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Chapter 4

After my adventure at the warehouse, I stopped at the supermarket for a pre-cut slice of cake. Instead, I ended up with a whole cake that read 'Congratulations Mark' in fancy script.

I don't know what got between Mark and his cake. By the time I got to the store it was a day old and discounted, so his cake became mine. I'd also treated myself to a six pack of pineapple hard seltzers. They would do as a substitute for pineapple upside down cake. With my purchases complete, I spent the evening binging cake, seltzer, and trashy reality TV. The on-screen drama almost made me feel better about my own life.

When I finally stumbled out of my bedroom late the next morning, I found the cake half eaten on my coffee table. There were also three empty seltzer cans and one that looked like I'd cracked, but only taken a few sips. I knew my tolerance for cake was higher than beer, but it looked like the same held true for seltzers. Good to know.

I was moving slowly, but managed to get the cake put away, the open seltzer dumped and myself dressed for the day before lunch.

Since it was Saturday, I decided to see if I could catch Wright at home like I'd originally planned. I stopped at a McDonald's drive through on my way across town for hash browns and an iced coffee. I wasn't in need of the cure, but I also wasn't feeling one hundred percent either.

I finished the last sip of my coffee as I was making the left onto Wright's street. I parked my current POS a block up from his house and settled in to watch for a few minutes.

There was no movement and after ten minutes I was feeling antsy as the caffeine hit my bloodstream. I crept out of my car and then crossed the street a few houses up. I made my way to the alley that ran behind the house and used that to get a closer look. After yesterday's fiasco, I was feeling more cautious than usual. Normally, I would have walked up to the front door and knocked on a Saturday morning, but I wasn't eager to get shot at two days in a row.

Fifteen minutes later, I'd circled the block and gotten a look at the house from a couple different angles. There were a few lights on, but it was quiet. My gut was telling me he was in there. So I pulled up my big girl pants and approached the front door.

Shockingly, Benny Wright answered the door a few moments after my knock.

Being the wise bounty hunter I am, I slid my boot into the doorway as I saw recognition slide across his face. That way, when he tried to slam the door, it bounced back open and I was able to take off through the house after him.

The house was a cluttered disaster, but I'd chased other skips through houses in this neighborhood. They were mostly laid out the same. He was making his way through the house towards the kitchen, which I knew would open onto a small stoop that was a short yard away from the alley I'd scoped out earlier. I put on a burst of speed, trying not to let him get that far. I'd done a lot of running yesterday and had no intention of running more than I needed to today.

Fortunately for me, Benny tripped over some of the jugs he had cluttering the floor of the living room, letting me close the distance between us. When he tripped, he had spilled a couple and I slipped in the liquid causing another two more jugs to tip over and spill.

I gave a curse as some yellow juice got on my pant leg causing an itching burn to start but I stayed focused on my skip. That focus meant I noticed his attention shift from me to the mix of liquids on the floor. I also noticed the growing horror on his face. He was suddenly moving faster, seemingly motivated by a fear greater than that of me catching him and I decided I better high tail it after him.

We'd cleared the back door with Benny just out of my reach when I heard a pop similar to the one I heard before Deliah Smith's house had gone up. With another curse, I took my eyes off of Benny and made a flying dive through the hedge separating his yard from the neighbor's. I ducked behind a car parked in the next driveway just as I heard a blast and shattering glass.

Fuck. It had barely been four days since my last explosion. I wasn't going to hear the end of this for a while.

Dusting off debris from the hedge, I walked back to my car. I figured Benny was long gone, and settled myself in to wait for the cavalry to arrive.

It wasn't long before I heard the sirens and then saw the fire trucks pulling into the street. People had come flooding out of the surrounding houses to see what was causing the commotion disrupting their Saturday morning. The firemen had just gotten the hoses going when the black and white's pulled into the street.

The first cops on the scene were not ones I was personally familiar with. I allowed myself a few moments of relief that I may get out of this without too much ribbing, but the second wave included Eddie. I sighed in resignation, but I'd still take him over Carl and Big Dog attending a second explosion in under a week.

"You okay, Steph?" he asked, pulling me into a one-armed hug.

"Yeah, I got out as it was igniting and under cover before it went up. My skip got away though."

"Bummer, but I'm sure you'll get him eventually."

That's what I loved about Eddie. After Ranger, he was probably the most supportive person in my life when it came to my bounty hunting career. He still joked with me like the other cops, and I was sure he was part of the betting pool, but at the end of the day I knew I could count on him to be in my corner.

"Thanks," I said, with a tight smile. I wasn't looking forward to a third attempt at bringing in Benny Wright. "What are you doing working the weekend?"

"Shirley took the kids to her mom's and they were going to visit your Great-Aunt Margie."

I cringed, understanding why he decided to pick up a weekend shift instead. Eddie was married to my cousin Shirley, who we affectionately called 'Shirley the whiner'. Shirley's mom was always closer to our Great-Aunt Margie than our grandparents and I was convinced that was how Shirley became so whiny. Because Great-Aunt Margie was the model Burg wife. The woman put my mom and Angie Morelli to shame. And while Shirley dutifully visited like the good Burg girl she was - and proceeded to whine about it - I avoided those visits like the plague.

And so did Eddie.

"So, what happened?" he asked, turning our conversation back to the topic at hand.

"My skip tried to slam the door on me, but I chased him through the house. We were heading for the back when some jugs he had stored on the floor got knocked over."

That's when I remembered the stuff that had made my leg burn. As soon as I thought about it, the irritation came back full force. I guess the adrenaline boost was only going to get me so far.

I looked down and saw there were little holes eaten through my jeans. Which was a bummer because this pair fit well and was in relatively good shape. I gave my head a bit of a shake to snap out of the denial that was trying to focus in on my pants and peeked at the skin underneath. It was an angry red color and seeing it notched the pain up another level as I became more aware of the damage.

"Shit, Steph," Eddie said. He grabbed me by the elbow and started steering me towards the EMTs standing around the ambulance that had joined the party.

"Hey, Steph. What happened this time?" I heard and looked up to see the tall, lanky frame of Tommy Taylor. He was a decade younger than me and putting himself through med school while working as an EMT. We'd had enough run-ins that I was comfortable with him, and he knew my preference was to avoid the hospital if at all possible.

I ran through a quick description of what had happened and saw Tommy's brow furrow in concern or confusion. I wasn't sure which, but I didn't think either were a good sign.

"Steph this looks like hemotoxin. I've only ever seen pictures and I can't be sure with what I have to work with in the bus. I hate to say it, but you're probably going to need to go to the hospital and get checked out."

I shut my eyes for a moment, resigning myself to spending the rest of my Saturday in the ER. I knew Tommy wouldn't suggest it if I didn't need to go. The only person less likely to push me to go to the hospital would be Bobby and he usually made me go back to Rangeman.

I was turning to Eddie to check if the cops would need anything else from me before I went to get checked out when I heard footsteps stomping towards me.

"Please tell me that's not who I think it is," I said to Eddie.

"Sorry, Steph," he said moments before all hell broke loose.

"What the hell, Cupcake?!"

"Hi, Joe," I said, plastering a smile on my face. "Fancy seeing you here. Looks like the fire's pretty much out and as far as I know, no one died. So, no need for you to get involved. I'm sure the guys here have it under control. Tommy's just going to run me to the hospital quick."

"Cut the crap, Steph," Joe said through clenched teeth. Looks like I wasn't going to be successful at derailing the Italian temper headed my way.

"No crap. Everything's under control." My leg felt like it was on fire, but he didn't need to know that.

"I told you to hand this guy off to Ranger."

"And I told you I needed to do my job. Which means not giving every skip you don't like to Ranger."

"I meant it with this guy. He's bad news. So, imagine my surprise when I was trying to have a relaxing day off from my job only to get a call about my girlfriend blowing up another house."

"I haven't blown up any houses! And if that's how you feel, maybe we should take a break and you can go back to enjoying your day off without worrying about your ex-girlfriend."

I watched him storm off with a sense of relief. I was starting to feel discouraged about bringing Wright in and I was in pain. I just wanted to get to the hospital, get checked out, and get home to the end of my cake.