Quinn (The Waite Family) (23 page)

“Are you all right?”

“Did he hurt you?”

“What the fuck were you thinking?” That was from Cain.

Before she could answer the other side of the curtain was thrown back and was ripped from the rod. Quinn wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Drew look this mad before.

“That’s something I’d like an answer to, actually. What the fuck were you thinking, or were you?”
Drew snarled at her. “Do you have any idea what he might have done to you?”

“Yeah, I did.
But he didn’t, did he? So back the fuck off, buck-o.”
She had a second to realize that they had an audience, but quickly dismissed them.
“Oh and by the way, you’re fucking welcome, you overgrown ass.”

“Welcome.
Welco…are you insane?
What do you think in that tiny, pea-sized brain of yours I could possibly have to thank you for?”
He took two steps toward her as she climbed back out of the bed.
“Except for giving us all a fucking heart attack.”

“I saved your mother, you nincompoop. In case you forgot that little tidbit.
That guy had a gun to her head.”
She was shouting now too.
“He was going to kill her.”

“Oh and you thought you were so much better equipped to handle the situation than the…I don’t know, fifty cops with guns could do?”
He was close enough now that she could feel the heat of his anger.
“When we get married, you’re going to—”

Anger made her voice low and hard.
“I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth.”

That shut him up. His mouth snapped closed so quickly she heard his teeth click together. But it didn’t seem to cool his temper any.

“Yes, you are.
As soon as it can be arranged, as a matter of fact.
Today, if I can manage it.”

“Drew,” Alyssa started. “I don’t think—”

“Good. Stay out of this. This is between the two of us. She needs a keeper and I’m going to make sure she stays safe even if I have to tie her to the bed to make sure she is.” When Cain stepped forward Drew stopped him. “I mean it, Cain. I won’t let her hurt my child.”

Quinn felt the air leave her lungs.
Her heart crushed under the weight of the pain.
The baby. He was only worried she’d hurt his baby.
She couldn’t speak so she turned to the bed and slowly climbed back in. She knew that Drew and Cain were still talking, but she no longer cared.
It wasn’t until Alyssa came over and took her hand that she looked around.
They were alone in the curtained off area.

“He didn’t mean it, Quinn. He was just scared. Men can say the stupidest things when they’re frightened.”
Quinn didn’t speak.
“Quinn, honey, he loves you.”

Alyssa kept talking to her, but she wasn’t listening. Not really anyway.
She heard Alyssa say that Cait was coming in to take her statement. That she’d stay with her if she wanted.
And that she didn’t blame her for being upset.

When Cait arrived an hour later Quinn had her mental list complete. She knew what she needed to do and how she was going to do it.
But first things first.

“Alyssa, do you think you could get one of the nurses to bring me something to eat?
I’m starved.”
Alyssa smiled at her and Quinn hoped her smile didn’t look as forced as it felt.
“All I’ve done is throw up for a week and suddenly I want some food.”

“Sure. I’ll even have Cain go and get you your favorite.
I’ll be right back.”
Suddenly, she was gone.

“Smooth move there, Waite.
You do know she’s probably going to bring you back half the store, right?
And I would have gotten rid of her for you if you wanted.” Quinn ignored her for the moment. She’d always thought that Captain Grant was way too observant for a regular cop anyway.

“I have no idea what you mean.”
She settled back against the bed. “I was told you had questions fo—”

Mrs. Miller barged right in and swooped down on her.
Quinn wasn’t sure when she’d become a hugger, but as far as hugs went this one felt good; more than good, it felt wonderful.

“Oh, darling, you’re all right.
When I heard you speak so calmly behind me I just knew you were going to be so brave. There’s no telling what he might have…I’m so glad you’re all right.”
As she hugged her again Quinn looked at Captain Grant, who smiled.

“Mrs. Miller, I need to take Miss Waite’s statement.
I’m sure you understand
,
under the circumstances
,
that I need to have the least amount of people around as possible.
Maybe on your way out you can ask the others to give us a bit of time.”

“Oh yes, of course.
I’ve already given mine to that other officer, Officer Carroll, I believe.” Rose hugged her again. “Thank you, my dear.
I can’t…thank you.”

After she left, Cait didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes.
Quinn didn’t care. She was hurting and it wasn’t just from her injurers either.
Quinn decided to get it over with.

“I was walking back to the house to tell Drew…it doesn’t matter about what I was going to say to him anymore.”
Quinn rolled to her side as she continued.
“I could see that you guys were all on the porch, but I couldn’t see what was going on. I thought you’d been sent to find me.”

“When did you realize that there was a hostage situation?”
Quinn turned when she heard something click.
“I hope you don’t mind that I’m going to record this.
I want to make sure I get your statement right the first time.”

Quinn shook her head and rolled back to her side.
She closed her eyes and could see what had happened as if it were a movie and she was watching it rather than living it.

“His back was to me. I couldn’t tell who he was, but when he jerked around I heard Mrs. Miller tell him to let her go. She told him that they’d shoot her before they let him go.” Quinn turned to Cait.
“Would they have shot her?”

Cait laughed. “No. Tempting, but no.
She was bluffing.
Then what?”

“I walked up behind him and told him to let her go and I wouldn’t hurt him.”
She thought about what she’d actually said and amended it.
“I told him I wouldn’t blow his fucking brains out.”

He’d stiffened, she saw. His back actually stiffened before he spoke.
“You think you can shoot me before this woman is dead, then go right ahead and try.”

Quinn only had a small stick, one she’d picked up as she walked up behind the man. She jabbed it into the back of his head hoping he’d not figure out what it was and that she was bluffing.

“Okay. Any last words before I pull the trigger?
Oh and is your will up to date?” Quinn poked him again.
“From this angle I can’t miss that tiny little brain you’re currently not using.”

“I didn’t do anything. That bitch on the porch took my uncle downtown and now he’s saying they got a witness that says I killed my mother.” He took a step back, but didn’t relinquish his hold on Rose.
“I just had to get away and think. Then this woman got in my way and slowed me down.”

Quinn snorted. “And you believed him?
Let me guess, he’s saying they know you did it and he’s trying his best to tell them you didn’t.
So how do you know that his witness isn’t himself and that he knows all the details ‘cause he killed her?
And now he’s trying to pin it on you.”

The man, she knew
now
, was Alyssa’s brother, Robert Howard. Quinn had never met the man, but she knew plenty about him. He was a shiftless bastard who hurt women for pleasure.
And he’d hurt her friend and sister-in-law too.

“Let Mrs. Miller go and…and you can take me with you.” She heard someone shout at her to back off, but she took a step toward Robert.
“Nobody up there cares if you kidnap some older woman, but they will when you take an heiress.
My family invented…we invented Velcro. Ever heard of it?” Quinn didn’t have a clue what she was saying, but she was stalling until she could convince him to let Rose go. She didn’t know who invented Velcro and she was hoping he didn’t either.

“Of course I have. You’d have to be a real idiot to not know what that was.
And you’re stupid if you think I don’t know who invented it too.
It was a Swiss electrical engineer named George de Mestral. I did go to college.
You don’t look Swiss or the daughter of an engineer.”

He turned around and the gun came out from behind Rose’s head so quickly that Quinn had no time to hide her “weapon.”
Now the gun, his gun, was pointed at her. But he still had Rose trapped between them.

“A stick? A fucking stick?
You thought you’d get me to let her go and come with you with a stick to my head?” He lunged at her the same time Quinn yanked Rose’s arm down and threw her behind her.

“Yeah it would have worked too if you’d just left her the fuck alone.”
Quinn didn’t hesitate, but brought her head forward and tried to hit him in the forehead with hers.
But he shifted, whether from the loss of Rose or what, but she missed and hit him in the shoulder instead.

As he brought he gun back up toward her Quinn grabbed his extending arm and pushed it down hard as the gun went off.
Bringing his arm back up she twisted it around, shifting him to her back, and yanked his arm over her shoulder as she bent at the knees and flipped him over her shoulder.
He landed on his back with a thud.
Scrambling to get his gun he grabbed her leg and she dropped to the ground, hitting her head and mouth on something hard.
Before she could bring the gun up that she had managed to reach Robert came apart before her eyes.

Quinn opened her eyes and then looked over at Cait.
“He was being shot, wasn’t he?”

“Yes,” Cait answered softly.
“All of us opened fire on him as soon as we had a clear shot.
Up until then either you or Mrs. Miller was in the way.”

Quinn nodded as she rolled back over. “I guess it was really stupid of me to risk Mr. Miller’s baby, wasn’t it? You guys had it under control all along.”
Cait didn’t answer.

Drew…Mr. Miller had been right, she’d been incredibly stupid.
And she suddenly felt useless.
She remembered the reason she’d been upset with them in the house. “There’s a security system in the house. It’s in each of the room
s
and records twenty-four-seven. I know that they didn’t know about it because I’m sure they would have disabled it had they known.
It’s in a safe behind the furnace.
I…I didn’t put it in, but the previous owners called about three weeks after the Howards had moved in to tell me.”
Quinn waited for Cait to say something. When she didn’t, she went on. “I would go in with the cleaning lady once a week to change out the DVDs. It was set up on a seven disc changer that would move to the next one every day.
They’re still there, all of them. I’ve marked and dated them every time.”

Quinn shifted on the bed, thinking about how much Drew would be angry about her going into the house and then marking and dating the DVDs.
Cait brought her out of her musings.