Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Aven
Cat, Kindra, Ezra, and Ice Pick sit in the lounge area off the side of the lobby as I hurry toward the elevators. I search the surrounding area, but I see no sign of Quinn. Doubling back, I ask if they’ve seen her since we parted ways at the fun house.
“She heard Jim yelling about his damned bird, so I think she went to help look for him,” Cat says. “She took off toward the park about an hour ago.”
“And you let her?” My eyes bulge, and my hands clench into fists at my sides. I never found Desmond, so the lass is at risk every second we’re apart. I never should have left her.
Cat’s eyebrows pull together, and she takes a step away from me.
Ezra rises and places a hand on my shoulder. “Steady, old man. Just have Jim check the cameras. I’m sure he can find her in no time.”
I shake my head to clear the rage, then look at Cat. “Sorry, pal. I’m just worried.”
“It’s fine, but I usually only let Bennett talk to me that way, so watch it.”
“Be careful, Aven,” Kindra jokes. “Your give-a-fuck is starting to show.”
She’s right. Quinn’s made a visible change in me, and I don’t even care. Let them see my vulnerability. If it will help me save the girl, let them see it all.
“Jim’s up in his room now,” Ezra adds. “Might as well go before he heads to the park for the fireworks shit. Though, he may cancel the entire evening if he doesn’t find that bird.”
He’ll definitely cancel the entire evening if we don’t find Quinn. I’ll cancel it myself. I’ll raze this entire island to the ocean floor to find her.
I leave the group and take the elevator to the top floor. King answers almost as soon as I knock, and the two men look as frazzled as I feel.
“I want all the files,” I say. “Right now. I want Quinn’s, and I want Desmond’s first of all. After that, I want the files on her mother and father. Not the redacted shit you gave me, either.”
“Redacted files?” King looks at Jim. “We didn’t redact anything from Grantham Carter’s file. And what’s going on? This isn’t about Kenny, I take it.”
“I went after Desmond, but he escaped. Now Quinn is missing.”
“We told you—”
“Fuck what you told me!” I shout, cutting Jim off. “Fuck the mission, fuck your stupid rules, and fuck you, too! Give me the files so that I have the information I need to save the woman I love or I will take up my ax again and chop off every appendage until you do what I require.”
King strolls to the side table and pours whiskey into a short glass, then passes it to me. “I know you don’t drink on the job, but cooler heads often prevail.”
I accept the drink and knock it back in one swallow. It won’t cool my head, but it will dampen my anxious mind. “There. I’ve had your drink. Now give me the files.”
Jim and King share another look before Jim says, “We can’t do that. We don’t have much information on her mother, and the file I gave you on Carter was complete. Nothing was redacted, I assure you.”
“What do you mean you don’t have any info on her mother?” I ask. “You have a file a mile thick on Bennett’s, Ezra’s, and Frankie’s mothers. You know more about that Daddy Carter asshole than any swinging dick in the bureau.”
“Watch it,” King says.
“Aye, I am watching it, and this is what I see. You either don’t have information on Quinn’s mother because Quinn isn’t who you say she is, or you do have information and you are once again holding out on the big idiot. Is that about right?”
Jim sighs and rubs his eyes. “No one thinks you’re an idiot, Aven. Please, sit down and let us explain.”
“No, I’m not giving you time to think up more lies. I want the truth. Why don’t you have a file for Quinn’s ma?”
“Because she was Desmond’s first victim.” King’s voice cuts through the air with finality. He leaves no room for doubt or question.
I shake my head and look at the ground. “So, she’s dead, then. She didn’t abandon the lass at all.”
“It’s true,” King says, his voice somber.
“Quinn’s mother lived a nomadic life. There was no stability for the young girl, but there was no lack of love, either.
It was that love that pushed her to make a terrible decision.
She abandoned the girl, in a sense, but not in the sense she’s been made to believe. ”
“Her mother answered an ad in the local paper,” Jim says.
“It simply mentioned an odd request and a little once-in-a-lifetime wish fulfillment. She had a wish and hope, so she called him.” Jim looks at his shoes, and not even King makes a sound as he continues.
“We can’t be sure of the agreement, but Quinn found her way into the Parker’s hands not by way of the state, but via private adoption. ”
King sighs. “Her mother was never found officially because she was never missing officially. She ran in darker circles, mind you. Not the sort to run to the police. The only one who ever missed her aloud was her little girl, but even that was silenced. The girl’s therapist was instructed to tell the girl her mother abandoned her. Eventually . . . she believed it.”
The whiskey glass shatters against the wall the moment it leaves my hand. I glare at them. “I won’t keep it from her. It’s her business, and she’s going to know it by morning.”
“Let’s not be hasty,” King says, hands raised in a placating gesture. “At least wait until after the fireworks. We think this will push Desmond to act.”
“Do you even hear yourself, man? Why do you insist on carrying on with these insipid rules? Quinn is likely in danger because you’ve kept my hands tied.” I shake my head to fight back tears of rage. “No, not anymore. As soon as I find him, he’s dead. Quinn isn’t your bait anymore.”
King flops onto the couch with a sigh and covers his eyes with his hand. “The girl is probably fine. Jim, go check the footage. I need to speak with Aven.”
Jim nods and hurries off, and King motions for me to sit. When I fold my arms over my chest and continue standing, he pushes on anyway.
“Is Quinn your first love, Aven?”
I hadn’t considered it, but yes, she might be.
The lass I fancied in my teens certainly doesn’t count, considering I ended up slitting her throat.
Even if Quinn cheated on me like that cunt did, I can’t imagine killing her.
I’d rather live in a world of hurt than live in a world where she doesn’t exist.
“Aye, she is.”
King nods. “Desmond took my first love from me. Twenty years ago at this very theme park, in fact.”
The blurry picture comes into focus. “You were in love with Quinn’s mother,” I say.
“She was meant to be a victim. I picked her up on a street corner with plans to practice my knife skills. My black heart had other plans. From the moment she spoke to me, I knew there would be no death for her that day.”
“Then why didn’t you help her? You parade around in designer suits and drive fancy cars the same as Jim. Why didn’t you get them off the fucking street?”
King turns his icy-blue gaze toward me. “Do you think I didn’t try? She refused to take a handout, and her various addictions prevented her from straightening out her life. And I’ll give you one guess as to why she couldn’t attend a proper rehabilitation program.”
“Her daughter.”
“She’d written me, asking if I’d help her fight to get Quinn back once she was well again. By the time I’d received the letter, it was too late. She’d already enacted her plan and become Desmond’s first victim. And there’s more to it than—”
“Oh no!” Jim shouts from the next room, and the hairs on my neck stand on end before he even rushes in and says the next dreadful sentence. “You were right to worry, Aven. Desmond has her, and he’s taken her to the gondolas.”
“What?” King and I shout in unison.
“He had her at gunpoint. It looked like Kenny’s gun.” Jim runs his hands through his hair, and the mess it leaves behind is so unlike him that it makes me feel sick. He’s terrified enough to forgo his usual act of keeping up appearances, so I’m more than right to be terrified myself.
I turn to leave the room, and King shouts after me.
“Where are you going?” he asks.
I open the door and pause. Unlike them, I won’t keep anyone in the dark. “I’m going to the gondolas. To save Quinn.”
“Wait!” Jim shouts. “We haven’t run this situation through the simulator. We don’t know what could happen.”
“I don’t need a simulator to tell me that,” I say. “I’m going to save the girl, pay off my debt, and then she and I are taking a one-way flight to Scotland. If her brothers and sister wish to visit, I’ll send the fucking address.”
“About that,” King says. “There’s one more bit of information we’ve been withholding, and I think it’s time you knew. Desmond isn’t just tied to Quinn and me. He’s linked to you as well. You killed his father.”