“Better than what? Than sitting here thinking Dante’s dead in a fucking ditch?”
“Asa won’t hurt Dante, not seriously, anyway. Luis would kill him.”
“How would that help Dante?”
Paolo sighed. “It wouldn’t, but that’s how this bullshit works, as far as I see it, anyway.”
“You’re not part of it?”
“Nope. Never was.”
Sid wondered if he’d already known that. Then decided he didn’t care. “Is Luis worried?”
“Of course he is.”
“Dante thinks he hates him.”
“He does, but hate doesn’t exist on its own and there’s a lot between them that I’ll never understand. Right now, he’s on the street looking for Asa, andIhate Dante for dragging him back to this horrible fucking place.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“I know. At least, I think I do, unless Dante has played you this whole time and what you’re feeling now is based on a lie.”
It was close enough to Anna’s theory that Sid’s lip curled in a snarl, but Paolo spoke again before he could react.
“Look, whatever’s happened, we’re running out of time to fix it. Dante’s probation officer is fucking laser. If Dante doesn’t make contact tomorrow, he’ll do something about it.”
“I know. I’m trying to figure out if that’s a bad thing.”
“It depends. A warrant for his arrest is pretty much the end of the line, but the feds are more likely to take a road boy’s disappearance seriously if Rami believes it’s out of character too.”
“It is out of character,” Sid snapped. “He hasn’t been further than the fucking shops since he got here.”
A beat of silence passed, then Paolo sighed again. “All right. If Dante really has changed, then at this point, I’m willing to believe you probably know him better than we do. Call me in the morning, yeah? We’ll figure out what to do next.”
“Wait.”
“Yeah?”
Sid turned his gaze to the murky sky. “Be straight with me. How bad is this if Asa has him? And don’t tell me Luis would kill him. That makes no fucking difference.”
“You want me to be straight?” Something rustled at Paolo’s end, like he’d stood up and walked to a window. “Okay, real talk. There’s been rumours on the street that Asa’s on a fucking rampage. I don’t know the reasons, and until tonight, I didn’t give a shit. But I do know this: Asa Gerrard is a dangerous motherfucker. If he’s come for Dante looking for a fight, then Dante’s in trouble.”
Nausea rose in Sid’s throat. He swallowed hard. “You said he wouldn’t hurt him.”
“I lied,” Paolo said. “You sounded upset and I didn’t want to make it worse. Dante told me you have MS.”
“That’s pretty conversational for a bunch of blokes who don’t talk to each other.”
“Yeah, well, if it’s any consolation, he sounded like he really gave a shit about you, and I’ve never seen that in him before.”
“Never?”
“No.”
It sounded so final. Sid let Paolo go and drifted back inside. He’d lived alone in the bungalow for years, but right now, without Dante, it felt so empty he couldn’t take it. If he was going to function tomorrow, he knew he needed to rest, but he couldn’t sit still.Not here. Anywhere but here.
Dante’s place was out of the question too, and impulse led him to his car keys dumped on the kitchen counter. He scooped them up, brain ticking. There was nowhere to go, nowhere he could look that made any sense, but he couldn’t stay in the bungalow a moment longer.