“What?” asked Quinn, looking alarmed.
“I promised Susie that I would stop by last night to pick up the flowers I ordered. I hope she won’t be mad and think I ditched her,” she stated, as she began dialing the woman’s house. When there was no answer, she tried the store and her cell. “Damn it! I have to stop there this morning.”
“Baby, I can’t bring you. I have that meeting in thirty minutes.”
“Can you drop me off at my place? I’ll get my car and drive there myself,” she suggested, dropping into his lap. “That way I can pick up my antibiotics too.”
Shit! Now he was getting forgetful.
“We can take you, Callie,” offered Nate.
“That’s okay. You can finish working. I’ll get it taken care of and be fine,” she reassured.
Neither man looked convinced.
“Okay, Callie,” her brother said, finally conceding.
“We need to get moving,” Quinn stated. “I’ll see you both at the station,” he said to the FBI agents.
“We’ll be there in less than an hour,” replied Nate. He wasn’t too keen on having his sister go anywhere alone. “Is it safe for her to go by herself?” he asked Quinn, when Callie was out of earshot.
“I’ll wait for her to get her antibiotics at the house and have her follow me into town. She should be safe if she takes Zeke. Who’s going to come near her with him on duty?”
“Yeah, good point.”
Callie walked in. “What are you all talking about?”
“I want you to take your furry buddy with you to Susie’s shop, and then to the station. He can keep you company today.” Quinn was obviously expecting an argument, and was shocked when she was agreeable.
“Okay, I’m ready.”
Quinn took her hand and whistled for Zeke as they walked to the truck together. “Thank you for not arguing with me in there.”
Callie climbed up, only laughing when Zeke put his head over the seat to rest it on her shoulder. “I know you’d worry, not getting anything accomplished. Besides, I miss Zekey. We’ll work in the conference room until lunch, and then I’ll take him to the park.”
“I love you, baby,” he stated, leaning over to kiss her. It earned a growl from his dog. “Hey! I saw her first, fur ball. Get in the way, and you go back to the pound!”
The dog stared at him.
Callie was amused by the two of them. “Don’t worry, Quinn, I’m all yours.”
Zeke growled again, almost in protest.
Quinn brought Callie to her house and followed her inside, making sure that she was perfectly safe. Once she gathered all her things, he escorted her to her Mercedes. As she opened the door to the passenger side of the car, he flinched as his mangy dog climbed into her beautiful vehicle. Callie obviously didn’t mind dog paws on leather seats.
“You two follow me into town,” he said, heading to his truck.
Digging out her antibiotics, Callie prepared to take one. It had been a few days, and she hoped there wouldn’t be a relapse. In all honesty, she couldn’t afford getting sick. As she turned the bottle over in her hand, the bright orange label caught her attention. Oddly, she didn’t notice it there before today.
Taking this medication with the birth control pill can reduce the effects of protection.
Callie glanced up at the hopping into his truck. It was hard not to find the entire situation entertaining. “Well, hell! Maybe he’ll get his brood after all, Zeke. I think Quinn and I will need to have a talk later,” she said to the dog, suddenly feeling nervous.
Or was that excited?
Then again, it didn't matter.
Either way, Callie knew she would have Quinton’s support. Finally, her future was looking sunny and bright.
Nothing was going to ruin it.
Callista Carter had so many things to live for.
Quinn kept glancing up to make sure Callie was right behind him. When she turned off at the drugstore, he didn't think much of it. Maybe she needed a refill on her antibiotics. At least she’d be safe in town with people all around her.
What could possibly happen?
As he headed to work to start his day, he focused on what waited for him.
Quinn couldn’t help but feel like time was running out.
Twenty minutes later, after picking up a pregnancy test for future use, Callie pulled into ‘The Herb Pot’. She lured the dog onto his leash by offering him a treat. “You need to behave in there Zeke, so no running around, and don’t eat the flowers!”
He wagged his tail and stared up at Callie with nothing less than adoration.
At the front door, she found the closed sign in the window. That was odd. Susie’s shop should be open by now. Callie gave a tug on the door and was surprised to see it wasn’t locked. Maybe her friend forgot the sign.
She could have been distracted.
Callie pulled on Zeke’s leash, leading him inside. Immediately, the dog began to growl as Callie called out for her friend.
“Susie, are you in your office?”
Silence.
Checking out her tabletop planner, Susie didn't have anything there that would indicate her being closed. Today’s schedule was filled in with later appointments.
It didn't make sense.
Callie took a few steps forward, and the smell of copper pennies assaulted her senses. It turned her stomach so much that she almost tossed her cookies. Having worked crime scenes before, she knew the source.
“Oh God! No!” she shouted, dropping Zeke’s leash to race around the counter. The figure propped in the corner had her full attention.
NO!
Callie screamed in panic as her brain scrambled to do something to help the woman. Pulling out her cell, she dialed nine-one-one as she tried to continue breathing.
“What’s your emergency?”
“My name is Doctor Carter, and I’m at ‘The Herb Pot’. I just found the owner, Susie Barnes, and she’s dead. Please contact Sheriff Gaines and inform him.”
“Okay, ma’am. I’ll alert him immediately.”
Callie didn’t hear her because she had already slumped to her knees to sob. “Oh, Susie! I’m so sorry!” she whispered, over and over again. “Zeke, guard!” she ordered, trusting her furry defender to do just that.
When he moved close, she buried her face in his fur. “Hurry, Quinn! I need you,” she murmured through the falling tears.
Sorrow swamped her, as she couldn’t help but feel responsible.
Callista Carter had lost her only friend.
* * *
Quinn was in the meeting room, briefing his deputies, when Doris ran in looking panicked. Just from the fear on her face, he knew it was going to be bad.
“Sheriff, we have another victim found, and you need to go right away,” said Doris, out of breath.
“Where is it?” he asked, trying to remain calm. In situations like these, he needed to keep a cool head.
“Quinn, your fiancée called it in a few minutes ago. She found a body at ‘The Herb Pot’.”
That was all he had to hear.
Dropping everything, Quinn raced to the conference room to alert the agents. “Callie’s at Susie’s shop, and she found the next body. We need to move.”
All three men were out of the station as fast as possible. Quinn's heart was in his throat, as fear filled him.
His poor Callie had to be going through hell.
When Quinn arrived, there were two deputies standing outside. “Why aren’t you in there with her?” he snapped, striding toward the door with Nate and Luke behind him.
“There’s a huge dog in there growling at us. We can’t get to the woman he’s guarding. We tried, and he nearly took off my hand when I went for his leash.”
His dog was getting steak for the rest of his life.
Quinn opened the door, only to hear Zeke growling ferociously. The only other sound was Callie sobbing. “Zeke, down!” he ordered. Immediately, the snarling stopped.
Racing around the
display of flowers to Callie’s side, he found her next to the dead woman. He forced her focus on him, as he maneuvered himself between them to block her view.
“They killed her,” she whispered through the tears.
He assessed the situation, and Susie Barnes had suffered a great deal. For now, he needed to get Callie out of there. Scooping her up into his arms, he did his best to soothe her.
“Shhhh… it’s okay, baby,” he crooned, as he carried her away from her friend, with Zeke on their heels. He passed Nate and Luke, jerking his head toward the counter in a silent message. He needed to get Callie outside, and calm her down before she made herself sick.
“Quinn, they killed my only friend,” she said, through the sobs. “Her life was stolen and tossed away like she was trash.”
He sat against the truck’s tire, cradling her in his arms. “We’ll catch whoever did this, baby. This isn’t over, and I won’t stop until I find him,” he said, wiping her tears with his fingertips.
She continued to sob. “It’s all my fault. I was supposed to come here last night. Maybe if I did, then she wouldn’t have been alone.”
“Callie, you had nothing to do with this!”
“I should have been focused on the next sin, instead of my personal life. If I did, then Susie might be alive. I should have known, Quinn. Sloth is the lack of spirituality. I should have seen this one coming a mile away. It’s all my fault,” she wept, her entire body shaking.
Trying to comfort her as much as possible, Quinn rode out the storm. When he glanced up, Luke was heading their way.
“Nate needs you in there. I’ll sit with her,” he offered. He hated seeing Callie suffer like this, and he knew her well enough to know she’d carry this on her shoulders.
Quinn finally relented. He placed Callie in Luke’s lap, before heading off to get his job done.
“Guard her with your life!” he ordered.
Luke would do just that. She was his family, and no one would hurt her again. In a way, they’d all failed, and now it was time to make up for it.
As much as he hated leaving her, Quinn knew that he had no choice. Walking into the shop, he found the Fed. “What do you need, Nate?”
“Look at the palm of her hand,” he directed, crouching beside their victim.
Quinn pulled on his gloves before inspecting Susie’s bloody palm. He was sickened to find a cross carved into the woman’s flesh. “This animal needs to be caught,” Quinn stated angrily.
“We need to go over this shop with a fine-tooth comb, and then we need to pull the phone records,” said Nate. “I’ll take care of this here. You take my sister home and try and get her calm. If you have to, call a doctor for a sedative, but don’t leave her side. I can’t help but think this may be personal, despite the sin,” he added, pointing to the word carved in her body. “The killer has been threatening Callie, and now he took out her best friend.”
Quinn agreed. “Send any information to my email. I want a rush on the DNA and anything else that’s found.”
Nate got to work, instructing the lab techs what to do until the coroner arrived. For now, he would run this, not only to get the victims justice, but vindication for his sister.
No one messed with the Carters, including a lunatic.
As Quinn stalked through the shop, his anger overpowered him. He wanted to kill someone for hurting Callie like this.
Yeah, this was a personal shot at his woman, and there would be hell to pay.
It was only a matter of time.
Outside, Luke was still holding Callie, as her tears stained his shoulder. It broke Quinn’s heart. “I’m going to take her home. I want to be copied on anything you find.”
Luke relinquished the woman in his lap. Before heading into the flower shop, he touched her cheek. “I promise Callie, that we’ll break this soon, and then we’ll lock him in a cage for the rest of his life.”
She didn't reply, only sobbed more.
Quinn carried her to the truck, belting her in. Once to his door, he whistled for Zeke, who came charging toward them. With one mighty leap, he was inside the vehicle and practically on top of Callie. He curled around her, offering comfort the best way he could. She buried her face in his fur, as he licked away the falling tears.
“Come on, let’s go home,” Quinn said. In his heart, he knew that he should stay and work the case, but he simply couldn’t. Right now, he’d walk away from it all, just to heal the woman he loved.
Callie continued to cling to the dog.
“Shhhh… it’s okay, baby,” said Quinn, squeezing her hand reassuringly. In all honesty, he didn't know what else to do. For now, he’d give Callie time to mourn. Sometimes, you had to get all the tears out, so you could move on.
This was the first stage of grief.
By the time they reached the house, Callie was no longer crying. She was sitting there staring out the window. Her face showed no emotion, and that worried him. After parking in the driveway, he ordered the dog out of his way. Now he was going to tend to his girl.
“Quinn,” she whispered, as she clung to him the entire way upstairs to their room.
“I have you, Callista,” he offered. Gently, he began undressing her. He was just about to remove her shirt, when she pulled away and raced toward the bathroom. When the door slammed, it was seconds after, that Quinn could hear her getting sick.
There was that moment where he didn't know what to do. Then, the love for her kicked in. Opening the door, he held her hair from her face, so she could finish retching.
“Are you okay?” he asked, when she was finished.
Callie dizzily stood as she tried to brush her teeth and wash her face. Placing her hand over her stomach, she thought back to the pregnancy test she’d bought and the possibility that there was a little miracle growing in her body.
Death and life.
It all had to balance.
“I’ll live,” she replied. Why Callie didn't tell him what she suspected, she didn't know. Part of her wanted to release the secret, setting happiness free, but there was a tiny piece of her heart that didn't believe she deserved this moment. After all, Callie failed her only friend.
She was torn.
“I’ll help you get undressed, and then I want you to get some sleep.”
Callie didn't put up a fight as she allowed him total control. At that moment, her mind was a jumbled mess.
When he finally got her unclothed, he pulled his own shirt from his body, tugging it down over her head. He only hoped the scent of his cologne and heat from his body would offer her comfort. Scooping her up, Quinn laid on the bed with her in his arms. As he snapped his fingers, the mattress shook. Zeke took his spot beside her, protectively.
Closing her eyes, she tried to forget it all, as she drifted down into the dark.
Instead of a restful sleep, or even one filled with the horrors she had just witnessed, Callie dreamt of puzzles.
There was confusion as she chased a killer in her mind.
Yet, it was only a matter of time.
She would solve it, and someone would pay.
* * *
Wednesday Noon
Sitting in his office, Quinn scanned the emails on his laptop. The FBI was transmitting anything, and everything, that they could find from the scene. In all honesty, he wasn’t expecting them to find a lead. Susie’s shop had a great deal of traffic, and that meant tons of DNA to weed through. The killer was screwing with them, and likely enjoying himself as they ran in circles.
Damn it!
He was so lost in his reading, that he didn’t hear her enter the room.
“Are you working?” she asked softly.
Quinn glanced up, surprised that she was out of bed. “Yeah, baby, what are you doing up?”
“I couldn’t sleep. I want to help find the animal that did this.”
Quinn patted his knee. His heart thumped as she padded toward him, barefoot and still clothed in his shirt.
“I don’t know i
f you should be reading about what was done to her, Callie. I don’t want you to be upset any more than you already are,” he said honestly, kissing her on the cheek.
“I can’t be hurt any more than I am, Quinn. I need to do something to help her. Susie would want me to help catch them.”
Quinn sighed before closing his eyes. He knew this was the second stage of grief, but he was still struggling with dumping this on her shoulders.
This was one hell of a conundrum.
Yeah, they could really use her mind, but there was a fine line between solving this case and caring for his woman. He wasn’t sure what to do.
“Quinn, please. Let me help. I’m just mad enough that I may find something to solve this.”
“Okay,” he said, giving in. “Let’s start with the murder.”
Grabbing a notebook from the desk, Callie vacated his lap. Finding a comfortable chair in front of him, she prepared herself. “I’m ready,” she said, burying the emotion, as the storm had finally passed.
“She was gagged, duct taped, and ‘sloth’ was carved into her chest. Her throat was slit as the final insult.”
“No sexual assault?”
“None whatsoever, but they did carve a cross into her palm.”
Callie didn’t even flinch. Forcing her emotions deep, she gave her brain control, not her heart. In order to get through this, she was profiling a stranger. “That’s huge,” she finally said.
“It is? It just makes me want to find the reverend and bitch slap him around.”
Callie thought about it. “This case is one hell of a mess. It all points at religion, but it feels off to me. I can’t quite put my finger on it yet.”
“What has us all confused is that the team located another hair. It doesn’t match the first one. Now, we’re forced to wonder if it was picked up in the shop, or wherever Susie was taken. Let’s face it, her business had prints and evidence all over the place, but is it connected?”
She kept making notes.
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