Dawn Patrol - Don Winslow [103]
So it was no setup, Boone thinks, at least not on Tammy’s part. She was responding to a threat. Silver has the girl, whoever she is, and he was letting Tammy know that the right words had better come out of her mouth.
Boone takes the picture out and looks on the back. A child’s handwriting.
Te amo,
Luce
Well, at least we have a name now, Boone thinks. At least the kid has a name.
But who is she? Boone wonders. And why is her picture on the inside of a medicine cabinet door? Why do you hide a picture but want to be reminded of it every day? How does a stripper meet a mojada girl? And why does she care?
Think, think, he tells himself, trying to fight through the fatigue that’s smacking at him as the adrenaline drains. Tammy left Mick and went to Teddy. Why?
Go back to your cop days, he thinks. Chronology. Do the time line. Tammy leaves Mick just after the fire at Danny’s warehouse. She becomes obsessed with making money; she spends her time with Angela; she goes to Teddy.
Teddy and she start going up to Oceanside. But if they’re not having sex, what are they doing? Teddy knew right where to go to find the girl. Right down into the reeds by the old Sakagawa strawberry fields. Obviously, he’d been there before … with Tammy.
And not just once, but lots of times between the fire and … the arson trial.
At which Tammy does a 180.
If you’d seen what I’ve seen.
What, Tammy, what did you see?
109
Sunny takes a moment to watch the sun go down.
A bright red ball today, painting the sea a carmine red. Beautiful, dramatic, but somehow a little ominous. Tonight is the last night of your old life sort of thing. Indeed, the ocean’s kicking it up. Getting it into gear. She can feel it in the air, in her blood. It makes her heart pound.
She watches it for a few moments and then starts to walk to her house. Chuck wanted her to work a double, but she wants to go home and get some rest before the big day tomorrow. She’s walking home along the boardwalk when Petra catches up with her.
“Could I have a word with you?”
“Depends on the word,” Sunny says without stopping or even slowing down. Petra has to struggle to keep up with her long-legged stride.
“Please?”
“That always worked when I was a kid,” Sunny says. She stops and turns to look at Petra. “What do you want?”
Her subtext is clear to Petra: What do you want now? You already have the man I love. Sunny Day is a beautiful woman, Petra thinks, even more beautiful in the soft dusk that casts a glow on her face. Even clad in old jeans and a thick sweatshirt, and not wearing a bit of makeup, the woman is simply lovely.
“I just wanted to tell you,” Petra says, “that what you saw at Boone’s cottage wasn’t truly indicative of the reality of the situation.”
“In English?”
“Boone and I haven’t been together. Sexually.”
“Well, yippee for you, Girl Scout,” Sunny says. “But don’t let me stop you.”
She starts to walk away again.
Petra reaches out and grabs her elbow.
“If you want to keep that hand …” Sunny says.
“Oh, stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“The tough-girl act.”
“You’re going to find out it’s no act,” Sunny says, “if you don’t let go of my arm.”
Petra gives up. She drops her hand and says, “I just came to tell you something about Boone.”
She turns away. She’s a few steps down the boardwalk when she hears Sunny call after her, “Hey, flatland babe? You don’t have anything to tell me about Boone.”
“No, I suppose not,” Petra says. “My apologies.”
Sunny blows out a stream of air, then says, “Look, I’ve been slinging plates to a restaurant full of testosterone cases all day. I guess I’m a little aggro.”
“Aggravated.”
“Right,” Sunny says. “So what did you want to say about Boone?”
Petra tells her about Boone attacking Harrington.
“I’m not surprised,” Sunny says. “That’s where it all started.”
“Where what all started?”
“Boone’s …” She searches for words. “Boone going adrift, I guess.”
Petra asks, “What is his story, anyway?”
“What’s his story?”
“I mean, I don’t understand him,” Petra says. “Why he’s so … underemployed