Mel frowned. “What does that mean?”
“You, honey. I mean you. You have to learn to make yourself happy.” And then she left Mel alone to wonder how exactly to do that.
At the end of the day, Dimi buzzed Mel in her office. “Line one,” she said. “It’s him.”
Mel stared at her phone as if it was a coiled rattlesnake. She didn’t have to ask who. It was Matt, with possible news on Sally.
“Tell me exactly what he says,” Dimi instructed. “Every word.”
“I will.”
“Unless it’s bad news. Oh, God, do you think it’s bad news?”
“Bad in comparison to what, Dimi?”
“Right.” Dimi drew a ragged breath. “Right. Maybe…I know this sounds crazy, but maybe he’s calling to tell us he found out it’s all some sort of mistake.”
Mel had no hopes left, false or otherwise. “What kind of mistake involves taking money and property that doesn’t belong to you?”
“Yeah,” Dimi sighed. “Wishful thinking and all that.”
“I’m going to take the call now,” Mel said gently. “I’ll just buzz you when I’m off-”
Before she’d even finished her sentence, Dimi opened Mel’s office door and slid inside, breathing heavily. “Well?”
“Uh, I haven’t taken the call yet,” Mel said dryly, then clicked over. “Mel Anderson. Can I help you?”
“How many aliases for Sally are you expecting?” Matt asked.
“Well?” Dimi whispered. “Is she alive?”
Mel held up her finger. “As many as you can find, Matt.”
“I’ve unearthed four without any effort,” he said. “I’m not a betting man, but you can be sure if it was this easy, there are more.”
Four aliases, minimum. If there’d been only the one, someone could make the argument that Sally had had a good reason for vanishing under a different name. Fear, danger…
But four.
Four.
“There’s more,” Matt said. “The last alias on record, Tara Louise? She was married for two years to a man who just recently died in New Orleans. Suspiciously. She’s wanted for questioning but has vanished.”
Mel gripped her phone tight. “Oh, my God.”
A man dead.
Until Bo had arrived, Mel had faced only a moral dilemma. Yes, Sally had vanished, but she hadn’t done anything to Mel, at least nothing criminal. So what right did she have to dig?
But now…Now there were many reasons; for the rights of the victims, for one.
For Bo’s father.
For Bo himself.
The thought came out of nowhere. Mel wanted answers for Bo, for that eighteen-year-old who’d lost so much, for the man who’d never lost his belief in his father.
And then there was the fact that Sally had instructed Mel and Dimi to act criminally without their knowledge.
“Melanie?” Matt asked. “You there?”
“Yes, thank you. I’ll get back to you.” She hung up and stared at the phone.
“Four aliases?” Dimi sounded as dazed as she felt, and staggered to a chair. “Four,” she said again, stunned.
“Maybe more,” Mel told her. “Probably more. And let’s not forget the coup de grâce: an ex, dead under suspicious circumstances.”
“Two,” Dimi whispered. “Two ex’s dead, if you count Eddie. Do you think…my God…Do you think she somehow killed Eddie?”
It was too terrible to even think about. “We have to face facts right now, Deem,” Mel said, her voice trembling. “Together. Sentiment doesn’t have a place here. Sally’s in big trouble and we both know we can no longer help her. But we can help the people she’s hurt.”
Dimi reached for Mel’s hand. “Don’t worry. I’m not falling apart. And I’m all yours, at least for the duration of this disaster.”
“For the duration? That sounds a little…temporary.”
“Yeah.” Dimi stared at their joined hands. Hers were smaller, more delicate, with a perfect manicure and silver bracelets lined up her left wrist, jangling prettily. “You remember I told you about wanting to be a nurse.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve decided to go to a nursing school and the one I want to go to is in San Diego. I’ve registered, just today. Classes start in the fall.”
Just two months away. “I see.”
“Do you?” She scooted closer. “Do you really, Mel? You’re not mad, upset, freaking out? Because I freaked out at first, the thought of leaving here, of being separated from you, but it’s just…” She paused, her eyes misting. “Damn it, I don’t want to cry.”
“It’s okay, I get it. It’s what you have to do.”
“Yeah.” One tear escaped and with a sound of frustration, she swiped at it. “But I’ll be back. I want to work out of the hospital in town, only ten minutes away. That won’t be so bad.”
“It’ll be good,” Mel assured her, and they hugged hard, Mel feeling her own eyes go damp. “Shit.”
They laughed a little over the waterworks, then Dimi spoke. “See, so I’m not leaving you for long. Or Danny.”
“Danny?”
“We’re going to try things out.” She smiled with her entire heart in her eyes. “It’ll be from a distance at first, but that’s okay. I need the time.”
“You and Danny?” Mel repeated, surprised.
Dimi’s face closed a bit, her shoulders straightened. “I’m not going to hurt him, I wouldn’t do that. Why do you think I resisted facing the truth about my feelings so long? The last thing I’d ever do is hurt-”
“Oh, honey, I’m not worried about him. He’s a big boy, and he knows what he wants. I meant you. I’m worried about you.”
“You shouldn’t be. I’m a little fragile, I know, but like I said, I need some time.” Dimi shook her head. “What Sally did sucks, and it hurts…” She pressed a hand to her gut. “Hurts like I didn’t know I could be hurt. But with Danny, I just feel…alive. Like I haven’t felt in a long time.” Her eyes were clear. Happy. “Whatever happens,” she said with intense pride, “I know I’m going to be okay.”
Mel nodded, understanding perfectly. She felt alive, too, vibrantly alive, and she had a feeling it had something to do with Bo. Everything to do with Bo. “I’ll miss you,” she whispered, and they held each other for a long time. Mel didn’t want to let go. For as long as she could remember, they’d been a team. A duo.
But it was the end of an era, and that was okay. Things changed. She’d live. When Dimi was gone, Mel stared sightlessly out at the tarmac, wondering what their future held. She’d always assumed that for her, it would be this place. North Beach.
Now…who knew?
“Looking pretty serious, mate.”
Mel’s heart clutched. Her everything clutched as she turned and faced Bo. “What would you know about serious?”
With a cocked eyebrow, he shut her office door behind him and leaned back against it, arms and feet casually crossed as he smiled at her. “You’re uptight again.”
“Let me guess. You have just the cure?”
“You know it.”
“Doesn’t thinking with your dick ever get tiring?”
“Oh, I do more than think with it.”
Yep. And no one knew that better than she. “I’m busy. You need to get out.” She rubbed her temples and remembered the reason. Matt had called. She had to tell Bo. She owed him. “Damn it, I have to tell you something.”
The amusement was gone in a blink. “What’s wrong?”
She laughed a bit harshly, and he frowned just as her computer beeped. Incoming mail. She glanced at it, then went still.
Bo took one look at her face and moved close. “Another one, then?”
Standing behind her as he was, he surrounded her, a hand on either side, gripping her desk. His chest brushed her back. His jaw was so close to her head that a strand of her hair stuck to the day-old growth of stubble there. She craned her neck so that her gaze met his. “A new one.” She could have hidden it, but no more secrets-well, except one. But she doubted he wanted to hear how much she’d gotten used to having him around. How much she’d begun to feel for him.