“Find anything useful? I mean, we know who had her, but we don’t know who took her.”
“Nothing, but I knew it wasn’t going to get me anything. Since I wasn’t tired and knew I couldn’t sleep, I decided to give it a try.”
“They haunt you, too,” she whispered, knowing the shadows in his eyes all too well. When he just stared at her, she sighed. “The victims—they haunt you like they haunt me. Like they haunt Kara and Caleb. I get it. Trust me. If you ever need to talk about it—I mean, I’m not the police shrink, but I’m a good listener, and sometimes you need to talk these things out. Or it festers.”
Still, he just stood there. Staring. Not blinking, and then as if he came back to himself, he closed and opened his eyes in one long blink. Then with an almost imperceptible shake of his head, he smiled his flirtatious, I don’t give a damn smile. A defense mechanism. She knew one when she saw one—she had many herself.
“Nah, I’m pretty good at compartmentalizing things. Have to be in this line of work, right?”
“Whatever you say, Ethan.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know what I mean. It’s just that you don’t have to hide it from me. You can hide it from Kara. Heck, you can hide it from Caleb, though I don’t think either is oblivious to the charade, but don’t hide it from me. Reach out when help is offered.” Before he could say anything else, she spun on her heel and marched toward the door to go meet with Becky Plummer.
She made a conscious effort to appear that she didn’t care about his response, but she had. It was as if she had put her heart out for him to see, and he spat on it and handed it back. If he only knew how hard it was to actually have voiced any of what she had said, she knew he would feel like a complete jerk. Because Ethan was nothing if not a stand-up guy, and not only was he a great guy, but she had heard more than one woman describe him as movie star hot. Platinum blond hair, blue eyes, muscular build from putting in hours at the police gym. Ethan was the epitome of every woman’s naughty dreams, and he was the kind of guy you could take home to meet your parents. If you had parents to take him home to. Or parents that deserved to meet him. Which she did not. And that alone was one of the very reasons she didn’t allow herself to daydream about Ethan Vanderbilt. He deserved more than her and her screwed up past. He had enough in his own past; he didn’t need to shoulder hers too.
Without glancing back at him, she walked inside to the elevator bank and waited for the doors to open. Once she was inside, she pushed the button, not caring if he had followed her or not, until she realized that she had no idea what room or even what floor Becky was on. She assumed she was in the ICU, but she didn’t really know for sure. Begrudgingly, she held the elevator door for the obstinate detective that was a step behind her. At least she could smile inwardly at his brooding glare. So, she had bothered him by walking away. Good.
“What floor?” she asked, trying, and failing, not to smirk.
“Four.”
Without looking at him directly, she pushed the button to the fourth floor and breathed deeply. The cologne he wore always made her belly do flip-flops. He smelled so good. With his stupid Hollywood looks and his stupid swagger, and now she was sighing inwardly at her unfair assessment. Yes, he was abnormally attractive. But he wasn’t cocky about it. Not even a little bit. And that just added to his appeal. Damn it. Someday. Maybe someday she would have enough courage to ask him out.
The silence was awkward, and Quinn found herself staring at anything but Ethan. Finally, he cleared his throat and turned to look at her.
“Listen, about before—” She cut him off before he could say another word.
“Don’t worry about it. I overstepped, and I shouldn’t have. Let’s just pretend I didn’t say anything. Okay?” She looked at him long and hard. His eyes looked so sad. She wondered if he knew that—if he knew that his eyes betrayed him.
“I was just going to say I was sorry for being short with you. But, yeah, we can definitely just forget about it.”
The elevator stopped on the third floor, but the doctor that was about to get on was stopped by a nurse. It felt like they were stuck in the elevator forever before they finally reached the fourth floor.
“Should we wait for Caleb?”
“I’ll send him a text and see if he’s going to be much longer. If he is, we’ll get started without him.”
“Works for me.”
There was no fear in Quinn. Whatever her background, she had come out fearless. Or at least that was the appearance she wanted people to believe. Ethan thought that it was a pretty accurate portrayal, though. She might have some residual fear for the victims she counseled, but more often than not, he thought she just had anger that, in this day and age, people were still being abused. In his mind, the human race hadn’t quite gotten it right yet and really had barely evolved from caveman status. But he had hope. Hope that somehow, they would stop the sex trafficking business. Even if it probably was hopeless, it was all he had left. He had to focus on the good that people like Kara and Quinn had accomplished. It was the only thing that kept him centered, kept him going when everything else threatened to swallow him up.
The abduction of his sister had gutted him. His life, her life, could have gone off the tracks. Indeed, it had steered him in another direction. Instead of prosecuting criminals, which was what he wanted to do—not corporate law, that had been his parents plan for him—he decided to take down the bad guys and hand them off to be prosecuted. It was much more satisfying putting bracelets on them and locking them up. Some part of him knew that if he had gone on to become a DA, he would have been lost. Because eventually, he would lose a case. And he would be gutted all over again to know that it was his fault the criminal was back on the street. At least being a detective, he knew he could hand the case to the DA with every shred of evidence needed to put them away, and if the DA didn’t do their job and the jury got it wrong, then it wasn’t his fault. Naïve? Maybe. But it was the only way he could function.
They had stopped outside Becky’s room. He took a moment to mentally put up the walls that helped protect him. What they had done to this girl made him so angry he wanted to go vigilante on their asses. The people that had purchased Becky deserved to burn in hell. But before they went in the room, he paused to text Caleb.
Where are you at? About to go in room.
Five minutes. Just getting out of car. Came the lightning fast response.
“He’s in the parking lot. We can just hang tight for a bit until he gets up here?”
“Sure.” She breathed deeply—once, twice. Ethan had noticed her do the same thing in the elevator. When she did, her face seemed, younger. “It will give me a moment to prepare myself. Which, I’m not embarrassed to say, I need.”
“Excuse me. Can I help you?”
Ethan turned to see a young nurse standing in the hallway.
“We’re just waiting for my partner so we can talk to the patient in this room.” He knew the staff would know why he was there. He had wanted to have a police officer at her door, but because of budget cuts and the fact that they didn’t feel her life was in eminent danger from an outside source, he wasn’t able to get her one. Her parents had money and had asked Ethan for suggestions for security. He knew a reputable company owned by a college friend and had suggested them. He didn’t know if the parents had done anything about it, though.
“Oh, well, I’m sorry you came all this way. That won’t be possible.”
5
“What do you mean ‘that won’t be possible’?” Quinn demanded. “Didn’t she make it?”
Ethan had only seen her ruffled one other time when Kara had been taken all those months ago. Only Kara and the guard outside his door knew how Quinn had come to the hospital and sat with him while the police had been preparing to storm the abandoned warehouse she was being held in. That night, they held each other’s hand, waiting. Waiting for word, for confirmation that she was okay. When Kara had finally
come up to his room, Quinn simply squeezed his hand, smiled warmly, and left the room and the hospital. Kara never talked about seeing her there that night, and he had assumed Quinn had never told anyone else she was there. He assumed she didn’t want people to know—she didn’t want anyone to know she’d shown a moment of weakness.
“Oh no, I’m sorry, but I can’t really divulge, or I would be violating HIPAA laws. I’m not even allowed to say that the patient is at this hospital.”
Ethan pulled out his badge and showed it to the young woman.
“I’m the detective assigned to her case.” He heard the elevator doors open and looked up to see Caleb and Kara coming their way. “And that is my partner, Detective Montgomery and his wife, Dr. Vanderbilt. She was the one who admitted her last night. I believe she will be able to clear up any confusion, but I assure you, we have full permission from her parents to be kept abreast of her status.”
“Good morning, Nurse Schabow. I overheard Detective Vanderbilt, and I can confirm that we did obtain permission from her parents to disclose her status. They would like us to cooperate in any way possible if it means we can put away the people who had her.”
“I didn’t know.”
“No worries; you wouldn’t have known. And I’m in no way reprimanding you—just letting you know. I imagine you just got on shift and you didn’t know any of the details from when the patient was brought in,” Kara said, her voice soothing. Ethan was mesmerized by his sister and her calming demeanor. Even though it wasn’t so long ago that she had been so angry, she had never treated her patients with anything but compassion.
“I can confirm she was brought for some testing. They wanted to do a CAT scan to make sure she doesn’t have any internal injuries now that she’s stable enough. Her sodium and potassium levels have improved. But you’re right, I did just come on shift, so I wasn’t able to fully review her chart.”
“Thank you. I appreciate the update. Since I just got in myself, I wasn’t sure where her levels were.” At his confused look, Kara continued. “It’s going to be a long process since she was deprived of nourishment for so long.”
“I was just reviewing her chart when the detective and his companion showed up. I wasn’t able to do much more than glance at it. Admittedly, I wasn’t able to look very closely.”
“Once again, thank you for your diligence. It’s important to be the gatekeepers for our patients.”
And with that statement, the young nurse walked away beaming. This was the sister that Ethan had always known, the best of them, a diamond in the rough. And they knew how rough it had been. Very few people could have walked through that fire and come out alive. He knew he was looking at her adoringly when she shot him a goofy look.
“Would you stop looking at me like that?” she huffed.
“Like what?” he asked.
“Like I walk on water.”
“If you only knew,” he said and slung an arm over her shoulder. “Whether or not you realize this, I love you like crazy, kiddo.”
“Kiddo,” she said, giggling, and then shoved him in the ribs with her elbow.
He noticed Caleb and Quinn staring at them. Caleb with the ever-present look of a man smitten and Quinn with a soft expression, but something else, as well? Was it wistfulness? Maybe he wouldn’t have to wait so long to make his move, after all. And then an imperceptible shake of her head, and she had shuttered her eyes again. He wasn’t deterred. Instead, for the first time, he was encouraged.
“How long do you think the tests will take?” Caleb asked.
“I can find out.” Kara walked away and came back a few minutes later. “They figure another half hour.”
“Good, plenty of time to go eat breakfast in the cafeteria,” Caleb said, eyeing his wife. And if Ethan wasn’t mistaken, Kara grimaced at the statement.
“You know how I am about eating right away in the morning,” she said. Lie. That was a lie. Sure, she had some issues if she had nightmares, he knew that much was true. But since she had married Caleb, the nightmares were reportedly few and far between. Unless they had made a resurgence.
“You okay?”
“Yep. Fantastic. Well, I had some bad dreams last night. So, just not hungry yet.” She smiled, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“I didn’t eat yet. Will it bother you to sit and watch us eat?” he asked her.
“Maybe. But I’m willing to suffer through that for three of my favorite people.”
“Aw, shucks, you’re making me blush,” he said while rubbing her head.
“You are so immature sometimes.” But once again, she was laughing, and the appreciative look on Caleb’s face to hear his wife laugh made everything a little better for Ethan. Whatever the dream had been, it must have been a doozy.
“Sometimes?” He shoved her playfully.
“All right, all the time.”
Watching Ethan interact with Kara so playfully was almost more than she could handle. There were times where she just wanted to throw her arms around him and thank him for being him. She was certain that he realized he was a balm to the open wounds that were still healing on his sister, but to see him do what he did best to make her smile and laugh did a lot for her, as well. If she was able to let him in, she could easily fall in love with him. Which would be the only man she had ever loved and likely would be the last.
For now, she needed to focus on the task at hand and not fixate on the man walking a couple steps in front of her with his sister. Caleb had fallen into step with Quinn and had a huge grin on his face when he glanced at her.
“What’s so funny?” she asked him, genuinely curious.
“Just enjoying the interaction between the two of you.” He spoke the words quietly so only she heard them.
“What interaction?”
“Don’t play that game with me. I see the chemistry. I only have one question.”
“And what is that?” she asked with what she hoped was a mocking tone but feared had fallen flat.
“Why do neither of you have enough gumption to do something about it.” And with that final statement, he was quiet. He kept walking next to her with that huge grin on his face, but he didn’t say another word. Jerk. But, she didn’t really mean it. She couldn’t fault him for noticing the way she had been staring at Ethan like she wanted to eat him up. However, he was off the mark if he thought that the feeling was reciprocated.
“Who uses the word gumption?” she blurted out.
“I’m trying to clean up my language a bit.” He grimaced. “It isn’t going that well.”
“Wife got you over hot coals? No sex if you don’t comply?” she asked sarcastically.
“Something like that.” He winced a little.
Interesting. She shrugged it off. It really was none of her concern if he was trying to clean up his language. It wouldn’t offend her if he continued to let one slip here and there or if he let it drop all the time. They were just words to her, not physical blows. Therefore, they didn’t bother her. Though being that she worked with impressionable minors, she did her best to curb any language that might be deemed unacceptable. Although many of the kids that came to the center could teach her a word or two, and in the right situation, she was known to slip up.
When they got to the cafeteria, she was shocked at how hungry she was. Her stomach actually growled loud enough that Caleb laughed. She could never figure out why it embarrassed someone when their stomach growled. It wasn’t like it could be controlled, and it was a simple bodily function, but she found herself embarrassed anyway and hoped that no one else had heard it. Too late; she realized that Ethan was grinning and looking at her.
“How about we get you some food there? Sounds like you might be hungry.”
Gah. Her face felt like it was burning up. Blushing? Was she really blushing? Did thirty-year-old, well-adjusted women, who normally didn’t care what people thought of them, blush? Not this one. Sweet Lord Almighty, what was going on?
“I was in a ru
sh to get here, so I skipped a real breakfast.”
“Well, let’s get you a real one, then. They actually have really good food here,” Caleb said, overhearing the conversation.
After she loaded a plate with far more food than she needed, but definitely planned on eating, she found a table with the other three, noting that Kara looked distant somehow. Obviously, the nightmare she had was still bothering her. Suddenly, she remembered the email she had gotten that morning. Grabbing her laptop, she set it next to her tray and powered it up.
“Since I have both of you here, and Kara is involved in this, and because I trust you all with sensitive information as well as to tell me if I’m overreacting, I thought I would show you this.” As she talked, she accessed her email and opened the message that had been emailed to her, then indicated that they move around to look at what was on the screen. “I would prefer to be discreet about this. I mean it’s probably nothing, but—” Ethan cut her off mid-sentence.
“What the hell? When did you get this?”
“I saw it this morning, but it’s time stamped not long after I dropped Becky off here.”
“Son of a…” Caleb stopped short, grimaced, and finished with “…bucket.”
She let out a hysterical laugh. For some reason, she couldn’t help herself.
“Come on, really? Son of a bucket? What in the world is going on with you?” Quinn knew she was rolling her eyes and couldn’t stop herself.
“Oh, shut up. I was told that I need to be better with my language around my brother’s kids.” Quinn felt like her sides were going to split from laughing so hard.
“To be fair, Caleb, the word choices that your brother was offended over were not appropriate in front of the kids.” Kara was smiling while she scolded him.
“Back to the matter at hand. Sorry, guys, but I couldn’t give a shit about Caleb’s reason for not swearing.”
Quinn sobered immediately. The laughter had been welcome, but Ethan was right. This wasn’t a laughing matter.
“Sorry, Ethan. I just, well, I needed something to laugh about. I’m a fairly honest person. So, believe me when I say that this email kind of freaked me out.”
Breaking Shadows (Darkness Falls Book 2) Page 4
