It was hard to go out through the bonds office front door and not look across the street. Even if I didn't look, if I kept my head down and my eyes diverted, I felt the eerie sadness that always lingers on a murder scene.
I drove back to my apartment, checking periodically for a tail, but so far as I could see, no one was following. I parked and trudged up to my apartment. I opened the door and ran into Ranger in my kitchen.
He looked me over and gave his head an almost imperceptible shake. 'Babe.'
'Food fight with Joyce Barnhardt.' I noticed Ranger had changed clothes and was looking comfy in washed-out jeans and T-shirt. 'I'm surprised to still find you here,' I said to him.
'Tank had to put a threatened witness in the safe house, so I'm going to need to stay here. We've got federal surveillance on the office.'
'I thought you were working with them.'
'I'm working with one man, and he's not sharing that information with anyone.'
'Morelli isn't going to understand this arrangement.'
'You can't tell Morelli I'm here. He's a cop. He's supposed to arrest me if he finds me.'
Ranger opened the refrigerator and took out a plastic-wrapped sandwich.
'Where'd that come from?' I asked him.
'Hal brought me some food and clothes and equipment.'
'Equipment?'
He unwrapped his sandwich and ate it standing. 'In the dining room.'
I looked in at the dining room and had to do deep breathing to keep from screaming. There were two computers, a printer and fax machine, four cell phones with chargers, two cases that I knew contained guns, four boxes of ammo, a large Maglite and a small Maglite, the scrapbook, a stack of folders that I knew were case files, and three sets of car keys.
'Two computers?' I asked.
'One's mine, and the other we took from the apartment in Virginia.'
'Anything interesting on it?'
'His surfing history is what you'd expect. Fascination with martial arts, guns, law enforcement, some porn. He has one basic search program. No information stored that would be of any use. He's done some blogging. Talking about wanting to be a cop. Then wanting to be a bounty hunter. Then he starts mixing fantasy and reality. He talks about working with a superstar bounty hunter. How he's learning a lot but has no respect for his mentor. There's a brief mention of a manhunt where he tracks his quarry to Florida. And the blog stops at that point.'
'I imagine you were the quarry he was stalking.'
'Yes. His scrapbook is filled with photographs from that visit. That's how he knew about Julie. He followed me, did his homework, and put the facts together.'
'You never suspected you were being stalked?'
'No. I try to always be vigilant, but I didn't pick this guy up. It was a complicated surveillance, too. He had to follow me when I left the office, and then follow me into the terminal, learn my destination, and then buy a ticket in time to get on the plane.'
'Do you think he had an accomplice?'
'There's no mention of anyone else.'
'What about Carmen?'
'He'd already assumed his Ranger identity when he met Carmen. He only uses her name once and then she becomes Stephanie. And that's the main reason I'm staying here. I'm sure he's going to come after you. I want to be there when he does.'
'You'll use me to get to Julie.'
'Are you okay with that?'
'Of course.'