And suddenly there was a very slim, faint sliver of light in my box. I went still and listened with every molecule in my body. Someone had turned a light on. Or maybe it was daylight. Or maybe I was going to heaven. There were muffled sounds and men's voices, and there was a lot of door banging. I opened my mouth to yell for help, but the box opened before I had the chance. I tumbled out, and fell into Rangers arms.
He was as stunned as I was. He had a vise-like grip on my arms, holding me up. His eyes were dilated black, and the line of his mouth was tight. 'I saw you folded up in there, and I thought you were dead,' he said.
'I'm okay. Just cramped.'
I'd been stuffed into one of the empty over-the-counter cabinets. How Con had gotten me up there was a mystery. I guess when you're motivated you find strength.
Ranger had come in with Tank and Hal. Tank was at my back with a handcuff key, and Hal was working on the shackles.
'It's not Spiro,' I said. 'It's Con, and he's coming back to kill me. If we hang round we can catch him.'
Ranger raised my bruised and bloody wrist to his mouth and kissed it. 'I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but there's no we. I've just had six really bad hours looking for you. I need to know you're safe. Sitting in this house waiting for a homicidal undertaker doesn't feel safe.' And he clamped the handcuff back on my wrist. 'You've had enough fun for one day,' he said. And the other bracelet went on Tank's wrist.
'What the ...' Tank said, caught by surprise.
'Take her back to the office and have Ella tend to her wrists and then take her to Morelli,' Ranger told Tank.
I dug my heels in. 'No way!'
Ranger looked at Tank. 'I don't care how you do it. Pick her up. Drag her. Whatever. Just get her out of here and keep her safe. And I don't want those bracelets to come off either of you until you hand her over to Morelli.'
I glared at Tank. 'I'm staying.'
Tank looked back at Ranger. Obviously trying to decide which of us was more, to be feared.
Ranger locked eyes with me. 'Please,' he said.
Tank and Hal were goggle-eyed. They weren't used to 'please.' I wasn't used to it either. But I liked it.
'Okay,' I said. 'Be careful. He's insane.'
Hal drove, and Tank and I sat in back in the Explorer. Tank was looking uncomfortable with me as an attachment, looking like he was searching for something to say but couldn't for the life of him come up with anything. I finally decided to come to his rescue.
'How did you find me?' I asked him.
'It was Ranger.'
That was it. Three words. I knew he could talk. I saw him talking to Ranger all the time.
Hal jumped in from the front seat. 'It was great. Ranger dragged some old lady out of bed to open the records office and hunt down real estate. He brought her in at gunpoint.'
'Omigod.'
'Boy, he was intense,' Hal said. 'He had every Range-man employee and twenty contract workers out looking for you. We knew you disappeared at Stiva's because I was monitoring your bike. Tank and me started looking for you
before Ranger even landed. You told me you were coming back and I got worried.'
'You were worried about me?'
'No,' Hal said. 'I was worried Ranger would kill me if I lost you.' He shot me a look in the rearview mirror. 'Well yeah. Maybe I was a little worried about you, too.'
'I was worried,' Tank said. 'I like you.'
Hot damn! I leaned into him and smiled, and he smiled back at me.
'We went through the funeral home, and we went through the undertakers home,' Hal said. 'And then Ranger figured they might own property someplace else, so he got the old lady in the tax records to open the office. She found that little ranch house under Spiro's name. It was all tied up because Spiro was never declared dead.'
Forty minutes later, I got dropped off at Morelli's. I had my wrists bandaged, and I had some powdered-sugar siftings on my black T-shirt. Tank walked me to the door and unlocked the cuffs while Morelli waited, a crutch under one arm, his other hand hooked into Bob's collar.
'She's in your care,' Tank said to Morelli. 'If Ranger asks, you can tell him I unlocked the cuffs in front of you.'
'Do you want me to sign for her?' Morelli asked, on a smile.
'Not necessary,' Tank said. 'But I'm holding you responsible.'
I ruffled Bob's head and slipped past Morelli. He shut the door and looked at my T-shirt.
'Powdered sugar?' he asked.
'I needed a doughnut. I had Hal stop at Dunkin' Donuts on the way across town.'
'Ranger called and told me you were safe and on your way here, but he wouldn't tell me anything else.'
Ranger was going to take Stiva down, and he didn't want anything going wrong. He didn't want to lose Stiva.
