“She still with him?”
I shook my head. “I made arrangements for her to live in one of my dad’s rentals. On our way back from Italy, I confided in Doc about the situation and he stepped in.”
“I’m guessing she’s at an undisclosed location?”
“Affirmative.”
“Shit. Think the husband knows you had anything to do with her ‘disappearance’?” he asked after we were in the car on the way to his parents’ place, where I hoped Sloane had gone too.
“I sure as hell hope not.”
“I gotta ask, man. Why’d she come to you?”
I shrugged. “Nick always saw me as her way out of her lousy life. Her dad was an alcoholic, was violent toward her mother. I doubt she was ever as interested in me as she was in what I could do for her. When I was offered a full ride at UVA to play football, Nick got it into her head that someday I’d play for the NFL.”
“I remember something about that. She started spreading rumors you might, even before we graduated.”
“When she heard I was back in town, she assumed I was taking over my dad’s business.”
“She saw you as her meal ticket.”
“And a way to get away from her husband.”
“They say women go for men who are like their father. I guess she did with Caruso.”
“Right.”
“Who’s funding this relocation? You?”
“Negative.” It was something Doc and I had discussed before I left California.
“We plan to feed the feds enough for them to nab Caruso, who then might finger some more of DeLuca’s crew,” he’d told me when I asked him the same question Halo asked me.
“Keep driving,” Halo said when I was getting close to his family’s house.
“What’s up?” I looked in the rearview.
“We have company.”
“I know,” I said, parking in front of the house. “He’s with me.”
Halo looked over his shoulder. “Who is that?”
“New guy. His name’s Garrison Cassidy. Code name Cowboy.”
“Get the fuck out.”
“Totally serious.”
“What’s his cover?”
“Construction.”
He smiled. “Guess I’ll see him on the job site tomorrow.”
“I’m glad we’ll be working together, Halo.”
When he didn’t respond, I wondered if he thought I was lying.