Page 41 of Beneath the Dawn

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“Marti Goshay is a gorgeous woman, Dante.”

Dante, who was standing at the window watching Marti walk from his home to hers, turned and glanced at Rossi, who was helping himself to another serving of quiche. “Glad you noticed. Make sure that’s all you do, Rossi. Notice.”

“That sounds pretty damn territorial, Dante. I’ve never known you to stake a claim on a woman before. Hell, I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Dante shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Rossi was his best friend. So, of all people, he would know. “I didn’t know it was in me either. And you know why.”

“So what happened?”

He returned to the table and sat across from Rossi once he got Marti’s text. “Damn if I know,” he said.

And he really didn’t. All he could figure out was that seeing how close Marti had been to losing her life, right before his eyes, had made him realize how much she had come to mean to him. “I’ve fallen in love with her, Rossi.”

Rossi looked taken aback. “What the hell. You’ve known her less than a month.”

“Not really. Marti and I first met when we were kids one summer. On this same beach.”

“How old were you?”

“She was eight, and I was thirteen.”

Rossi waved off his words. “That doesn’t count. You weren’t even noticing girls then, Dante.”

“You’re right, I wasn’t. Although I’m sure you were at that age.”

“Of course I was.”

Dante rolled his eyes. “I only mentioned that to note that I did know her before, Rossiano.” Using his best friend’s first name was a hint that he was beginning to get annoyed with his questions. “In fact, I saved her life that summer.”

“How?” Rossi asked, obviously ignoring the hint.

Dante told Rossi what happened all those years ago. When he finished, he said, “There you have it.”

“So, you and Marti Goshay have a history. Trauma bonding can be a powerful thing, Dante.”

“Trauma bonding? Is that your psychology degree talking, Rossi?”

Rossi grinned. “I guess it is. And since you’re determined to play the role of the Equalizer, should we start calling you Robert McCall?”

Deciding Rossi’s question didn’t warrant a response, Dante asked, “So what information do you have?”

Rossi took a sip of coffee. “First of all, the situation with Christopher Pearlman has been handled. He was only seen on two traffic cameras heading this way yesterday. Both have been reconfigured and transferred to traffic cameras in other locations. Now we have him on cameras leaving Wild Rose Point and headed toward Portland at the time he was here. So in other words, no one will connect him to you.”

“Good.”

“Also, a couple of guys on the team will be arriving later to go over the boat. We need to make sure you didn’t leave any evidence of your late-night excursion before you return it to the rental company.”

Dante nodded, knowing the men who worked for him were thorough. They would deep-clean the boat from bow to stern. “What about Titus Blinken, Lonzell Miller, and Wendel Langley?”

Rossi settled back in his chair. “Pearlman shot and killed Titus Blinken a week ago when he was leaving a relative’s house. Blinken was out on parole from the Sacramento State Prison. While locked up, he was in the same cell block as Malcolm Edwards.”

“Now, why doesn’t that surprise me?” Dante muttered.

“We’re looking for Lonzell Miller. Pearlman hadn’t lied. It’s like he’s disappeared from the face of the earth.” Rossi smiled. “Of course, we will find him. We checked the prison log, and Miller has visited Edwards in prison more than once. We can safely say he was the messenger.”

“What about Langley?” Dante asked.