With Woody and Vince's help, Manny had Stella and Rosalyn moved into his apartment by the end of the day. In turn, he moved up to Six to stay in Bobby's spare bedroom. After hearing her entire story, we were all livid and out for justice. It turned out that Stella's ex was also Rosalyn's father. When he'd first found out Stella was pregnant, he'd demanded she get an abortion.

At that point, she decided to leave him. She also decided to keep the baby. Recently, he'd discovered what Stella had done. Even though she'd insisted she wanted nothing from him, he'd tried to end both of their lives as a way to get out of having to pay child support.

Lucky for us, her ex was also a wannabe who tended to hang around with one of the local gangs. Hector put the word out on the street, letting his connections know what the scum had done. With any luck, the gang leaders won't appreciate a wannabe trying to kill a defenseless infant.

I think our biggest shock was when Stella and Rosalyn were finally able to visit Stephanie in the infirmary. With Ranger by her side, she sat in the sickbay bed and cried as Stella placed Rosalyn in her arms. Shock rippled through the room when she turned her teary gaze on Ranger and said with more conviction than I'd ever heard from her. "I want a baby."

That was three days ago, and we were all still reeling from her declaration. It wasn't that we didn't think Beautiful would make a good mother. In fact, it was just the opposite. We all knew with her personality and tenacious spirit; she'd make an excellent mother. What rocked all of us was that Ranger…Mr. I'm never getting married again or having any more children…had agreed.

Bobby insisted that she would need to wait a little while and give her body a chance to heal before they could start trying. He said that way she'd have a better chance of a normal pregnancy despite all the problems she'd had this past year.

Of course, as my luck has been running, we'd barely had Stella and Rosalyn settled and Ranger and Tank briefed on what they'd missed when Detective Shaw called. He'd secured the warrants and was ready to assemble a strike team.

Now, the team was assembled around the conference room table. We were working out the details of the raid the State Police planned to make on the house owned by Harry the Hammer. Only now we also had the Pennsylvania State Police and Morrisville Boro PD involved. Even our largest conference room was almost not big enough to hold everyone.

"The home is surrounded by woods," Detective Shaw said as he pointed to the surveillance pictures pinned to the board to his right. "They're thinner toward the road and thicker near the back of the property."

The conference room door opened, and Ram slid inside as we all turned to look. "Sorry I'm late," he said as he took up a position next to Hal against the wall. I caught his attention and arched a brow. He answered with a silent shake of his head. Damn. He'd been running himself ragged for the last week chasing down tips and leads on Madalyn Mason. So far, none of them had panned out.

"Are we going to send a team in through the woods?" Cal asked Shaw and, in the process, brought our attention back to the conversation at hand.

Shaw nodded. "Yes, but there is a swampy area sitting between the back side of the woods and the Delaware Canal."

Cal wrinkled his nose. "Traversing that terrain wouldn't be fun."

"Exactly," Shaw agreed. "Which is why we'll have the team enter from River Road and work their way around to the back." He pointed to the map that was displayed on the big screen television to his left. "There are some houses to the North of this property. So, we'll need a couple of protection teams stationed between the target house and private homes." He motioned to a different spot on the map. "The Morrisville water treatment plant is to the South. We'll also have a team stationed there just in case."

"What does the warrant cover?" Tank asked.

"The entire property," Detective Shaw replied. "It covers illegal gambling, weapons, drugs, and prostitution."

"And if we encounter resistance," I asked. The last thing I or the core team wanted was to put our men in harm's way and not have the ability to properly protect themselves.

"Anyone that is part of our strike teams has the right to neutralize a threat," Detective Shaw replied. "Eliminating that threat should be a last resort, but, if necessary, don't be afraid to take the shot."

While none of us were excited about the idea of having to unalive someone, it was good to know we had the authority to do so if necessary. "We'll meet at the Morrisville Boro water treatment plant tomorrow at six," he said. "It will be dark by then, which will aid in preserving our cover." He motioned to Morelli and then over to the members of Morrisville PD. "Unmarked vehicles only, gentlemen. We don't need anyone catching sight of police vehicles."

I hated having to be the bigger person here, but for both Stephanie's sake and the preservation of this investigation, it was best to extend the olive branch to Morelli. "Morelli, you're welcome to ride with Rangeman."

His brows winged up in surprise before he gave a slow nod. "Thank you, Santos. I'll have to clear it with the chief first, but I think that would work."

"That's all for now." Detective Shaw stood. "We'll see you all tomorrow at six."

As everyone filed out, Ram remained behind. I waited for the last of the agencies to leave, then turned to address him. "Still nothing?"

He shook his head. "We had six leads in the past week and each one led us to a dead end.

In a way, I was thankful some of them were bad leads since three of the six were bodies. However, I could tell that not finding Madalyn was starting to take a toll on Ram. "Maybe you should start handing off some of the leads to the others instead of running them all down yourself."

A look of genuine confusion crossed his face. "Why?"

"Okay," I said holding up my hand. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I feel like maybe you're becoming a bit too invested and it's wearing you down."

The confusion on his face slowly morphed into anger. "This is my investigation. I took the lead on it and it's my responsibility."

"And it's still your investigation," I said, trying to soothe him. "But you have a team for a reason, Ram. You need to stop carrying the burden alone and let them do their jobs."

He let out a heavy sigh as he pulled out a chair and dropped into it. "You're right, of course."

I joined him at the table. "So, what's the problem?"

"Finding Isabella got to me," he said as he stared down at the table's cherrywood top. "I mean, we're supposed to be the best of the best, right?"

"Right," I replied, wondering where he was going with this train of thought.

"Finding Isabella's body meant that I failed her. That someone out there is better than me. Then us," he said as he finally lifted his gaze to look me in the face. "I failed her. Which means I failed Casey. She's such a sweet person and she's been through so much already; I hate that I disappointed her."

"And?" I motioned for him to keep going.

"And I really want to find Madalyn. I don't want to fail her too."

So, was that what was bothering him these past few weeks? I mean he'd been moody for a couple of months, but it had grown worse since Casey arrived and we opened the investigation into the rehab facility.

"How long have you been doubting yourself?" I asked. I didn't expect him to answer.

His shrug told me more than his words would have.

"Maybe you need to make an appointment with Doctor Cochran," I offered.

"Or maybe I just need to accept the fact that I can't do this job anymore and need to find another line of work," he replied, stunning me.

"You absolutely can do this job," I argued as both panic and anger flashed through me. I might have given him shit about reassigning him to Brett, but that was just an empty threat. Ram is the only one outside of the core team I trust to completely have my back. "There's nobody in this building who is better with a weapon than you."

He leaned back in his chair and turned his face toward the ceiling.

"When was the last time you had a vacation?" I asked.

He lifted his hands, turning them palms up in a half-shrug. "Not sure."

"Well, if you can't remember, then it's been too long. Maybe you're suffering from burnout and need some time off."

"Maybe," he agreed. "But I want to find Maddie first and get Pfeiffer behind bars."

"Then I want you to take a month off and get out of this building," I said. "Go home to visit your family or take a trip somewhere. In the meantime, I also want you to make an appointment with Doctor Cochran."

He nodded. "Fair enough." Then he pushed up from his chair. "I'm going to get back to work. Maybe we'll get lucky tomorrow night, and we'll find Madalyn alive and Pfeiffer in one shot."

I doubted it would be that easy, but I agreed. "Maybe."

The next evening our team, minus Ranger, who was still taking care of Stephanie, suited up and assembled in the garage. Morelli walked in a few minutes later and looked from one of us to the other. "Damn. Must be nice to have the money to properly outfit your men."

I arched a brow and exchanged looks with Ram, who nodded in response. "We can outfit you too," Ram offered. "Since the TPD can't seem to find the money to properly protect its officers."

Morelli chuckled. "I'm not sure that they'd agree with your definition of proper protection, but I'll gladly accept that offer."

Ten minutes later, our caravan of fleet vehicles rolled out of the garage and headed for the Calhoun Street Bridge. It had been a while since we'd been on this type of operation and the excitement was palpable.

Just as Detective Shaw instructed, we assembled at the Morrisville Water Treatment Plant. Shaw sent Morrisville PD up to protect the other homes North of our target. We distributed our men out with the New Jersey State Police and the Pennsylvania State Police so that all of the wooded area surrounding the house was covered. The remaining teams, including me, Ram, and Morelli along with Hal, Cal, and eight of Shaw's men headed for the house.

I killed the headlights before we turned into the driveway and stopped. Detective Shaw followed by pulling beside us and in the process, making sure we blocked the only way out of the property. From what we could see, there were some lights on in the house. Keeping as quiet as possible, we exited the vehicles and assembled behind them where we waited to hear each of the teams in the woods report in. Once everyone was in place, we shifted into stealth mode while we surrounded the house. Since Shaw held the warrant, he and his team took the front door. Ram, Morelli, and I decided to cover the back entrance.

A couple of silent minutes passed before we heard the low pounding on the door, followed by Shaw's voice. "State Police. Open the door. We have a warrant." A moment later we could hear voices shouting and glass breaking. Then the back door opened. Within seconds we had the two men who exited face down on the ground and cuffed.

"That was almost too easy," I said as I looked down at where Morelli knelt on the second suspect's back.

"Right?" He replied.

Shaw appeared a moment later with another member of his team. "House is clear," he said as he looked down at the two suspects. He pulled his flashlight off his utility belt and clicked it on. "Roll them over."

Ram and Morelli rolled the men over so Shaw could get a good look at them. The first man wasn't anyone we recognized. The second was Elliott Pfeiffer's brother Broadrick. My heart sank. Neither man was Elliott or Jeremy Kowalski. Which meant they were still on the loose.

"Broadrick Pfeiffer, you're under arrest," Shaw said while Ram pulled Pfeiffer to his feet.

"For what?" Pfeiffer growled.

"Money laundering, running an illegal gambling ring, and kidnapping."

Pfeiffer smirked. "You can't prove any of that. My lawyer will have me sprung from jail before you finish the paperwork."

"Don't be so sure about that," Shaw said as he motioned to his men. "Take Pfeiffer and the other to the car. Make sure they're secured and don't take your eyes off them for a minute."

"Yes, sir," the two men said before they stepped forward to take the men from Morelli and Ram.

We stood in place, watching them walk away before I shifted my gaze back to Shaw. "Now what?"

"Feel like helping us search the house or the grounds?"

I looked to Ram and Morelli, who both nodded. "We'll take the grounds."

The three of us turned, spread out, and started sweeping the ground with our flashlights as we made our way toward the woods. We completed our first pass, cleared an outbuilding in the process, and were starting on our second sweep of the ground when something caught my eye. I angled the flashlight over the fresh dirt. "Hey," I called to Morelli and Ram. "I think I found something." They made their way over to me and added their lights to the scene.

It only took a moment to figure out that we were looking at some sort of burial site. The big question was whether it was hiding evidence or a body. Considering that Madalyn was still missing and Ram's current state of mind, I was hoping for the former.

I keyed the mic. "Santos, to Shaw."

"Go ahead."

"We are behind the house between the outbuilding on the right and the woods. We found something. We need more lights and shovels and probably evidence bags."

"10-4," Shaw replied.

It took about ten minutes to bring in the equipment van, haul everything out, and set up the portable spotlights. We stood back with Shaw and watched as his men began taking pictures of the site, then began the slow and methodical process of digging up the dirt and placing it in large evidence bags. Each bag would need to be.

We were about thirty minutes into the dig when one of his team hit something. "Sir," the man called to Shaw. "I think I found something."

Shaw stepped forward, pulled on some gloves, and knelt next to the spot the man was digging. Using his hands, he carefully brushed away the dirt until the color yellow slowly began to appear. Using a brush, he began moving down the area until the yellow gave way to an all too familiar color of grey.

"Fuck me," Ram murmured then turned away and looked toward the stars. If the body turned out to be Madalyn Mason, I was going to have to set up a round-the-clock watch for Ram. After the conversation I had with him earlier today, I knew there was no way he would take it well.

It took another twenty minutes before enough of the body was uncovered for us to determine that it was a man and not a woman. I could see Ram's shoulders relax the moment Shaw made the declaration. Unfortunately, the man was face down. So, it took a while longer before they were able to excavate the body and place it face-up on a tarp.

"It's Jeremy Kowalski," Detective Shaw said as he looked from the body to us. "Guess we have one less person to track down.

I motioned to the gaping neck wound. "That's the same kind of wound we found on Isabella Sanchez. What's the chance they were made by the same person?"

"Pretty good," Morelli murmured as he knelt next to the body to get a closer look. "Just like Isabella Sanchez, it's a clean cut through one jugular across the front and through the second jugular." He looked up at Shaw. "Quick exsanguination and making sure the victim can't scream at the same time."

Shaw nodded, then pointed to the body. "Look at the angle of the cut. The man who did this came up from behind. My guess would be the poor bastard never saw it coming."

"Yep. We'll need the coroner to confirm, but it looks to me like the person might also be left-handed."

"That also fits with the manner of death for Isabella Sanchez," Morelli said. He turned to look at me and Ram. "Elliott Pfeiffer is left-handed."

"Which means," Ram said, his voice both hard and slightly fearful. "He's still out there and he's not done hunting."