The second man scoffed. One of them was going to take the front door while the other went to the back.
“See you inside,” said the first man.
“Don’t get anything on you,” said the second man.
They both adjusted their guns and got out of the car.
CHAPTER 49
I WAS AWOKEN out of a heavy sleep by my husband saying, “Lindsay, honey. Wake up.”
But why? I heard no shrieks or alarms or barks, no wails or any other emergency sounds. I was in bed and the light in the bedroom was dawnlike, so why was Joe waking me up?
Then my eyelids flew open.
“Where’s Julie?”
“Julie is fine. Everything is OK, honey.”
I rolled over onto my side and scanned Joe’s face for whatever was behind his waking me up when I needed to sleep. He was smiling.
“What time is it?”
“Seven,” he said.
“Is it Saturday?” I asked him.
“Yes. We’re going for a drive: you, me, and baby makes three. And Martha makes four.”
“I can’t go,” I said.
“The car is gassed up. I’m going to feed Julie. Coffee is on. Just get yourself up and leave the surprise part to me.”
I blinked at Joe, thinking how pretty much everyone in the Southern Station was working the weekend on the helter-skelter case of the Windbreaker cops. Still, he was right. I needed a little time to recharge.
I texted Brady that I was taking a mental health day.
He got right back. Really?
It’s just for the day.
OK. I’ll buddy up with Conklin.
A half hour later, the Molinari Four were in Joe’s lovely old Mercedes, heading down the coast. Highway 1 hugs the shoreline, and I was reminded once again how gorgeous California is. I’m not saying I stopped thinking about the Windbreaker cops, but I shook the case off long enough to call my sister, Cat.
We made a pit stop in Half Moon Bay, where my sister lives with her two daughters. Pretty soon, the little girls were romping with Martha on the beach and we grownups lagged behind them, catching up on missed chapters in each other’s lives and marveling at the way the sun lit the coastline.
“You doing OK, Linds?” Cat asked me.
“Yeah. Sure. Like usual, a little preoccupied. How about y
ou?”
“When a princely frog appears, it will all be perfect.”
We grinned at each other. I for one was thinking about when Joe and I got married here in Half Moon Bay not long ago.
My sister and I held hands and the girls hugged and kissed me, after which the Molinari family piled back into the car and continued in a southerly direction. Martha sat on my lap and hung her head out the window. The baby slept in her carrier behind us. Joe sang along with the radio.