no harm done. If he was involved, then maybe I could lure him out of hiding. I input the name, gender and location for Boston into the search and waited. Whoa, there were quite a few but only three that were named James. After finishing my coffee and thinking hard about what I was going to do I hit on the first name. Interesting because this was a man who was in his late sixties who had retired as a detective from the Boston Police Department. What was of more interest was that he had a son who was named after him. It would make sense for a son to follow in his father's footsteps and go into an area of law enforcement.

The other two James's drew a blank. One had died several years ago and the other was only four months old. Which meant that any information on James junior had been removed from any systems. Probably normal for FBI agents. I went back to James senior seeing that he'd lived at the same address for the last forty years so made the assumption that his son attended a local school. It was in a good area of Boston so hoped that he hadn't been sent to a private school. In fact, when I looked at where the area was it was on the east side of Boston and had an outstanding High School. I wasn't sure how that helped me in deciding if James Calvert was involved with Isaac. I needed to find a connection between the two men.

Ironically it was the baby that drew me to look at his details. Would James insist on following family tradition by naming an infant after himself? His parents were named as James and Patricia and had only been married for eleven months. A marriage for the sake of the child came to mind because Patricia had obviously been pregnant when they were married. That in itself had alarm bells ringing for me. Was it a coincidence that Charlie's sister was called Tricia and had been pregnant when she'd disappeared?

Wherever I looked I couldn't find a photo of Patricia Calvert and a search on her just didn't make sense. It had obviously been constructed because none of the actual facts bared any resemblance to the truth. Parents that didn't seem to exist, addresses that were empty lots and jobs with companies that weren't there. I was positive that I'd found Charlie's sister, but I had no idea where Charlie was or how to get in touch with her. Besides that, I didn't want to get Charlie's hopes up when I could be so wrong. So where did I go from here?

An age ago I would have asked for help from Ranger, but I knew that he was away doing what he could to track Nikita. Would he come see me when he got back, would he return to Trenton? Was there a chance that we'd still be friends and keep in touch? Though in my heart I knew that I wanted more than that. Could I cope with just being friends? No. It would break me completely, like having a doughnut sat in front of you that you couldn't eat. A forbidden food that you only got to taste rarely. Sighing, I thought about who else I could ask for help or whether I did what I had always done in the past, go in alone. I had an address that I could drive past or even come up with an excuse to knock on the door.

Would Patricia welcome my interference? She could well be in love with the man and refuse to even talk to me. I could also be totally wrong in tying her to James or that he was involved at all. A dilemma that I always struggled with and so many things to think through.

It was Jerome standing behind me that had me jumping. Geez, would these men make some noise.

"Why are you researching a baby? Is he one of the ones that was sold?"

If only, it might have made my life easier. How the hell did I explain what I was doing to Jerome. Would he understand what I was doing? Probably not.

"I'm sure that there was another man involved with Isaac and Elijah, so I was trying to work out who he was"

Yep, the frown immediately dropped onto his face. Jerome would hopefully know who I meant by Isaac and Elijah, he read or listened to the news didn't he, but as for a tenuous link to a third man, well he'd probably think that I was mad.

"Okay, so why look at a baby?"

Geez, I wasn't doing that because the baby was a suspect. I was after finding out who the mother was. Sheesh, had I heard myself saying that before?

"I know this is a bit of a long stretch but one of the woman who was taken told me about looking for her sister. The sister was called Tricia and was pregnant when she went missing. I also think that Tricia was the woman who Detective Bushby might have known about"

Yeah, that made sense especially with an agent named Jimmy telling her to forget about it.

"Anyway, I think that the mother Patricia is the woman that went missing"

Had I explained myself well enough, I wasn't too sure of that, and I hadn't dared mention the fact that she could well be married to an FBI agent.

"Talk to the detective then"

Was the glib response that I got before Jerome walked away. Could I do that? Should I do that, or would she think that I was mad especially when I told her that I suspected the husband was Jimmy, her FBI friend. The detective would have no idea why I suspected that he was involved with the brothers and to be honest I had no evidence to back up anything that I would say. Maybe there was only one other person who might support my theories, but could I contact him, and would he help me?

It took a couple of glasses of wine that evening to pluck up enough courage to call Les at Rangeman. As the phone rang, I was almost hoping that he wouldn't answer it.

"Beautiful, you okay?"

I was a little annoyed that he assumed that I wasn't. Maybe I just wanted to call him to see how he was? Shit, who was I kidding.

"I'm good Les. I wanted a friend to talk to, to give me some advice"

"Okay. Go ahead"

I was sure that Les was probably dreading what I was going to say. It seemed that in the past most of my calls to Rangeman had been when I was in trouble, so why would now be any different?

"I think that I've found one of the missing women, but she appears to be married to an FBI agent called James"

"Play that past me again, but add some details would you"

Okay, Les never had been one to understand my one liners so I thought through what to say and decided to hell with it, he could hear it all.

"Elijah, the man who was originally convicted for murder mentioned two other names when he was spoken to by the shrink. The shrink diagnosed him as having multi personalities but one of the names he used was Isaac, and we know that he was a real person. You following me?"

I stopped there to be sure that Les understood where I was coming from so getting a grunt from him ploughed on.

"Well, Elijah also mentioned the name James"

"The one that you pegged as an FBI agent?"

At least Les had been listening to me.

"Yes. He was the one who seemed to be working the case against Elijah but there were so many times when I was confused with what the feds told us. The woman, his wife, is called Patricia and has a four month old baby. Les, maybe it's all a coincidence but Charlie who was with me in that truck, she'd been looking for her sister, Tricia, who was pregnant when she disappeared"

The silence struck me as I waited. I was sure that Les thought that I was delusional to be even considering that an FBI agent would be part of the scheme for trafficking women and babies.

"Come over to Rangeman in the morning, bring what you have with you"

The line went dead without even a goodbye, why did none of the Rangeman have any phone manners? Then it struck me what Ranger had said to me. He only ever said goodbye to someone who he wouldn't be seeing again. Was it some sort of soldier thing? I jumped when my phone dinged and was looking at a new message. "In Boston"

I almost laughed at that. I hadn't considered that I was going anywhere else. Come on Les, no way would I have hotfooted it down to Trenton. Did that mean that Les was here in Boston or was he going to travel up here just to talk to me? I really hoped that he was at the Boston office for business. Would he know anything on Ranger, maybe I might get an opportunity to ask.

I slept well that night though I think the wine had a lot to do with it. Dressed in black but casual, I attended the morning meeting to discover that Jonas was pleased with our work for Mr Gifford. Mr Gifford was happy that hopefully the threats would stop. He'd be speaking to any of the other directors in the company to be sure they were aware of the possibility of threats and if they came to light then the police would be involved. I had my fingers crossed on that one hopeful that Canning had come to his senses. As there were no new cases I let Jonas know that I was visiting Rangeman before going back to my apartment. What surprised me was finding my motorbike parked next to my car. Wow, when had that arrived and how? The last time that I drove it was after I discovered where Alina lived and had gone to meet up with Lula.

Retrieving the helmet and leathers from the paniers I was about to start the bike when I heard an incoming message come to my phone.

"Don't be followed"

I smiled seeing that it had been Les who had messaged me. Always in protection mode but I suppose that he had a point. The bike would certainly help with that. I loved the feel of driving a bike. Weaving in and out of traffic allowed me to watch in my mirrors for possible tails. I was damned sure that I was tail free as I drove up to the gates that secured the underground garage at Rangeman. Once down the ramp I drove to the end and pulled up before dropping the stand and getting off. As I lowered my head and removed the helmet, I heard the door to the elevator open and saw Les stood there grinning at me.

"The guys on monitors want you take off the helmet again and then throw your head back"

I looked up to camera and gave them the finger before walking over to Les.

"Not happening. Tell them to find a scene on YouTube"

I could remember seeing a scene like that in a film but for the life of me couldn't remember which film. Les just wriggled his eyebrows at me making me think that it was an X rated film that he had in mind.

"I didn't realize that you were already here in Boston"

"I wasn't. I flew on the red eye flight"

That had me looking at Les because I sure as hell hadn't expected him to just drop everything and come here just for me.

"I got a message from Ranger recently that told me to make sure that you were safe and that I already owed him mat time when he got back for letting you get shot"

Had that happened at the same time when Ranger had visited my apartment? Why would he say that to Les.

"Les it wasn't your fault. I knew what could have happened, but it was worth it. Have you heard from him again?"

Wanting to ask while Ranger was still the subject of our conversation.

"No. I suspect he still has ends to tie up from his mission"

So Les didn't know any more than I did. That had me worrying that Ranger would be walking into a trap. Could Calvert still be in touch with Nikita, would they know that Ranger was going after Nikita?

"Okay. So I have a surprise for you waiting in the conference room"

My mind was running wild with ideas for what that could be. Maybe some of the other Rangeman were here but then I ran out of ideas. Was it a good or a bad surprise? Walking almost in a trance I went through the door to the conference room that was being held open for me and came to a stop. Stood next to the window was a petite woman with straight auburn hair. Even as she turned, I was rushing over to her shouting out her name before my arms were around her, hugging her, just to be sure that she really was here.

"Charlie, how are you, how are you even here. What happened to you?"

I had so many questions for her that they all just seemed to blurt out at once. Her smile calmed me because she looked healthy and happy. She led me to a seat in front of a tray that held a coffee pot, mugs, cream and sugar but I wasn't interested in drinking anything.

"Oh Annie. We were devastated when you didn't follow us out. We were bundled into some big black cars and whizzed out of there. Even on the plane we just expected you to turn up so being told that you couldn't be found, well we thought the worst. We should have looked for you"

"No. You had to get to safety. I was fine, I got myself out in the end"

Even though I thought that I'd died and gone to hell.

"We were taken to this big house by the beach and told that we had to stay there for our safety. No calls were allowed to let loved ones know, but we understood why. Once the world knew what had happened and that the bad guys were gone, we were each taken back home. That was hard, especially for the women who'd left under bad circumstances"

My mind went to Rachel and how she would have been received back by her family and community.

"No, we keep in touch, even Rachel is allowed to talk to us over Whatsapp. Everyone was welcomed with open arms, hearts and love and have support in place to overcome their fears"

And nightmares probably. What had happened to those women would be with them for the rest of their lives.

"So why are you here at Rangeman?"

Now confused with her being here or had Les arranged for us to meet so that we each knew the other was okay. I watched as she glanced over to where Les was quietly sitting. What was that look for?

"I, err, worked out where the men who were guarding us at the beach came from. Not hard to do when the name was on the cameras. Soo, I used this lame story and ended up meeting Les here down in Trenton. I was with him last night when you called"

Oh shit. I hadn't wanted Charlie to know what I was thinking.

"Charlie, it may not be her. I may have got it all wrong"

I took a deep breath because this was both a good surprise but also a bad one. Could I be mad with Charlie for wanting to be here? Wait a minute, go back. What did she mean that she'd been with Les? I looked over to Les and then back to Charlie, nah, that idea was stupid. Les didn't see one women for that long, he was a player.

"We both just, I suppose felt it. As though a spark of electricity existed between us"

My mouth was open as I looked at Charlie and tears came to my eyes. That was how I felt about Ranger. Maybe we weren't destined to be together but I sure as hell would do anything that I could to make sure that Les didn't take the same stand on relationships as Ranger had.

"I'm so happy for you Charlie"

And I was. I looked over to Les to see him watching Charlie. Okay, from how he was looking at her maybe I wouldn't have to threaten him. Feeling that it was probably safe now Les came over and sat next to Charlie. They looked good together and even just sat there were touching each other, knee to knee and shoulder to shoulder.

"I sent out a team to do some surveillance on that house. So far, they haven't seen anyone go in or come out"

Now that was a surprise.

"How did you know which address to send them to?"

A raised eyebrow was my answer. Okay, so I suppose that he could have done a search on a baby named James Calvert. Bringing my paperwork from the bag that I'd brought with me I went through everything that I had worked with when looking for Lisa. If Jonas was annoyed with me for doing that I didn't care. Not if it meant finding Charlie's sister and uncovering an FBI agent that was involved. It seemed like hours later when a knock on the door came and a woman wheeled in a cart that held sandwiches and drinks. Was she Boston's Ella? Huh. I suppose that they would need someone to look after the place as Ella did. While eating it gave me a chance to try and come up with a way to approach that house. It was a large place set in its own grounds well away from prying neighbors.

"How does an FBI agent explain away owning a house like that?"

I asked. Surely questions would be asked by work colleagues if they knew where he lived. That was if they knew.

"I checked on who owned it and it's in the name of the wife. Maybe he's told people that she inherited it or came into a lot of money"

I should have known that Les would have done a thorough research so his answer didn't surprise me.

"What do we do now? I need to find out if it really is Tricia in there and what her story is"

I could understand Charlie's impatience and I was sure that she'd considered every scenario, including Tricia being there because she wanted to be there. I looked at Les because having involved him I knew that this would have to be a team attack. No going in on my own like I used to do.