by JA Huss
More knocking.
Yes. I do need to leave. Right the hell now. Because the devil on the other side of that door is the whole reason I had to go into the witness protection program in the first place.
Vann helps me through the window and my second-hand sneakers sink into ten inches of fresh snow. Cold wetness surrounds my ankles as we stumble over to the fire escape and start running down the stairs. Vann’s truck is parked in the alley, idling. He pulls me over to it, nervously glancing past my shoulder at the corner of the building. Like the devil might be following us.
Vann opens the passenger door, shoves me inside, closes it up, and then runs around the front of the truck—nearly slipping on some ice—and then gets in next to me. He jams the truck in drive, and the massive tires grip the deep snow the way they were meant to, and we lurch forward.
“You wanna tell me who he is? Starting with a name?”
“Diablo,” I whisper. Almost afraid to say his name out loud for fear of conjuring him up after two years of peace. “I testified against him. Obviously, didn’t work out.”
Both of us are silent as we turn out of the alley and make our way across College Avenue. I assume we’re going to his house, but he makes a right and doubles back towards College. “What are you doing? Where are we going?”
“I can’t leave Belinda in the shop. He could be here for her too.”
“What? Why—”
But Vann shoots me a look that has my mind spinning.
“Oh, my God. He saw her, Vann. Belinda just called me and said some devil tattoo guy was looking for me. He saw her. This is all my fault. Everything is fucked!”
I lean back in my seat and start biting my thumbnail, running through all the ways my life just went sideways. Staring out the window at the thick sheets of snow falling from the sky. People are starting to get stuck. We spot several cars in ditches as we go around the block and pull up in front of Sick Boyz Ink.
“Wait here,” Vann says. Then he’s out of the truck and going inside the shop. You can’t really see inside. They have the windows blacked up with semi-opaque paint. But you can see shadows. And I recognize Belinda’s as Vann’s shadow meets her on the other side of the counter. There’s a lot of hand gestures and arm-waving. But then Vann’s shadow is pulling Belinda’s shadow across the front of the shop.
She emerges into the storm clutching her leather jacket and purse to her chest, eyes wide and looking around. She finds mine as I stare at her, and then she’s rushing towards the truck, pulling the door to the back cab open and slipping inside with a gush of freezing air. “What the fuck is happening? I’m confused, you guys! And this is scaring me.”
I turn in my seat and look at her. If what Vann said at dinner is true, then… she’s on the run as well. “Belinda. I’m so, so sorry.”
Vann is inside too, already putting the truck in drive, and then he pulls out onto College Avenue. “Listen, you guys. We’re gonna go to my house and make a plan. We’ll figure it out. I don’t know if you’ve been outed, Belinda. But we can’t take any chances.”
I’m looking her in the eyes when Vann says this. I see her confusion. Then her understanding. “You too?”
I nod. “Me too. I didn’t know about you until tonight at dinner. Vann told me.”
“How the fuck did you know?” Belinda’s voice is slightly shaky.
“I’ve seen a lot in my short life, Belinda. My family… my sister… my brother-in-law… his friends.” He shrugs, clearly having trouble finding a starting point to answer her question. “Just trust me. This town isn’t what you think. And neither are the people who live in it. We’re gonna go to my house, figure out a plan, and then… I don’t know. We’ll tell my brothers, I guess. And they’ll probably tell my sister and she’ll get the team involved.”
“Oh, my God! Your brothers! You didn’t even tell them I was leaving!” Belinda protests. “We have six people in the waiting room. I’m gonna get fired!”
Vann shakes his head and huffs in an incredulous way. “Belinda. Come on. You don’t work at Sick Boyz anymore. It’s over.”
“What? Why?”
“Oh, my God.” I face forward and slide down into my seat. “This is all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault,” Vann says. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Someone told him you were here. We have a mole problem, it’s that simple.”
“Wait,” Belinda says. “How serious is this? I mean…” She grabs my seat back and leans forward. “Who’s here looking for you, Tara?”
“Diablo.” I whisper his name, still afraid of conjuring him even though he’s already here. “The guy with the devil tattoos who came looking for me. I testified against him back in Long Beach but… he got off. That’s why I moved here two years ago. I’m so sorry for lying to you, Belinda.”
She places a hand on my shoulder and gives it a squeeze. “Hey. It’s not your fault people are assholes. I’m here for the same fucking reason.”
I’m just about to ask more questions about her situation when my phone rings in my purse.
“Don’t answer it,” Vann says. “It could be him.”
“It’s not Diablo.” I sigh. “It’s Lonnie.”
“Do not answer it,” Vann reiterates. “We need to get rid of your phone so we can’t be tracked. Turn it off for now. If we plan it right, we can use it to our advantage once we leave town.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not answering any more of Lonnie’s calls. Wait—did you just say leave town?”
“We have to go somewhere, don’t we? We can’t stay here.”
Belinda leans forward so her face is right next to mine. “How come you’re not answering Lonnie’s calls, Tare?”
“Because he lied to me, Belinda. About everything.” Then I lean to the side a little to see past her. Fix my eyes on Vann Vaughn. “Why are you leaving town, Vann? You’re not involved in this.”
“Hold on.” Belinda holds up her hand. “He lied to you?”
I know Belinda well enough to recognize her bitch-you-will-not-change-the-subject voice. Even if we are on the run from the actual fucking devil. I reposition myself in the seat so I’m leaning against the door so I look her in the eyes when I admit my mistakes. “You were right about him, Belinda. He’s not an accountant. He’s a fucking fisherman from Key West. Fisherman! Can you believe that? Like who the fuck fishes for a living? Have you ever in your life met a fisherman?”
Belinda stares at me and blinks. “Well. Actually… I’m sorry. Where was he from again?”
“Key West. And here is the best part. Are you ready for this? After all that fuss I made about never dating guys with ink, I find out his whole fucking body is covered in mermaid tattoos. He showed me this! Just before Vann grabbed me and Diablo came knocking on my door. Mermaid tattoos, Belinda! I mean… I just…” I shake my head, then stop. Because that small motion is making me dizzy and I feel a headache coming on.
Belinda clears her throat in my ensuing silence. “OK. So… a fisherman? From Key West? With mermaid tattoos?”
“I know, right?” I huff out some air as I massage my temple. Vann pulls his truck into the alley behind the run-down mansion he calls home. “He’s the exact opposite of everything I’m looking for.”
Vann parks behind the house, but doesn’t turn the truck off. He just looks at Belinda and me.
“What?” we both say at the same time.
Vann looks right past Belinda and his eyes lock with mine. “Key West, huh?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You like this guy?”
“I did. Not anymore?”
“Why? Because he’s got ink?”
“In my experience, Vann Vaughn, men with ink like that are typically up to something wicked.”
“Ink like mine?” His eyes dart to Belinda’s.
She holds her hands up. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ve got nothing against men with ink.”
“Then what is your problem, Belinda?”
She leans
back into her seat. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Vann looks over his shoulder at her. “Forget it.” His eyes find mine again. “We have to go somewhere. And Key West is as good a place as any until we can figure out what to do.”
“Whoa. Whoa.” Belinda leans forward again. “We don’t have to go anywhere. We have a local FBI contact to call.”
“Belinda.” Vann’s voice is stern and low. Like he’s losing patience with her. “You can’t call the FBI. You can’t trust them. How do you think this Diablo guy found Tara in the first place? They’re dirty.”
She sneers at him. “Then why did it take him two freaking years to find her, huh? If he’s so fucking smart and well-connected he should’ve been here a long time ago.”
“Look, I don’t have time to explain the entire Fort Collins FBI backstory right now. But trust me on this.” Vann looks at me for this part. “If you call them, all of this is out of your control. If you let me handle this, we do it your way, Tara.”
“What’s her way?” Belinda snaps. There’s a lot of tension between these two right now. Something to ask about later when Belinda and I are alone. If we don’t get caught by Diablo first.
Vann doesn’t answer her. He just stares at me. “Did you like him?”
“Lonnie?” I sigh and stare out the window. It’s snowing so hard right now, Diablo could be ten feet in front of us and we wouldn’t be able to see him. Plus side—he wouldn’t be able to see us, either. And unless he’s got some kind of souped-up Jeep or truck like Vann’s, he’s not going to be able to follow us right now. So I allow myself a moment to think about Vann’s question. “Yeah. I liked him. I’m so fucking disappointed that he lied.”
“Oh, my God,” Belinda moans. “Just forget about stupid Lonnie, OK? Vann’s trying to talk you into going to Key West, Tara. And we are not going to Key West. Ever.”
“I’m sorry,” Vann says. “Do you have some kind of personal problem with Key West, Belinda?”
“What? No. You’re trying to talk her into outing her catfisher. Nothing about that is a good idea.”
Vann starts to protest but I’m still replaying Belinda’s words back in my head so I tune him out. I tune them both out.
Outing. My. Catfisher.
Hmm.
There’s a plan.
I have to agree with Belinda. It’s probably a very bad idea. Online dating isn’t like real-life dating. People lie all the time. It’s practically part of the game. And when you catch them in the lie you might send a snarky text or some kind of screenshot proof if you’re really invested in exposing said lie. But you do not, under any circumstances, go hunt that person down and confront them in person. I don’t care that there’s a TV show out there trying to normalize that kind of behavior. It’s just… going too far.
But Lonnie and I… we really weren’t an online thing. We were much more than that.
Much more.
Two freaking years! That’s not nothing.
And do I really need to state the obvious?
OK, I will. I might not be licensed anymore, but I’m still an investigator. Hunting down people who do not want to be found is what I do.
I would like to confront him. Face to face. I want him to admit to all his lies. I want him to see me in person and I want to look him in the eyes when he realizes he fucked up.
He could’ve had me. We could’ve been a thing.
He had no right to lie to me like that.
CHAPTER ELEVEN - ALONZO
Something is wrong with me.
I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s like… I’m short of breath. Or hungry. Or maybe I’ve got allergies or I’m coming down with something. I’m not sure. All I know is that something is wrong with me.
I couldn’t sleep last night after Tara hung up on me.
I should not have exposed myself to her that way. Or… I should’ve thought it through better. Made a plan. You don’t just blurt out that you’re a fucking liar after two years of lying. What was I thinking? I want to take it back. Just go back in time and forget about my desire to have more. I don’t get more. I thought I had come to terms with that.
But it’s easy to forget when you’re satisfied and safe. So very easy to forget the danger of the past when the present seems so safe.
And that’s what this is all about. I became satisfied. I got too comfortable. Maybe even a little cocky. I forgot that my family’s future depends on my ability to keep our secrets safe.
How does Tony deal with this? Why didn’t I talk to him first? He and I are in the same boat. Often literally. Like… that sentence could not be more literal.
I walk outside on the porch of my cottage and look up at the cottage roofs along the street, trying to see if Tony and Luke are still working on them. But the only person I see is Jesse fucking Boston staring back at me from Emma’s porch across the street.
He raises a tentative hand. “I didn’t drown!”
“I didn’t think you would. You were thirty fucking feet from a yacht. By the way, does my sister know that you’re down here consorting with naked girls?”
He points a finger at me. “Those girls were for you. I only have eyes for Emma. And if you tell her otherwise—”
He’ll what? I wait to see what he says.
I don’t really think he was fucking around with those women. I mean I hassle the guy a lot. And I seriously don’t like him, or his brothers. I think they are shady as fuck. He could say something like, “I’ll let you sort that out with my sociopath brother, Johnny,” and I would think twice about shit-talking him to Emma.
But he says nothing. Just skips down the steps of the porch and starts heading across the street. “Look, Alonzo.” He pans his hands wide as he talks. “I get why you don’t like me.” He stops at the bottom of my front walkway and stares up at me. “I married your baby sister, I’m probably not the kind of man you would’ve picked for her, and I have a long history of being a douchebag, drugged-up loser. But I’m clean now. I’ve been clean for almost six years. I’m not the same guy I was. I love her. OK? I love her. Married her five times in Vegas. It was the best day of my life. I would not, I will not, I won’t even think about doing anything to hurt her or fuck up this good thing I’ve got going. She is my life. Can’t you just… please cut me a break? I’m only here to help you.”
“Help me do what?”
“You know.” He shrugs. “Find that special someone. So you can feel as happy and satisfied as I do.” He smiles. And I do have to admit. Humble Jesse Boston does have a certain charm to him.
“I have a girlfriend, Jesse. I don’t need, or want, your dating advice, OK? So whatever this is really about? Just let it go. In fact, you should just go home.”
“Home?”
“Your fucking Bossy Building. Don’t you have friends there?”
He looks down the street towards Luke and Zach’s cottage, then looks back at me. “Nah. Zach is pretty much my only buddy. And he’s down here now. Joey and I have never been close. And now he’s a dad, and he’s got three lovers. I don’t have anything in common with him. Johnny… well, baby on the way. Strange, new, almost-sister-in-law living up in our lake house. I don’t understand him. I don’t know what he’s doing or what the story is behind all the things that happened to us when we were kids. And maybe I don’t really want to know? I’m not sure. But…” He looks over his shoulder in the direction of the ocean. “This place, Alonzo? This island, this beach, this water. This is my jam.”
He grins. Then gets serious again. “I have more in common with you and your family than I do my own. I like it here. I like you. I like your brothers, and your dad, and your sassy little mom. I like this street and our tiny little cottage. And family dinners. Every day I wake up and think… I should buy a yacht. Just dock it down here so I have a home base. Then I could come and go as I please and have everything I ever wanted. But then I think… if I buy my own yacht, get my own home base, then I’ll miss out on all the cool shi
t those Dumas people get up to. I’ll never have to beg Luke to take his trimaran out. I’ll never have to sweet-talk you into liking me. I’ll lose a whole bunch of chances to get bossed around by your mom. And I like that stuff. I just like it, Alonzo. Everyone thinks I’m so lucky. So privileged. So perfect. But I never had half of what you have, and this kind of life? Filled with family, and love, and traditions, and loyalty? This is all I’ve ever wanted. But if you really want me to go home…” He sighs. “I will, I guess. I won’t come back without Emma.”
Well, now I kinda feel like a dick.
“I just want to be on your team, Lonz. That’s all. I swear to God, I’m not here to fuck things up.”
I suck in a deep breath and exhale loudly. “We’re not really in the market for a new team member, Jesse.”
He frowns, then nods. “All right.”
“But…”
He smiles. Just a little.
“But I could actually use some advice about this girl I like.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I think I fucked shit up last night and I tried to call her this morning when I woke up and she didn’t take my call.”
He walks up my front path and stops at the bottom of my porch. “What did you do?”
“I… I told her some truth.”
“Ah. Yeah. I’ve been there. The first time I took Emma up into the Bossy… well, it didn’t quite go the way I planned. And that was my big ‘truth’ moment.” He makes air quotes for the word truth. “Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my fam? They are not normal.”
“It’s pretty hard not to notice that.”
“Yeah. That Bossy Building doesn’t help make my case for normalcy, either. It’s a giant shit show of what-the-fuck everywhere you turn.”
“What did Emma do? When you took her up there for the first time?”
He thinks about this for a moment. Then locks eyes with me. “She looked at me like I was a freak. And… I am a freak. My people are just one long freak family tree.”
