by Rebecca Deel
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Heidi glanced at her watch again. Where was Quinn? He’d been gone for almost an hour. He must have learned something more. Otherwise he would have returned by now. His friends and co-workers rocked at research so coming up with no information didn’t seem possible. Since she couldn’t concentrate on the conversations around her, Heidi excused herself and went in search of her boyfriend.
She found him standing in the darkened kitchen, staring out into the night through the French doors. Though the light was dim, the lines of his body revealed Quinn’s inner tension. Heidi pressed a hand to her stomach. Something was wrong, but what? “Quinn.”
He extended his arm, inviting her into his embrace, without saying a word. Quinn gathered her close and, for several minutes, simply held her.
Gradually, he relaxed against Heidi as though her nearness brought him comfort. She hoped that was true. “What’s wrong?”
“What do you know about Aurora Bennett?”
Heidi frowned as she looped her arms tighter around his trim waist. “Nothing. Should I? Wait. Bennett? She’s a relative of Bennett Junior?”
“Sister. She worked at G & H Industries.” He glanced down at her. “Aurora was your father’s lover, sweetheart.”
Stunned, she stared at him. She’d heard rumors that her father was having an affair. This was the first time she had a name. Why would he hurt Heidi’s mother that way? She’d thought her parents were blissfully in love, but the only bliss in her childhood home was in Heidi’s imagination. “She was the woman he was running away with.”
“Zane said the affair had been ongoing for almost a year, that he was obsessed with this woman.”
“Did he tell you where she is? Maybe she has an idea who Dad’s partner was.”
“I wish it was that simple. Aurora Bennett was institutionalized not long after your kidnapping. She’s been in the private facility ever since. According to Zane, she’s not allowed to have any visitors other than her brother.”
“Couldn’t we try? We have to talk to her, Quinn. She might be able to help us stop these fires. The next time one is set, we might not be so lucky.”
“If I thought it would do any good, I’d find a way to get us in there. Aurora is missing. She escaped from the facility last week.”
She could be anywhere by now. “Do they have any idea where she might go?”
He shook his head. “Junior hasn’t filed a missing person report on her so no one’s looking.”
“Why not?” Why would Junior endanger his sister that way? No food, no warm place to stay, no medicine if she took any.
“Don’t know.” He gave her a wolfish grin. “We’ll ask the next time we see him.” Quinn cupped the back of her neck and kissed her.
Good grief, Quinn Gallagher had skills. When he broke the kiss, they both were short of breath. “What do we do now?” she asked, her voice raspy. Yep, definite skills.
“Since we can’t get to Aurora, we need to resurrect your memories of the kidnapping.”
A wave of nausea swept over her. “How?”
“I have an idea.” He tightened his hold on her as though buffering her against his next words. “The experience won’t be pleasant, baby, but I don’t know what else to do.”
“Let’s hear this lousy idea.”
“Let’s go for a drive. Will you trust me?”
“Always.”
“Good. Wait here while I tell Mom we’ll be gone for a while.” When Quinn returned, they left the house through the back door. Once inside the SUV, he reached into his pocket and pulled out black material.
“What’s that?”
He captured her gaze with his, one hand covering hers. “A blindfold.”
“You want to blindfold me,” she whispered. Adrenaline raced through her bloodstream. She didn’t know about this. Intellectually, she understood what he was doing. Recreating the night of the kidnapping. Understanding his reasons didn’t make the prospect less daunting. She hated the dark. Now that she thought about it, her fear probably stemmed from the kidnapping. Heidi couldn’t remember being afraid of the dark before that incident.
“It’s the only way I can think of to jar your memory. Your choice, Heidi. If you don’t want to do this, we’ll think of something else.”
Though she didn’t want to comply, Heidi knew they didn’t have many other options. She’d already been hypnotized with and without drugs to stop the nightmares, and put the remaining kidnapper behind bars, all to no avail. “Will you take me back to that house?” The house where her baby sister died. The house of her nightmares.
Quinn didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to.
Heidi steeled herself. “Do it.” She wanted answers and this appeared the only way to get them.
He leaned forward and raised his hands. Breath stalled in her lungs as he moved closer. But instead of wrapping that fabric around her head, he kissed her until she thought about him, not the blindfold.
Quinn eased away, whispering, “Keep your eyes closed. Trust me, Heidi. I won’t let anything happen to you.” A moment later, he covered her eyes with the soft, silky black material. His thumbs brushed her cheeks with a gentle touch. “You look beautiful in black.”
The comment surprised her into a brief smile. “Thanks.”
“I’m going to buckle your seatbelt for you.” His breath tickled her face as he leaned close. “I love you, baby. Thank you for trusting me.”
“Hurry, Quinn.” She didn’t know how long she could hold herself together. Already the darkness was closing in, making it difficult to breathe.
“No longer than ten minutes, I promise.”
The whole drive, he asked questions about the night of the kidnapping, most of which she couldn’t answer. The chloroform had knocked her and her sister out for a couple hours by the estimation of the police and the physician who examined her at the hospital. All Heidi remembered was waking in the dark with her sister, locked in that horrible room.
When Heidi thought she might have to yank that stupid blindfold off, Quinn slowed the SUV to a stop. Now she didn’t know which was worse. Still wearing that blindfold or knowing Quinn was taking her into the house of death. She couldn’t think of that place without remembering Moira’s last moments on this earth.
Quinn turned off the ignition. “Are you ready?” he asked, his voice soft.
“Never. Let’s get this over with. Maybe then, we’ll have the answers we need. I want you, our future children, and your family to be safe.”
“Stay still. I’ll come around to help you.”
Cold air filled the SUV when Quinn opened his door. Seconds later, he opened Heidi’s door and unlatched her seatbelt. His hand cupped her cheek. “I know this is hard, but you’re doing great, babe. Hang in there a little longer.”
“Do you really think this is going to work?”
“We won’t know until we try. I’m going to help you to the ground, then lift you into my arms. I don’t want you stumbling out here. There isn’t much light aside from the moon and a streetlight down the road. Mom told me the people in this neighborhood slowly began to sell or abandon their homes after your kidnapping. Some of them were affected by G & H’s shutdown. Others didn’t want to live in this neighborhood anymore. As a result, not many people live near this house.”
“Is that why your mother hasn’t been able to sell it?”
“She didn’t see the point of trying to sell when people around town knew the history of the house.”
“She mentioned something about knocking it down.”
“That’s right. I think she’s planning to sell the property to the city for a park for children. The mayor approached her about the possibility a couple months ago.” He brushed the side of her neck with a light kiss. “Ready, Heidi?”
Heidi’s chest tightened. “I need to take off this blindfold,” she said, voice shaky.
“Five more minutes, baby.”
“How will we get into the house?”
“And if she hadn’t?”
He swung her legs to the side of the seat, then eased her to the ground. “I would have picked the lock. Special Forces taught me all kinds of interesting skills.” The door closed with a soft snick.
If she hadn’t been so focused on not ripping off the black material hiding the world from her eyes, Heidi would have laughed at the stealth Quinn was using. He probably didn’t even realize he wasn’t making much noise. The military trained him well.
“Put your arms around my neck.” When she complied, he murmured, “Hold on.” Quinn placed one arm across Heidi’s back, the other behind her knees, and then she was airborne.
Heidi buried her face in his neck, breathing in the familiar scent of the man she loved, that mixture of forest and Quinn. Wood creaked and Quinn stopped.
“I need to unlock the door.” He set her feet on the ground, keeping one arm around her waist. A moment later, the screech of rusty hinges being forced to work echoed in the night. “I’ll carry you inside.”
She nodded despite the building fear. Heidi hadn’t thought this experiment of Quinn’s would work. Maybe the sensory deprivation was having an effect on her memory because the whole kidnapping experience was right at the edge of her consciousness. For Quinn and their future children, for herself, she wanted to remember, perhaps for the first time since that fateful event. Until now, Heidi had just wanted to forget.
Quinn picked her up again and maneuvered her inside the house. Heidi’s nose wrinkled. The scent of dampness, mustiness, and mildew assaulted her sense of smell. “I hope no one lives here.”
“Not since your kidnapping. People say the place is haunted.”
Heidi jerked. “By Moira’s spirit? That’s ridiculous.”
“I agree. There’s a logical explanation. Probably kids or teens meeting here at night, maybe to party, maybe to scare themselves with stories about the kidnapping.”
“Does the house still look the same?”
“Mom didn’t change anything inside or outside. Once the police finished their investigation, she locked up the place and walked away.” Quinn twisted and a few seconds later, she was in another room.
“I’m going to set you down, baby. I’ll remove the blindfold, but I want you to keep your eyes closed. Listen to the sounds of the house. Breathe in the scents. Remember,” he whispered.
She gave a short nod, hands trembling. Quinn set her feet on the floor once again and held her while she found her balance. His scent intensified, then the blindfold was gone. Heidi wanted to open her eyes, but refused to give in to the fear. The house was dark. She doubted Noreen had kept the electricity on. Somehow, though, having the material away from her face helped her breath easier.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked.
“Let me hold you.” The warmth of his chest pressed against her back and his arms wrapped around her. “Think back to the day of your kidnapping. Tell me what you remember leading up to the kidnapping.”
Some of the knots in Heidi’s muscles loosened as memories of the day surfaced. She relayed her efforts to keep Moira entertained until her mother returned from work.
“Where was your older sister?”
She laughed, surprised that she could in this house in the darkness. “On the phone with her boyfriend. She was in love with this long-haired wannabe rock star. Anyway, when our parents came home, they fed us dinner, watched a Disney movie with us, then sent us to bed. Andrea, our older sister, was allowed to stay up later. I remember waking a couple hours later and hearing my parents fighting.”
“The fighting woke you.”
She snuggled deeper into his embrace. “We hated the fights.”
“Did you talk to them?”
Heidi shook her head. “Doing that would make them mad at me. They had turned on us before when we tried to stop them.”
Quinn stilled the soothing motion of his hand. “They hurt you and your sisters?”
She didn’t answer. Ancient history now. Her father would never slap her or her sisters again. Her mother would never scream at them in frustration and rage, ugly, hateful words spewing from her lips.
“Know that I will never lay a hand on you or our children in anger. I will never hurt you, baby.”
Heidi turned then, opening her eyes to see his beloved face. “I know, Quinn. You use your strength and training to protect the innocent, not hurt.” She framed his face with her palms. “I’m not worried that you’ll be like my father.”
“If we’d known, my father would have confronted Caleb. He might have been able to stop the abuse.”
“It’s over, sweetheart. I survived.”
“Your father shouldn’t have gotten away with it.”
The corners of her lips curved. “Slaps on the face didn’t raise eyebrows in those days. Neither did my mother’s verbal abuse.”
“Didn’t make how they treated you and your sisters right. I promise you, our home will be different than the one you were raised in. I will always treat you with love and respect, even when we disagree.”
She rested her head against his shoulder. “I love you, Quinn.”
From the doorway, a woman screamed, “Liar!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Between one heartbeat and the next, Quinn spun to face the threat in the doorway, his body blocking the woman’s view of Heidi. “What am I lying about?” he asked, silently chastising himself for becoming distracted enough to miss her approach.
“Not you. Her. Caleb’s daughter. She lies about her father. My Caleb was a good man.”
“You must be Aurora Bennett.” He reached back and pulled Heidi closer to his back, then moved both of them a couple steps to the right. The meager moonlight shined on the face of the woman standing in the threshold. He recognized her from the photo Zane had emailed him earlier in the evening.
She tilted her head. “You know me?”
“I know about you.”
“How?”
“I used to live in Black River. My name is Quinn.”
“You are Gallagher’s son. He was a nice man.” Aurora frowned. “Why did you come back here? You should have stayed away.”
“I came to see my family. People are looking for you, Aurora.”
Disbelief shone on her face. “They never look for me. I go back to the doctors when I want. I don’t need them right now.”
Based on what he observed, she did need to be back in the institution. The Bennett woman had an almost childlike demeanor. Didn’t make her any less dangerous. He’d been in plenty of places where children killed as easily as adults.
Heidi peered around his shoulder. “What do you need, Aurora?”
Hatred gleamed in her eyes. “Retribution. You must die. Then I will be free to start a new life, one filled with laughter and love. Someone else will fall in love with me and take me away from this place.”
Cold chills zipped up his spine. “Killing Heidi isn’t on the table,” Quinn said, drawing Aurora’s attention back to him. “I love her and I’m not letting you hurt her.”
“Katie. She’s Katie Henderson, not Heidi Thompson. She lies to everybody, even you.”
“I know who she is and who she’s been. Heidi told me everything. You’ve been setting those fires and trying to kill her, aren’t you?”
“I tried everything, but she won’t die!”
Quinn mentally connected the dots in a flash. “You went to Otter Creek, keyed my vehicle, and destroyed it with a bomb. Did you plant the tracking device on Charlie?”
“It was easy. I pretended to be the new dog washer at the groomers. Charlie’s a sweet boy. But Katie has to die. If not for her, I would be happy.”
“I don’t understand. How is she to blame for your unhappiness?”
“My Caleb is dead. If Katie and Moira had cooperated, he wouldn’t have gone to jail. We would have started a new life in a new country. I would have my own children by now. Instead, I’m alone. It’s
Caleb’s bratty kids’ fault that he’s dead. My Caleb is gone so Katie doesn’t deserve to live.”
While she talked, Quinn scanned the room and the woman blocking their exit. Heidi’s description of this room was spot on. This was a box and Aurora was holding a lighter. He breathed deep and caught the scent of gasoline. Crap. He’d bet anything she spread gasoline around the house before confronting them. This place was old and filled with rotting wood. One flick of that lighter and this place would burn to the ground in a matter of minutes.
“Heidi was only a kid, ten years old when she was kidnapped. How is this her fault?”
“She told on Caleb,” Aurora said. “If she had kept her mouth shut, he wouldn’t have been arrested and died in prison.”
“I didn’t know Dad was the mastermind behind the kidnapping,” Heidi said. “I never saw him or heard his voice in this house. But the police suspected him before I escaped and found help. Did you kill my sister Moira?”
“What? No! I like children. I would never hurt them.”
“But you set the fire at my home that killed my mother and older sister.”
“They weren’t children. A better mother would have woken up and saved her daughter. I would have been a good mother. Now, I’ll never have that chance. Your fault.”
“You know who the second kidnapper is.” Quinn’s gaze dropped to the lighter which Aurora had flicked to life. The flame burned bright in the gloomy room. “What is his name?”
She gave a harsh laugh. “You think I would tell you?”
“What can it hurt? You’re going to kill us.”
“Not you. Katie. You can leave.”
Did she believe he would walk away? Quinn shook his head. “I won’t leave her.”
“You have to leave,” Aurora insisted. “Your father gave me the money to have a new life. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Tell me the other kidnapper’s name.”
She shook her head. “No, I have to protect him. It’s only right.”