Fear No Evil

Quinn looked at Kate. “Okay?” he asked her.

Kate smiled seriously, nodded. “When?” she asked.

“Tomorrow morning. Early. Until then, you need to stay here.”

“I’ll stay with you,” Dillon said.

Quinn shook his head. “I’ve given you both as much latitude as I can. I wish I could do more, but please don’t push this.”

“It’s okay,” Kate told Dillon. “Really.”

Dillon didn’t want to leave her. But at least she was coming to San Diego. He’d show her what a family was, how they stuck together, how good a family could be. Show her the family she’d never had, a family that maybe she’d like to be part of. With him.

“Are you sure?” he whispered.

She nodded. “It’s only a few hours. I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

He kissed her lightly on the lips, wished he could keep her with him all night. “Tomorrow morning.”

THIRTY

IT WAS AFTER MIDNIGHT when Dillon spoke to Jack on the phone. “How’s Lucy?”

“She’ll be okay.”

“That’s not telling me anything.”

“She knows about Patrick. She became hysterical, insisted she had to see him. Carina didn’t think that was wise. She ended up giving Lucy a sedative to get her to sleep.”

Dillon frowned. “I think you should let her see Patrick.”

“What good will that do?” Jack asked. “She’s already beating herself up over what happened. Seeing him like that will make it worse.”

“I don’t think so. She needs to focus on someone other than herself. Her imagination over what might have happened to Patrick will be far worse than letting her sit with him for a while.”

“He’s in a coma, Dillon.” Jack stated the obvious.

“Seeing Patrick, sitting with him will help Lucy. Taking care of Patrick will give her mind a chance to stop thinking about what happened to her. It’ll give her a break. Keeping her locked in the house on sedatives, under what can be the stifling love and concern of the family, where all she can think about is the rape, is emotionally exhausting.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Look into Mama’s eyes. You’ll see a reflection of pain and suffering. Lucy sees the same thing, and that fuels her guilt and anguish. If she wants to see Patrick tomorrow morning, take her.”

“All right. But I’m telling Carina it’s your idea. She’s damn protective of Lucy. She’s acting more like the bodyguard than me.”

“That’s Carina.” Dillon paused. “I’ll be coming home tomorrow.”

“I thought you were staying up there with Kate?”

“She’s coming with me.”

“Really.”

“So is Quinn Peterson. He needs to talk to Lucy.”

“Debrief her.”

“Essentially.”

“Do you want me to prepare her for it?”

“No. I don’t want her imagining the questions or trying to think up what she’s going to say. I’ll meet you at the hospital at noon. That’ll give Lucy time with Patrick, which should calm her.”

“You’re the boss,” Jack said.

“How’s it going with Mom and Dad?”

“You’re not talking about Lucy, are you?”

“No.”

Jack paused. “With Mama, it’s like I never left. Dad…you’re the shrink, you figure it out.”

“He’s acting like you betrayed the family and him, personally.”

“Bingo.”

“Can you hang on a couple more days?”

“Think you’ll find Scott by then?”

“I think Scott will find us. Be diligent, Jack. He wants Lucy and he’ll kill to get to her.”

It wasn’t yet dawn when the door to her room opened.

The fog of sleep disappeared immediately as Kate jumped up. The fluorescent lights blasted on and Kate blinked rapidly. She reached for a gun that wasn’t there.

Merritt. And two cops. “What’s going on?” she asked.

Merritt nodded to the cops, who approached her. “You can’t do this,” she said. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“No, you’re not. Sit down.”

“What do you want?” she asked.

It wasn’t until one of the cops took out handcuffs that a tingle of fear crept up her spine.

One cop held her while the other handcuffed her to the chair and the table. Why the table?

So she couldn’t move.

“I want to show you something.” Merritt dismissed the cops, and they left.

“Where’s Quinn?”

“It’s three in the morning. He’s probably at home with his wife.”

Merritt had a briefcase in one hand. He placed it on the table, opened it, took out a DVD player. While it booted up, he said, “I watched Paige die.”

She didn’t say anything.

“Then I watched you. And all I could think about was that I wished you had been in Paige’s place.”

Her stomach churned.

“You had no one. Evan had been killed. Your grandparents were dead. No one knew where your mother was, or even who your father is. No siblings, few friends. Paige had everything! A family who loved her. Lots of friends who cared for her. Me.”

He leaned over and for a moment Kate believed he was going to pull out his gun and shoot her.

“Paige was pregnant when she died. You thought she was your best friend? She didn’t even tell you. She told me the week before she died.” He turned from her, punched some buttons on the player.

Paige was pregnant? Kate was shocked. Paige hadn’t said anything. Not even hinted about it.

She’d thought they’d been best friends. Closer than sisters. But Paige had been drifting back then. Focused on the job. And Jeff. Had Kate missed the clues? Not only about Paige’s pregnancy, but about the reality of their relationship?

“Why do you think I wanted her pulled off the investigation?” Merritt said. “But no, you pushed, pushed, pushed.”

“I never pushed Paige on the investigation,” Kate said. “She told me you said everything was a go. She lied about the backup. Maybe you wanted her pulled, but she was going full-steam ahead.”

“Paige never lied to you!”

“Yes, she did!” Suddenly Kate remembered something about that fateful investigation five years ago. What Evan had said. Kate, get out. There’s no backup. How did he know? Had he been following them? Or had he been privy to inside information? Kate had told Evan everything about the investigation.