by Janie Crouch
She wasn’t going to see him tonight since she had a late class, and he had to run to Reddington City early in the morning. But he’d texted her with a picture of a cupcake right before she walked into class and almost completely blown her concentration—in the best way possible.
She cursed when her computer screen jumped again then froze with only the spinning beach ball of death visible. She’d have to see if someone from the IT department here at school could take a look at it.
But there was no point being here to get work done if her computer wasn’t going to allow it. She packed up and went out to her car. Maybe rebooting it at home would fix the problem.
Home.
The thought of this being home didn’t seem so horrible anymore. Yes, she missed the prestige of working at Harvard and knew this thing with Baby, hot as it was, was temporary. But she didn’t feel so much like her life was out of control anymore. Maybe not exactly as she’d planned it to be, but not so bad either.
As soon as she pulled up in front of her house, she saw Grizzly standing near the woods over to the side. That seemed to be his favorite place. He was close enough to see her house and be nearby when she put out food, but far enough to let her and everyone else know that he could and would take off at a moment’s notice if he so desired.
Baby was amazed the dog had stuck around as long as he had. Quinn privately thought it was because she didn’t try to befriend Grizzly, just provide him the means to help himself if he wanted.
She knew what it felt like to think that the whole world was against you. What it felt like to not want to be rescued, but just needing a little help.
She got out of the car. “Hey, Grizzly. You playing nice with the other kids? I don’t usually see you around at this time at night.”
The moon barely gave her enough light to see him. She tried to leave food out for him twice a day, around breakfast and then dinner. She glanced over at the bowl and saw it was empty.
“You trying to get some sneaky extras?” she asked as she moved away from the car. This was usually when Grizzly would give her a bored look, tip back his nose, and trot off.
Instead, as she took a step toward her house, Grizzly began a low whine.
Concerned, Quinn turned to him. “Are you okay, buddy? Are you hurt?”
She took a step closer to the dog, but he took a step back. She held out her hands in front of her. “Hey, I want to help. If you’re hurt maybe I can do something about it.”
She had no idea what she was actually going to do about it and moreover, no idea why she was talking to a dog in the first place. But she took another step closer.
Grizzly didn’t growl like he normally did, but he also stepped backward again. Quinn let out a sigh. “I don’t speak dog, but I’m going to assume that means you don’t want me to come near you. That’s okay. Believe it or not, I do understand.”
She turned back toward the house.
Grizzly started whining again.
What in the world?
This was obviously something about dogs she didn’t understand. But she happened to know someone who understood a lot more about dogs than she did, and this gave her the perfect excuse to call him. She was smiling as she dug her phone out of her purse.
She kept one eye on Grizzly as she hit the speed dial for Baby. As soon as his phone rang, she got nervous. Was he going to feel like she was being all needy and clingy?
Maybe this was a bad idea.
She was about to disconnect the call when he answered.
“Dear God, please tell me you had more sense than I did earlier and you’re on your way over here and it doesn’t matter how early I have to get up in the morning and it’s completely worth losing sleep to have you here with me.”
By the time he finished his diatribe she was smiling, her unease gone.
“Unfortunately, not.” She’d seen him this morning. Why did it feel so good to hear his voice?
“You’re breaking my heart here, Harrison.”
She laughed softly. “You’ll appreciate it in the morning when you don’t have to drive to Reddington City all bleary-eyed.”
“You’re worth any amount of bleary-eyed-goodness. And yes, it’s a word, professor.”
“Sadly, I’m not calling to proposition you. I just got back to my house, and I’m a little worried about Grizzly. He’s standing in the tree line like he always does, but I think he might be hurt or something.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Every time I walk away from him, he starts to whine but when I try to get close, he backs away.”
“Cupcake, listen.” All trace of humor was gone from Baby’s voice. “I want you to go inside. Leave Grizzly alone.”
“Why?”
“Because something might be wrong with him. He’s a wild dog, ultimately. I don’t want to take any chances on him hurting you.”
She stared at Grizzly. “But what if he’s injured? I don’t think he would hurt me.”
“He may not mean to, but don’t go near him right now, okay? Are you inside your house?”
She turned away from the dog and walked toward her house, steeling herself against Grizzly’s whine that had turned to barking. Baby was right, there was definitely something wrong with the dog.
“Jesus, I can hear him. Get in the house, Cupcake.”
Quinn glanced over her shoulder as she walked up the two steps onto her small porch. Grizzly was barking more frantically now, but at least had only gotten a little bit closer. “Put the phone down,” Baby said in her ear. “Get your keys out. Don’t hang up.”
She slid her phone into her purse and grabbed the keys, but when she went to slide them into the lock, the door swung open. She took couple of steps inside, trying to remember if she could have possibly left her door not only unlocked, but open. She didn’t remember locking the door, but it was such an ingrained habit she couldn’t imagine that she wouldn’t.
She flipped on the lights and sucked in shocked breath.
Her house was in shambles. Someone had completely destroyed it.
There was graffiti on the walls, all her furniture was tipped over, the precious books she’d used as end tables ripped apart and strewn around the room.
“Quinn!” She finally heard Baby’s boom and grabbed her phone from inside her purse.
“I’m here. I...” She looked around again and couldn’t help it, she started to cry.
“What’s wrong? Quinn, talk to me.”
“I need you.” Was all she managed to get out.
“I’ll be right there.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Baby raced over to Quinn’s house. He’d been dressed in only jeans when she’d called, working on some schematics for a new training facility on the Linear Tactical compound. He grabbed the closest T-shirt and pair of shoes he could find and ran for his truck before they’d hung up.
She’d assured him that she was okay and said something about her house, but she was crying so it was difficult for Baby to focus on anything but that sound.
Quinn was crying. She never exposed her emotions that easily. Her tears gutted him. He pressed down on the gas harder as soon as he was on the road.
When he arrived a few minutes later—minutes that took way too long—Quinn wasn’t inside her house. She was sitting on the ground next to her car in her skirt and blouse, obviously having come straight from TSC. He did a double take when he saw Grizzly sitting next to her protectively. The dog wasn’t touching her, but he obviously wasn’t leaving her alone either.
Baby crouched down about ten feet away, not wanting to do anything to upset either of them. “Hey, Cupcake, what’s going on?”
She wasn’t crying any more, but the signs of her tears were evident in the moonlight and the light coming from her wide-open front door.
“Someone broke in.”
Baby spun toward the house. “What? Are you sure?”
She nodded slowly.
“You stay right here. If you see o
r hear anything, you yell.” He turned to look at Grizzly. “Good dog.”
He stopped back by his truck and grabbed his Glock out of the cab. He had a concealed carry permit for it, although in this state, almost everyone had a firearm whether they had a permit or not.
He kept the weapon low at his hip, not wanting to cause her undue stress as he approached the house.
Before he reached the door, he could see she was right. Someone hadn’t merely broken into her house; they’d gone on a rampage.
Pulling the weapon up to shoulder height and keeping it close to his chest, he entered the house. The space was small, so it didn’t take him long to clear the living room. The tiny kitchen was next. It looked as if every breakable dish she owned had been shattered. He made his way to her bedroom and found her clothes lying on the floor, but there was definitely no one here in her house anymore.
But damn, someone had done a number on this place.
He pulled out his phone and called Gavin.
“Hey, what’s up?” the other man answered after a couple of rings.
“I’m at Quinn’s house. Mrs. Mazille’s place. There’s been a break-in.
“Shit. Is everybody okay?”
“Yeah. Quinn wasn’t home, so just property damage.”
“Okay, listen, I need to talk to Sheriff Nelson. We’re still splitting duties while he gets back on his feet. Out of respect for him, I’m only taking on stuff he wants me to.”
“I understand.”
“I’ll have someone come by and rope it off. And we’ll need to talk to Quinn.”
“She’s pretty shaken up. I’m going to take her to my place.”
“That’s fine. I’ll contact you as soon as I know what’s going on.”
“Thanks, Gavin.”
“I’m sorry this happened to her. I know it can happen anywhere, but that’s shit poor luck to be new in town and get your house broken into.”
Baby wiped his hand across his face. He hated this for Quinn too. Like Gavin said, break-ins did happen. But damn it, he wished it hadn’t happened to her.
He ended the call with Gavin and walked back outside, touching as little as possible in case there were any fingerprints or other evidence for the forensic team to find.
Quinn was still sitting where he’d left her. Grizzly had remained by her side, maybe even gotten a little closer. He couldn’t fault the dog for good taste.
He sat down next to her. “Hey, Cupcake.”
“Someone broke into my house,” she said softly.
He slid an arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him. “I know. I’m sorry.”
It had been more than just a break-in. This had been complete vandalization, deliberate destruction.
She let out a sigh. “I don’t have anything of any value. I can’t get my debit card to work half the time. There’s no TV. Just my books. And they...”
Watching Quinn struggle to find her composure made him want to beat the crap out of someone.
“It was probably kids. Bored and stupid and oblivious to the fact that their pranks would be really painful to someone.” He squeezed her tighter as she pulled it together.
“The graffiti was misspelled,” she muttered. “It should have been y-o-u apostrophe r-e stupid, not y-o-u-r stupid.”
He’d seen the graffiti but hadn’t tried to read it. But something so immature also suggested it had been kids.
Not that it made this any less painful for her.
“Hey, let’s get you over to my apartment. After a good night’s sleep, maybe facing this won’t seem so overwhelming.” And there was no way in hell he was leaving her alone.
She nodded. “Okay. I should get a change of clothes.” She looked over toward her door. “I’m not sure if I have any clothes left to change into.”
“It didn’t look like all of them were destroyed. But you shouldn’t touch them until after the police are able to go through and look for any evidence.”
She nodded. “The fingerprint dust sticks to everything. I remember that from my office.”
“It’s a mess, but if it helps them figure out who did this, then it’s worth it.”
He stood and helped her get up from the ground. “Tomorrow, in the daylight, this will seem more manageable, I promise.”
She let out a weary sigh. “I hope so.” He walked her over to his truck and opened the door for her. Grizzly followed them.
She turned to look at the dog. “I think he was trying to warn me. He might have seen whoever did this and didn’t want me to go inside the house. Each time I went toward the door, that’s when he started whining louder.”
He smiled. “It looks like you might have yourself a dog here, Cupcake.”
“But I thought you said he wouldn’t settle down with anyone.”
“Maybe Grizzly’s smart enough to realize something amazing when it’s right in front of him. Let’s see.”
He helped Quinn climb inside the cab, then walked around the back and lowered the truck bed’s gate.
He looked at Grizzly. “She’s coming with me. Are you in or out?” He tapped the bed of the truck. “If you want to come with her, you’re going to have to jump in.”
Grizzly seemed undecided, studying him for a moment. Then, without warning, he jumped for the truck, surprisingly spry for having one relatively limp leg. He walked around in a circle for a couple seconds, then sat down.
“You are pretty fucking smart,” Baby whispered. “Thank you for looking out for her.”
He closed the bed of the truck then walked around and got in.
“Yup.” He trailed a finger down her cheek. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a dog.”
He’d been wrong. The break-in looked worse the next day in the daylight.
Baby was glad he’d talked Quinn into staying in bed at his apartment. She would have to face this sometime, but maybe if he could talk her into waiting, it wouldn’t be until later this afternoon or even tomorrow.
She’d barely gotten any sleep—she was way more shaken up than she’d originally let on. She’d woken up several times last night, and each time, she had padded over to Baby’s front window to see if Grizzly was still there.
The dog had refused to come inside, which hadn’t surprised Baby at all. He wasn’t sure the dog could get up the stairs to his apartment over the garage. But he’d seemed content enough to sleep in the back of Baby’s truck. Knowing he was there obviously gave Quinn some sort of comfort.
Baby didn’t point out that eventually the dog would take off the way he always did. But for this one night, Grizzly seemed to want to stay near Quinn, and she wanted him around, so that was good.
She finally reached a deep sleep shortly before dawn. When he’d gotten the text from Gavin a couple of hours later saying he was at Quinn’s house, she was so dead to the world Baby hadn’t had the heart to wake her. Instead, he rescheduled the meeting he had in Reddington City and slipped out of bed, leaving Quinn a note on the nightstand where she’d see it as soon as she woke up.
Not that he expected her to wake up before he got back, but he’d rather be safe than sorry.
Gavin was standing just inside the door of Quinn’s place, a file in his hand, when Baby arrived.
The sight of Quinn’s stuff in shambles all over the place sent a bolt of fury through Baby. Anger wasn’t a common emotion for him, but right now he’d gladly beat the shit out of whoever had done this.
“County crime scene team has finished up,” Gavin said. “They got out here early.”
“Did they find anything interesting?”
“Actually, yes. Let me walk you through it.”
Gavin stepped back out the front door, and they walked around the outside of Quinn’s house to the back door. “There is definite evidence of a break-in here.” He pointed to the door frame.
Baby crouched to get a better look. “Not much finesse. A crowbar, you think?”
Gavin nodded. “Or something similar. Hell, a hammer could’ve d
one it. The door is as old as the house. Probably wouldn’t keep out a determined toddler.”
Baby stood back up.
“There’s all sorts of fingerprints inside the house. It’ll take a while for the system to work its way through them. This isn’t considered a priority case since no one was hurt and there are no time-sensitive issues.”
Baby grimaced but nodded.
“But this is what got the forensic team a little excited.” Gavin pointed down to the step near the edge of the tiny back porch.
There was a tiny drop of paint. Obviously new—dry, but pristine. Everything else around this house was old and in need of serious repair. “Is that the same black that was used on her walls?”
“Looks like it.” Gavin walked down a few steps away from the house. “Here’s another drop, and basically, another drop every few dozen feet which leads straight to Mr. Wallace’s trashcan.”
Baby sighed. “Given he’s like a hundred years old, I’m fairly certain Mr. Wallace wasn’t the one who broke into Quinn’s house.”
“No. But forensics found an empty spray can in his trash. I’m thinking the perpetrator—”
“Could be more than one,” Baby interrupted. If this was the work of kids, they tended to be more stupid in packs.
Gavin nodded. “True. Perpetrators didn’t expect we’d be checking Mr. Wallace’s trash. They did it in the dark and didn’t realize they were leaving a trail of paint. There were definitely fingerprints on the can.”
That was good news.
Baby and Gavin spent some time looking around the woods between Mr. Wallace’s house and Quinn’s. Looking for things the crime scene investigators wouldn’t have known to look for. Broken branches that might have shown which direction the perps had come from. If they were teenagers who had come out from town on foot, they’d probably leave some sort of trace.
Baby and Gavin weren’t nearly as good at tracking as Dorian, one of the Linear Tactical partners. Dorian had almost a sixth sense about the way people moved since he spent so much time out in the wilderness. But Baby and Gavin weren’t too shabby either.
But after an hour, they still didn’t have much to show for their efforts. A couple of shoe prints, but those could’ve very easily come from Mr. Wallace.