Breaking Shadows (Darkness Falls Book 2) Read online

  “Apparently, Kara had these sent up when she started her shift this morning. There’s a note attached.”

  I assumed that big, macho brother of mine didn’t leave your side long enough to think of clothes for you to ride home. We’re about the same size, no rush to get them back. They won’t be fitting me soon, anyway. Tell Ethan it isn’t polite to read notes meant for someone else. All my love, Kara

  “Sorry, I admit I read part of the note,” she whispered conspiratorially. “It was hard not to; she left it on the outside of the bag.”

  He just smirked and nodded his head. Knowing his sister, she left it on the outside on purpose to call attention to her perceived notion that he should have thought to get Quinn some clothes. The joke was on her; he did think about it, just too late to make a difference. His step was light when he went back to Quinn’s room to give her the clothes, but when he entered the room, his light mood disappeared. Quinn was staring at the TV with a look of horror on her face. He looked to see what she was watching and saw the Breaking News bulletin.

  The Darkness Falls Fire Department and other local stations are currently fighting a structure fire in the upper east side of the city. The house is in the gated community of Lake Henrietta. It is unknown if anyone is inside. A neighbor has told our reporter on the scene that she believes the homeowners to be away on vacation. Stay tuned for further details.

  “Quinn?” he asked. She shook herself and turned to look at him.

  “I-I don’t know for sure, but I think that’s the house that Becky was being held at. I mean, I met him at the back side, so I can’t be sure, but I think it is.”

  Ethan was sure she was right. Whoever had sold Becky to the owner of that house wanted to make sure that all evidence that Becky was held there was destroyed, and they’d done a good job of it. From the images that had been on the TV, the house wasn’t going to be saved. He would be surprised if anything was left.

  “I think you’re right. I’m going to have to go in to work and check it out. But I have enough time to drop you off and get that prescription. I have some clothes for you here. They’re from Kara,” he added when she looked confused.

  He handed the bag to her, and when she smiled, he took a deep breath. At least she could still find the good in the bad. She peeked in the bag, and when she looked up, she was still smiling. It wasn’t one of her thousand-watt smiles, but it would do for the moment.

  “She is so thoughtful. She even made sure to send something I wouldn’t struggle to get on.” Her voice broke a bit on the last words, but in true Quinn fashion, she pushed it back.

  He left the room to give her some privacy with instructions to call out if she thought she might need help, and he would send in a female nurse. But he knew, without a doubt in his head, that she would rather bite off her tongue than ask for help. He asked a passing nurse if there was anything else they had to do before they left, and she said no, but that she would be back with a wheelchair—which he figured Quinn would argue about. By the time the nurse came back, he was starting to worry about the lack of noise coming from the room until Quinn called out quietly.

  “Okay, I’m dressed.”

  It almost broke him completely seeing her sitting on the edge of the bed, so small and proud, but clearly in pain from fighting her way into her clothes.

  “I have your chariot here,” he said, indicating the wheelchair, and surprisingly, she didn’t argue at all, but gratefully sat in the chair. Which indicated how much pain her body was in from the day before.

  It was a beautiful sunny morning when they walked outside. The hospital valet had gone to get their car from the parking lot, and they stood in companionable silence. Ethan was scoping out the area, looking for any threats to Quinn or himself. He was looking to his left when someone bumped into them from behind. He whirled around as Quinn let out a little gasp.

  “Sorry, man, I was looking at my phone and didn’t see you sitting there. Is she okay?” The man asked, looking concerned.

  Something seemed off. It didn’t sit well with him, but he could hardly drag the guy in for questioning because he bumped into them. After all, they were parked in front of the doors, and he very well could have been looking at his phone. It wasn’t that implausible of a story. Even if he couldn’t haul him in, that didn’t mean he had to like it.

  “No harm, no foul,” Quinn answered.

  Ethan managed a brisk, “No problem.”

  “Really, I mean it, I wasn’t paying attention. Sorry.” And then he was off, rushing to the parking lot.

  “What an odd man,” Quinn said in a distracted way.

  “Yeah,” Ethan said, as he watched the guy put his phone to his ear and disappear. Ethan definitely did not like that guy. There was something really off with him.

  “This better be good; you’re disrupting me, and I was about to sample the goods.”

  “I think you’re going to want to hear this, boss,” he said quickly, knowing that his boss might hang up at a second’s notice.

  “You have five seconds of my time, starting now.”

  “I found the missing package.”

  Talking in code sometimes was more complicated than it was worth. They used burner phones. It would be hard to trace them, but the boss wanted them to use code words, so they did. After a short time, the silence had Paulie on edge, and when he was about to say something, the man finally spoke.

  “You better be damn sure.”

  “I’m fairly certain,” he said, hoping he was right. She definitely looked like the girl they had been instructed to find at all costs.

  “You need to be certain. Where did you find it?”

  “I found it in Darkness Falls. You won’t believe this, but you know that package you wanted us to get rid of?”

  “What about it?”

  “It’s the same package you’ve been looking for all this time.” His boss laughed, and Paulie relaxed.

  “You mean the package has been right here under our noses this whole time?”

  “Well, I don’t know how long the package was here.”

  While the sadistic man he called boss had lived there for years, he never left the compound. All of his needs were brought to him by his carefully cultivated staff. The man was uber paranoid about being found and carefully vetted anyone he allowed inside the compound walls. He had many people working for him who had never been let in that palace of brick and mortar. Unfortunately, Paulie wasn’t one of them. He was allowed in there and would rather not see what he had seen on previous visits. Likewise, the man usually didn’t bother himself with details when he ordered someone taken out—like he had Quinn Sanders. He didn’t bother with finding out any details about the person. It was easier to deny if he knew as little as possible about those he marked, and the man rarely got his hands dirty. However, this one person was one whom he wanted to get his hands dirty with. They had been told if they ever found her to bring her directly to him.

  “Should I grab it? The package is damaged right now so it would be easy.”

  “Not yet. Find out where the package is being delivered, and we’ll keep a close eye on it to make certain.”

  The tone of his voice made Paulie’s skin crawl. It wasn’t the first time he regretted a decision he’d made, but this time, he regretted it immediately, because he wasn’t willing to kill the Sanders woman or bring her in to his boss. There was a reason she survived the day before. The man hadn’t intended to hit her—only scare her. Though his boss couldn’t know that, for now, he needed to think that Paulie was merely inept at the job. The man didn’t know Paulie at all if he thought Paulie would kill an innocent woman, but he had to keep all his options open a little bit longer.

  12

  After the one quick errand, Ethan dropped Quinn off at home. He wasn’t about to leave until he had her situated on her couch with water, snacks, TV remote, and pain medicine within reach. Once she was settled and mostly comfortable, he kissed her on the forehead and turned to leave, then f
roze in place. He was absolutely appalled that he had just kissed her on the forehead like he was her father.

  “Thank you,” she said shyly, and he turned to look at her.

  “I almost forgot your cell phone; I should get that for you.” He walked briskly to the foyer where he had set her purse and grabbed the phone out of it. “You have my phone number programmed into your phone in case you need to call or text me for anything, right?”

  “Yep.” She yawned and smiled. “I think I’ll be sleeping a bunch, though. The pain medicine seems to make me drowsy.”

  “Which is why you won’t drive yourself anywhere while taking it, right?”

  “Yes, Detective Vanderbilt.” She saluted him with a dopey grin on her face. He laughed and turned to go.

  “I’m going to lock the front door. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you to be careful answering if anyone stops by?”

  “I know to be careful, Ethan.”

  “All right, I have to go to work. I want to follow up on a couple of things.”

  “I understand. You’re not responsible for me. Though I do appreciate your being with me last night.” Another yawn.

  “If all goes well, I’ll stop by in a few hours.”

  As he was walking to the front door, he saw her keys hanging out of her purse. He was tempted to take them to ensure she wouldn’t drive but decided that Quinn was too smart to do something that stupid and she wouldn’t appreciate it—even if he was only being protective, not controlling. It dawned on him that he would need the house key to get back in to check on her.

  “I’m going to take your house key so when I stop by later you won’t have to get up to answer the door.”

  “Sounds good,” she said while trying not to yawn.

  Ethan hesitated a little longer before he finally left. He figured she was going to sleep just like she said she would. It didn’t stop him from worrying though. He didn’t like leaving her alone while on that medicine. Her only bathroom was up a flight of stairs; she could easily stumble and get hurt—he’d noticed that the pain medicine made her wobbly. Ethan wanted to call Taylor but remembered she was still out of town. Then he thought of Evie Montgomery. Climbing into his car, he picked up his phone and dialed her number.

  “Hello, what a lovely surprise!” Evie answered, knowing it was him because his number was also programmed into her cell phone.

  “I was wondering if I could ask a favor of you? I mean, that is, if you aren’t busy this morning?”

  “I have no plans at all. What did you need me to do?”

  “My friend Quinn, you met her at Caleb and Kara’s wedding and a couple of other times at the center, she got hurt yesterday in a near hit-and-run.”

  “Caleb called to tell me. That poor girl! He also said Kara was involved, but not hurt. Though he made her go home and take the night off.”

  “That he did,” Ethan said, a smile in his voice. “I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind stopping by and taking care of her for a while. I have to go in to the office for a little while, and to my knowledge, she doesn’t have any family around. Taylor is gone, and Vanessa and Kara are at work.”

  “Absolutely. She has been such a blessing for Taylor and everyone else that goes to the center for help. I’ll bring over some stuff and make her a nice breakfast and lunch.”

  “You don’t have to do that. I mean, I think she’ll probably just sleep.”

  “Nonsense. Can you let her know I’m stopping by, though? I don’t want to surprise her and scare her.”

  “Good idea. She’s pretty wobbly on the pain medication, so if she has to go to the bathroom or anything, she might need help, even if she tries to be proud about it.”

  “Hm, I know a little about proud people. Don’t worry about her at all. I raised three kids; she’s in good hands.”

  “Her front door is locked, and I don’t want to make her get up to answer the door, so you’ll need a key to get in. How about I meet you at the convenience store by my place? I have to run home and that isn’t too far out of the way for you.”

  “I think that’ll work just fine.”

  “Thank you, Mom.” He noticed the small intake of breath on the other side of the phone, and he realized he’d called her mom, and he liked the sound of it.

  “Thank you.”

  “For?”

  “For asking me to help and just for being you. I love you, you know?”

  “I love you, too. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  After they hung up, he stared at his phone. It should have felt like a betrayal to call another woman mom, but he didn’t feel that way at all. Kara called James and Evie, mom and dad, but he had hesitated. Even though he knew them longer, she was married to their son, so it seemed natural, but Ethan now knew that he had come to think of them as his pseudo parents. He was about to text and then thought better of it. If he texted her, she might not see the message. He was still sitting in his car, in her driveway, and could have gone and knocked on the door, but he didn’t want to make her get up. The only other option was a phone call.

  “I’m fine, Ethan. You can go to work and stop hovering in my driveway.”

  “I’m about to leave. Listen, I know you’re probably not going to like this, but later you will thank me.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “It’s nothing bad. I just asked Evie, Caleb’s mom, to stop out and keep you company.”

  “You mean you asked her to babysit me.”

  “You can call it what you want, but you know you’re not steady on your feet and might need some help. You hit the pavement pretty hard yesterday.”

  “Fine, fine. I hope she’s okay watching me sleep. I would have been sleeping by now if you weren’t hovering in my driveway.”

  “I was just talking to her on the phone. I’m going now. Like I said, if you need anything, let me know. But I feel better having Evie there to help you if you need any help.” She was quiet for a bit before she sighed.

  “I do appreciate it. Thank you.”

  “No need to thank me. Get some rest.”

  A huge yawn and then she mumbled something that sounded like, I plan to. He disconnected the phone and then backed out and headed to the station. Deep in thought, he almost missed the conversation that a distraught woman was having with a rookie at the front desk. But a few words stopped him in his tracks, and he stopped to listen to what was being said.

  “Ma’am, I understand you’re upset. But right now, there’s no information that would suggest your daughter did anything but stay out overnight.”

  “You’re wrong, sir. My daughter is a good girl. Kimora wouldn’t have stayed out all night. She wouldn’t worry me like that. She’s a good girl.”

  “I’m not disagreeing, but…”

  Ethan took a few steps toward the African American woman. She was tall and slender, somewhere in her mid-thirties and was wearing scrubs like she had just come from a shift at the hospital or was about to go to work and had stopped here on the way in. It was obvious she was upset, as tears were streaming down her face. His stomach clenched at the sight. When he was home from college one summer, Kara had told him that he was always a sucker for a crying girl. She had been right because it tore him up to see anyone in distress.

  “She’s only thirteen. If she were a white girl, from a middle or upper-class home, you’d be doing something.” The woman’s voice was soft and so broken.

  Officer Babiarz was about to say something when Ethan lifted a hand to silence him. With a slight gesture of his head, the officer went silent and took a step back. The mother turned to look at him with her red-rimmed eyes narrowed.

  “Are you going to t-tell me the s-same thing?” she quietly asked through her tears.

  “Not at all. I would like to take you into a quiet room and get a description of your daughter and details about the last time you saw her. If that’s all right with you?”

  “I would appreciate that,” she said, swiping at a tear on her cheek.<
br />
  Ethan led her down the hall to an office that presently didn’t have an occupant because they were still going through applications to fill the job. He wasn’t about to make her sit in the hectic bull pen or an interrogation room. Once inside the office, he indicated that she could have a seat in one of the chairs by a small table in the office, and he shut the door for some privacy. Searching through drawers, he finally found a notepad that had been left by the previous occupant of the room, and then he settled in the chair on the other side of the table.

  “I know your daughter’s name is Kimora, but could we start with your name?”

  “Keisha Washington.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Keisha, even if it is under dire circumstances. If you could tell me as much as you know about the last time Kimora was seen, it would be really helpful.”

  “I saw her off to school yesterday and went to work. I work at the hospital as a nurse’s aide. After school, she’s supposed to come straight home and do her homework, start supper, and tend to her younger brother.” She paused and swiped at another tear. Ethan looked around and saw a box of tissues that had been left behind. He grabbed the box and set it on the table for her to use.

  “Take your time. I have as much time as you need.”

  “My son called when I was done with my shift and on my way to my night classes—I’m taking classes to become a registered nurse. It’s been a rough road. Kimora ends up doing more than she should at her age, but I’m almost done with the schooling. He called because Kimora always gets home before him. But he lost track of time. Davon tends to get sucked into his video games when he gets home. It’s all Kimora can do to get him to actually do his homework. He admitted that when she wasn’t there, he took advantage of it and played his video game. Then he noticed the time and called me right away.”

  “Did you call any of her friends?” he asked gently.