he said sharply. “That’s fine, and smart. But I’m going to find him, so tell me where the hell he might be. Fast.”
She yanked her hand out of his and marched. He was right about one thing: she’d skewer him later.
“Does he have a regular route or a place he always walks the dog?”
“Sombrero Beach. He usually crosses the highway right there at that light, and takes Goose to a dog-friendly park down there.” Unless one of his friends called and he went to meet them. Then he could be anywhere.
In the car, she dragged the seat belt over her as he started the engine.
“Turn right here,” she said, leading them down the road to the park. With Ramon around, Quinn definitely wasn’t safe. She focused every brain cell on the need to see that lanky body loping along with a dog on a leash.
She called Quinn’s cell three times, getting voice mail every time.
The quiet streets of Marathon seemed dark and menacing, and the neighborhood looked nothing like the peaceful, residential beach town it was. Thickets of palm trees and hibiscus bushes formed dangerous shadows, and walls around yards and driveways became hiding places as the sun disappeared in the west, leaving darkness behind.
She could practically hear the universe laughing at her. Talk about life playing a joke on you.
Michael Scott wasn’t dead. He was alive and dryhumping her on the beach last Friday night.
“Oh God,” she moaned.
“Do you see him?”
“No.” But she looked, hard.
“I was going to tell you tonight,” he said.
She snorted softly. “Uh-huh.”
He didn’t respond but stayed focused on the road and the sidewalks. She did the same, squinting into the shadows, her worry for Quinn at war with her misery over Michael. Dan. Whoever the hell he was.
“Why did you have to pretend to die?”
“It was always the plan. Sometimes we did that with UC jobs. Undercover,” he added, as though she might not know what he meant. As though she hadn’t followed the trial while her stomach grew huge, and Quinn was born.
While Smitty took her in, cared for her, gave her a home and a whole new life. He was the only one who knew. The only one who forgave her for being a stupid, immature, trusting kid.
“Was it in the plan to screw the girlfriend of one of the guys you were trying to entrap and arrest? So you could get secrets and inside information?”
He still didn’t react, didn’t even blink or glance at her. He just kept rumbling along at five miles an hour, scanning every inch for her son.
She tried to think, to come to terms with how her life had just turned upside down. Failed on all counts.
“Were you going to tell me… about the baby?” he finally asked, making the tension worse.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I mean then. In Miami. If we hadn’t busted Viejo’s ring. Or . . . weren’t you sure . . . he was mine?”
She closed her eyes as though he’d jabbed his fist into her chest. She had that coming.
“I wasn’t much more than a child myself, and I wasn’t sure about anything. But based on timing and birth control . . . I was pretty sure. And I . . .” She wet her lips. “I was planning to tell you that night. I thought . . .”
We might run away togethe.r
“You thought what?”
“I had some stupid and romantic notions.”
“Well, you were eighteen.” Meaning, he had no such notions.
All history. Ancient history. She shifted in her seat and pointed at the grassy area and a low wall that ran along a park and Sombrero Beach as the street dead-ended.
“He takes the dog to that park.”
Dan whipped the car into the first parking spot and threw it in Park, then looked at her, his eyes much softer as he put his hand on her leg.
“We’ll find him. I give you my word, we’ll find him.”
“Your word?” she spat, jerking her leg away. “A man who lied from the day I met you, used my youth and my trust and my body to get information, pretended to be killed, and then disappeared while I hitchhiked, pregnant and broke and starving, to the Keys? I have your trustworthy, sincere word? “
She blew out a disgusted puff of air, reaching the door handle to flip it open, when his gaze moved over her shoulder and disintegrated to horror.
She spun around, and all she could manage was a strangled noise at the sight of Goose meandering along