They had survived Machete.
But the Wolf was still out there, and he had to be thinking of revenge. One way or another, they’d cost him six of his men, four in custody and two dead, not to mention he still didn’t have the treasure.
“We’ll dig up the yard,” she said. “And worry about fixing it afterward.”
They stayed at the hospital well into the night.
Katie led the ghost tour again—with Liam and David watching over her.
Dallas and Hannah kept tabs on Kelsey while Logan went to eat something, and then they grabbed a meal there themselves. To Hannah’s surprise, the food tasted delicious.
Because I’m alive to eat it, she thought.
They didn’t return to her house that night. The hospital was in Marathon, and they just didn’t feel like making the long drive back.
They took a little room at a mom-and-pop motel just a few blocks away on the beach. Their room opened out to the sand. Hannah asked Dallas if they could just walk out and sit by the ocean. She lay back and felt the dampness of the sand against her, relaxed at the sound of the water washing onto the shore. The sky above her was beautiful, a perfect Keys night sky, shrouding the world in black velvet and shining stars.
“It’s hard to believe Jose and Yerby didn’t show up for any of this,” she murmured.
“I doubt we’ll see them tonight,” he told her. “They don’t know where we are.”
She smiled. “That’s a little sad, isn’t it? They’re ghosts, but they don’t get to be omniscient.”
“No,” he agreed. “If so, Hagen and Melody would have known that Bentley was out there watching.”
“Just bad timing, I guess,” she said.
“They were there when we needed them today,” he said. “Logan and I had our entrances planned, but thanks to Hagen I knew what was happening when I made it from the widow’s walk into the attic.”
“They are wonderful, aren’t they? They don’t have the ability to fight physically, but they make their presence known.”
It was beautiful by the water, but with his arm around her, she found herself wanting more.
“Let’s go in,” she said.
She hit the shower first; she couldn’t wait to wash away the feel of the day.
He joined her. She felt the thrill of his body, hot, steaming and naked against her own.
She turned into his arms and kissed him. They left the shower, damp, glowing, and then they made love, touching, kissing, as if they were enjoying a feast of passion.
Afterward they lay in bed, listening to the sound of the surf.
She turned to him then and asked, “Do you want to talk?”
“What do you want to know?”
“About your friend, your coworker. The one who was killed.”
She could just see his face in the moonlight streaming in. There was pain in his expression, but acceptance, too.
“We really were friends, best friends. And her death came close to wrecking me.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I am, too. One day we wouldn’t have had the benefits anymore. She would have found the right guy for her. She would have been a great mother. She deserved that.” After a long silence, he spoke again. “What about your past?” He touched her hair.
“Nothing dramatic,” she told him. “Just...not the right guy. I don’t know what else to say.”
“What you’ve said is enough,” he said.
She kissed him, and they made love again.
It was good.
*
In the morning, they collected Kelsey and Logan from the hospital. But they didn’t head right home.
They went to the morgue. There was a body they needed to see.
Hannah couldn’t help but pray that they hadn’t found Jose’s sister.
17
Dallas stood looking down at the body in the morgue.
Every member of law enforcement the world over, he was certain, hated a floater.
Water creatures nibbled on the flesh. Most of the time the body had been intentionally sunk, and it was the gases forming in the body during putrefaction that caused it to rise. Decay never had a pleasant smell, and the human body was no different than any other, but the stink of a floater was something much worse.
He had a mask over his nose and mouth, and spoke through it when he looked over at Dirk and asked, “You really think we might be able to recognize her?”
“I’m hoping. My cabinets are filling up, guys,” Dirk said. “I’ll release Yerby Catalano soon, and I’d be happy to release Jose Rodriguez, too, except his only next of kin is his sister, and...”
“And this may be her,” Logan muttered.
Despite the grayish hue of the corpse’s bloated flesh, Logan had laid a hand on her, and Dallas intended to do the same. Every once in a rare while, it was possible to make contact with the deceased that way.