Free Dangerous Melody by Dana Mentink Page B

painkillers that nearly destroyed him. Maybe he really had beaten his addiction. On impulse, she traced a finger across the toughened skin of his hand. He jerked, shooting her a look she could not decipher, but he didn’t move his hand away.
    He shifted on the seat. “There’s water in my backpack.”
    She snagged it from the backseatand rummaged around inside, rifling through a clean shirt and a small travel case. Her heart stopped when she saw the bottle in the bottom of the pack. She read the label. Painkillers. Hating herself for doing it, she gently poked at it. The tiny sound of the pills shifting inside mirrored the crash of her own emotions. Half full.
    He was still using. Maybe not at that moment, or even thatday, but he would soon enough. The thought burned inside her.
    “Find some?”
    She’d always considered herself courageous, but in that moment she found she could not bear to confront him. She forced a smile and pulled a water bottle from the pack. “Yes, thanks.” There were no tears forming in her eyes, no rage at herself for believing he’d gone straight. Only sadness and despair. She prayedsilently that God would take away his burden because she now realized he did not have the strength to do it himself, and he probably never would.
    “Something wrong?” he asked.
    “Nothing that won’t be fixed when we find my father and Maria,” she said, turning her eyes out the windshield, watching the evening swallow up the day.
    * * *
    Tate finally followed Luca into a dark parkinglot, home to a truck stop diner and a gas pump. They stayed at the far end of the lot, hidden by a screen of semitrailers. He’d kept a close eye on the rearview mirror and had seen no one tailing them, though the fact that Bittman was somehow keeping tabs on Stephanie’s every move made a knot in his stomach.
    Luca joined them, staying away from the parking lot lights. “Ricardo’s stopped here.I saw him look around, check his watch. He’s meeting someone.”
    Tate’s hopes lifted. “Maria?”
    “Or maybe the crazy man from Devlin’s music shop. I think Ricardo paid Devlin a visit, and Devlin’s afraid Bittman will find out and think he’s double crossing.”
    “Let’s go in and see for ourselves,” Tate said, starting for the door.
    “No, we wait here. We don’t want to spook him.”
    Tate stiffened. “We’ve done enough waiting and following. We can’t let him get away.”
    “He won’t. His car is here. We wait.” Luca’s eyes glittered. “This is how we do things.”
    “You’re a Treasure Seeker, Luca, not a private eye.”
    “It’s oftentimes the same thing.” Luca cocked his head. “We’ve found everything from paintings to a million-dollar stamp, so maybe you should step backand let us do our job.”
    They waited, the minutes ticking into hours until Tate was nearly ready to jump out of his skin. He was about to walk into the restaurant with or without Luca’s consent, when Stephanie’s phone rang. After a fleeting look of fear, she answered it. They watched as her eyes widened.
    “But why don’t you just tell me over the phone? What’s the big discovery?” She listened,alternately cajoling and demanding. Finally she hung up. “The man mailed Devlin a picture of the violin. He’s insisting we go see him in person.”
    “When?” Tate said.
    “Now.” She checked her watch. “It’s an hour back to Lone Ridge, so we’ll be there by ten if we leave right away.”
    “It could be a trap,” Tate said.
    “We don’t have a choice,” Stephanie shot back.
    Luca’s eyesdanced in thought. “We’ll have to split up.”
    “I’ll go back with Steph. You stay on Ricardo,” Tate said, retrieving his keys from a front pocket.
    Luca hesitated, shooting a look at his sister.
    She shrugged, and Tate felt a slice of pain at her obvious reluctance, but she acquiesced. “It makes sense since you’ve got the signal on him. If he does leave unexpectedly, you can track it.”
    “Be