Page 51 of Alonzo

I look up at her smiling face. “What do you mean, you’re home?”

Belinda lowers down into the seat next to me, giggling. “I never thought I’d see this place again! Holy fucking shit! I’m back!” She stands up and screams, “I missed you, Key West!”

I yank her back inside. “Belinda! What the fuck? You didn’t say anything about being from Key West! You can’t come home from the witness protection program!”

She furrows her brow at me. “Look, this was all your idea, Tara. Not mine. I tried to talk you out of it, remember? I told you we should just beg the Vaughn brothers for help and let them handle things, but you said, ‘Nooooo. I need to make that asshole pay.’ Right? Remember that?”`

Van interrupts before I can answer. “What do you mean, Vaughn brothers? I am a Vaughn brother.”

Belinda tsks her tongue. “You are the baby Vaughn, Vann. I’m not knocking it, just stating the obvious.” Then she looks at me. “My point is none of this was my idea. It’s like… fate.”

“I get that, kinda—but you never said you were from here, Belinda! You can’t just go home from the witness protection program!”

She stands back up, pokes her head out the sun roof, and yells, “I can. And I will. And I am!”

Vann pulls over.

Belinda bends down and grabs his shoulder. “What the hell are you doing?”

“She’s right, B. This is… nope. This isn’t happening. If I had known—”

“If you had known you’d have never have brought me, right? Well, that’s why I didn’t tell you! I can’t do it, Vann. I just can’t do it. I miss my friends, I miss my family—”

“Belinda.” I shake her by the arm. “You cannot go visit your friends and family! I don’t know who you’re running from, but—”

“You wanna know who I’m running from, Tara?” She glares at me. And she says my name like it’s not my name. Because of course, it isn’t. But I’m not expecting her next few words to come out in a growl. “I’ll tell you who.” She grabs my new phone, finds the photo of Lonnie I’ve been staring at for the past three days, and then flashes his hot tattooed body at me. “Him. He did this to me! He stole my life! And the way I see it—this is fate! I know exactly who Lonnie Derringer is. And I know what those Dumas boys do in the middle of the night!”

“What?”

“That’s right! Him. Alonzo Dumas and his crooked brother Tony.” She’s fierce. And defiant. And angry. But then she softens a little. “Tony. I dated him for two years when we were kids.”

“What?” Vann has turned all the way around in his seat.

“Explain,” I say. “I don’t understand. These words coming out of your mouth aren’t making any sense! Do you know Lonnie?”

“Lonnie.” She snarls his name. “I told you he was bad news. I kept warning you, and warning you—”

“You never said, ‘Hey, Tara. I know that asshole you’re dating! Let me tell you why you shouldn’t anymore!’”

“I didn’t know it was him until I saw the tattoos. Tony and I broke up a long time ago. I’ve been in the protection program for eight years, Tara! You’ve been in two and you’re already going stir crazy! Eight! Eight fucking years!”

“What happened?” Vann asks.

“What happened? I’ll tell you what happened. Eight years ago I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and I lost everything because of it! I was just minding my own business down at the docks one night after a big party and I saw them.”

“Who?” I ask.

“Those smugglers. I saw them. And then the FBI was there, and the next thing I knew I was in some… facility. Being questioned. And the FBI told me that I needed to shut my fucking mouth and not say a word. That I had fallen into some long-game secret shit. But then they made me leave! They made me, you guys. No one asked me if I wanted a brand-new life. They said I had to get the fuck out of Key West and never come back!”

“OK.” I pause to think about this. Because… hmm. Why would the FBI make such a big deal about a secret operation? You’d think they’d just be calm and say, “This is a matter of national security,” or some shit like that. Threaten her a little if she tells anyone. But that doesn’t explain how Lonnie is involved. “OK. Weird. But what does this have to do with Lonnie?”

“His name isn’t Lonnie, Tara! It’s Alonzo. And it’s got everything to do with them. They were part of that smuggling ring. And now… hell, I don’t know. The Dumas family probably runs it. But I don’t care. I miss my home. I miss my friends and my mom! I wasn’t going to come back. I was going to morph into some good little tattoo artist and live my new life like a champ. But…” She looks around. At the ocean and the sunshine. Then she shakes her head. “Now that I’m back, I’m never leaving again.”

“But… Lonnie? So he’s a bad guy?” I ask.

“I don’t know.” Belinda huffs. “I have no clue what that family is into now, but back then… well, I’m sure some people might call them resistance. Or revolutionaries. Or some other romantic word to describe their criminal doings. But the facts are the facts, Tara. I’m pretty sure the Dumas family has been under investigation by the FBI for a long time.”

“That doesn’t make sense. How could they not be in jail?”