Dangerous Testimony

by Dana Mentink

  “Let me know if you need anything lifted. I’ll take care of it. Don’t want to strain your wrists any further.”

  The silence between them grew and so did the emotions bubbling inside her. “Marco,” she said, after taking a deep breath, “I can’t do this anymore.”

  He watched her carefully, waiting, always so patient with her.

  “I’m trapped between two heroes,” she said, twisting a sliver of tree bark between her fingers.

  He frowned, still quiet as she spooled out the words.

  “Rick was a marine, rock solid, larger than life. He sacrificed himself to save his team. That’s a type of courage that’s hard to live up to. And then there’s you, Marco Quidel. Loyal, sometimes arrogant, but with courage enough to stand against Rico and put your life at risk to take him down.” She looked at him then, the watery sunlight playing across his tanned skin, his full lips pursed in thought. “I wanted to have that kind of courage, to live up to Rick’s legacy and be just as strong as you are, but I can’t.”

  “You’re plenty strong, Candace. You held on there, up on that fire escape.” He cleared his throat. “No one stronger than you.”

  “You’re going to change your mind when you hear what I’ve decided.”

  He shook his head. “I will never change my mind about you.”

  Her lips trembled. “I’m going to quit, Marco. I cannot risk Tracy’s life to put away Jay Rico. Justice is important to me, but not as important as she is.”

  Candace waited for him to speak, but he didn’t.

  “I am going to tell the police I won’t testify, not about Kevin Tooley and not about what happened at the clinic.”

  He nodded.

  “I know the judge can jail me for not testifying, but I’m willing to take the risk. It’s over for me and Tracy.”

  “I understand.”

  “Do you?” She sought for signs of disappointment in his eyes, but found none. “I feel so guilty and ashamed. Rick...” Tears blurred her vision.

  Marco crouched down next to her with a soft groan, craning his head to look into her eyes. His voice was soft when he spoke. “Candace, Rick would be proud of your decision, no question.”

  Would he be proud of her for quitting? A harder question was what he would think of the emotions she felt when she looked at Marco, feelings that had far exceeded the bounds of friendship.

  “He would respect how hard you’ve fought and your commitment to Tracy.” He cleared his throat. “And I could never be anything but proud of you.” The softness in that hardened soldier’s face awakened such a flood of tenderness that she reached up and cupped his cheeks with her hands. His eyes closed for a moment at the caress, before they flickered open again. The connection held them together, strengthened by their trauma, deepened by the years they’d enjoyed as the best of friends. His warmth pushed away the cold, and she desperately wanted to stay there, close to Marco.

  What was she doing? The guilt hit with the force of a hammer blow. She let her hands drop to her sides and she stood. “Thank you for understanding, Marco.”

  “You made the right call for your family,” he said, straightening with effort.

  Her family. A family that did not include him. Did it? She looked out at the rolling waves of the Pacific, inching closer to the impressive sand volcano. The notion of resuming a normal life after the whole debacle tantalized her. Tracy would be thrilled to get back to school, and Candace to the comfort of car pools, swim meets and daily walks on the shore. Maybe she would take a break from the private investigation firm until she had better control of her emotions, especially around Marco. Things would be all business between them.

  “I heard the other witness was killed,” she said. “So Rico will get away with it all.”

  “No.”

  She jerked to face him. “Marco, it’s over. He wins, that’s all.”

  “It’s over for you and Tracy.”

  She took him by the shoulders and his hands went reflexively to her waist. “For all of us.”

  He didn’t answer.

  She clutched his shirt. “Please tell me you won’t go after Rico. He’ll kill you without a second thought.”

  The trace of a smile tugged at the corner of Marco’s mouth. “Good guys always win, remember?”

  Anger flashed through her and she wanted to shake this stubborn wall of a man. “No, they don’t,” she snapped. “Stop staying that. Rick died with countless other good men and women. They didn’t win. They didn’t get to come home.” Tears welled in her eyes.

  “Rick had a family and a woman who adored him, and a cause he believed in. He knew his final destination. That’s winning.”

  She felt the anger drain out of her, and dropped her forehead to his chest. “But Marco, it’s so hard to be the one left behind.”

  His arm went around her, pulling her close. “I know, honey.”

  She stayed in the basket of his arms, protected from the wind and soothed by the steady beat of his heart. “I won’t let you go after Rico,” she mumbled into his chest. His silence made her pull away, and she glared at him full on, fury pouring out of her. “Did you hear me? This is your pride talking, because he’s beaten you, beaten us. It’s a stupid reason to go and get yourself killed.”

  He remained silent.

  “And I don’t want Pacific Coast Investigations involved, either.” She flung the words at him.

  “It won’t be.”

  She stared, trying to read his thoughts. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m going to leave the agency.”

  Shock stripped her of a response. She realized she’d stopped breathing. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m leaving PCI to put some distance between us. When I bring Rico down, he won’t even see it coming and if things get ugly he won’t be able to retaliate against you or your family.”

  Desperation crept from her stomach into her chest. “This isn’t the way.”

  “It’s the only way.” Marco spoke with a perfect calm that belied the ferocity of his words. “Jay Rico will go to jail if it takes me the rest of my life.”

  She tried to shake him, but he was immovable. “No,” she whispered.

  “He will be punished for what he did to you.”

  The hard, flat metal of Marco’s eyes chilled her. Now it was a mission for him and he wouldn’t stop until he’d succeeded or died trying. “I don’t want you hurt, not another man that I...” That I love? She swallowed. “Don’t get hurt for me. I don’t need vengeance.”

  “I will bring him down.” His voice wasn’t loud, but the phrase might as well have been shouted over the roaring surf. He turned back toward the house and Candace knew with a flood of fear that she was powerless to change his mind.

  Back inside, she heard her cell phone buzz, alerting her about a text with an attached picture. She didn’t recognize the sender’s number. Something prickled deep down as she looked at the tiny image. It was a shot of her mother and Lon, taken through the front window of JeanBeth’s house. Her stomach clenched into a ball. Another picture followed, of Angela buying coffee at a Coronado shop, Dan holding her hand. Then there was a shot of Donna and Brent running together on the beach.

  Candace was so frightened she could hardly read the message.

  You will meet me at the following location or they will all die. J.R.

  Jay Rico had gotten her cell phone number somehow. Her heart beat a terrified rhythm.

  It was plain crazy for her to go and meet Jay Rico.

  But what other choice did she have?

  Meet me...or they will all die.

  One final image followed, of Marco getting out of his truck with Bear right behind him.

  Rock and a hard place.

  SIXTEEN

  Mar
co wasn’t surprised that after Candace’s decision not to testify was forwarded by the police to the district attorney, the DA pushed hard for her to reconsider. If she didn’t, the DA’s case would disintegrate. He told her he’d contact her again on Monday for her final decision. Marco knew she’d already made it.

  In her shoes, he half wished he was the kind of person who would have made the same choice, but Candace was right. Pride wouldn’t have let him. For Marco, losing to Jay Rico stung like a swarm of hornets. He’d fought terrorists all over the world, glorified bullies with weapons who silenced their victims through intimidation, and now, right here on US soil, he’d let Rico terrorize Candace into submission. It galled him through his morning workout, and though he tried desperately to clear his mind and focus on his Bible reading, peace would not come.

  The only thing that eased the discomfort was the knowledge that he would get Jay Rico in the end. Candace might have bought herself time by agreeing not to testify, but Rico was a man who held on to grudges, and Marco would never fully believe she was safe until the thug was imprisoned for life. It would cost Marco leaving Pacific Coast Investigations, leaving Candace, but he was certain it was the only way. He couldn’t let go of his need for vengeance, which would paint him as a target—him and anyone close to him.

  He flashed on Candace, hanging there, slipping slowly from his grasp, brown eyes so full of a life left to be lived. There’s another reason you’re leaving. That deep-down ache for Candace that he would not allow to the forefront. Not ever.

  Dev cleared his throat, standing in the doorway of the kitchen. “I heard she’s not going to testify.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So we’re pulling out?”

  “Looks that way. Gonna push for Candace and Tracy to stay for a while, to be sure Rico’s got the message, but...”

  “But Gumdrop’s already packed.”

  He sighed. “Yeah.”

  Dev stroked his puff of beard.

  “What?”

  “You aren’t going to let it go, the thing with Rico. It’s too personal.”

  Marco said nothing.

  “Gonna go lone wolf?”

  Still he remained silent, which answered as well as any words could have.

  Dev fingered the spot on his forehead that was now a yellowing bruise. “My unit is shipping out in three days, but if I’m in the States whenever it goes down, I got your back.”

  “Thanks, Dev.”

  Dev’s eyes were thoughtful. “Rico’s gonna rue the day he crossed you.”

  “He’s going to rue the day he threatened Candace.”

  Dev cocked his head. “But you know what I’m thinking?”

  “Do I want to know?”

  “Probably not.”

  Marco sighed. “You’re going to tell me anyway, so let’s get it over with.”

  “If you had to give up on Rico to be a part of their lives—” he jerked a thumb in the direction of Candace and Tracy’s rooms “—might be worth taking the loss for your girls.”

  It’s not a choice, Marco wanted to say. Rico will always be a threat. And they will never be my girls.

  He stared at his hands. Was it that obvious that his feelings for Candace had gone way beyond friendship? He opened his mouth to say he didn’t need any advice, but Dev had already returned to their sleeping quarters.

  Marco sat for a while, before it sank in that something felt off. The ramshackle house was too quiet. Angela had driven Brent back to the office and would return afterward. Perhaps Candace was napping? He trotted upstairs, to find Tracy watching a show on her iPad, Bear snoring at her feet.

  “Feeling better, half pint?”

  “Uh-huh.” Tracy smiled. “Mommy says we’re going home soon. Maybe I’ll get to be in the play, after all.”

  “Where is your mom?”

  “She said she had to go out.”

  He felt a twinge. “Out where?”

  “To deliver a message. She borrowed Auntie Donna’s van, I think.”

  His thoughts felt sluggish. Donna had driven back in Brent’s car and Candace had borrowed the van she’d left behind. To deliver a message.

  A terrifying conclusion leaped into his head. Was she going to tell Jay Rico personally that she wouldn’t testify, and try to end things once and for all? That would be sheer lunacy. Panic settled into Marco’s gut. What was she thinking? In Jay Rico’s world there would be no such thing as forgive and forget.

  He recalled their conversation before Rico fired five rounds at Candace through the truck’s windshield.

  “If Candace Gallagher tries to testify, she’s going to die.”

  Would the threat still hold even if she didn’t? A cold sweat bathed his forehead.

  Forcing a calm expression, he knelt next to Tracy. “When did she leave?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Can you make a guess?”

  “When my show started, and it’s halfway done.”

  So fifteen minutes. Twenty maybe?

  “Okay.” He whirled toward the door.

  “When are we going home, Unco?” Tracy called.

  He didn’t take the time to answer. Downstairs, he called Candace’s cell.

  Pick up, pick up, he willed. There was no answer. He sent a text.

  Do not do this.

  No reply.

  He tried to order his thoughts. Where would she expect to find Rico? She couldn’t very well drive around the seedier streets of Southern California asking for the man.

  He tried her cell again. No answer.

  He called for Dev, who came instantly.

  “I have to go find her,” he said, after filling Dev in. “Taking your bike.”

  “Orders?”

  “Stay here with Tracy.”

  Dev didn’t like it. Marco read that in his face. But there was no one else. “If something goes wrong, call in Lon and get Tracy out.”

  Dev gave him a thumbs-up. “Watch your back, Chief.”

  He hadn’t felt fear before in the way he did at that moment and it nearly paralyzed him. “Not the spirit of fear,” he hissed to himself. “That’s not from God.”

  He called the office and got Donna on the third ring.

  “I need you to ping Candace’s cell phone. I have to know where she is right now.”

  To her credit, he heard her fingers clicking on the keys before she asked the question. “What’s wrong?”

  “She’s gone to meet Rico.”

  Donna gasped. “Why would she do that?”

  Why?

  “I don’t know yet. Do you have the location?”

  “Got it,” she said, giving him an address a mile from the Iron Works Gym. “Should I call the police?”

  If Rico got a whiff of cops, even the suspicion that Candace was leading the police to his location, she’d be dead. He gripped the phone in a stranglehold.

  “Negative.”

  “Marco...” Donna said.

  “Can’t talk anymore. Gotta go.”

  He clicked off and gunned the motorcycle to life, praying he wouldn’t be too late.

  * * *

  Candace sat in the shade of a tattered sidewalk umbrella outside a deli advertising the world’s largest pastrami sandwich. She kept her back to the storefront, eyeing the flux of customers crowding in and out, enjoying fat sandwiches filled with meat and all the fixings. Cigarette butts littered the cement, and she tried not to breathe in the smoke from the cluster of men leaning on the brick wall a few feet away. Were they Rico’s guys? They seemed uninterested in her. She’d made herself as inconspicuous as possible, dressed in jeans and a faded T-shirt, her hair captured more or less in a messy ponytail.

  Before she’d sneaked out of the beach house,
she’d thought and prayed long and hard about whether it was the right thing to do. She knew in the deepest part of her heart that her family’s only chance at safety would be for her to obey Rico’s summons, meet with him face-to-face and convince him she’d given up. It was what his ego demanded—her utter defeat and surrender. But the other possible scenario was that the whole meeting was a trap and she was about to be killed. She blinked away the memories of the texted pictures.

  Her family.

  Her life.

  Her decision, for better or worse. Further, she understood that Marco would not be able to stand by and let her do it.

  A heavyset man wearing a blue bandanna bumped her table.

  She straightened, one hand in her purse on the trigger of her pepper spray. The stuff would be a paltry defense if Rico had his people drive by and gun her down like they had the boy at the gas station. The heavyset man mumbled an apology and moved on.

  She recalled Kevin Tooley’s face, his mouth tight and twisted with hatred. He would go free, free to kill again, to murder someone else’s child. Worse yet, he would revel in the knowledge that his gang had triumphed over the justice system. Pack justice had prevailed. It galled her.

  Marco was wrong. The good guys didn’t always win.

  A familiar blonde woman dropped into the chair next to her, sporting the same heavy eye makeup and hostile look she’d had in the ladies’ room at the courthouse. Candace gripped the pepper spray again.

  “Where’s Rico?” she asked.

  The blonde surveyed the customers slowly before she answered. “Across the street at the park. You’re going to go there.”

  “We were supposed to meet here.”

  She flicked an impatient hand. “You go where he tells you if you want to talk to him.”

  “Why not here?”

  She eyed the patrons nearby under the pretense of fixing her hair. “A man like him has enemies.”

  “I read that Rico’s been moving in on another gang’s territory. Is he worried about retaliation?”

  Her eyes narrowed to slits. “That’s not your business.”

  “It is, if you’re expecting trouble.”