Page 85 of Alonzo

“He’s inside. Still sleeping, I guess. And that’s another thing. Vann is being all mopey because he thinks I still have a thing for Tony.”

“Do you have a thing for Tony?”

“Duh. Did you see him?”

I laugh.

“Sure. Yeah, I do. I fell for that asshole a long time ago. And I literally had to walk away from him and never look back thanks to all the shit he’s up to with Alonzo.”

“Oh, my God. I forgot! You know! You know them! You have to tell me everything.”

“About what?”

“Belinda! You know their secrets! I need them. You have to tell me.”

“I don’t know their secrets. I’m not even sure what I saw that night. I mean, clearly it wasn’t what I thought it was or they’d be in prison right now.”

“What did you think it was?”

She chews her lip for a moment, then shakes her head. “I had to have gotten it wrong.”

I’m just about to press her for more information when a screen door slaps open two doors down and Luke comes out. He descends his porch steps like he’s in a hurry, then makes a right, jogging down the street towards the ocean.

Is it weird that I know more about my neighbors in Key West after one day than I did my Fort Collins ones after two years?

Anyway. “Belinda. Tell me exactly what happened when you had to leave here eight years ago. I need to know this.”

But then a car pulls up in front of Zach and Luke’s cottage and just sits there, idling. Belinda and I both crane our necks, trying to see who’s inside. It must be an Uber with an out-of-towner, because a guy gets out of the back dressed in dark jeans and a jacket that has no place in Key West, even in the winter.

We both stare as he looks up and down the street, spots us, homes in on us like he’s got some kind of laser sight embedded in his eyeballs, then nods.

We nod back.

He looks down the street again, this time at the Dumas family home, pauses, and then turns back to the Zach and Luke cottage. He goes up the steps with purpose and doesn’t knock before entering.

Belinda and I both lean in that direction, hoping to get an earful when the stranger is greeted.

Nothing.

“Who was that?” I ask.

“I dunno. But he’s in Zach’s cottage and do you think he looked a little bit like Jesse?”

“Come to think of it, yeah.”

“I bet that’s his brother, Johnny. I overheard a conversation last night between Zach and Luke. And Luke specifically said he did not want Johnny coming down here today.”

“Hmm. Boston brothers, right?”

“Yup.”

“You’ve heard of them?”

“You know. Tabloid shit.”

“Tabloids? They’re like… famous?”

“In a too-much-money kind of way.”