Thread: Blank Slate (Dane Stalling & Malicious Lullaby)

Pablo drove quietly for a while. He left the radio on a news channel, but low so he didn't have to listen to the whole world's disasters. He knew he'd hear it if anyone mentioned anything related to Penny or himself. It wasn't until they were past Olympia that he turned off the radio altogether. They were out of the city now on open freeway that cut through evergreen forests. They were traveling through beautiful landscapes and it felt safe in the car, like they were in their own little world. Why are you doing this? Penny asked. I've been wondering that myself, Pablo said. Last night I wanted justice. It seemed to me that arresting you would be justice. Then, when you didn't seem to remember anything, I thought there wasn't any point in taking you in. How would punishing a woman who didn't remember what she had done be just? There was something ticking over in his mind now, a new possibility. When that agent started shooting, everything changed. Now whatever is happening isn't simple. It's not about justice any more. There's a different agenda besides justice controlling the FBI right now. What that means is that there's a possibility that there are extenuating circumstances. Whatever motivated your crimes might be explained in a different way, a way that makes them much less serious than I've thought. He didn't say that he had been nursing a murderous revenge for the last twelve months. It had been easy to maintain the rage at Danny and Penny when they were just dossiers, but now, with Penny actually with him, he didn't sense the kind of malice he had dealt with in other criminals. He couldn't see her as a dull eyed sociopath. She was a woman who behaved rationally. He was finding a new way of looking at her. He kept looking at her, in sidelong glances, admiring the way her legs tapered into her shoes. The black stockings accentuated her shapely legs. Her hair was a color that demanded attention. That might become a problem later. Hey- open the glovebox and get out the radio and turn it on. We should be out of range of FBI transmissions, so if we hear something it will give us some time to react. Just leave it on. No news is good news. She touched the pictures on the dashboard and Pablo cursed himself for leaving them there. This could make things much more complicated. He needed to be honest with her though, at least about this. Danny Davitt. I've been looking for him too. He's your brother. He's nowhere near as smart as you, but we can't find him either. We've been thinking that you were protecting him, keeping him safe, but now that you're with me, the FBI will probably find him pretty fast unless it wasn't you protecting him. Then we have a bigger problem. Who is protecting him, and why? The picture of Sueco was missing from the dashboard. Pablo checked the floorboards and saw it, face down on the floor near Penny's feet. It was just as well. ---- The sun was setting when Pablo took a numbered exit off the freeway that turned west toward the ocean on a narrow road that wound between big redwoods. He switched on the headlights and forty five minutes later he turned on to a long dirt driveway that ended at a cabin with a garden on one side. The other side had a wide lawn that ended at the edge of a cliff over the Pacific Ocean.