0373447477 (R) (16 page)

Q
uinn didn’t say much as Malone paid for the pie and the coffee and led her outside. That surprised and worried him. She wasn’t a quiet person. She said what she thought, she went after what she needed. So, why was she walking beside him, head down, gaze on the ground, not a word on her lips?

Fatigue?

Fear?

Probably a little of both, but there was more to it than that, and he wanted to know what.

“Penny for your thoughts,” he said, the words drifting on still night air.

“They’re only worth a penny?” she responded, looking up from the ground and meeting his eyes. She’d never gotten ice for the bruise, and it was a gray-black smudge across her jaw and the side of her face.

“And pie. And a cup of coffee.” He handed her the carryout coffee cup. He’d added extra sugar to it before they’d left, and she grimaced as she took a sip.

“You mean a cup of sugar,” she said, her pace brisk.

“You need the calories and the quick energy.”

“I need to find my sister, and I need to know the truth about Jubilee. She’s the key, Malone. I know she is.”

“How?” Because, the way he was seeing things, the little girl was a pawn in a game that had turned deadly serious. Same for Quinn. Both were a means to an end. The end being Jarrod getting his wife back for whatever reason was driving him—jealousy, rage, revenge.

“Maybe Jarrod is worried about going to jail for claiming her as his child when she wasn’t? I think you’ve found evidence that proves he was the one that took her out of the cult. Maybe he’s trying to get her back so that no one will know what he did.”

“You’re forgetting that the FBI has already called him. They’ve had open lines of communication about Jubilee. Sure, his story can be proved to be a lie, but he can claim he got scared, tried to cover up because he’s an innocent man and never been in trouble with the law before.”

“Innocent men don’t put tracking devices in their kid’s booster seat.”

“They do if they have more money than sense and they don’t trust their spouses.” He’d seen it more than once in his line of work.

“My sister is a lot of things, Malone. I know that. But she loved Jubilee. I could see it in the way she talked to her, and Jubilee loved her. They might not be genetically related, but their bond is strong.”

“Meaning?”

“Something happened. Tabitha and Jubilee were both bruised when they arrived at my place. Tabitha isn’t the kind of person who’d let someone hit her and not walk out. At least, I don’t think she is, and I definitely don’t believe she’d let a child be hurt.”

“What do you think happened?” She was on the track of something. Malone could sense it. While everyone else had been focusing on Tabitha’s past, her criminal record, the items she’d taken from her husband, Quinn had been looking for the truth.

“That something scared Tabitha so much, she knew she had to run and take Jubilee with her. Not just the abuse. My sister would have taken pictures and gone to the police and taken Jarrod for everything he had if that’s all there was to it.”

“She could have gone to the police anyway.”

“She told me that Jarrod had a lot of connections. She begged me not to contact law enforcement until after Jubilee had been brought to her biological father.”

“Because she didn’t want to be caught with her hands full of stolen property?” he suggested, and she shook her head.

“That’s what everyone believes. It’s what Jarrod wants everyone to believe, but I think she wanted time.”

“To do what?”

“Prove whatever it is she suspects? Hide before she lets the police know what her husband had done? It could be anything. Until we talk to her, we won’t know the truth.”

“She’s not making that easy.”

“Would you, if you thought someone wanted you dead?”

He wouldn’t, but he had plenty of friends and family who’d come to his rescue if he needed it, who’d keep him hidden, work behind the scenes to prove his innocence or to keep him safe. He’d
had
plenty of people come to his rescue over the years. Someone like Tabitha wouldn’t have known where to run, whom to ask for help. She’d lived her life on a surface level, and that never created good connections.

“You said that you and your sister hadn’t seen each other in years?”

“We hadn’t. She came to my wedding, got drunk as a skunk and had to be escorted off the premises.”

“I wonder why she flew all the way to Maine instead of flying to Maryland and asking August for help.” It would have made more sense, would have been the safer option.

“You’ve seen how August feels about her. He’d have called the police immediately.”

“That might have been the better option. Look at the mess she’s in. The mess she’s gotten
you
in.”

“It would have been her story against Jarrod’s, and she’d have been standing there with her pockets and hands full of stolen property, claiming that he was the bad guy. Eventually, the police might have checked out her claims that Jubilee wasn’t Jarrod’s child, but what if he’d left the country before then? What if he’d harmed Jubilee, or hidden her away? Let’s cut through here.” She took his hand, her hand cold in his as she tugged him to a path that seemed to meander through thick trees. “It’ll be a lot quicker.”

“Quicker than what?”

“Walking through town to get to the marina. I want to talk to Tom.”

“It’s late. Are you sure he’ll be there?”

“His house is a block away. Really pretty view of the lake. I went there for lunch one Sunday after church.”

“A short cut through the woods when there’s a murderer walking around might not be the best idea, Quinn.” He stopped.

Cold air swirled around them, a hint of winter and moisture in it. They couldn’t be far from the lake. He could see lights through the trees, a glint of water, but someone had been murdered the previous night, and Malone wasn’t into taking needless chances.

“It’s a quarter mile through the trees. A mile and a half if we have to go around them.”

“I like shortcuts. When I know what I’m going to run into on them. I’ll call Chance and have him meet us here. We’ll go to the Marina together.”

“I thought he was out looking for Tabitha. That’s a better use of his time.”

“A better use of his time—the only use of it that matters to me right now—is keeping you safe. Have you forgotten that you were attacked less than an hour ago?”

“No, but—”

“This is what we do, Quinn,” he said, cutting her off. “Don’t tie our hands and expect that we can protect you.”

“I didn’t ask you for protection,” she mumbled, tugging her hand out of his. “I didn’t ask you for anything. All I wanted was to get Jubilee back where she belonged. The rest of this is a nightmare, and I just want it to be over.”

She was close to her breaking point, and if he wasn’t careful he was going to push her right over the edge.

It wasn’t what he wanted.

He needed her strong, and he needed her focused.

He also needed her to cooperate.

“Listen to me,” he said, his hands resting on her biceps, his fingers curved lightly around slim, firm muscles. “You and I have exactly the same goals. We’ve got to work together on this, and we’ve got to be smart about it.” His hands slid to her shoulders, his thumbs brushing silky skin. “You’re running on emotion, and I’m running on logic. If you think about it, you’ll realize that I’m right—putting ourselves in danger isn’t going to keep Tabitha safe.”

She frowned, but didn’t pull away from his hold.

“I really wish I could argue with that. But I can’t, so call your boss and tell him we need a ride.”

“That’s the spirit,” he said, reaching for his cell phone. He hadn’t heard from Chance or Stella. They must still be on the hunt for Tabitha. He texted his location and hit send, took Quinn’s arm and led her to the curb.

“Let’s wait here,” he said, pulling her down so they were both sitting at the edge of the sidewalk.

“Waiting seems like a huge waste of time.” She pulled a blade of grass from a crack in the sidewalk and ripped it apart. “And I know you agree, because you definitely don’t seem like the kind of person who likes to sit idle.”

“You’re right, but this isn’t sitting idle. This is waiting for a ride that can take us where we want to go.” And, he hoped it arrived soon, because he was getting that feeling again—the one that said things weren’t quite what they seemed, that maybe danger wasn’t as far away as he was hoping.

“What’s your family like, Malone?” Quinn asked, pulling up another blade of grass. “Because I’m hoping it’s just as crazy as mine.”

He smiled, thinking about the siblings and cousins he’d helped raise, all the trouble that they’d gotten into and that Malone and his grandfather had helped them out of. “They are.”

“Do you have a big family?”

“Eleven kids all living in an old farmhouse with one bathroom and three bedrooms.”

“Wow, your parents had their hands full.”

“My grandparents, actually. My parents and aunt and uncle were killed by a drunk driver when I was eleven. After that, Granddad and Grandmom raised me, my four siblings and my six cousins on their farm. I was the oldest, so I helped out with the younger kids a lot, and I can assure you that every single one of them was nuts.”

“That must have been tough.”

“Losing my parents was. Living with my grandparents...it was good. It taught me a lot about the value of family. It taught me everything I know about love and faith and keeping on. You learned that, too, Quinn. That’s why you’re fighting so hard for a sister you haven’t seen in years. It’s why your brother keeps an apple pie in his freezer. It’s why Tabitha made sure Jubilee was safe before she did anything else. In the midst of whatever craziness your family had, the three of you were taught what to value.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“No guessing. Love is the thread that’s sewn you three together. That thread is made of steel, and it can’t be broken.”

“Death can break it,” she said, the fear in her voice palpable.

“Even death can’t break love’s hold. Look at you,” he said, lifting her right hand and touching the narrow gold band. “You haven’t stopped loving your husband.”

“No, but it’s not the same.”

“Would you want it to be? Would you want to still have that great love for him, still be tied to him even though he’s no longer tied to you?” he asked, even though it was none of his business. Even though he shouldn’t care.

He
did
care.

He wasn’t so much of a coward that he couldn’t admit it.

He’d never wanted to get in a deep relationship with anyone. He’d never wanted marriage, family, the kinds of things his parents and grandparents had cherished. He’d done his time, helped raise a bunch of kids before entering the military. That had always seemed like enough. Until recently. Until his busy schedule had become just one job after another, until he’d realized that his nieces and nephews were growing up and didn’t even really know him.

Until he’d looked around and saw friends getting married, having kids, settling into family, and he’d still been chasing after the next adrenaline high.

Looking at Quinn, her shoulders hunched as she stared across the street, that ring glinting in the moonlight, he thought he’d been a fool to think that there would never come a time when he’d want more than what he had.

“Quinn.” He lifted her hand again, heard her sigh. “
Would
you want it to be?”

She turned her head slowly, and he could see the tears in her eyes, knew that she understood what he was asking—was there room for someone else? Was she able to let go of what she’d had so that she could grasp something new?

“It feels like betraying him,” she said. Not an answer to the question, but he thought it was all she could give.

“When it doesn’t—” he stood, pulled her to her feet “—let me know, okay?”

She nodded as a car turned onto the road, sped toward them without any indication that it planned to slow. Not Stella and Chance. That was for sure.

Malone yanked Quinn toward the trees, shoving her behind a wide-trunked oak.

“Get down,” he yelled, pulling his firearm as the vehicle jumped the curb.

* * *

Tires squealed, brakes screamed, gunfire exploded through the trees. Quinn wanted to run, but she couldn’t leave Malone behind. She scurried through dead leaves and pine needles, crawling on her hands and knees, her heart pounding frantically. She needed to find a weapon, some way to help if Malone got into trouble.

Her palm scraped over tree roots, and she dug through the leaves, hoping to find a stick or a rock. The world had gone silent and graveyard still. Not an animal or bird moving through the trees.

She wanted to call for Malone, make sure he wasn’t lying injured somewhere, but she knew if she did it might be both of their death sentences.

You’re running on emotion. I’m running on logic
.

He’d been right about that.

She couldn’t afford to mess this up. She needed to be careful, methodical. She ran her hands through the dead leaves, finally felt the thick end of a fallen branch. She pulled it out as she stood, trying to be as silent as possible. Still no movement in the woods, no doors slamming or footsteps pounding. Headlights illuminated the path she’d planned to take, and she stayed out of their range, ducking into the shadowy fold of the dense undergrowth, creeping back toward the road. She’d circle around, see if she could get a better look at the vehicle and whoever was in it. See if she could find Malone.

Would you want it to be the same
?

His words echoed through her head, mixing with the uneven thump of her heart as she moved closer to the road. She’d been too much of a coward to say she wouldn’t, too much of a fool to admit that she felt herself moving on, letting go.

Maybe she just hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself.

Maybe she was too afraid to be hurt again, to fall in love and say goodbye again.

Somewhere to her right, a twig snapped, the sound chilling her blood.

She froze, her hand sweaty around the jagged edges of the stick, her heart thumping rapidly.