“I’ve got everything lined up with Melissa for the car. We even have a lead on where it is.” The excitement on Dallas’s face was enough to make Harlan buzz with anticipation herself.

“You do?”

“Yes, there’s a guy who goes by the name Spike who registered the car in the city. Melissa reached out to him. She’s lining up the independent lab now. It’s not a fast process, like you see on the movies, but it’s promising. I’m looking forward to telling Tim.”

“You’re not worried he’s going to be pissed that you ignored his demands?”

“I don’t care. He doesn’t know what he wants. He’s been in there too long, and he’s confused. I know what’s best, and that’s getting him out. His argument is crazy. He thinks I can’t have a life and help him. I can’t be happy and free him, but look, we’re proving that wrong.”

“You’re happy?” Harlan asked, sliding her hand into his as the truck bounced down the road toward the next surprise.

“I’m getting there,” he joked, raising her hand up to his lips and kissing it gently.

“How about you?”

“I can sort of remember what happy feels like, at this point I’ll consider that a win.”

“As sorry as I was to leave the cabin I know you’re going to like this place. The food is amazing. I ate like a king there.”

They pulled up in front of the colorful awnings and washed-out brick of the Italian restaurant.

“Is this Angus’s place?” Harlan questioned nervously. “Do you think it’s a good idea we come around here? It feels like we’re intruding on something, being misleading.”

“Genie was a nice girl the last time I came in. She lost her father in a terrible way. We’re on her side, trying to find out what really happened. I don’t plan to tell her anything yet. I’m just back here for the meatballs.”

As he was ushered toward a booth Genie’s heart-shaped face, lit with a smile, came shining from the kitchen.

“You came back,” she said, her face mysteriously torn between sorrow and excitement. “I was sort of wondering if you would.”

“This is Harlan,” Dallas explained, as they slid into a booth and exchanged greetings. “I’m not alone this time.”

“I can see that,” Genie praised. “I hope you’re changing some of your opinions on the matters we discussed. That’s what this means?”

“Not sure,” he confessed, “but maybe I’m seeing your point a little more.”

“Good, now what can I bring you to drink?” Genie looked over her shoulder nervously at the bar a few times. Enough to make Dallas worried something was up.

“Everything good?” he whispered.

“You talked to Peanut right?” Genie asked, fidgeting nervously with her pen. “You need to forget whatever he said to you. He loves gossip, but he forgets how much trouble it can cause.”

“What’s going on?” Dallas demanded in a low voice. “Who are they?”

“They’ll be gone in a few, and I’ll talk to you then, but just order your drinks for now.”

“Water,” Harlan interrupted, making sure Dallas didn’t press his luck.

“Me too,” he begrudgingly obliged. “Are you in danger?”

“Not if you shut up,” she insisted. “Coming right up,” she sang, forcing her smile back.

“Who are those guys?” Harlan asked when Genie disappeared back into the kitchen.

“Don’t know,” Dallas said, eyeing them as they stood from the bar and slid their coats on. He made a mental note of all their distinguishing features and tattoos the way he would have if he were still a cop.

By the time Genie returned with water the men were at the door ready to go.

“Bye Genie,” the taller of the two men said, coming right to their booth and pulling her in for a tight hug and kiss on the cheek. “Don’t forget what I said. I mean it.”

“Thanks, Bubs,” she smiled, patting his arm gently as he moved away toward the door.

“Want to elaborate now?” Dallas pressed when they were gone. “What’s going on?”

“Peanut is a big mouth, and he doesn’t consider the consequences of spreading rumors. Someone else at the bar heard you guys talking, and it was like a game of telephone, the story changing a hundred times.”

“Was he just threatening you?” Dallas demanded, his fists tight and ready for a fight.

“No.” She laughed. “He was making sure I was doing all right and telling me to call if anyone else gave us a problem around here.”

“And how much will that cost you? More or less than it cost your father?” Dallas’s heart was pounding with adrenaline; he wanted to find these bastards and teach them a lesson about extorting from a woman like Genie.

“They don’t charge me a dime. They never charged my father anything either. These guys have been friends with my family for years. We never had to pay them to make sure the drugs stayed away and the restaurant was safe. They consider us family. Peanut is painfully misinformed, and it got back to them that I thought they killed my father. They didn’t. They wouldn’t. If they could get their hands on the kid who did, he’d never see the light of day again. But they’ve got him in solitary.”

“He didn’t do it,” Dallas said boldly, watching Genie recoil nervously.

“What are you talking about?” she screeched. “You don’t know a damn thing about it.”

“Tim is my friend, my good friend, and I know he didn’t kill your father. He’s in prison for something he didn’t do, and I plan to get him released. You can help me do that.”

“How do you know he didn’t do it? Were you with him that night? You can’t possibly know for sure he’s innocent; a jury convicted him.”

“Juries get it wrong sometimes,” Harlan interjected, trying to lower the tension, but it wasn’t effective.

“Get out,” Genie demanded. “I’m not saying anything else to you. There is a man paying for the crime of killing my father. Setting him free would be the real crime.”

“What if he didn’t do it; don’t you want to know who did? Wouldn’t he want the person who killed him behind bars so you and your mother were truly safer?” Dallas pulled a photograph from his pocket. “Do you know him?” he asked, one of Larry’s mug shots staring back at her.

“That’s the guy who testified at the trial. I couldn’t bring myself to go, but I know he’s the one who led the police to my father’s body.”

“I think he killed your father,” Dallas shot back. “And he’s walking free. I think he may have come in here to rob the place or to do something that would initiate him into one of the crime organizations, and he murdered your father. I’m tracking down the car he had at the time and having forensics test it.”

“He’s walking free?” Genie asked, picking up the photograph and looking closer at it. “How do you know it wasn’t Tim?” She narrowed her eyes and looked at him as though she was administering a lie detector test with her stare.

“The same way you know it wasn’t the guys who just left here. He’s family to me, and he’s not capable of something like what happened to your father. But this guy,” he emphasized, pointing to Larry’s picture, “he was dying for a chance to prove himself. A couple weeks later he was arrested breaking into a building down the street from here. To get out of those charges he told the story about Tim and led the police to your father’s body. I think he did this.”

“You need to go,” Genie begged through tears. “I can’t go back down that road. This needs to be behind me; my mother’s heart can’t take it.”

“Tim has a mother too,” Harlan whispered. “He has a whole life he’s lost because of this. He deserves the truth to come out and so do you.”

“There is so much here you don’t understand. This has to go away. The men who were here, they may love me like family but the last thing they’ll tolerate is being investigated, especially if they think I’m the one pointing the finger at them. If you go after this guy, and it leads to them in any way, you’re causing me more problems than you’re solving.”

“I’m not going to stop,” Dallas said, apology in his tone. “I won’t let an innocent man rot in jail. You don’t have to be involved; you can tell those guys you told me to get the hell out of here and never come back. But I’m not stopping. If there is a chance that Larry was in some way acting on an order from them, they’ll go down too.”

“Marc Azeela doesn’t go down,” Genie said through angry tears. “He takes people down who try to cross him, and I won’t be on that list. My father wouldn’t have been either.”

“Marc,” Harlan exclaimed, a hand flying to her heart as though she’d just been struck.

“If I have to call those guys back and have them toss you out, I will. You don’t want them knowing your names. You don’t want them thinking you’re bothering me or gunning for them.”

“We’re going,” Dallas said, jumping up suddenly and taking Harlan’s hand. She was ghost white now, rigid with fear.

“Keep the picture. If you see him around here, be careful.” Dallas and Harlan were out the door and jogging back to his truck before they had a chance to slide their coats on.

“Fuck,” Dallas said, slamming his palm on the steering wheel. “What the hell was I thinking bringing you in on this? That was reckless and stupid. I’m supposed to be protecting you from these guys and instead I walk you right in front of them and put a target on your back.”

“Who are you calling?” Harlan asked, trying to tell herself he was overreacting. Genie knew hardly anything about the two of them. It wasn’t enough to cause her any trouble. Was it?

“Emmitt, it’s Dallas. Have the security team on Cliver Island lock everything down. I’ll have Harlan there in an hour and a half. Get her a new point person ASAP.”

“What are you talking about?” Harlan pleaded in the background. “It’s fine. It’s no big deal.”

“I’ve burned myself here. I’ve got to go completely dark once Harlan is on the island. No communication. I’m sorry, man.”

Dallas disconnected the line and sped off toward the highway.

“What are you talking about, you need to go dark? What does that even mean?” Her voice shook with worry.

“Harlan, Genie knows a hell of a lot more about me than you. I won’t be hard to track down through Tim. Azeela’s men, if they were involved, won’t let this go any further. You and I, we can’t be in contact.”

“That’s insane.” Harlan laughed a frantic worried chuckle. “You’re overreacting. It’ll be fine.”

“And if you’re wrong?” Dallas asked with an eerie unspoken prophecy hanging between them. “I do take risks, but I won’t gamble with you and the girls. You asked if there was anything I wouldn’t sacrifice for Tim’s freedom. You. I won’t put you on the line for that.”

“But you are sacrificing me. Just in a different way. You’re going to drop me off and never speak to me again. Go dark.”

“Shit,” Dallas huffed. “I told Genie about the car. If they’re going to try to bury this in anyway that’s where they’ll start. You can’t pay for the forensics. You can’t have anything else to do with it.”

“You’re not being fair. You’re doing exactly what I’ve begged you not to. Don’t try to run my life for me; don’t box me up under the guise of trying to protect me.”

“You can be pissed,” he said, speeding up as he hit the highway. “You can hate me. As long as you’re alive I can live with the rest.”

“I thought we were in this together, partners.”

“There’s nothing you’ll say that will change my mind, Harlan. Go to Cliver Island. Be with your girls and be safe. Emmitt will have a new person to take my place so you can be back home by the end of the week. Put this behind you.”

“You’re asking me to put what behind me? What did we have, Dallas? Anything?” Her tears were falling fast now and his pained face only made her heart ache more.

“This was something, Harlan,” he said earnestly, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly. “For me, who I am, this was everything. You were everything. I don’t know how I’ll ever convince you that is the truth. Maybe I never will, but you were the closest thing to happy I’ve felt in a long time.”

“Close doesn’t count,” Harlan cried. “I’ve had close. Everything has been close enough for me to touch before. I’ve had happiness at my fingertips and close is worse than never knowing it all. You should have left me alone. You should have walked away. Pull over.”

“I’m not leaving you on the side of the highway. I’ll get you to the Island. Once I know you’re on the other side of the gates I’ll leave you alone. You won’t have to see me again.”

“I’d ask you to promise, but it wouldn’t matter coming from you.”

“I’m doing this—”

“Don’t you dare say you’re doing this for me. Don’t say another word. If you won’t let me out of the car you’re damn sure letting me out of this conversation.”

He nodded his head, reluctantly agreeing and his mouth snapped shut. His face still danced with a hundred things to say, but he was giving her the small gift of shutting up. That wasn’t enough to make her feel any kind of gratitude though.

As she closed her eyes and pressed her head to the window she realized she couldn’t really feel anything. The hurt had left her suddenly. The fear, gone. It was numbness that tingled its way through her body now. And it was so welcomed.