Page 59 of The White Picket Fence

“You’ll stay home then?”

Tino sighed, the sound as tortured as he felt. “Yes.” He hated lying to his brother, but he wasn’t going to sit on his hands while a man who’d killed five people and put two others in the ICU had his hands on Charlotte Walsh.

Vito gave him a sharp look then nodded once. “Okay.”

Tino cleared his throat. “What areyougoing to do?”

“We can’t risk Charlotte or Kayla. And this is a residential neighborhood. We can’t risk any of the neighbors. We’ll need to evacuate before we begin negotiations.”

“He won’t let her go,” Tino whispered.

“We don’t know that. I’ve done this kind of negotiation in the past and have been successful.” Vito reached over to squeeze Tino’s shoulder. “I get it. We’ll try to trick him out. Surround the house and go in through the back.”

Tino clicked on the Zillow link, grateful that the photographs of the house were still attached to the listing even though the house had sold the year before. “It has three exterior doors. There’s one in front, one in back and one on the side.”

“Tell me about the house.”

“Three bedrooms, two baths. It has a basement, but it doesn’t have a door to the outside. It has windows—three in the back of the house, two in the front. The basement is unfinished. Just the laundry room and storage.”

“Okay,” Vito said. “I know how I’ll go in.”

So did Tino. Checking to see that Vito’s eyes were on the road, Tino sent off a quick text to Cliff Gargano.

I need your help. Life or death. Not a joke.

A moment later the reply appeared on his phone.Where and when?

My house, thirty minutes. Park and wait up the street. Not in front of the house. You need to know it’s going to be dangerous.

The reply was nearly instantaneous.Thirty minutes. I’ll see you there.

Hold on, Charlie, Tino thought. We’re coming.

CHAPTER9

Mount Airy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Thursday, March 31, 12:30 p.m.

Tino slidinto the front passenger seat of Cliff Gargano’s minivan, feeling too guilty for words. “I shouldn’t have texted you. This could get us both arrested. Or even killed.”

The uniformed officer who Vito had tasked with getting Tino home had been quiet and efficient—and full of rightful distrust. He’d eyed Tino as he’d driven him to Mount Airy, all while Tino had been texting Cliff, telling him what needed to be done. The cop was still waiting outside Tino’s house on the curb, in case Tino got the bright idea of driving himself to where Hale held Charlotte and Kayla.

Which was why Tino had instructed Cliff to meet him on the street a block away. Tino had snuck out through his back door and vaulted over the fence to avoid the cop.

Now, looking at the baby’s car seat behind him, Tino was having all the second thoughts. He had no right to put Cliff in danger. The man had a wife and a child.

But Cliff was holding up his phone, showing the map to Kevin Hale’s blue Victorian with the white picket fence. “We’re not getting killed. And my mother always figured we’d get arrested together.”

“Not a joke,” Tino murmured as Cliff pulled away from the curb.

His best friend glanced into his rearview mirror before looking at Tino. “You think that cop waiting in front of your house knows you’re gone?”

“Gino’s home. He’s going to tell them I’m upstairs, that I took a pill to sleep. I should have asked him to drive me. I got no business putting you in harm’s way.”

Cliff snorted. “Like Gino could do anything that could get him arrested. He’s too nice.”

“He really is. I worry that he won’t be able to lie if that cop comes looking for me, but it’s a chance I had to take.”

---