Walter and Dante were sitting on a couch in the front lobby entrance of the Maine Marine Rescue when Cesare returned. The air had noticeably changed. Walter looked at Cesare with a smug sort of awareness as he read a newspaper, and Dante’s body language seemed purposely calm; too calm.
Cesare observed his brother carefully. Dante held himself with a stillness unique to people trained to be lethal; even as the wheels in his head turned at break speed, mentally cataloging every detail around him. At the moment, Dante looked like a snake curled up, pretendingnotto be poised to strike at any second. What had triggered this hypervigilance?
“Motor started making a weird sound half-way over.” Cesare said casually as he tossed the keys to Dante.
Dante caught the keys as he stood with a grunt. “This is what happens when you drive.”
Cesare shrugged nonchalantly.
“Let’s take a look.” Dante muttered as they walked outside. Walter remained seated with his paper.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Cesare turned to Dante. “Nothing’s wrong with the motor. What changed while I was gone?”
Dante furrowed a brow. “How serious are you about Sabrina?” He asked.
“She’s mine, and I’m taking her home with me when this is over.” Cesare answered without hesitation.
Dante nodded. “Then, as your brother, I’m telling you that you will need plausible deniability a few months from now.”
Cesare frowned. “I’m protected as a lawyer by client confidentiality.”
Dante shook his head. “You’ll need plausible deniability withSabrina.”
The sound of waves crashing against rocks filled the sudden silence of the night Cesare’s mind started to race.
“Explain.” Cesare ordered after a moment.
“Business and pleasure have officially combined.” Dante muttered. “But nothing has changed. You keep pushing the legal side, and I’ll keep working everything else.”
“Yes or no, are you saying Sabrina is connected to the missing baby?” Cesare demanded.
“It’s a small town, and it’s growing more probable. But if she is, it’s unlikely she knows.”
Cesare clenched his jaw. “She isn’t…” He seemed unable to finish the sentence.
“I have no reason to believe she’s the missing Jane Doe.” Dante shook his head.
“Is Marie?”
“You called me in so I could dig. So you could honestly say you don’t know shit if you get put on a stand later. Do you still want me to do that, or not?”
Cesare nodded reluctantly. “Is there anything I should know about Walter?”
“Nothing you don't already. I’d like to know what he did before he was working on a fishing boat. The way he managed to sneak up on both of us says a lot. Makes me wonder what he uses as fish bait when he’s in the middle of the ocean with nobody around.” Dante answered with an expression that was somehow both bored and grim at the same time.
“So it’s nothing serious.” Cesare replied sardonically.
Dante shrugged a shoulder. “Nothing we haven’t both dealt with already.”
The brothers walked back inside, and Walter looked up briefly. The greying fisherman sipped his coffee at the table, his grey blue eyes meeting Cesare’s. Walter silently raised his mug to Cesare in calm acknowledgment before returning to his paper.
The interrogation Cesare expected never came. Instead, Walter watched the brothers; taking in everything they said, what they did, and how they went about it.
Freckles had grown strong enough to move freely around the pen, and Walter directed them to a small kiddie pool to wash out and fill with water.
Cesare was soaked by the time he and Dante brought a clean kiddie pool into the recovery room and moved it into Freckles’ pen.
The little seal pup tittered in excitement as he worked his way into the water, splashing around as it was slowly filled. Freckles noticeably preferred Cesare’s presence to anyone else, much to Cesare’s satisfaction.
