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"Looks like Dekes and his ht," Bria said

"Or ht to the source," I replied "Where’s Callie’s house? Does she live alone?"

"No, she’s not alone She’s already moved in with Donovan Callie said that she didn’t want to try toat the sa ed with old, familiar, bitter hurts, but I kept h with Donovan tonight, but we’ll drive by there anyway and make sure Dekes probably sent his men after us to show Callie exactly ould happen to her if she doesn’t sell out to him Bodies tend to ht she needed soement besides Stu Alexander We’ll come back out to the restaurant tomorrow and talk to Callie about what to do next, about hoe can stop Dekes for good"

Bria shook her head "What you reallyto puh to Dekes to kill him I don’t knohy it surprises me anymore, but it still does"

I stared at her "Dekes sent his ht, just because we dared to stand up to his goons That’s plenty enough reason for me to kill him, but what makes you think that he won’t do the sao at her We’re just her than they looked Callie is the one that Dekes really needs to get rid of in order to build his seaside casino People are , and it sounds like the vah into his project He’s not going to let one woman stand in the way of it, no et If Dekes is the kind of ly - revels in it, even, like a hog in slop"

Bria didn’t like it, but she couldn’t argue with one into the shady side of life as I was, but she’d seen her share of bad things as a cop, and she’d dealt with a lot of scu back to Ashland

"Fine," sheand talk to Callie like I planned But that’s hours away So what do you want to do after we check on Callie’s house? If you’re right, Dekes can track us to any hotel that we ht stay at here on the island, and I don’t think you want to ask Donovan if you can sleep on his couch"

"One step ahead of you, baby sister One step ahead" I pulled h the screens until I found what I was looking for "Do you knohere 213 Mockingbird Drive is?"

"Yeah Why?"

"Because that’s where we’re going to stay tonight," I said "I took the precaution of renting a beach house under another name just in case we ran into trouble down here"

Bria shook her head "You can’t do anything like a noro on vacation for one measly weekend"

The cold reproach in her voice made me shift inwith that"

Bria snorted, but shelot and headed back the e’d coiven my sister Donovan’s address before we’d left the Sea Breeze earlier tonight, and we pulled up to the detective’s house a few ray brick with a wide, flat yard surrounded by a ray wooden fence It was an anonyhts were on inside the house A few televisions flickered through the s of so else was dark and quiet Dekes’s men hadn’t come here, whichinside his house - and probably in bed together for the night

Even though there was nothing particularly special about it, I couldn’t quit staring at the detective’s house It was a perfect, modest home and just the sort of place that I could see Donovan settling down and being happy in Kissing his wife good-bye in thethe yard on Saturdays, playing football with the kids on Sundays Yes, that’s exactly the kind of life I could picture the detective having - with Callie

"Well, you were right," Bria murmured "Dekes sent his men after us instead of them Do you wanton?"

"Nah It looks like they’re asleep for the night," I said, my voice thick and husky with eht now "Let’s not wake them There will be plenty of time to talk toht, I couldn’t help but look back a final time before we turned onto the ht

We passed the Blue Sands hotel again with its glearounds Bria kept right on going, steering the car all the way to the other side of the island before eventually veering onto a wide, sh the houses were so large and spaced so far apart that subdivision didn’t adequately describe the upscale community

A few minutes later, we came to the end of the road and stopped in front of a three-story beach house that was half a bird Drive," Bria said

"Wait here," I told her, and got out of the car

I’d rented the beach house a few days ago under the naed to have it stocked with some staple foods, fresh linens, and all the other essentials that so weekend at the beach Given howfor me back in Ashland, it hadn’t been out of the realht follow me to Blue Marsh, and I’d wanted a safe house to retreat to in case that happened

The key was right where the realtor had e-ray stone statue shaped like a lighthouse that perched on the front porch An obvious hiding place, if you askedto be too critical, not after everything that had happened tonight Even if I hadn’t been able to find the key, all I would have had to do to get inside was use ic to create a couple of Ice picks and jimmy one of the locks

I used the key to open the front door and slipped inside the beach house I walked through the interior, a silverstone knife in either hand, and peered into all the roo was clean and spotless, just as the realtor had proht, but I still tookht switches and furniture and taking the time to trace more spiral protection runes into the various stone walls that h the door that led to the three-car garage, crossed the concrete, and opened the outer door so Bria could drive the convertible inside, where it would be hidden fro out of the car

"Noe go inside, get cleaned up, and get so day" I looked at the ruined convertible "And one of us needs to call Finn and explain what happened to his car"

Bria gave htly evil s sister"

We turned on a fe lights and hauled our suitcases inside The beach house was equipped with a stone fireplace in the h the kitchen drawers until I found a pack of ain, the added heat wasn’t really rabbed the plastic bag of bloody rags and the e with a few pieces of newspaper and kindling from a nearby brass basket Bria went into the back of the house to take a shower, and I sat there on one of the couches and watched the evidence of my latest crime crackle and burn while I dialed Finn

"Hello, sexy I knew that you couldn’t get through the night without htly sleepy voice filled ?"

I rolled my eyes Apparently, my foster brother hadn’t bothered to check his caller ID before he’d picked up the phone I wondered if this was how he answered all his late-night calls, or if he’d actually been expecting to hear from Bria I really hoped it was the second one