José looked down at the phone in his hand. Then he made a call.
His wife picked up on the second ring. “Hey you, are you on your way—”
“I’m okay.” His voice got so rough it all but dried up. “I’m okay. It’s all okay.”
“José? What happened. Oh, God—”
“I’m all right.” He closed his eyes and covered his face, even though there was no one around to see him get emotional. “I love you.”
“Where are you—”
“I’m at Stan’s house.”
“Oh, good, you’ll be safe there.”
José took a deep breath. “Listen, we’re going for two weeks. Our vacation is gonna be two weeks, okay?”
“Yes,” she said gently. Like she knew he was cracked wide open and would find out the details later. “Hey, have you called Treyvon?”
“No. Not yet. Why?”
“I’m just gonna call Treyvon. I’m going to put you on hold—”
“Backup’s coming. I just . . . needed to hear your voice. ’Cuz you’re my wife . . . and when the world makes no sense to me, you’re the one I want to call.”
“I love you so much.” She sniffled, and he pictured her snapping a tissue out of a box. “You come home when you can.”
“I will.”
They hung up and he let his hand fall into his lap. Then he just breathed. In and out. In and out. In and out— The phone rang again and he answered without looking. “I swear, I’m okay.” When his wife’s voice didn’t come back to him, he frowned. “Hello?”
There was a pause. And then a woman said, “Detective de la Cruz?”
He straightened. “Yes?”
“I think you know who this is.”
“Rio?” He shouldn’t use her name, but her threat . . . was gone now. Or at least half of it was. “Where are you—the shit’s hitting the fan—”
“I’m safe. I just need you to know that Mozart is Stephan Fontaine.”
José closed his eyes. “I know, I know—I have proof. You were right to tell me to go to your house. Leon Roberts sent you pictures of Stephan Fontaine meeting with a source inside the department. That source gave up your name to him and made you a target. Leon had been following leads as part of an internal affairs investigation that was top secret, and he was killed . . . for his courage.”
“Thank God you believe me.” The woman exhaled long and slow. “But there’s another piece. There was just a break-in at Fontaine’s house. His caretaker was overpowered and Stephan was gravely injured in an attack pursuant to the home invasion. He is alive, however. I just want to make sure that he’s taken into custody and that all my reports are used to charge him. He needs to be behind bars for the rest of his life.”
José lowered his voice. “Are you injured?”
“No.”
“Be honest.”
“Nothing a bandage around my knuckles won’t handle.”
He chuckled. “Good for you.”
“I’m not coming back.”
“To the CPD? Or at all.”
There was a long pause. “I need a fresh start. It’s been . . . too long. Too much.”
José closed his eyes again. “Yes, it has been.”
“Thank you for warning me.”
“Thank you for your service. And I just want to say . . .” Off in the distance, he heard the familiar sound of sirens closing in—and wondered how long it was going to take before he didn’t feel like they were something he had to get involved in. “Take care of yourself, Officer, and happy retirement.”
“Listen, don’t tell anyone you spoke to me. I think it’s best that I just . . . remain an unsolved case.”
“Okay. I can do that.”
“Thanks. Bye.”
“Goodbye.”
He ended the call just as the first of the squad cars came screaming down the country-ish road, heading for him.
And for Stan, who had retired in a fashion as well.
Rio ended the call and looked over the lip of the quarry. It was a helluva spot, this set of cliffs and the huge pool below, especially with the twinkling of downtown off on the horizon. After a moment, she hauled back and slung the phone into the water that was so far down the drop.
Then she turned and faced . . . the man/male/wolf/vampire who had gotten her off that mansion’s property and safely out here, away from prying eyes.
Luke was leaning back against the Monte Carlo, his arms crossed, his eyes on her. He was so still, and magnificent, and . . .
As she started to walk over to him, he straightened. But he didn’t smile.
“You reach him okay?” Luke asked.
“Detective de la Cruz has everything they need. It’s all going to come out, everything that Mozart was and did is going to land on his head. A man lost his life to get that information to me, and to try to save my life. The department will honor him by prosecuting that asshole.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah, it’s everything I wanted. So I can say goodbye. You know, say goodbye and be at peace with it all.”
Luke nodded and rubbed his hands together. “All right, then. I guess this is it. I, ah, I’d say see you later, but—”
“I meant goodbye to Caldwell and my life there.”
“Oh. So you’re going to disappear, go underground. Do you have enough money? I mean, not that you need my help—”
“Well, see, I thought you might need mine.”
He blinked. “I’m sorry?”
Rio walked around in a little circle. “I thought a lot about things while we were driving down from Walters. And also, as we came out here just now.”
“I figured you were silent because you were scared of me.”
“Scared of you?” She stopped in front of him. “How could I be scared of you? You’ve saved my life three times. And you’re . . .”
“A monster, right?”
Rio reached up and put her hand to his face. “A mystery. Never a monster.”
Luke closed his eyes as if her touch was both the most painful thing he’d ever felt and the most soothing. “Rio . . .”
“Yes, I thought maybe, since you helped me, I could help you.”