This takes place after Fearless Fourteen.

CHAPTER 13

Two hours later all of the questions had been answered, Paige and Elizabeth were on their way to the hospital to be checked over, the babysitter had been sent home, Conzitto had been read his rights and arrested and taken back to New Jersey, Bruno had been put in a bag and carted off in the meat wagon, and now it was just a few of us left walking back to the cars.

"Ready, Babe?"

"I'm ready."

We didn't know for sure whose bullet had killed Bruno, though it looked like it might have been a .38. It seemed unlikely that it was mine, since I was firing wild and left handed, but no one else had been shooting a .38. Go figure. Maybe one of the men in the woods who disappeared before the rest of the police arrived did it. If it was my gun it didn't bother me. He had hurt me and he had hurt others.

And ironically, Conzitto was going to go to jail for kidnapping both Elizabeth and Paige, but not for smuggling or drugs or prostitution. Nothing he was expected to go for. As Ranger had said, he was like Al Capone. And does it matter so much? Capone went to jail for tax evasion. But he was best known for being a gangster. Conzitto was going to go to jail for kidnapping, but he'd always been known as a racketeer.

Ranger and I rode back to headquarters in silence. When we pulled into the garage he spoke.

"I'm going to leave my men in place around your family for a few days, Babe. And I'd like you to stay here, too."

I was so tired I only had a little bit of stubborn left in me. Right now all I wanted was bed. I didn't care whose or where. Mostly I was curious, though. "Why? We got Conzitto and Bruno."

"He had a large organization. There are a lot of people who are going to go away for crimes they've committed now that Conzitto won't be there to shield them. They may seek revenge. Please. You did what you set out to do. You saved the little girl and Elizabeth. Come upstairs and rest for a while. I'm not going to tell my men to stun you and keep you here, though I do ask that if you want to go out you let someone know and we'll go with you. Just for a few days."

I nodded. This made sense. We went up to his apartment. Ella, God bless her, had brought in dinner. For the first time in days I was hungry. We sat down and dug in. I was still eating after Ranger finished. He flashed me the 100 watt smile. "Hungry?"

"Definitely. I feel better now. I wish I could have done something to protect Sandra and Ronald, though."

"There was little you could have done, Babe, without putting yourself in far more danger. It won't come back to Conzitto personally, but their killers will be brought to justice.

After dinner we watched TV. Morelli called in the middle of the hockey game. They were getting tips called in left and right now about Emily and Lizzie. It looked like things were going to go pretty well for him. He apologized for being so busy for so long, but they were going to get their men.

I hung up the phone and looked at Ranger. He was looking softly at me.

"Thanks, Ranger. I really needed your help here."

"You're welcome, Babe. You needed it less than you think, though. Our resources helped you, but most of this operation came out of your brain. You thought it up, you deduced information. You're pretty good at this."

I laughed. It felt good to laugh again. "Thank you. Good at the thinking part. I still need to work on the apprehension part."

"When you're better if you'd like some training I'd be happy to help you. Not just showing the ropes like I have been. But you coming to the gym, sparring with the men and myself, learning self defense. You definitely could use self defense classes, Babe."

"Would you teach me to pick a lock? I think I'm the only one I know who doesn't know how."

Now it was Ranger's turn to laugh. "That's one of your charms, though. If you'd like to learn, however, we'll teach you."

I snuggled back into his couch and relaxed. Pretty soon I felt arms around me lifting me and then lowering me onto Ranger's amazing bed. I felt Ranger himself get in next to me. I held out my hand. He took it, and I fell asleep that way.

Ranger's POV

I looked at Stephanie asleep in my bed. So many times when I was with her I wished my life allowed for relationships. It was fun when she would come and "play house" with me for a while. I missed when she was gone, but life certainly was easier when she wasn't around. Though far less interesting. She had done so well on this one. My respect for her was huge. I was glad I could ask her to work for me, even if it was part time. She definitely had talents my men were lacking.

I watched her sleep for a while, little smiles flirting with her mouth in her sleep. I fell asleep holding her hand.

She stayed at my apartment for the next few days. Bobby checked on her once a day to make sure everything was healing properly. She'd go out occasionally, either with me or with another of my men, and go shopping or visit with friends and family. During one of her trips she spent the second 2500 she had gotten from Andrew Slack and bought herself another new car. This time a Dodge Neon. She wasn't up to taking on FTAs yet, so I had given her a job in my office so she wouldn't get evicted from her apartment. Every day for a little while she disappeared and talked with one of my men for an hour or more. I don't know what they talked about, but I noticed at night the nightmares became less and less frequent. Whatever she was doing to help herself in that regard was working.

On the fifth day Sandra and Ronald's bodies were found in a shallow grave north of town. We had Elizabeth brought around to make the identification. She and Paige were living in a safe house of mine for now.

After a week we had rounded up 22 of Conzitto's known associates, including Michaela Roberts. Many of them were linked with somewhat petty crimes, but four of them came back with guns matching the murder weapons of Sandra and Ronald. Several had information linking Bruno to Emily and Lizzie's murders. Morelli was getting gift after gift practically wrapped and delivered to his desk. It'd kept him busy, but he'd also kept him in good spirits when it came to Stephanie living with me. As for the other known 18 men who Conzitto had under his employ, they were small fish. No huge concern to anyone's safety. And the women he had "employed" were free to make their own choices. Most of them scattered in the wind.

It felt strange to me. After ten years Holmes had finally taken down his Moriarty. I hadn't realized how much time and energy I'd spent chasing after Conzitto until I didn't have to. Petty crime dropped a bit as well. I wallowed in garbage in my job, but I felt right now like it was the perfect place to be.

After a week we eased up on the security around Stephanie and her family. Bobby cleared her and she returned to work for Vinnie catching FTAs. Or at least chasing after them. She wasn't physically ready yet for training, not like my men and I would give her. I argued that that meant she shouldn't go after FTAs, but she blew me off and was stubborn about it. In a way I was happy to have her back with Vinnie. My men and I had been going after low bond skips, which wasn't something we normally did. So this way things were back to normal.

A couple of days later she went back to her apartment. I found myself driving by at night, just hoping to see her. Sometimes her car wasn't there and I'd drive over to Morelli's. I'd sigh if I found it in front of his house. What can I say? I love her, in my own way.

Stephanie's POV

Now that I was back at work at Vinnie's and I could lift my arms as high as my head, things were returning to normal. I went after the same drunk people, fed them the same lies, and ate the same food with my mother. We had gone to Sandra and Ronald's funeral together, along with Grandma Mazur. Elizabeth and Paige hadn't been there. I didn't know where they were exactly, other than Ranger was keeping an eye on them. A few days later he sent word that they were off to Baltimore to be with family.

One evening I was at Morelli's and we had just finished a pizza and were watching the game. There were some things I didn't know, and I was curious.

"Why did Conzitto have Emily and Lizzie killed?"

"From what we can tell, Elizabeth had told them about Paige, how Conzitto had finally figured out that she was his daughter, and she was scared he was going to kidnap her. That's part of why they left DMNC, Inc. They wanted to be back in the Burg to keep an eye on Paige. It backfired, though. Conzitto was going to take Paige and move out to some unknown place and start a double life."

"Do you think he would have turned her into one of his prostitutes as she got older?"

"I have no doubt about it. He didn't seem very paternal. She was his and therefore he had to have her. It didn't matter about her best interests, just that she was his. She would turn a nice profit later, probably. He's a sick man."

"Is he going to go to prison? They're not going to acquit him, are they?"

"There is no way he's getting free. We have testimony from so many people who saw them in passing, as well as Elizabeth's testimony. He's going away for the rest of his life."

I was happy about that. I rested my head against Morelli's shoulder.

"So...," he said. "Bobby has cleared you for work?"

"I'm cleared for most normal, non-strenuous activities, yes."

"Hmmm, so which is it, normal or non-strenuous? I have some activities I'd like to try, but they may end up strenuous."

I grinned at him. I was definitely feeling better. "We'll just take it one step at a time, ok."

One step at a time took all night.