Sable Quinn Trilogy Boxed Set

by K. J. Dahlen

  "Ten to one the man living with her at the time was Micah."

  Nick thought about it for a moment then said, "Okay, if Micah was there it stands to reason he took his son with him when she died. If he kept Sam with him all these years, I’ll bet he taught the boy everything he knew about killing. Micah alone was bad, but if he passed on his knowledge to Sam, it would make Sam worse than he was."

  "He said tomorrow would be a busy day. I wonder what he meant?"

  "Who knows?"

  Sable glanced at her calendar, noting the date. Today was August sixteenth. Tomorrow was the seventeenth. Checking his birth certificate she noted Sam was born August ninth. It wasn’t his birthday. Melinda was beaten and left for dead days before Gabriel graduated, so it would have been in May, so that wasn’t the reason why tomorrow was so special. She looked at Max asking, "What was the date of the fire that killed Abbey?"

  "September eighth."

  "What is so important about tomorrow’s date?" Sable wondered out loud. She reached for the telephone and called Emma. When she hung up, she turned her head to Nick. "Tomorrow is Micah’s birthday."

  Nick pushed himself back in his chair. "Damn." He thought for a moment then said, "He’s going to celebrate his father’s birthday by finishing his father’s work."

  The feeling of dread in Sable’s stomach threatened to make her sick. She could imagine what Sam had in mind for tomorrow. "How can he even think about killing us all in one day?"

  "By getting you all in the same place at the same time." Nick paused to think for a moment then said, "We have to keep everyone separated. If he can’t get to you all at the same time, he may slip up and give us the opportunity to catch him."

  "Separating us won’t stop him. It probably won’t even slow him down," Sable told him.

  "He’ll be busier trying to find everyone than he will be killing you all."

  "Maybe. I wish I knew his plans."

  The phone on her desk began to ring. Sable stared at it for a moment before she reached out and answered it. "Hello."

  "I’m looking for FBI agent Sable Quinn. Is this her?"

  Sable frowned, "How can I help you? This is Agent Quinn."

  "I think you and your family are in deep trouble."

  "Who is this?"

  "My name isn’t important. What I have to tell you is," the caller insisted. The voice was female and slightly agitated.

  "Is this Melinda Carter?"

  "No, I’m not Melinda." She sighed deeply. "If you must know, my name is Abbey Larsen. My son’s name is Sam."

  Sable was stunned. "Miss Larsen, where are you? The newspapers said you died in a suspicious fire sixteen years ago." Sable heard a gasp on the other end. She motioned at Nick to trace the call.

  "My best friend Annie died that day. I managed to get out of the house. Anyway that’s not why I called. I called to warn you Sam is after you."

  "I already know about Sam, Abbey. He called me himself this morning."

  "Damn, I’m too late then."

  "Too late for what?"

  "I’m sorry. I lost track of them about six weeks ago."

  "What do you mean, you lost track of them? Were you following them?"

  "I’ve been following them for many years."

  Sable had to interrupt. "Abbey, where are you? Maybe you should come to our offices and talk to us in person."

  "I can’t do that," Abbey was insistent.

  "Why not?"

  "If Sam sees me, he’ll kill me."

  "Then let us come to you."

  "I don’t know. Like I said, if Sam sees me, he’ll kill me."

  "How is he going to know where you are?"

  "I don’t know. I’ve been hiding from them for the last sixteen years. They both scare the hell out of me. They both think I’m dead and that’s the way I want to keep it."

  "Micah is dead. He died almost a month ago."

  "I know. I was in town but so was Sam. I followed Micah to his grandparent’s house that day. Sam was there too. We both saw him go into the house then a few minutes later we saw you guys follow. We stood in the woods behind the house and listened. We heard the shots. When the house started on fire, we saw you come out without him and I knew what happened."

  "Sam was there that day?"

  "Yes he was. I stood about 75 feet away from him in the woods. He didn’t see me but I saw him. When Micah didn’t come out of the burning house Sam got very angry."

  "What do you mean he got very angry?"

  "He lifted the gun in his hand and pointed it directly at you. He would have fired it too if something hadn’t happened."

  "What happened that stopped him from firing the gun?"

  "He got a phone call."

  "A phone call? From whom? Did you hear who was calling him?" Sable asked.

  "Yes I heard who was calling Sam that day."

  "Who was it?"

  "Are you sure you want to know?"

  "Abbey, if you know who called Sam that day please tell me," Sable begged.

  "It was Sam’s brother Shawn who called him."

  Sable felt a hard knot form in her stomach. She dropped the phone and grabbed the birth certificate. She reread it. It was true. Right there on the certificate. The box for multiple births was checked. How had she missed that fact? Sable took a deep breath picking up the receiver again. "Micah took both of the boys with him the day he left, not just Sam, didn’t he?"

  "Yes, he took them both."

  "What happened the day of the fire? What did you do that set Micah off?"

  "I told him that day he couldn’t stay there any more, I didn’t want him around the boys. I knew he was dangerous but I never dreamed he would do what he did next."

  "What did he do?"

  "He got a funny look on his face and he hit me. I never had time to think let alone protect myself. He just struck out. I woke up to find my house was on fire. The smoke was so think I couldn’t breath. I crawled to the front door but I couldn’t get it open. I tried to get to my bedroom but the hallway was blocked with flames. I finally went to the kitchen. I found Annie’s body. Micah had snapped her neck. He left her to burn. I managed to get out the kitchen window. I got away from the house before the fire department and the police arrived. I wanted to run away from the horror of it all but Micah had my sons with him. I had to find my boys."

  "Abbey, its okay. I don’t think I’d want my children anywhere near him either. When and where did you find them the first time?"

  "I found them a year later in Kansas City. After they left Kansas, I followed them to Ohio and West Virginia. I kept hoping the police would catch up with them somewhere along the line, but Micah was too clever to get caught. He never stayed in one place long enough for the police to catch on to what he was doing."

  "Did you ever notice what he was doing in all those places?"

  "I didn’t want to know what they were doing."

  "I can understand that."

  "I can tell you they visited courthouses from time to time."

  "Micah visited courthouses? Are you sure about that?"

  "Yeah, I followed him inside once. I wanted to see the boys up close. I found them in the archives room looking up old cases. Then he took them to the newspaper offices. They would look up newspaper articles. It was all very strange."

  "I wonder what they were looking up…"

  "They were looking up old court cases. Micah seemed to know exactly which cases to look up and where to find them. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me."

  "Do you know which cases they researched?"

  "I copied most of the ones I could find. I have the papers hidden away. Like I said, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me what he was doing, but I needed some kind of record or something. Maybe you can figure it out."

  "Can I ask you something personal? How did you survive all this time? I mean you’ve been on the run for the last sixteen years, following them from place to place. It had to have been hard for you."


  "I did what I had to do to get by. You may not think much of me, but I won’t apologize for what I did." Abbey’s voice changed and grew agitated.

  "I don’t think I’m in any position to judge you. I probably would have done the same thing if I had been in your shoes." Sable tried to calm her. She needed Abbey to continue her story. "Why didn’t you ever call me before? I mean, why now?"

  "Micah told me you had died a long time ago. I didn’t know you existed until a month ago. When I found you I knew Micah lied to me, but I had to wait until he made his move to know what he was going to do."

  "Did he tell you he tried to murder me twenty years ago?" Sable asked.

  "Oh my god," Abbey whispered.

  "He dropped me into a dry well along with the body of his brother then left me there to die." Sable had to take a deep breath. "I survived then and I survived a month ago when he tried to kill me again."

  "But you might not survive this time. Micah trained his sons well in the art of murder and mayhem."

  "Do you know what he has against his grandfather, Gabriel Reardon?"

  "No, he talked about him all the time but swore he would never be like him. He didn’t mention any grudges. Does this have anything to do with why the boys are still here? I thought once Micah was dead they would have moved on to start over, like they’ve done so many times before."

  "Sam told me this morning he was here to finish what his father started."

  "Can you hang on a minute? Someone is knocking on the door."

  Sable heard her put down the phone. She heard Abbey murmuring in the background then she heard the sounds of a struggle. Sable heard glass breaking. She called out Abbey’s name but Abbey didn’t pick up the phone. She heard Abbey shouting at someone then Abbey screamed. Sable could hear someone breathing hard right next to the phone and Abbey’s scream was cut short. A few minutes later the phone line went dead.

  After a moment Sable hung up the receiver. She glanced over at Nick and Max. "It seems as though all the women in Micah’s life end up dead at one point or another. The phone call was from Sam’s mother Abbey."

  "The same Abbey who supposedly died in the fire sixteen years ago?" Max asked.

  "She barely survived the fire. She’s been following Micah and the boys all this time," Sable told them.

  "The boys, as in plural?"

  "That was something everyone missed. Sam is one of a set of twins. He has a brother named Shawn." Sable handed Nick the birth certificate. "We all missed something right in front of us."

  Chapter Six

  "Damn it," Nick swore. "I wonder if there are any more family secrets that will come out before this is finally over."

  "Oh, I’m sure there will be a few more. We aren’t done quite yet," Sable told them.

  "What else did Abbey have to say?"

  "She’s been following them for the last sixteen years, here there and everywhere. She said she was at the Reardon house the day Micah died. She said Sam was there too. She said he had a gun trained on me and was about to pull the trigger when Shawn called him."

  "What happened at the end of your conversation?"

  "She heard someone knocking at the door. When she answered the door I could hear her talking with someone then there was a struggle. At one point I could hear her scream. At the end I heard heavy breathing for a moment then the line went dead. "

  "I back traced the call. She’s at the Kensington Hotel," Max offered.

  "We could send the police to check it out," Nick offered.

  "No, I’ll go. She called me to warn me about Micah and the boys. I wish she had called earlier but she was afraid for her life. Now she’s probably dead. She deserves my attention for trying to warn us at least." Sable paused then said, "I’ll go if only to satisfy my own curiosity."

  "Curiosity about what?"

  "I’m curious about the type of woman Micah would live with. I knew about Grace, but I never thought of him as a flesh and blood man before. To me he’s always been a monster," Sable said.

  "Maybe for your own sanity he should remain a monster, don’t you think?" Nick suggested. "If you start thinking of Micah as a man those thoughts might bring you nothing but heartache."

  Sable smiled, shaking her head as she got to her feet. "Micah made his own choices in life. I’ll remember that. It was his choice to become what he became. It’s the choice we all live with from day to day. Even though the people who loved him the most guided him toward the right path, it was still his choice to go down the wrong path."

  Nick stood and told her in no uncertain terms, "I’m going with you."

  "Then let’s go. We have a lot to do before its gets dark out. We have a date with Scott tonight."

  Fifteen minutes later they parked at the front door of the Kensington Hotel. When they checked at the front desk for Abbey’s room number, they were directed to the third floor. When the elevator opened, they turned down the hall and saw a door partially open. Drawing their weapons they advanced on the room. Nick pushed the door the rest of the way open and they saw the results of the last few minutes of Abbey’s life.

  The small hotel room looked like a hurricane had hit it. The chair was knocked to the floor and the lamp on the bedside table had been smashed. There were paper bags from the local take-out all over the room.

  As they advanced into the room they saw Abbey. She was lying on the bed with the rope still around her neck. Sam or Shawn had strangled their mother. Abbey’s green eyes stared lifelessly at the ceiling. There was a bruise on her cheek. A single drop of blood from the corner of the bruise told Sable she had not died easily. Abbey had fought for her life and lost the battle. Sable dropped her gun hand to her side and sat down on the bed beside Abbey. "She didn’t have to die. If she hadn’t called us, maybe she would still be alive."

  Nick kneeled on the floor beside her. He reached up his hand to bring her face to his. "Honey, this is not your fault. Abbey knew what she was doing. Whether she called you or not, they still would have killed her. Maybe they were aware of the fact she’d been following them all this time. Maybe it was just her time. Who knows, but this isn’t your fault."

  Sable turned to look at Abbey again. This time she saw the woman, not just the body of a dead woman. Her clothes were clean but not new. Her blue jeans were well worn. Her red striped shirt was faded with time, but she was presentable. She was a small woman with long dark hair that was just starting to grey. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Sable could see her life had not been an easy one. The skin on her face was lined with worry and pain. Her fingernails were ragged and torn. Her hands were rough and she wore no jewelry. Sable realized if she hadn’t known who this woman was, she would have been just another Jane Doe. She knew there would be no one to come forward to claim her body. Sable thought about what Abbey’s son had done to his mother and it made her angry. Her heart hardened against the person responsible for this act while the rage inside her grew.

  "Let’s find these bastards before they have a chance to hurt anyone else. We have to find the evidence she said she had hidden away." She stood up and began searching the room. She and Nick tore the room apart without disturbing the mess too much before they found what Abbey had kept hidden. It was a diary filled with newspaper clippings. They found it hidden under her mattress. They knew it was wrong to take evidence out of the room but they had no choice. If they left it there, the police wouldn’t understand what it meant.

  Sable sat down on the bed opening the diary. She read the first few pages before she closed the book. She stood up saying, "We need to take this back to the offices with us. It’s time to call the police and let them take care of Abbey’s body."

  Nick agreed. He reached for his phone dialing 911. Moments later a police officer filled the doorway. Nick and Sable stepped out of the room to let him do his job.

  They went back to their office. Sable barely got back to her desk when the outer door opened. She glanced up to see the delivery man from the deli down the street comin
g in with their order. Nick paid him then passed out the sandwiches.

  Sable regarded the sandwich sitting on her desk. She felt nauseous. She had no appetite.

  Nick stared at her then told her to eat. "Your body needs it even if you don’t think so."

  Sable picked up the sandwich. "Maybe that’s how he’s going to get to us. With Shawn he can be in two places at the same time."

  "But how is he going to find out where Gabriel and Emma are? He can’t know they are in a safe house?" Nick argued as he ate his sandwich.

  "Maybe he’s thinking we will lead him to wherever he needs to be."

  "Perhaps."

  A few minutes later a fax came in. The fax was from Brandi and Quentin.

  Sable grabbed the fax and read it out loud. "It seems Melinda had quite a lot to say about what happened forty-eight years ago. It wasn’t Gabriel who beat her up that night; it was her old boyfriend Lester Gannon. He got her drunk and convinced her to accuse Gabriel of fathering her child. After Gabriel left, Lester came to his room and beat her up because she failed to keep Gabriel there. Then he took her body out of the room and dumped her in a ditch somewhere. She claims when she woke up the next morning, she was afraid and simply ran away from Lester and from the mess she helped create. She tried to forget what she tried to do but she couldn’t. She found out she was really pregnant. She disappeared again. She had the baby in Wisconsin. She wanted the baby to be Gabriel’s because she couldn’t face the fact that Lester had fathered her child. It wasn’t until Jared came back from seeing Emma she knew he was Lester’s son."

  "Did they find anything else out?" Nick asked.

  Sable read the fax again. "She told Brandi Lester might have been the person behind the blackmail attempt. Joe Fender was his cousin. She also said after Joe died so horribly Lester called her and wanted her to hide him. He said someone might be after him. When she said he couldn’t come to her, Lester cursed her out then he threatened to tell the police what happened. When she told him to go ahead and call the police, he hung up on her and disappeared.

  "She also says the police called a few months later to inform her Lester had been murdered. His body had been tortured and he bled to death."