Sable Quinn Trilogy Boxed Set
Page 35
Mason shook his head, “You do like to play mind games with people, don’t you?”
“I learned from the best. Micah played mind games with everyone, especially with me. Noah is playing mind games too. We’ll see who plays the better game.”
Nick escorted her out of the warehouse. The eastern sky was getting brighter as they walked the few blocks to the hotel. When they got there, Quentin hailed them from the suite across the hall.
They entered the room and Quentin grinned. “The hotel moved us over here.”
“Good, which room is mine?” Sable asked.
Quentin waved at the rooms. “Pick anyone you want. Your things are packed but I didn’t know what you wanted to do.” He hesitated. “What are we going to do now?”
Sable sat down on the sofa and glanced at Quentin. “We’re going to wait for Noah to call. He has the knife, but we have the money.”
Quentin turned to Nick. “What is she rambling about?”
Nick grinned. “The reason Noah wanted his father’s knife was for the key hidden in the handle. Sable found it the other day and after we rescued Marie, we went to the warehouse and located the safe. Inside were stacks and stacks of money from bank robberies twenty years ago. Also in the safe were gold and silver bars, coins, and jewelry. Sable wants to let Noah think there was no money in the safe to drive Noah crazy.”
Quentin raised his eyebrows. “Interesting mind game. Let’s say he falls for it, what happens next?”
“He comes after me and I take him out. Simple plan, big results,” Sable said.
“What happens if he takes you out instead?” Quentin asked.
Sable opened her eyes and stared at them both. “Then you guys better not miss. Otherwise, I’ll come back and haunt you until you track him down and take him out.” She stood and went to one of the rooms and closed the door behind her without saying another word.
Quentin stared at the closed door briefly then turned to look at Nick. “She really believes that, doesn’t she?”
Nick stared at Sable’s door. “Yes, she does. So we have to be on our toes.” He turned to Quentin. “Have you come up with any more info on Noah?”
Quentin hit a few keys on his computer. “Noah Richard Reardon was born twenty-two years ago in Oklahoma City. His first contact with Micah was when he was ten, living in Cleveland. He ran away when he was fourteen and joined Micah, Sam, and Shawn.”
“We know all that. Did you find anything we didn’t already know?” Nick asked as he went over to the mini bar and poured himself a drink.
“He’s only been a killer for about three years. His particular signature is he likes to slice and dice people. He’s become very good at that little detail. He likes to carve what he thinks is their crime in his victim’s forehead. So far I’ve uncovered ten victims, and each of his victims were being tried by the courts but not yet convicted. They all had been released on there own recognizance.”
Nick took a sip of his drink before he asked. “Were any of his victims actually guilty of anything?”
“Yeah, the trials were going to end in convictions. There was overwhelming evidence in each trial. The only thing he didn’t wait for was the conviction. Each of his victims died horribly, but they were all guilty.”
“Was there any evidence Noah was in Chicago a couple weeks ago with Sam and Shawn?”
“Yes, he was there.” Quentin told him. “The police found two DOA’s in the East side. Each of them had Noah’s unique signature.”
“So she was right when she claimed the third sleeping bag was Noah’s, not Micah’s.” Nick thought about that for a moment. “Micah knew he was never going to leave Chicago. Noah was his last ace in the hole."
Nick turned to stare at him. “Micah knew he was dying. He set it all up. If he failed to take Sable out, his sons would step up and finish her off. If they failed, Noah would still be there to do the job. Noah was someone we didn’t figure on. Noah was Micah’s last ace.”
“What a bastard. I can’t believe Micah would do that to anyone let alone his own kid,” Quentin said. “Why does he want her dead so bad?”
“I don’t know. That’s one question we may never be able to answer.” Nick took the last gulp of his drink. “I’m going to try and get some sleep. Something tells me today might bring an end to this nightmare for all of us.”
Quentin watched as Nick took another bedroom. Shaking his head, he went back to his computer. He was digging deeper into Noah’s past. Quentin raised his eyes from his computer screen and spotted Micah’s old journals. He sat there a moment longer then got up and walked over to the journals. He picked one of the books up.
~ * ~
A few hours later Sable’s phone began to ring. She groaned and wanted to ignore the persistent noise, but after the fourth ring she knew she had to answer it. Reaching for the source of the noise, she flipped it open. “Hello.”
“Good morning, cousin.”
Sable sat up in bed. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and glanced at the bedside clock. It was only ten. She had only been asleep a few hours. “What do you want?”
“I wanted you to know I retrieved my father’s knife and as promised, I left town last night.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“How did you know I left town?”
“I meant I know you got the knife. You left quite a mess behind.”
“Yeah, well, I was in a hurry. You didn’t leave me much choice. I couldn’t go home. There were police all over the place. How did you find out where I was staying anyway?”
“You told us Micah bought a warehouse here. We just had to figure out which one. By the way, Marie is safe. I know you left her out in the woods to die but she made it.”
“That’s ok; I’ll have to catch her when I come back. You can’t keep me away forever.”
Sable chuckled. “Maybe you should keep right on going. There is nothing left for you here.”
“Oh, I’ll be back. I have unfinished business there.”
“Speaking of unfinished business, you’ll be disappointed to know while you have your father’s knife, I have the key.” Sable knew she was breaking protocol again, but she needed him to return to La Crosse. She wanted to finish this here and now and she knew she couldn’t do it if they had to track Noah down.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, “What key are you talking about?”
“The key to what you called ‘your birthright’.” Sable said. “I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Micah promised you something big in Chicago. Something he and Richard put away for their retirement, didn’t he?”
“He told me if he and the boys were dead, I should claim it. He said there was a key in the handle of Richard’s knife that would lead me to a small fortune. He told me as Richard’s son, it would be mine.”
“Yeah, well guess what? I found the key,” Sable chuckled. “Now I can take my time finding the safe and all the money they had. Did Micah tell you how they got all that money?”
“No, he only said they had a small fortune hidden.”
“You should have really asked him. Our fathers robbed banks all over the south when they were younger. They were known for their unusual blue eyes. According to the files, they got away with almost four million dollars. I’m sure when I open the safe, I’ll find money packets from several different banks. Or maybe I won’t find anything at all. Micah lied to so many people he might have lied about the money too.”
“Now who’s the liar? Micah wouldn’t have lied about the money. He made me promise if he and the boys couldn’t take you out, I would. He told me I was his little secret and nobody knew about me.”
“Well, he was wrong about keeping you a secret, wasn’t he? Not only that, but I’m betting he lied about there being any money either,” Sable taunted him.
“I don’t believe you,” Noah said. “Micah wouldn’t have lied about that.”
“Don’t you get it? Are you that much of an idiot?” Sable a
sked. “Micah lied and manipulated people for a living. He couldn’t tell the truth if his life depended on it.”
“Maybe you should check the knife for the key. When you don’t find it there, you can rest assured I have it. Don’t worry. I’ll spend the money wisely. Every time I do, I’ll think about you.” She heard Noah swear before she hung up on him. She grinned as she thought about his anger building into a fine rage.
Sable rose and walked to the conference room. She saw Quentin but there was no sign of Nick. Quentin looked up at her. Sable caught the look in his eye and sat down. “Ok, spill it, what’s wrong?”
Quentin handed her the journal. “I think you should read this.”
Sable glanced at the book then looked at Quentin. “Why?”
“It might explain a lot of things.”
Sable looked down at the book in her hands. She recognized Micah’s writing. The date on the page told her this was about the time he abandoned her in the dry well in Chicago. She wanted to close the book and not read the words he’d written but found she couldn’t. There were two separate pages marked and she went to the first page and read:
“I ran into an old girlfriend today and got the shock of my life. I haven’t seen Summer Quinn for over three years but today I found out I’m a daddy. Summer gave me twin girls and she named them Serenity and Sabella. I knew they were my daughters the moment I saw them. They have the Reardon eyes. I was upset with Summer when I asked her if she knew she was carrying them when I left. She said she knew she was pregnant but she said she didn’t tell me because she was afraid of me. She said she never thought she would see me again. I don’t know what I’m going to do about that yet. She should have told me.
If I was speaking to my family, I would call them and tell them about the girls. Maybe by not telling them I can get some small satisfaction they will never know about the next generation. I can imagine my grandfather’s rage.
Two days later he wrote:
I got a tattoo on my hand today to acknowledge my daughters. I want them to have my last name so Summer and I are getting married. Richard thinks I’m nuts. He doesn’t like the girls but they are mine and I want them. Summer is a little reluctant to get married but I don’t care. If she knows what’s good for her, she’ll see this is the only way to do it.
Richard is acting like a spoiled brat. He thinks we should go away and leave the girls behind but those are my girls and I won’t leave them. Summer acts like she’s afraid of me now. She’s always coming between me and them. I’m going to have to do something about that. They should be minding me more than they are. The girls are almost afraid of me and that’s her fault.
Sable glanced up at Quentin then went to the next marked page. The date on the page was a couple of months later than the last entry.
Richard is getting high more often than not anymore. Now that it’s just me and him again and the girls, he’s really getting possessive. He wants me to leave the girls behind and become his partner in crime again but I can’t do that. The girls are too young to be left on their own. I think he’s got a girlfriend but his love life is none of my business as long as he doesn’t bring his whore around here I don’t care.
I met Richard’s girlfriend today. Her name is Maggie. I guess she’s ok but I don’t really know her that well. At least she keeps Richard’s mind off the girls. His attitude is really beginning to bother me. He keeps ranting and raving about how it’s time to leave and get on with our lives without the girls. He wants me to leave them with Maggie and go back on the road. He says he misses the life we had before.
I tried to tell him my life had changed but Richard wouldn’t listen to me. He said he would take care of the girls once and for all. I told him if he touched the girls, I would kill him. He stomped off really pissed but I think he knew I meant what I said.
I came home from the store today and found my daughter dead by my brother’s hands. Richard was high and ranting about Serenity stealing from him. I asked him what she took and he couldn’t tell me. I asked Sabella what her sister took but Sabella couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me. I looked around and all I could see were candy wrappers everywhere. Richard likes to eat candy when he’s high but he was ok when I left. I was only gone for about an hour. Damn him anyway.
We got into a fight about his attitude toward the girls and he told me he was glad she was dead. Her whining was driving him crazy. I was so mad I could have killed him. He moved toward Sabella with blood in his eyes and I pushed him away. He came at me again and I picked up his knife. He saw the knife in my hands and called me a coward. He said I would never use the knife on him. I told him to leave Sable alone and we wouldn’t have a problem. He looked at me and told me the first chance he got he would kill her too.
I knew then what had to be done. Richard came at me again and this time I didn’t hesitate. I drove the knife into his chest. I heard someone scream and I turned my head. Richard’s girlfriend stood at the door. I told her to shut her mouth and she did. She just sat there and watched as I loaded Richard’s body into my truck. I wrapped Serenity’s body in a blanket and put her in the front seat with Sabella. I looked at Maggie and told her to leave. I told her if she was still here when I got back I would kill her then I drove all night to Chicago. I buried Serenity in the woods behind my grandfather’s house. Even if they never know she’s there I will.
I took Richard and Sabella to Olive Park. It’s old and run down and should close soon. I used to play there all the time when I was a kid. There is an old water plant near the park that they shut down several years ago. I found a place to bury Richard’s body. I know no one will ever find him. When I dropped his body in the drywell I thought about the way my life was and I came to a decision. Everything Richard had said about the girls was true. I wasn’t ready to be a father yet. I had time to think about what he said while I drove to Chicago and he was right. I knew what I had to do. After I dropped Richard’s body down that hole I went and got Sabella. She was scared and she didn’t want to go with me but I forced her to. I lifted her small body above the hole and let her go. I could hear her screaming at me to help her but I rolled the cement lid on the well and walked away. At that moment she was as dead to me as her sister was. It had to be that way or her screams would have driven me crazy.
Sable closed the book and stared at the floor. Then she looked at Quentin. “Did you find any evidence of Serenity?”
Quentin stood up and walked over to her. He handed her a piece of paper. She looked at it and found it was a birth certificate. She read the name on the certificate and it read Serenity Dawn Quinn and the multiple birth square was checked. Quentin handed her another piece of paper. It was her birth certificate.
“Why didn’t this come up before? Brandi ran my birth certificate months ago,” Sable asked.
“Brandi went only as far as she needed to go. She ran the date and place, but she never ran the actual certificate,” Quentin explained. “We got rather busy around that time so she never got back to it. I’m so sorry.”
Sable looked at him. “It’s not your fault.” She took a deep breath. “At least we know why Richard had to die.”
Sable looked at Quentin and asked, “Did you find anything else?”
“Micah put another entry a few pages behind the last one that said by the time he got back to Iowa, Maggie was gone. She had taken the knife he used to murder Richard. He thought she took it as an insurance policy. He said he tried to find her but he never could. She knew he would murder her.”
“Did you find anything about how he found Noah?”
“He said as he was passing through Cleveland, they stopped at a park so the boys could play. They saw a young kid there playing with a jack knife. They all took turns throwing the knife at a target. Sam told him the other kid’s name was Noah and he was cool. When Micah was introduced, he saw the unusual colored eyes and asked the boy a few questions. From what he found out, he knew he’d found Maggie. He also knew Noah was Richard’s son.”
“Yeah, I know. Micah went on to say he kept track of Noah and they had a secret relationship for about four years. He kept telling Noah lies about his mother and finally he talked the boy into running away and joining him. He said Noah soaked up the attention like a sponge and he didn’t have any trouble persuading Noah to adopt their way of life.”
“Can you find those passages?” Sable asked.
“Why do you want them?”
“I want to show them to Noah. I think after everything Micah did to him, he at least deserves to know the truth.”
“He won’t thank you for the information, you do know that don’t you?”
Sable agreed. “I know, but he deserves to know the truth, even if it’s painful.” She turned her head to stare at him. “I would want to know.”
Chapter Eleven
Twenty minutes later Sable was eating breakfast when Nick strode from his room. His hair looked just brushed, and he was yawning when he joined them. He looked at Sable then at her food. Sable lifted her fork in a threatening manner and had to laugh at his crushed expression. She rose and walked to the tray in the corner and lifted a second ceramic lid to reveal a second plate of bacon and eggs. Grabbing a second set of silverware, she carried them over to the table.
Nick sat down and waited for her to set the plate down. He unrolled his fork and began eating the food. After a few bites he looked up and caught Sable and Quentin’s look. “What, I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten in a day or so.”
Sable smiled as she grabbed a piece of toast from her plate. “Noah called me a little while ago.”
Nick stopped eating and Quentin looked at her. They both wore an expression of interest.
“And what did he have to say?” Nick finally took the bite of food on his fork. He lifted his napkin and wiped his mouth as he glared at her.