ASantiniinLoveMelissa Schroeder (8 page)

JT nodded. He was a Marine also, so he knew what that meant. “You think she saw something though.”

Not a question, but a statement. “Yeah. She was sure.”

“She’s got PTSD, Dante.”

“And you know that while she might have hyper-reactions to things; that doesn’t make her hallucinate. If she said she saw it. She did.”

“What kind of pills do they have her on?”

“None,” Madison said from behind them.

He turned and found her and Elena watching them. Charlie was sitting on the ground beside Madison, leaning against her leg. She was under stress and Charlie knew it. Of course, it could be what happened the night before and the fact that so many people were around at once. He knew from experience with friends that it wasn’t always crowds that bothered them. Personal space was sacred to people who suffered from PTSD.

“Madison, I’m sorry,” JT said.

She shook her head. “No, you don’t need to be sorry. It is a good question. I’ve been on a cocktail of meds, but the last six months I have been drug free, thanks to Charlie.”

The dog’s tail wagged at the sound of his name.

“What I want to know is why you felt it was important to tell him about my situation, Dante?”

“I was going to ask him for help.”

She looked at JT, then leveled her gaze on him again. There was no real expression on her face, but there was accusation in the depths of her eyes. At first, he felt like an ass. Then, he realized it pissed him off a bit. The woman had come to him the night before, and now she would just have to deal with the consequences.

“Why would you do that?” she asked.

“Because he’s NCIS, you damned stubborn woman. I thought he might be good to talk to about it.”

A little of the animosity in her gaze seemed to fade. “Oh.”

“I
am
a Navy cop,” JT said. “I investigate murders on a regular basis.”

She sighed. “Okay. Let’s do breakfast, but I’m not cooking. We’ll go out.”

JT nodded and stepped forward.

“I want to talk to Dante alone.”

He did not like the sound of that. He looked at his sister and friend. They were already on their way back into the house…abandoning him.

She was irritated with him. He could feel her irritation even though she was several feet away from him.

“So, hit me,” he said, taking a sip of coffee.

“You believe me.”

He blinked. “I thought about it.”

She nodded, once and stepped past him.

“And you think I wasn’t imagining it.”

He nodded and followed her as she walked over to a bench that sat in front of a fountain displaying a fish with water bubbling out of its mouth.

“You were always a thinker. Even when we were at Annapolis.”

He waited for a second, then stepped closer to her. “You told me I was nothing but a bunch of muscle with a pretty face.”

And it had hurt. Granted, he hadn’t let anyone know, but his eighteen-year-old ego had definitely been bruised.

She smiled up at him. There was a bit of sunlight peeking through the tree leaves, illuminating the golden lights in her hair. His breath caught in his throat when he realized that scene he had imagined had been missing one thing. Him. He wanted to be there in the backyard with Madison and Charlie.

“Really, Santini, don’t you know when someone is trying to psych you out?”

He leaned down and cupped her face with his free hand. “Yeah, well, it was hard to get my brain to work when you were around.”

“What do you mean about that?”

“You are hot. Even hotter now than then. And just looking at you made me lose brain cells.”

She was still smiling when Dante leaned down to kiss her. She returned it, easily, willingly. When he pulled back, she kept her eyes closed for a moment or two before opening them.

“I have to say, you killed a few of my brain cells also,” she said, her voice filled with teasing flirtation. Resisting her when she was fighting with him was hard enough. If she flirted with him, he was a goner.

“Is that a fact?”

Her cheeks turned pink. “Once or twice.”

“Oh, well, I made Madison Baker blush. What made that happen?”

“We were sophomores. And remember Elena asked me to come home over a three-day weekend?”

He went back through his memories piecing together that weekend. He sat down next to her on the bench. “Oh, yeah. We road tripped it down to Virginia Beach. Anthony was about to head off to Afghanistan.”

It had been too cold to really hit the beach, but the house his parents had rented had a hot tub. He’d caught Madison out there all by herself.

“I do remember a very little bright pink bikini.”

“Is that a fact?” she asked.

“Yep.”

“I doubt very much I could fit into that bikini now.”

“Oh, well, just from my own personal view—not that it’s that important to you or anything—but I like a little meat on the bones.”

She chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Speaking of which, let’s go get some grub. I’m hungry.”

And maybe, he would be able to keep his head on straight long enough to figure out what the hell was going on between the two of them.

CHAPTER TEN

They went to one of Madison’s favorite places for breakfast. The little diner was filled with locals, military, and tourists, but even with the crowd, it was worth it for her. The food was simple but always delicious.

She liked hitting local places instead of chains. It was something her parents had instilled her. No matter where they were stationed, they always got to know the community they lived in. Restaurants were always at the top of the list. Plus, the breakfast burritos were legendary. It was the reason they were an Oceanside favorite.

“I’ve never been here before,” JT said.

She glanced at him then at Elena. Both of them were acting as if nothing happened the night before, but Madison knew Elena was deeply affected. They were so much alike in so many ways. Or they had been at one time. Madison was afraid she wasn’t that good at hiding her emotions anymore. Elena was still an expert, but Madison felt her sadness. Even though she knew her friend had wanted the night with JT, Madison knew it was painful to spend the next morning with him. Especially knowing that he was going to be out of pocket for a while. She had done it for Madison because of the situation.

“I used to come with my folks a lot,” Madison said. “I try to hit it at least once a month now.”

“So,” JT said. “You think you saw a murder.”

Elena rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just yell it out there, JT. Good lord,” she said looking around.

Madison smiled. “It’s okay. I doubt very much there’s someone following me.”

“If he read your license plate, he could find you,” Elena commented. “Then he would have your name, your home address, and at that point, he could find out where you lived.”

Madison had to suppress a smile. There were times that Elena would go off without a thought. Where Dante would often think too much, it was said that Elena didn’t think things through a lot of times. But, there was an underlying reason her friend was a little overwrought. She was worried about Madison and for that, she didn’t want to mock her friend.

“Not so easy,” JT said easily. “It would take someone outside of the policing community a little time to get a hold of it.” He looked at Madison. “Tell me what you saw.”

“I saw them arguing, then he pulled out a gun and shot her. That’s about it. I don’t even know if she was dead, but if she was shot, she would definitely need medical care. Without it, I don’t see her surviving.”

He digested that bit of info. “How close were they to each other?”

She thought back estimating. “About ten feet. She had just pulled away from him and he shot her.”

“And the police didn’t find anything at all at the park?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. No body, no blood. The officer was very skeptical.”

Like a lazy lion, Dante stretched beside her and settled back against the booth. “He wasn’t
that
skeptical.”

“He was,” Madison said. “But, I can’t really blame him. From what he said, there weren’t even footprints.”

JT nodded as the waitress brought their food. They waited, a silent agreement not to discuss it right in front of people at least. After the waitress refilled their cups, she left them to their breakfasts.

“And his hands are tied,” JT said.

Dante nodded. “Yeah. Even if he thought there was something there, he couldn’t do anything about it. I have an idea that he’ll be looking around for information. He will be thorough.”

“You say that because he was in the Marines before. Although, I find that hard to believe because he looked like he was sixteen.”

“No, he didn’t.”

Now that she thought back to it, there were lines around the man’s eyes and a knowledge in his gaze that told her he wasn’t so innocent. It was probably because of her condition she’d not really been able to acknowledge it. Plus, when standing next to Dante, Ellis had looked so young.

“So, that’s it,” she said.

“No, that’s not it,” Dante said as he dug into his burrito. He hummed when he put it in his mouth. He said something in Spanish and his sister laughed.

“What was that?”

“Dante was appreciative of the burrito,” Elena said. She sometimes forgot their grandparents were immigrants and they grew up in a bilingual house. All of the kids knew just enough Italian and Spanish to get them into trouble.

“So, you said it doesn’t end here?” she asked.

“No. That bastard is out there looking for you. I can feel it. Plus, we don’t know if the woman you saw who got shot is dead.”

She chewed on her own burrito, enjoying the searing heat of the spices and the gooeyness of the cheese. “It would be reported if she went to a hospital.”

Everyone looked at JT. He nodded. “I’ll see if I can find anything out. Can you give me a description?”

Sighing Madison shrugged. “They were at least fifty yards away and it was dark. Which is odd, because there is usually a streetlight right there. I can’t tell you an age, although she seemed to be a little younger than the man.”

“Why would you say that?” Dante asked.

“Her clothes. They seemed to be of someone younger. Just an impression I got.”

“What was she wearing?” JT asked.

“Short skirt, red shirt, looked to be more of a blouse.”

“Anything else?”

“She was quite a bit shorter than the man. Long blonde hair. Really blonde. Not platinum, but a sunny yellow. Very small build too.”

JT blinked. “That’s pretty good.”

“Yeah, a short blonde in California who likes to wear short skirts and red shirts. That narrows it down a lot.”

He smiled. “And the man?”

She shivered. “Like I said, taller than the woman, but not really tall. Probably not over six feet…if that. This is all guessing, you know. It was dark and they were pretty far away.”

He nodded.

“And I gave all this info to the officer.”

“He’s probably got an alert out to the hospitals,” JT said, slathering more grape jelly on his piece of toast.

“I doubt that.”

“No, I think he would too. He might not believe you, but he will want to cover his bases,” Dante said. “He’s young, but he isn’t stupid.” He looked at JT. “That’s pretty much standard operating procedure, right?”

JT nodded. “I agree. Like Dante said, he might not think it happened, but if it did and he didn’t follow up, it would be his ass on the line.”

“Still, this makes me uncomfortable leaving you by yourself,” Elena said. “I’ll stay with you and commute.”

“No.”

They all looked at Dante.

“What was that, brother dear?”

“I mean, I live in the area, so it would be best if I stuck around. Plus, it would probably be good to let Jack and Hannah know. That way they can keep an eye out for anything weird.”

She was still trying to get her brain wrapped around the fast moving conversation. “Wait, I don’t need anyone to look after me.”

“No, you don’t, but you do need someone to call on. That’s me. And letting Jack and Hannah know is just common sense. She owns the house you are renting and they can keep an eye out while you are at work.” Then he kissed her cheek as if they were a couple. “Get used to it.”

She frowned and looked at Elena. She was hiding her smile behind her coffee cup. Knowing that it was a lost battle in the ongoing war with Dante, she retreated.

* * * *

Dante was trying to formulate a plan to ease his way back into Madison’s house when JT parked in front of Dante’s house. He knew she would balk at the protection angle; although, he thought there was a good chance she needed it. Not just from the killer she saw, but also from herself. The stress of the last couple of days seemed to be taking its toll on her. He wanted to be there for her.

“You believe her,” JT said, breaking into his thoughts.

“Yeah.” He hadn’t at first. He had known she believed it, but today, he was leaning to her way of thinking. “I went back over it while I was laying on her very uncomfortable sofa. Madison has issues, you saw them to a point. But, she isn’t over the edge. If she had been hallucinating, she would have gone over the edge when they didn’t find anything. Or at least I think she would have. Plus, it wouldn’t be hard to hide what happened. That time of night around here, even on a Friday night, not that busy. He had over an hour to clean it up. Without any other witnesses, he would have had an easy time of it. Madison said she was small.”

JT opened his mouth, then snapped it shut.

“No, go ahead,” Dante said.

“You sure you don’t believe her because you’re involved with her?”

He shook his head. “I’m not involved.”

“Not yet.”

He shrugged because that was the truth. He knew it was just a matter of time, but he had to give her space. That much he understood. It didn’t mean he was going to pull all the way back, though.

“Granted, but I didn’t immediately agree that it was true. Like I said, those things tell me she saw something. Madison has issues, but she last night, she did not break down. She made it back to my house and then kept it together. It was close, but she did it.