I drove home as I talked to Al, checking my surroundings for a tail, which was second nature for me. "Did you call Ranger?" I asked.
"No. He was in the area and heard the gunshot. I told him you were fine. Ranger was ready to break down the front door," Al replied.
"Was he following me?"
"Ranger was meeting Hector on Stark Street. He happened to drive past your mother's house while searching for a property for Rangeman," Al explained. I snorted in disbelief. It was more like Ranger knew how dinner would go at Helen's house and wanted to be close if anything terrible happened.
"I'm glad he didn't storm in. We needed that intel about Ziggy," I confessed, driving into the parking lot of my apartment. The lot appeared nearly packed, and the only spot left was beside the dumpster. Some older neighbours didn't know how to park between the lines and used two spots. "Jeez, this town is bad for my mental health."
"Why?" Al asked.
"Because I'm stuck having to park beside the dumpster again. The building has a lot of older adults who can't toss the trash into the bin properly. I had to pull garbage off my car this morning," I complained.
"We need to meet up in the morning to discuss our next steps," Al said, wisely not commenting on the garbage incident.
"Where's your office?" I asked.
"Beside the laundromat in Hamilton Township," he replied. "In the strip mall."
"I'll see you at 0900," I said before exiting my car.
"I'm remaining on the line until you're in the apartment," Al said as a warning more than offering backup security. He was somewhere in the vicinity if he could see me exiting the car, and I had no doubt that he was watching.
My neck tingled as I approached my apartment door. It swung open when I inserted the key into the lock. Ranger pulled me inside and closed the door, ensuring the locks were engaged before kissing me hard. I melted as his tongue plunged into my mouth. We were all hands, tongues and teeth as we hurried to strip each other. I moaned when he pinned me against the door while grabbing my thighs to wrap my legs around him. He swallowed my moans as we fucked against my apartment door.
"Thank you," I moaned.
In my ear, Al said, "Couldn't you wait until I disconnected?"
"When it became obvious what we were doing, you should have disconnected the comm unit," I replied, embarrassed that Al overheard Ranger and I having sex. "Get off the line and call Valerie." I removed my earbud, turning it off. The microphone was clipped to my bra, which was on the floor. I picked it up and turned off the microphone.
Understanding what happened, Ranger buried his face in my neck and laughed. I loved hearing his laughter. It wasn't often when he found something that funny. "You never disappoint, Babe," Ranger said once he got himself under control.
"That's so embarrassing," I mumbled. "I'll have to remember to turn off my mic sooner."
"Maybe you should have Al pay attention and stop listening when it moves toward invading your privacy," Ranger replied. I grinned evilly, thinking I could call Valerie and tell her about Al listening to Ranger and me having sex, but I quickly changed my mind. "Babe, what are you planning?"
"I thought about calling Valerie, but she's pregnant. I'm not about to mess with pregnancy hormones, especially Valerie's hormones. Her head will turn around, and she'd turn into the possessed girl on The Exorcist," I replied. Ranger chuckled, knowing I was exaggerating how my sister would react. "I don't have to do anything. Al will tell Valerie without me having to prompt that conversation."
Ranger grabbed his shirt and pulled it over my head. It dropped to the top of my thighs, covering the most intimate bits. He placed a hand on my lower back and guided me to the lumpy secondhand couch. I raised my brows. Ranger's crooked smile looked incredibly sexy. He left me standing beside the couch as he entered my bedroom to get my sleep shorts. I frowned when he returned wearing black boxers and carrying a laptop with my shorts hanging off his arm.
He set the laptop on the coffee table and kneeled. I groaned as he lifted one foot at a time to slip my shorts over them and up my legs. "You make getting dressed sexy," I moaned. Ranger raised the shirt to kiss my belly, which thankfully was free of stretch marks after having two children. "Do you ever wonder where we would be if we never met in Miami?"
"I probably would have impregnated some random woman, who I never loved, during a leave, married and divorced her after the child was born because the condom broke," Ranger replied.
"Like Mateo?" I asked.
"Exactly like Mateo," he laughed. "I do recall a condom or two breaking with us."
"Yes, but only one produced a child," I teased. "I wouldn't change a thing."
"Neither would I," he replied. "Jillie is adorable. She looks more like you every day."
"And Alex is a mini you," I laughed. "With blue eyes. I'm glad he didn't inherit my tight curls. I would love to have the looser curls like his. Jillie has my tight curls. I don't know how that worked out with the genetics."
"Babe, Abuelo Ricardo had curly hair," Ranger replied. "It must have skipped my generation."
"Lucky Jillie," I laughed. "Do you mind if I used Rangeman's search programs to check on someone?" Ranger nodded and waved a hand, silently telling me to get on with it. He raised a brow when I entered Sal Bocha's name into the program.
I read his biography and checked his business accounts. He made enough money selling meat and fish to pay the bills, but it didn't compensate for the boat, fancy car and vacation home in the Hamptons. Even making book wouldn't pay that well. I wondered what he was doing to afford those luxuries.
"Babe?" Ranger asked when I chewed on my thumbnail.
"Bocha owns a fishing boat. He doesn't order fish to sell in his shop, so he must be fishing to supply the stock," I said. "Something isn't adding up."
"Start at the beginning. What do you know about the case?" Ranger asked.
"Morelli claimed he went to visit his confidential informant Carmen Sanchez. When he knocked on the door, Ziggy Kulesza answered and discharged his gun. Morelli returned fire, putting a bullet in Ziggy's head. The police report indicated the only ballistics discovered was from Morelli's personal weapon loaded with .45 hydra-shoks and they never found Ziggy's gun at the scene. There are only two reasons for that to be true," I replied.
"Ziggy was unarmed, or someone removed the weapon from the scene," Ranger said.
"Exactly. Morelli also claimed a flat-faced man was at Carmen's apartment, yet none of Carmen's neighbours remembered seeing anyone else inside the apartment except for Morelli. At least that's what they told the officers who arrived at the scene. One of the tenants remembered seeing a man he never recognized leaving the building. He couldn't provide much of a description."
"Was Carmen in her apartment?" Ranger asked. Leave it to my husband to make me think about all the evidence. I shifted the laptop to the coffee table and got up to grab the file I had stashed in the kitchen below the utensils tray.
Ranger curled his lip in amusement. "What? I didn't have room in my cookie jar," I joked.
"Do you have anything in the cookie jar?"
"Not yet, but I'll store my spare ammunition there," I replied. "Hmmm…maybe I'll be like Rockford and store my gun there too. Nobody would think of looking in there."
"Babe," Ranger warned.
"I know, my love. I'll keep it under my pillow at night," I promised.
"Thank you." Ranger and I reviewed the newspaper articles and the intel Morty Beyers collected regarding Morelli and the case. His lips thinned as he arrived at the same conclusion as me. "You have to question Carmen's neighbours and Morelli's colleagues," Ranger said.
Sighing, I replied, "Looks that way. I need to know what the neighbours saw or heard. It could be something they feel is innocuous but would be an important clue. Who caught the Kulesza case?"
Ranger sent a text and received an answer within ten minutes. "Gus Dembrowski," Ranger replied.
"Who did you ask?" I questioned.
"Eddie Gazarra," he replied, earning a laugh.
"My cousin-in-law, Sergeant Gazarra," I said. "Did he tell you anything else?"
"No. You know the rest," Ranger replied. He was right. Everything was in the file I received from Connie. Ranger pointed to the spot in the file indicating Carmen Sanchez was Joseph Morelli's confidential informant and added, "Eddie provided that intel. He heard you were working the case and asked Connie to add it to your file."
I rolled my eyes, and Ranger's lips curled in amusement. You can take the girl from Jersey, but you can't take Jersey from the girl. "The Burg grapevine at its best, folks," I mumbled. "Gossiping idiots could hinder my mission." I returned the papers to the folder and dropped them onto the coffee table.
Ranger rubbed the spot between my eyes, attempting to smooth the wrinkle forming by my furrowed brows. "What are your plans in the morning?" he asked.
"Capturing Lonnie Dodd. I could use some backup," I replied.
"Babe, you could apprehend him in your sleep," Ranger said.
"Dodd might be skinny and weigh one-thirty soaking wet, but something in his eyes is setting off my spidey sense," I replied. "He seems the type to put up a good fight."
"Keep a hand on your gun when approaching his door," Ranger suggested. "Don't let him get the upper hand and use your military training."
"About that…I'm not supposed to use my skills," I said with a sigh.
"You can in a life or death situation," he reminded me. "I would rather have you blow your cover than get injured or murdered. Our children need you. Babe, I need you." The concern and fear in his eyes nearly undid me. I loved him and our children more than life itself. My husband never hid his emotions from me whenever we were alone.
"Okay. I'll use my skills if warranted," I promised. "But I could use the backup."
"I'll be there," Ranger said. He grabbed my hand and stood, pulling me to my feet. We entwined our fingers and went to bed. Ranger and I made sweet love until we were too exhausted to fight the sandman.
I groaned when Ranger's watch alarm sounded at 0500. He was an early riser. Despite spending many years in the military, I was not the type to wake up before 0700. Ranger chuckled as I opened an eye to glare at him. He got dressed and disappeared. The aroma of coffee hit my nose, and I climbed out of bed to prepare for my day. It was much too early, but I would feel worse if I went back to sleep for a few hours.
"Does Mrs. Mañoso know you spent the night with me?" I teased when Ranger's ring brushed my hand as he gave me a coffee perfectly doctored. His dark tungsten wedding band rested on his left-hand ring finger. It was hard to see against his dark skin unless you were looking for it. We had the wedding band custom-made for our tenth anniversary, purposely making it nearly invisible. I hated removing mine for a mission.
He chuckled. "My wife goes by many names. I do prefer Mañoso because it means she's mine. But I also love Plum," he said, giving me a smouldering grin. God, I loved him. Ranger cupped my cheek and gave me the sweetest kiss. "Plum, take care of my wife. I'll meet you at Dodd's house at 0900."
I stared at his ass as he walked to the door. Maybe I should put off my plans and convince him to stay home. Ranger glanced over his shoulder when he reached to turn the doorknob. He gave me a sexy wink, then disappeared through the door. The lock turned, making me wonder how he got the key. Did he grab the copy off my keyring? I had to check. "Sneaky," I laughed when I noticed it was missing. He must have grabbed it while I was still in the bedroom.
Ranger left the laptop behind for me to use. I logged onto it using my Rangeman credentials and searched Lonnie Dodd. He lived at 2115 Barnes. Lonnie was only twenty-two. Stealing a car was listed as his only offence. When I checked his permanent school records, I learned his father served in the Marines and died ten years ago during a deployment. Lonnie hung around the wrong crowd. His friends' arrest records never implicated him, but my spidey sense indicated he was involved. Lonnie Dodd was more dangerous than his file showed. I researched some of Lonnie's friends, discovering they belonged to the Comstock Slayers. Yikes. Ranger would need to know. We couldn't afford to have the gang after us.
As promised, Ranger met me at Lonnie Dodd's house. He followed me up the sidewalk and onto the porch. Ranger stood to the side, letting me take the lead. I moved my gun to make it easier to grab.
The door jerked open, and Lonnie grabbed me, holding a knife to my throat. I managed to get my gun free, but Ranger took a shot, hitting Lonnie in the leg. He fell, pulling me down with him. I rolled to the side, keeping my gun securely in my hand. Lonnie screamed and cursed Ranger for shooting him. I cuffed Lonnie before calling my cousin-in-law, Eddie Gazarra, while Ranger retrieved the bullet which lodged into the wall.
Lonnie tried to claim we barged into his house, and he said he was defending himself. He wasn't aware Ranger wore a body camera and had everything recorded to prove my story. Eddie handed me a receipt and got Carl to help him drag Lonnie to the ambulance. Once the EMT wrapped Lonnie's leg wound, he released him to Eddie's custody. Eddie and Carl would accompany Lonnie to the hospital for stitches and then take him to the precinct. I was done my job for the day.
"Not quite, Babe," Ranger whispered. "You have to investigate."
"I groaned and walked to my car. Ranger waited until I started the car. He smirked when it rumbled loudly. I needed a muffler or another vehicle. My piece of crap car would alert Morelli from three blocks away.
Instead of returning to Stark Street to search for Morelli, I decided to search for Carmen Sanchez. If I wanted to draw Morelli out of hiding, that was how to do it. Carmen lived a few blocks east of Stark Street. I didn't need to be stealthy while finding the clues.