Page 43 of Beneath the Dawn

“Hmm, what’s that?”

“Why does it bother you to be called Martina?”

Of all the questions she had thought he would ask, that wasn’t one of them. “I think it’s a beautiful name,” he added.

She didn’t say anything for a moment, then she snuggled closer into his arms. “I always thought so, too. Although my friends shortened it to Marti, I would introduce myself to guys as Martina. It sounded kind of sexy.”

“Why did you stop?”

“Because that’s what Malcolm and his friends called me. After what happened, I detested hearing that name from any man’s lips.”

“You know what that means?”

“No, what?”

“I’m going to make sure you love hearing it from mine, Martina.”

Then he leaned in and kissed her in a way that made her forget just how exhausted she had been earlier.

CHAPTER 16

Dante opened the door, and Rossi entered and glanced around. “Where’s Marti?”

“Asleep.”

“Kind of early, isn’t it?” Rossi asked, grinning.

“Not in this house. We like going to bed early,” Dante said, leading Rossi to the kitchen.

“I just bet you do.”

Dante smiled at his friend’s sarcastic comeback. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Beer, if you have it.”

Dante opened the refrigerator and grabbed two beers. “I got your text. So what do you have?”

“We located Lonzell Miller. He’s been hiding out since he got word that Blinken was killed. Figured he would be next. He admitted that he and Titus were following Edwards’ orders to harass Marti. He also said the last time he visited Malcolm Edwards, he’d let him know that Marti had taken off for London. According to Miller, Edwards wasn’t happy about that, and told him in not so many words, that he wanted Marti dead and knew just the person to contact to do it.”

Rossi then gave Dante a wry grin. “Miller couldn’t believe that Edwards had put a hit out on him and Blinken. I guess he’s never heard that there’s no honor among thieves.”

“I guess not,” Dante said. “Anything else?”

“Yes, Langley finally left home. We tailed him to some seedy-looking dive and grabbed him on his way back. He sang like a canary. He said the arrangement had been made for a friend.”

“Malcolm Edwards?”

“Yes, Malcolm Edwards. Langley had been part of the child porn ring. His role had been to kidnap the children. He said he felt that he owed Edwards and the others for not implicating him when they were arrested.”

Dante met Rossi’s gaze. “Where are Langley and Miller now?”

“They were loose ends that needed to be handled, so Spingler took care of them.”

Dante nodded. He wasn’t giving anyone who took part in Edwards’ plans regarding Marti a pass. That prompted him to ask, “Is everything all set at the prison?”

“It is,” Rossi answered. “In fact, things worked out better than I expected since one of those guys, Robert Tiller, helps out in the infirmary from time to time. I made doubly sure everything is done in a way that the prison officials will have no need for an in-depth investigation. And if they do, everything will be completely untraceable. All they will get is a dead end…no pun intended.”

Rossi took a few sips of his beer, holding Dante’s gaze. Leaning forward, he said in a serious tone, “Still, Dante, although I’ve taken care of all the risks involved, I wish you’d let me handle the prison piece of it.”