Chapter 9
“You’re sure.”
“I’ll explain what’s going on in person.”
He met Acer and Cap at the Lucky Parrot within eight minutes of his call.
“Shana was gone when I got home. I called the Gables and Penny is gone too. I have no idea what they’re up to.”
“Shit,” Acer said.
“I’m not worried.” Dane lied.
Acer nodded. “She can take care of herself.”
Mary Lu brought them their regular round of drinks without being asked.
“Maybe we ought to call someone high up at ATF, share our intel with the governor and see what he can do.” Cap held his beer mug in a tight grip.
“We have exactly nothing. Del can explain it all away.” Dane wanted no part of ATF. He wanted to personally handle Delbert Parrish. Cap knew this, of course.
“Now that you gave him our evidence and a story.” Cap folded his arms.
“That was a brilliant outmaneuvering you just witnessed.”
“I’m calling Peter.”
“Give the governor a hypothetical and see what he says. Don’t tell him what I’m up to and do not commit to anything.”
“Why do you seem to think I work for you?”
“You don’t. But we’re on the same team.”
“Speaking of the team, what about Shana?”
“I’ll take care of her.”
That thought dumped an icy splash of trepidation on his spark of adrenaline. The internal cymbal clashing came to a halt.
“She’s key in this,” Acer said. “We’ll need her to convince Penny to set up her own brother.”
“You don’t think I can do it?”
“Why complicate things? Between you and Shana I mean.”
“Listen to this. Acer giving relationship advice.”
*****
After Penny took her on a short tour of the swanky condo, including the office with the conspicuously missing computers, Shana excused herself to make a call.
“You’re calling Dane.” Penny gave her one of those resigned looks, the kind other women gave her when they conceded that their longing for Dane Blaise would remain on the never-gonna-happen wish list.
Shana nodded. “It won’t take long.” She closed the door to the guest room and surveyed the space.
On the off chance Del had listening devices installed, she went into the adjoining bathroom and turned on the shower.
Then she slipped the burner phone from her bag and pressed in his number with what felt like a small bird fluttering around in her gut. This was ridiculous.
She listened to his phone ring. Three times. She stopped breathing when it rang a fourth time. Then the line clicked to life.
“Shana?”
“I’m with Penny at her condo in Boston. They had a vault—she and Harvey—at the Boston Savings Bank. We’re going to take a look first thing in the morning.”
Silence followed for a beat.
“Don’t be disappointed if Del’s already been there. He must know about the vault. He has all Harvey’s records from the office.”
“But Penny has the key. She swore she’d never given one to Del. Harvey had refused to let her.”
“Is she going to keep it from Del? Whatever you find—will she tell him?”
“I don’t know. She went along with not telling him about coming here.”
“We need her to cooperate. With us.”
“You want to turn her?” She wasn’t surprised. She’d had the same thought.
“Yes. Can you do it?”
She licked her lips. Turning a sister against her brother wasn’t her idea of a fun time. She liked Penny Lake. But then again, she despised Delbert Parrish.
“Yes.”
Another beat of silence passed.
“I couldn’t call to tell you—”
“I know.”
She barely heard him. She felt his coolness edging to that panicked cold, the freezing out that she needed to avoid.
“You still with me?” she whispered, fighting the web of desperation.
“That’s my line.”
She sensed the impending crack in his voice, in his soul, and pleaded with the gods to let him be whole.
“It was business, Dane. I left for business. Only business. Grant me that. We’re okay. We’re still on.” Forever. She couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud. Not yet. The point of no return was a test away. Maybe this was the test. Maybe it would be the next one. She would feel it.
Right now, all she felt was the adrenaline of desperation, wiring her up.
She would never be able to sleep tonight.
Dane wouldn’t be in her bed, in her arms. And she would worry that he would be an icy ghost again when she returned to him.
Silence stretched across the small patch of ocean that separated Martha’s Vineyard from the mainland as if there were a time zone difference, as if there were a delay while the sound had to travel from his lips to her ears. She shivered.
“I know. My heart is still catching up to my brain.” He paused again his voice less chilled. “I’m still with you.” Another tortured pause. “Always.”
She felt the cost of those words crackling through space like a lightning strike. Her heart ballooned and beat too hard for good health, but she didn’t care. She held onto the phone as if it were a life raft, held it to her ear as if tearing it away would tear her apart.
“I love you, Dane.” Always. Not yet. She couldn’t say the damn word yet.
“I know.” He ended the call.
She held the phone next to her ear as if waiting for all the residual energy from his voice, from his being, had stopped draining and funneling toward her through space, until the phone was truly an inanimate object and no longer a stand-in for her lifeline, for the man who was the soul of her life.
She wandered from the bathroom and sat on the end of the bed, still holding the phone.
“You okay?” Penny stood in the doorway with her giant overly made-up eyes holding worry, like a fond aunt.
“Question of a lifetime.”
With her gut twisting like a crazy pretzel, Shana didn’t bother smiling or trying to reassure Penny.
She wasn’t worried about Dane now. She was worried about herself. She felt like vomiting. What the hell was wrong with her? Maybe Dane had been right to keep his distance all this time.
Until now.