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“You don’t think you’ve made an enemy in Cooper Springs. So,” Morrison said as he eased himself into one of the breakroom chairs. André was learning this was a habit for him, probably after several mishaps. “What about before, as a marshal?” Morrison asked.
They both stared.
“What?” He stared back. “I checked up on you. Not letting Romeo here get involved with just anyone, am I? Plus, Hatch told me to. You’re an ex-U.S. Marshal. There have to be some folks out there who would be glad to have you gone.”
“I mean, you’re not wrong.” André sat across from Morrison. “But most of them are behind bars or dead.”
“Most of them,” Dante repeated. “Who isn’t dead? Who is behind barsandhas something to gain by your death?”
André tapped the top of the table. The bushes next to the only window scraped across the pane.
“I have the one case left to testify in. The date was pushed back.”
“When is it? What’s the case?” Dante asked.
“Aldo Campos, Mid-April.”
Dante’s eyes widened. “Fucking A. That was —”
A sharp, shrill sound interrupted them.
Dante shot to his feet as he simultaneously dug in his pocket for his cell phone.
“Dani, what’s wrong?”
FOURTEEN
Dante
“Zio,” Daniella breathed out her endearment for him in a voice quieter than a whisper, “I think someone’s here. Outside.”
Chills ran down his spine and his vision tunneled. Dante forced himself to listen, to process Dani’s words. Oxygen in, out, in, and back out again.
They’d planned for this possibility. They planned for the worst, going so far as to practice together, and Dante had insisted that Daniella get comfortable locking herself into the safe room in the basement. Still, he’d hoped they would never have a reason to use it.
Dani’s panicked breathing was loud in his ear.
“Are you downstairs?” he asked.
“Yes. Luna started acting weird. Like, this low growling. It scared me. I had to drag her down here with me. Zio,” she sniffled, “I’m scared.”
Dante was scared too. He was supposed to be there keeping Dani safe and instead, he’d allowed himself to be distracted by what was going on with André.
“Stay on the line. Don’t say anything unless I speak first. Keep Luna with you.”
“Okay.”
Her voice was small and tiny. Dante should never have let his guard down. But he had and now he had to deal with the consequences. He’d—erroneously—assumed Dani would be fine for a few hours on her own.
He checked his watch; it wasn’t late. Not even nine p.m. yet. At least the dog had been on alert. If something happened to Dani, Dante would never be able to forgive himself.
André and Morrison were on their feet—obviously, they’d figured out that something was very wrong. Morrison flipped a set of keys around his finger in a “ready already” gesture. After checking his weapon, André grabbed a CSPD jacket that had been hanging on a hook and pulled it on over his uniform. Silently, they filed out the back door of the station and into the wind and rain.
While they’d been inside, the winter storm forecasters had been warning area residents about had finally rolled ashore. The heavy thrum of the waves crashing against their strip of sand and rock set an ominous tone. Dante swore he could feel the earth vibrating under his feet. Gale-force gusts of wind whipped through the treetops while rain came down in nearly horizontal sheets.
The three of them were soaking wet within seconds. It was raining hard enough that the drops stung when they hit Dante’s face. He was damp to the skin and figured Morrison and André were as well.
“No police lights or sirens,” Dante said, gripping his cell phone in one hand. The connection would likely be dropped before they got to his house. Cell service was iffy at best in the county, why hadn’t he invested in a sat phone?
