I was sitting next to Ranger, I had a box of food in front of me from the café car, and the rocking of the train was hypnotic and soothing and exciting all at the same time. We were rolling through the country's backyards, seeing America with its pants down.
Ranger was on the phone with Tank, taking down information on Carmen Cruz and arranging for a rental car.
'About the cell phone,' I said, when Ranger disconnected. 'Why is it okay to talk to Tank when you couldn't call me?'
'Tank has a secure phone.'
'Like it's scrambled?'
'No. They're just phones under different names. It's a way to make sure no one's listening. If someone's trying to get a line on me, they're not going to tap Larry Bakers phone.'
'Spending time with you is always a learning experience.'
'There are other things I could teach you,' Ranger said.
It was four o'clock by the time we picked up the rental car and rolled out of Union Station. Ranger had the GPS gadget set to take us to the Cruz house in Springfield, and it was talking us through downtown Washington.
'Turn left in twenty feet,' the mechanical voice told us. 'Move to the left lane. Take a right at the bottom of the off-ramp. Merge into traffic.'
'This thing's giving me an eye twitch,' Ranger said. 'Can you get the sound off?'
I started pressing buttons and the screen went blank.
'How's that?' I asked.
'Babe, you shut the system down.'
'Yes, but the sound is off.'
'Reprogram it.'
'No need to get testy,' I told him.
'I don't know where I'm going.'
'I have a map. You just get on I-95 south and take the Springfield exit.'
'And then what?'
'Then you'll have to pull over and reprogram the GPS.'
Ranger cut his eyes to me and there was the tiniest of smiles on his mouth. I was amusing him.
'You're a very strange man,' I told him.
'Yeah,' he said. 'That's what I hear.'
I had my cell phone clipped to my waist, and I could feel it buzzing. I looked at the screen. Morelli.
'Howdy,' I said to Morelli.
'Can I buy you dinner and a movie and a room at Hotel Morelli?'
'Sounds good but I'm working.'
'After work.'
'After work will be late,' I said.