“Good for Javier, bad for Hannah,” his smile apologized. “She wouldn’t be in this position if I’d been up front with you.”
Harley waved his apology off with the flick of her wrist. “Probably, but if I’d checked her messages sooner, we might not be in this predicament. I need to call my bosses in Tallahassee and see if they can pull any strings with Villa San Juan Police Department.”
“Wouldn’t this be out of their jurisdiction?”
Of course, the TPD jurisdiction did out reach this far. Harley meant Mak would get the locals to release Hannah. A niggling voice reminded Harley that now was the perfect time to be truthful with Dante. Maybe if she opened up with him, he’d return the favor.
“Dante, I want to tell you something,” she said.
As she spoke, so did Dante. “Leonardo’s going to kill Javier if he catches him, sorry, you go ahead.”
The pit of her stomach absorbed her fallen heart at the truth. Even though she photographed what was left of Javier’s brother, Dante’s words haunted her. She did not know Javier from a hole in the wall but her niece did and her niece loved him. He was family. She couldn’t imagine Hannah experiencing such a tragic loss and would be damned if she’d let that happen. “We need to act now.”
“What did Hannah tell you? You know, just after you choked grandma?”
“She wasn’t so old. I’d say an elderly aunt.”
“Is there a difference?”
“Geez, how long were you standing back there?”
Dante leaned forward, his elbows rested on his knees. “Does it make a difference?”
“How many times are you going to ask?” she held up her hand to stop him from repeating it. She imagined him as the class clown in school. “Hannah said her old guidance counselor is working with the girls and that he promised to see her tomorrow.”
“A guidance counselor who moonlights at the jail?” Dante raised a suspicious brow.
Harley would have been suspicious too if she didn’t understand the lack of pay school officials received. Plenty of teachers moonlighted as crossing guards in Tallahassee. When school ended for the summer, all Leon County staff looked for a job. Why not take a job on the beach?
“She swears he’s cool.”
His luscious mouth opened with an O and his eyebrow rose skeptically. Had he not been an agent, Harley could picture Dante as a model for one of those men’s fitness magazines. “Am I supposed to be comforted?”
“What will be more comforting is going out and finding Javier. How many places can he hide, what with the beach house burned to a crisp?”
“Sorry.”
She shrugged her shoulders, “Insurance is a blessing. But with it gone, where would Javier hide out?”
“Why hide?”
Harley stopped what she was going to say. “What?”
“Let’s look at this from another angle. Javier took off because he recognized Christopher Alfaro from the photograph even though he said he didn’t. What if he did recognize Leonardo?”
“And knew to follow him here? When would he have found out where to find Leonardo?” She had to admit he argued a good point; if that were the case, Javier chasing Leonardo, who blew up her house? Had he gotten too close to Leonardo?
“I think we may know where to find him.”
“Leonardo or Javier.”
“Javier,” Dante reached for a folded newspaper on the coffee table and held it up for her to read. With the sun setting, she couldn’t read the writing. Harley squinted. “It says there’s a 21-and under party tonight. Vuelo, it starts in a few minutes and that will give Javier at least four hours to hide out and regroup.”
Harley swung her legs over to the floor, “So let’s go to it!”
“As hot as I find you, I don’t find you under twenty-one.”
Offended, Harley folded her arms over her chest. “I beg your pardon?”