Last Ride on the Merry-go-round

by Judith Rochelle

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  Chapter Four

  In the end they managed the separation without too much trauma, but Jen realized much of the credit went to Lisa. Jen was sitting on Jamie's bed, rocking Deanne in her lap while the little girl sobbed silently into her shoulder, body stuck to her as if with Velcro, when Lisa walked in.

  "I just came to check on things. Dino's anxious to get going."

  "Dino can be anxious all he wants,” Jen snapped, then bit back the rest of her anger. “I'm sorry. I'm just not leaving with my daughter in hysterics."

  Lisa sat down beside them and began stroking Deanne's arm, speaking to her in a low, soothing voice.

  "You know, sweetheart, it's very important for your mommy to help find the people who want to hurt you and who hurt your daddy. You want that, don't you?"

  Deanne sniffled and nodded, still clutching Jen's blouse.

  "Well, they have to go someplace else to do it, someplace where the bad people won't find you."

  "But why can't I go, too?” Deanne sobbed. “I won't be any trouble. I'll be quiet as a mouse. I promise."

  "It isn't that. Your mommy can't do what she has to if she thinks you're in danger. And this is the only safe place for you to stay."

  Lisa went on in that soft voice of hers, talking about security in terms a child Deanne's age could understand, and how it would help Jen if she could do what she had to do without having to worry.

  Ethan came to the door twice but Lisa just waved him away and kept talking. At last Deanne sat up, rubbed her cheeks with the back of her hand, and hugged her mother. “Will you call me every day?"

  "I absolutely promise. And these people will take good care of you. It will be fine, sweetie. I promise. And I've never lied to you yet, have I?"

  Except for one very big lie about your parentage.

  Deanne shook her head.

  "Okay, then.” She set her daughter on her feet. “I've got to go now. Why don't you and Jamie start a new game and you won't even realize when I leave?"

  "Kids are much more resilient than you think,” Lisa commented as they headed out the back door. “And Jamie's been through his own crisis, so he can be a big help."

  Jen studied Lisa's face, then swallowed the last of her objections. “I know I sounded ungrateful before but I really do appreciate this."

  "She'll be fine with us. Ethan will set up a schedule for her to call you regularly, using the secure satellite phones. I'll make sure she does it."

  "Time to get going, Jen.” Dino picked up the suitcase. At the chopper he passed it to Mike to stow, then handed Jen into the cabin. “We'll get it done, Ethan. You know that."

  "Thanks. Again.” The men shook hands.

  "After I get Jen settled in I'll start putting out feelers. I'll check in with you tonight and let you know how far I get."

  Mike cranked the engine and Ethan backed away from the rotor backwash. He waited until they lifted off before heading back to the house.

  While the rotors were warming up, Dino handed Jen a pair of earphones and adjusted them for her.

  "This way you can hear everything we say and everything that comes in over the radio."

  "Can other people hear us?"

  Dino shook his head. “Not unless Mike turns to their frequency. The only time you need to be quiet is when he talks to the tower for takeoff clearance."

  She listened as Mike contacted the nearest airport, filed his flight plan, and requested takeoff from his location.

  * * * *

  Once they were airborne, Jen tapped Dino on the shoulder.

  "What do you think Ethan is doing right now? Is he waiting until you call him from Key West?"

  Dino grinned. “Ethan waits for no man. He's probably on the horn with our Detroit man right this minute."

  Just then the satellite phone buzzed and he pulled off his headphones to answer the call.

  "Yeah?"

  "Me.” Ethan's gravelly voice. “I called Smiley as soon as you took off."

  Jack Smiley was someone they'd both worked with a long time ago. Dino still contacted him now and then and would have called himself if Ethan hadn't beaten him to the punch.

  "What's the deal?” From the corner of his eyes he saw Jen shift her headphones so she had one ear free to listen. Well, it was certainly her life and Deanne's involved. He'd be telling her about this later, anyway.

  "I think I shocked him.” Ethan chuckled. “He told me he thought I was dead."

  "I think a lot of people shared that thought,” Dino pointed out. “Good thing you kept in touch with me or I would have been Googling your funeral notice."

  "I told him if a lot of people had their way, I would be."

  "How's everything in Michigan? Did you tell him what you wanted?"

  Jen was now leaning slightly forward between the seats. Dino shifted his gaze to her and held up one finger.

  "Yeah, and got more than I bargained for."

  Dino kept his face carefully blank. “Oh, yeah?"

  "Funny coincidence. According to Jack this thing has been all over the media there the last couple of days. It seems Sutherland's disappearance is big news, him being the director of a very high profile museum and all."

  "What about...” Dino glanced at Jen “...anyone else?"

  "The media's been running pictures of them, too. They seem to think the whole family's just up and fallen off the radar and no one knows why.” Ethan paused a moment. “Smiley also said just in passing conversation he's heard there are feelers out for Jen and Deanne, too."

  "Ouch. Jack Smiley's never had just a ‘passing conversation’ with anyone in his life. That means the ground he keeps his ear to is shaking about this."

  "You got that right. And something else."

  "Yeah?"

  "The president of the museum board made a big deal out of Sutherland not showing up for work and sent the cops to check out the house when they couldn't rouse anybody. Maybe for real, maybe for show."

  An itchy feeling crawled up Dino's neck. “Did they find anything?” But even as he asked the question, he knew the answer.

  "Smiley said his cop friend told him it looked like a bunch of vandals had gone through it. The place was all torn up. Furniture smashed. And no sign of what happened to the wife and kid."

  "Did you tell him why you were calling him? I mean, the whole skinny?"

  "Yeah. It wouldn't do to keep him in the dark. He'd find out soon enough anyway. And if we don't give him the information he needs, he can't do what we want him to do."

  "So what did he say?"

  "Something very profound. Holy shit.” Ethan gave a rusty chuckle. “But he's on the case. I told him to send me a bill for his time and expenses."

  Dino knew, however, there would be no bill forthcoming. They all remembered a time in Thailand on an extremely black mission that had gone wrong. Smiley had about got his ass shot off and Ethan had dragged him out of the line of fire. He'd done the same for the other two men who'd been dropped from the helo with them, even though he'd been shot himself.

  "All right. I'll touch base with him after we're settled in the Keys.” He disconnected the call, turned and hunched his shoulders to make another call.

  The call was to a number he hadn't dialed in so many years he wasn't even sure it still worked but it was his only place to start. The voice that answered was hard and uninflected.

  "You must have the wrong number."

  "If you're reading from the caller ID you'd think so,” Dino replied. “I want to speak to Martin Van Dine."

  "You must have the wrong number,” the voice repeated. “There's no such person here."

  "Well, if you should happen to talk to him, please tell him Dino Brancuzzi would like to hear from him at this number."

  "I wouldn't sit around and wait for it,” the voice said before it clicked off.

  Dino shoved a hand through his hair and resettled his headphones. He only had a ten percent chance Van Dine would return
the call. He didn't even know if the man was still alive.

  Years ago he'd had to make a choice on a mission. His orders were to take out two men running a lot of money to insurgent groups in African countries. Trapped in a difficult circumstance, he'd had to let one go in order to take out the other. He'd chosen to let Van Dine make his escape. The way he looked at it, the man owed him. If anyone could dig into the black side of the antiquities market, Van Dine would be the one.

  * * * *

  Jen watched Dino carefully through both telephone calls, trying to decipher what was happening from his cryptic words. He turned his head and smiled at her, a knowing look in his eyes.

  "When we get to the house,” he told her, “I'll answer your questions. Deanne's safe, so be patient. Please."

  Anger and helplessness swirled inside her, leaving her shaken and weak. She wanted to be with Deanne, to make sure her daughter felt secure and safe. Jen had shielded her from most of the horror in that cabin, but the whole experience had to be nothing less than traumatic for her. She'd barely said a word on the long road trip. Even her tears were silent. Keeping everything bottled inside her could cause bigger problems down the line.

  But Lisa Caine had promised Deanne would be fine, and she had a way of making you believe her. That woman had certainly been a surprise. No, make that shock. Not at all the type of woman to make Ethan settle down. And who the hell had ever thought Ethan would turn out to be a family man, anyway?

  The last time she'd seen him, eight years ago, he'd been bleary-eyed and hung over, wearing a week's growth of beard and hair longer than hers. One last wild night of monkey sex and then he was gone again. She hadn't even known if he'd remember her, a sobering thought that also hurt. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and she hadn't been above using Deanne, her ace in the hole, to coerce him.

  So now here she was, about to set up housekeeping with Dino Brancuzzi in Key West. Oh, she could certainly see the point of the whole thing. It was important to have someone involved in the process who could provide them with information, no matter how little. And she was the only one who fit that description.

  Years ago when they'd all been hanging out together, Ethan had been larger than life, even at his worst, imprinting his personality on everyone and everything. Dino had been someone on the sidelines, quiet, watchful. Yet he was always the man Ethan counted on in risky situations. Age had only made him better looking, and what was with the electricity that seemed to flow between them every time they touched? Her marriage to John Sutherland had ended up being almost platonic, so sex hadn't even been a word in her vocabulary for longer than she cared to think. Now just a look from Dino, a light touch of his hand, and her body began to remember things she thought she'd forgotten. How was she supposed to handle that?

  She jumped when he reached back and tapped her arm and pointed toward the windshield.

  "We're landing,” he said through the comm system.

  Her eyes widened. “On the water?” Below her she could see the Atlantic Ocean and a strip of land that jutted out into it from the road that circled Key West.

  Dino chuckled. “No, on that gravel parking lot. That's my shop. Blackwater Charters. And that pier stretching out holds the slips that I rent out to people for their boats."

  "Where's your boat?” she asked.

  He pointed to the slip at the end of the long pier, beyond a small, somewhat ramshackle office. Jen didn't know much about boats but she knew this one was huge and expensive. Even at this distance she could see it riding high above the water, big chairs at the bow that she assumed were for fishing, and an elevated superstructure, or whatever it was called. However he really made his money, Dina Brancuzzi obviously did all right for himself.

  Mike settled the chopper easily on its skids, Dino pushed open the door and jumped out, then reached a hand up to help Jen. She wanted to smack him for being so gracious when she was in such an ugly mood, but it wasn't his fault she was in this jackpot.

  "Duck low,” he shouted, pulling her away from the wash of the rotors.

  When he had her a sufficient distance away, he hunched close to the copter again to retrieve her suitcase, then slammed the cabin door. He and Mike waved at each other and the bird lifted off, spraying fine gravel beneath the skids.

  Dino turned to Jen and flashed a smile. “Well. Want the cook's tour or would you like to get settled first?"

  "Settled,” she snorted. “Is that a euphemism for locked up?"

  He took one of her hands in his, tightening his hold on it when she would have pulled it away. His eyes were serious.

  "We can make this easy or hard, Jen. Me, I vote for easy, but I know you have issues. So why don't we go to my place, we'll crack open a couple of beers and you can get it all out of your system."

  She wondered how you stayed mad at a guy like this. Charming but not oily. Warm and sincere but not suffocating. And holy hell, even easier on the eyes than she remembered. The dark hair had a little grey salted through it. On some men his age, the ponytail might have given them the ancient hippie look, especially with the gold stud winking in one ear. But on Dino Brancuzzi it was masculine and sexy. The soft jeans and the black T-shirt with Blackwater Charters across the front fit him like a second skin.

  But it was his eyes that got her, dark chocolate with tiny flecks of gold, and the thickest lashes she'd ever seen on a man. And still clear and sharp as ever. When he smiled, his white teeth flashed and a tiny dimple winked at the left corner of his chiseled mouth. Along with the beard stubble he'd always been fighting that shadowed the warm, olive complexion, the whole image was one of a wicked adventurer.

  But the touch of his hand on hers was the first contact that let her draw a full breath since the nightmare at the cabin.

  Just as she thought. She was in big trouble here and not from some unknown killers.

  Dino gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “I didn't think that was such a hard question, Jen."

  "What?” She shook herself. Had he caught her taking visual inventory of him?

  "Home? Beer? Conversation?” He grinned. “I vote yes, so let's go."

  He tugged at her and she followed along without protest to a black SUV parked at one side of the lot. Dino tossed her suitcase in the back, settled them in the front seats, and cranked the engine.

  Jen pulled her sunglasses out of her purse, shielding her eyes from the blazing Key West sun. “Everything looks so ... white,” she commented.

  Dino chuckled. “I think the chamber of commerce decrees it that way. You might want to get a pair of wraparound glasses, especially for when we go out on the water."

  "The water?” She turned to glance at him.

  "Honey, I'm on the water every day, even when I'm not working. It's where my head hangs out.” His expression sobered. “It's also the best place to use the satellite phone. It's exactly what its name implies—a phone that gets its signals from a satellite rather than a cell tower. The system I use is what's called low earth orbit or LEO. It can give me worldwide coverage without any gaps in reception. And every phone I use as well as those of the people I connect with has a scrambler on it."

  "So people can't intercept your conversation,” she guessed.

  "You got it. That means I can make whatever calls I need to on this project without worrying who's listening in."

  She cocked her head at him. “I don't remember you saying exactly what it is you do these days."

  He grinned. “I'm sure I told you. I run a charter boat service."

  "Oh. Yeah. Right. Charter service."

  She was silent after that until they pulled into the driveway next to his cottage. To Jen it looked exactly how she expected a Key West cottage to look: right on the sidewalk with only three steps up to a wide porch, the kind her grandparents called a verandah. Two rockers sat invitingly to one side of the front door. The cottage was painted a dazzling white, the shutters and doors a soft blue. Jen wondered who had chosen the colors or if Dino did it hims
elf.

  Dino led the way up the steps to the porch, unlocked the front door, and swung it open for her to enter.

  "Mi casa es su casa, Miss LaCroix.” He waved her inside.

  "Jen will do,” she told him, following him into the house. “We're not exactly strangers, you know."

  His gaze held hers for a brief moment. “No,” he said in a soft voice. “We're not, are we?"

  Jen looked around at where she'd be staying for who knew how long. The bungalow was small but scrupulously clean. The walls were a cool cream color and the floors terra cotta tiles. Surprisingly there were plants everywhere, potted cactus mostly, but a huge schefflera sat in one corner, and an asparagus fern hung in front of one window.

  "I didn't figure you for a horticulturist,” she joked, running her fingers over the soft leaves of the fern.

  "I like to care for living things,” he said in a strange voice. “It keeps me centered.

  Did that mean he dealt with death a lot? Jen shuddered involuntarily and turned her gaze on the art hanging on the walls.

  Dino noticed where she was looking. “Local talent. I like to patronize the art shows."

  "I like it. It's...” she searched for a word, “...vivid."

  "Ah. A good word for Key West."

  The kitchen and the living room formed one big area, with a short hall breaking off at a right angle. Dino carried her suitcases through one of the doors. “It's small but clean. And the bed has an excellent mattress."

  "At least you took care of the most important thing.” She glanced around the small room. “Dino, I'm sorry to have to impose on you this way, but Ethan didn't leave either of us much choice."

  "No problem, honey. We'll get along just fine. Why don't you put your stuff away and meet me out on the porch. I'll get those beers."

  Unpacking took too few minutes. John had stuffed the bare essentials in her suitcase and that was it. She hoped Dino had a washer and dryer, or she'd have to spend some of the precious money John had left with her. She was hoarding it carefully, with no idea how long it would have to last.

  She stretched her arms and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. What kind of man was Dino Brancuzzi really? What was his story? Every man Ethan had run with had a strange tale to tell and she'd never paid much attention to any of them. She wondered at the easy way Dino accepted this arrangement, giving her his protection by sheltering her in his home. Did he do this often? Was there some woman in Dino's life right now who might resent her presence? She was sure not every female on the planet was as gracious as Lisa Caine.