Beach Road by James Patterson Read Free Book Online Page B

it.”
    “What are you saying, Dante? You

saw

Feifer, Walco, and Rochie get shot? Are you telling me you’re a

witness.
    ”
    Dante stops eating and stares into my eyes. I can’t tell whether he’s angry or hurt. “Didn’t see it, no. Me

and Michael were hiding in the bushes, but I heard it clear as I hear you now. First a voice saying, ‘Get on

your knees, bitches,’ then another, Feifer maybe, asking, ‘What’s going on?’ Sort of friendly, like maybe

this is all a joke. Then, when they realize it’s serious, all of them bawling and begging right up to the last

gunshot. I’ll never forget it. The sound of them begging for their lives.”
    “Dante, why’d you go back there that night?” I ask. “After what happened that afternoon? Makes no

sense to me.”

Or to the police,

I don’t bother to add.
    “Feifer asked us to come. Said it was important.”

This makes even less sense.
    “Feifer? Why?”

“Feifer called us that afternoon. That’s why I recognized his voice over at the beach. Said he wants to put

all this drama behind us, wants things to be cool. Michael didn’t want to go. I figured we should.”

“Michael still have his gun?” asks Clarence, and if he hadn’t I would have.
    “Got rid of it. Said he sold it to his cousin in Brooklyn.”
    “We

got

to get the gun back,” says Clarence. “But first you got to turn yourself in to the police. The longer you

stay out, the worse this looks. You

have

to do this, Dante.”
    “Clarence is right,” I say, and leave it at that. I know from Clarence that Dante has always looked up

to me some. Dante doesn’t say anything for a couple of minutes,

long

minutes. I understand completely-he’s just been fed, and he’s free.
    “Let’s do it tonight then,” Dante finally says. “But Tom’s coming with us, okay? I don’t want nothing

outlandish happening when I show up at that police station.”

Beach Road

Chapter 27
    Tom

ON THE RIDE back to Bridgehampton, I make one call, and it’s not to the cops to tell them we’re on our

way. It’s to Len Levitt, an AP sports photographer I’ve known for years, and almost trust.
    “Yeah, I know what time it is, Len. Now you want to find out why I woke you up or not?” When he hears

me out, Levitt is thanking instead of cursing me.
    As soon as we’re out of the city and through the Midtown Tunnel, Clarence shows us his big Buick can still

move. We get to Marie’s place just before 3:00 a.m.
    When we pull up, Marie is outside waiting. Her back is as straight as a board, and her game face is on. If

people thought she’d been shattered by the events of the past week, they’re wrong.
    She’s wearing her Sunday clothes and beside her is a big plastic bag filled with food she’s been cooking all

night and stuffing into Tupperware containers just in case Dante has to spend the night in jail. Who knows

how long she’s been standing there already, but it doesn’t matter because you know she’d stay there all

night if she had to.
    Then again, one look at her face and you know she’d march into hell for her grandson. Grandmothers are

something.
    But right now, more than anything else in this world, Marie is relieved to finally be able to lay her eyes and

hands on Dante, and when she wraps her arms around his waist, the love in her eyes is as naked as it is

ferocious. And then another surprise-Dante starts to cry in her arms.
    “Don’t worry, Grandma, I’m going to be okay,” he says through his tears.
    “You most certainly will be, Dante. You’re

innocent.
    ”
    Part Two

Kate Costello

Beach Road

Chapter 28
    Tom

IT’S 4:15 A.M. In the moonlight, East Hampton’s deserted Main Street looks almost wholesome. The only

car in sight is a banged-up white Subaru parked in front of the quaint fifties-era movie theater marquee.
    As Clarence plows slowly through town, the Subaru’s lights go on and it tears off down the road. We follow

it to the