Ending Evil (The Evil Secrets Trilogy Book 3)

by Vickie McKeehan

  “No, not this afternoon, tomorrow morning would be much better.” And would give him an extra twenty-four hours to either explain things to Quinn or come up with some way to get her into his office. “Can I use this number to reach you?”

  “Absolutely. Or you can contact me here at the hotel. I’m staying at the Bel Air Monaco. So we’re on for tomorrow morning, then? Where and what time?”

  Reese shot a glance at Quinn, sucked in a nervous breath. “Ten o’clock tomorrow morning, my office. My assistant will call you back with directions on how to get there.”

  Once the phone call ended, Reese weighed his options. He’d just spent a wonderful night with the woman he wanted. Just when they’d taken two steps toward firmer ground, could he rip that ground from under her feet by bringing her, like a lamb to slaughter, to the father who’d never given her the time of day?

  He considered his own father and what a great relationship the two of them had shared growing up. What if he’d never known that? What if he harbored a lifetime of resentment over neglect? How would he handle a father who had never bothered to get in touch?

  He zoned back to the present. Surely she would understand the importance of getting to know her father at long last.

  He made his decision because there were simply too many unanswered questions from Quinn’s past he didn’t understand. He only hoped she would see the relevance of asking Nick Tyler for herself.

  “I’m sorry, Quinn. I know I promised you a couple of days of downtime but something’s come up. We have to head back to L.A.”

  After pouring another cup of coffee, she assumed that “something” had to do with the Nutty Brothers. Perusing the contents of the refrigerator for something to eat, she grumbled, “When’s this Boyd thing going to end anyway? When do we get our lives back to normal?” She turned from the appliance and tilted her head to stare at him. “What’s up with you anyway? You seem—preoccupied. Are you having regrets about us sleeping together?”

  Time to run out the clock, he decided. He went to where she stood and took her mouth, a deep kiss that had him wanting to spread her out on top of the counter for breakfast.

  But there were other more pressing matters to deal with at the moment. “Where is this sudden lack of self-confidence coming from? We’ve known each other two months. During which time you’ve managed to give off enough self-assured vibes to scale Mt. Everest in a single bound. If this is about…your nightmare from the past,” he grabbed her arm. “Cut it out!”

  She ran her fingers down his stubborn jaw. “You’re right. It’s just that I’ve never shared that with another soul and—you knowing—it’s bothering me.”

  “I get that but…do you want a pinky swear or something that I won’t say a word to anyone else?”

  She giggled. “Okay. I’m being silly. Look, you made the coffee. I’ll start breakfast. How’s that? If we’re leaving then we’ll finish off all the eggs and the bread. Hmm, might as well cook the bacon, too, no sense letting it go to waste.”

  “How does a woman eat like a linebacker and stay so fit and trim? Do you even know what the inside of a gym looks like?”

  “Metabolism,” she muttered as she lined up strips of bacon on a paper towel to pop into the microwave. “And I’m on the go a lot. Now that I’m suspended, though, I’ll probably gain ten pounds.”

  “Yeah, right,” Reese said as he slid bread into the toaster. “Maybe we can come back here after all this is over, take some time to enjoy the area.”

  “That’d be nice but after I go back to the hospital I won’t get a lot of days off.”

  “We’ll work something out. As you pointed out last night, it’s only fifteen minutes by air.”

  After breakfast, while they got the Sea Warrior ready to sail, Reese’s phone rang again. This time, it was Jake. “When are you guys heading back?”

  Fearing Nick Tyler had somehow managed to phone the others and the jig was already up, Reese demanded, “Why do you ask?”

  “Jordan Donovan wants a meeting with us this afternoon at three.”

  “We’re about to head out now. With sailing time around three hours, we should be back to Crandall House in plenty of time. ” Fearing another one of his secrets might have been exposed, Reese asked, “Do you know what this meeting is about?”

  “Yeah. Mr. X has a name.”

  CHAPTER 15

  Reese had sailed the Sea Warrior on many occasions. Even though Jake was her registered owner, the prior year when he’d been busy in Japan, Reese and Dylan had gladly stepped in and kept the boat seaworthy by taking turns putting her out on the water.

  There had been times during that year he’d sailed solo, while at other times he’d taken the boat out with a client or two or acquaintances from the courthouse.

  Before that, since all three had roots in the Bay area, there had been those buddy times where he and Jake and Dylan had set sail north to see relatives or keep in touch with old school chums and then sail her back down the California Coast.

  During those times together there might’ve been as many as twenty people on board, mostly family. They’d invited parents, or siblings and their spouses. They’d partied, drank, and always enjoyed spending whatever time they could manage on the water.

  Anytime Reese could get away from the grind of work, away from filings and briefs, he tried to treasure getting out on the water.

  But not today.

  Today, he felt like the biggest jerk.

  Setting up a meeting with Nick Tyler behind Quinn’s back he’d no doubt have to pay a price, a huge one, one he wasn’t sure he wanted to pay at all.

  He already knew that when she found out, he’d have to make damned sure there were no cherished items sitting nearby that she could pick up and throw at his head.

  He glanced over at the woman standing at the railing, looking down at the water, studying a school of fish. She looked exactly the same as that very first time he’d ever laid eyes on her.

  And yet, something was different, something was off.

  Since last night, she acted as though the disclosure of dark horrible events from her past, things that had been completely out of her control, might somehow alter his opinion of her.

  And that pissed him off. If he could find Ross Jennetti, if he could bash in his face with his own two hands, it might make him feel better.

  As he stood at the helm, he wondered what was running through her head. She’d been distracted since they’d boarded. Something was going on inside that head of hers she didn’t intend to share, especially with him.

  As much as he wanted to find out, he had a more pressing, bigger problem. How could he change her mind about meeting Nick Tyler in a short twenty-four-hour span? And how in the world did he intend to get out of this mess he’d created?

  When she came around to the helm, and put her arms around his waist, rested her head on his shoulder, he decided he needed to work on getting her to talk to him. Because there was no way he could drag her into his office and then yell “surprise!”

  “You okay? Got your sea legs yet? You look sleepy.”

  “The Dramamine helped.”

  He ran his hands up and down her back. “I’m worried about you.”

  She yawned and then kissed him soundly on the mouth. “Sorry, I’m not a very good sailor.”

  Uneasy, once again, he delved into the subject of the Rock Star. “Mind if I ask you something?”

  She eyed him warily. “Okay.”

  “What if you could talk to Nick Tyler? What would you want to know?”

  She glanced out at the blue water and frowned. “You mean if I could see him face to face?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’d ask him when his fans were going to wise up and realize his music sucks.”

  Reese busted out laughing. “Okay, that would definitely get his attention. But come on, Quinn, there has to be something you’d want to know? As a doctor there must be a medical history you’d be curious about, like his sid
e of the family and all.”

  “Reese, give it a rest, okay? I’m not about to ask the asshole anything. Period. Since I have zero plans to ever hit him up for a kidney, why think like that?”

  Reese sucked in a breath feeling like he was mired in quicksand up to his neck and sinking fast. If he didn’t come up with something soon…he tried a different tack. “Don’t you think he might be able to provide valuable info about your background, stuff you’ve never known before?”

  “Like what? That I came from two people who had the parental instincts that make pythons look warm and fuzzy?”

  She had him there.

  How could he relate to having parents like hers? Truth was, he couldn’t. Instead of pressing the point, for the time being, he gave up. He took her chin in his hand, brought her mouth up. “How about we stop talking and take advantage of our alone time, what’s left of it?”

  “Now you’re talking.”

  “As long as you think you’ll be okay for the next two hours until we get back to land…”

  She gave him a long, hard look, her eyes moving slowly down his body from head to toe. “I’ll be fine. Is there any way you could park this thing and we take a little siesta? I’d really like to get you out of those clothes.”

  He cocked a brow, perused up and down her lean figure. “By any chance, did you drink alcohol with those pills?”

  “I assure you I took the proper dosage—without wine. I’ve never made love on a boat before and this might be my only chance.” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

  “That could definitely be arranged. How about I lower the sails?”

  “Hmm, you talk like such an able-bodied seaman—Captain Brennan.” She started pulling him down the steps to the stateroom. “How about some serious naptime with your first mate? Only…we aren’t going to nap.”

  As the boat rocked to the gentle sway of the sea, they lay in bed entwined in each other.

  “Feeling okay now?”

  She stretched catlike and purred, “Oh, Reese, surely an astute guy like you can tell I’m feeling much better than okay right now. You seem to have found all my—sensitive spots—several times over.”

  Chuckling, he tugged on her hair. “Always did strive for excellence in all the things I’m truly good at.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Geez, you might be cockier than the surgeons at the hospital and that’s going some.”

  “Hmm, gone out with many surgeons, have you?”

  Wary, she looked for any hint of jealousy in his eyes. Relieved when he seemed only curious, she said, “No, I don’t date doctors. You seem to forget I’ve only been on rotation for two months. The pressure’s been on me up to my eyeballs to get Mendenhall’s attention and approval. I was just getting comfortable with all of it when the wall known as Cade comes crashing down around me.”

  “Then I guess now would be an excellent time to reveal I got a text from Mendenhall when we were loading the boat.”

  She grabbed his arm. “And?”

  “The man was—impressed, maybe a little intimidated to know his newly suspended resident went out and got herself a lawyer.”

  Her lips curved. “You just love being right, don’t you? What else did he say?”

  “He moved up your appearance before the review board.”

  She let out a whoop and grabbed him around the neck. “You did it! How soon?”

  “Next week.”

  She gave him a long, mouthy kiss. “What happens next?”

  “We make absolutely certain you’re prepared for the Q & A and can explain this ridiculous situation with Cade as an annoyance and someone who has stalked you in the past.”

  Elation at the news had her leaning over him, hovering over his stellar rock-hard abs. “How are we doing on time?”

  “Oh, I think we have time to fit in another appreciation round.”

  Back on the mainland, success at locating Cade’s cell phone relied on nothing more than a clever phone App already integrated into the platform.

  Lucky for Trevor, Cade had purchased the latest technologically advanced cell phone on the market and with it had bought himself a little-known device that had been marketed to help you locate your phone in the event you misplaced it.

  The phone App made tracking his phone incredibly accurate and easy.

  Trevor finished the configuration in a matter of minutes.

  He didn’t intend to waste any more time.

  CHAPTER 16

  Later that afternoon, Reese and Quinn moored the Sea Warrior in the San Madrid harbor and walked up the hill hand in hand to Crandall House.

  He figured he might as well enjoy the time he spent with Quinn since it might come to an abrupt end in less than twenty-four hours. Even though he still had time to convince her that meeting her father might offer an opportunity to get at answers she’d longed for, he didn’t hold out much hope.

  But despite her stubbornness, he refused to give up.

  Once they got closer to the house, Reese spotted the three men on guard duty standing just inside the perimeter of the property. These guys had been tasked to protect them all. At least he hoped that’s who they were. He noted they were dressed in khaki slacks and golf shirts but wore guns strapped to shoulder holsters.

  He didn’t recognize a single one of Jordan’s men.

  Sure enough, as he and Quinn approached, one of them held up a hand. “I need to see some ID.”

  Just as Reese reached in his back pocket for his wallet to take out his driver’s license, all hell broke loose.

  Gunfire erupted from a car moving north at a fast clip on the road in the direction of downtown. Reese pushed Quinn to the ground and fell on top of her. He looked around and saw all three of the guards pull their weapons to return fire. Shots whizzed by his head from every direction as the bodyguards took cover behind Jake’s Benz sitting in the circular gravel driveway.

  But in a matter of what seemed like five minutes, the hail of bullets suddenly stopped. Reese smelled burning rubber as he heard the squeal of tires on the road below the cliffs.

  When Reese was sure they were in the clear, he got to his feet and pulled Quinn upright. “You okay?”

  “I think so. This is getting to be a very annoying habit.”

  “Yeah. Anyone hurt?” Reese asked the three men who had risked their lives to keep them safe.

  “Got Rob in the shoulder.”

  Reese reached in his pocket for his iPhone, called nine-one-one. “I’ll get an ambulance here. Come on, Quinn, looks like you’re getting more action in suspended-mode than working in the ER.”

  “I don’t understand why the cops can’t catch these guys. They seemed to have never left San Madrid.” She mumbled some swearword before going over to the injured man, who by this time was down on the ground, holding his arm. She started ripping open his shirt to examine the wound. “Let’s get you in the house. No sense bleeding out here on the lawn waiting for the EMTs to show up.”

  About that time, the front door opened and everyone streamed outside.

  “That was Cade, wasn’t it?” Jake shouted as he ran over to Rob to help Quinn get him up and onto the porch.

  “Yep. Looks like Boyd won’t give up until Quinn and I are both dead.”

  Cade Boyd gunned the blue Chevy Tahoe and sped through San Madrid going a good sixty miles an hour. He spun the vehicle into a turn, heading back the other way to meet up with the Coast Highway. At the corner of Main, he slid through a four-way stop sign and kept on going.

  Sitting in the back seat, still gripping the semi-automatic AK47, Collin cackled like a crazy person. “Did you see that? Did you see them hit the dirt? I think I got that bastard,” Collin shrieked. “Woohoo! We did it. We shot the bastards!”

  Once on the PCH, Cade hit the gas as he accelerated to seventy-five. It was then he looked to his right and noticed, his cousin Scott Geller slumped in the passenger seat, his body leaning heavily against the door. The gun Scott had gripped during the shooting was
now on the floorboard.

  Cade reached over and shook his cousin. “Hey, Scott, what’s wrong? Are you sick or something?”

  That got Collin’s attention. He crouched into the front seat and started trying to shake Scott awake. “Oh, man, he’s bleeding, Cade. Bad. We need to get him to the ER.”

  “Are you nuts? We can’t do that without explaining how he took a bullet.”

  “Then what’re we going to do? We could take him to the same doctor who treated my shoulder.”

  “You mean the one who spilled his guts to the first cop who decided to question him? The one who will testify for the district attorney at your hearing? Is that the one you want to call? Forget it. Scott knew the risks.”

  Collin fretted over that. “Then pull over so I can take a look at him.”

  “Not now, Collin. We just shot at five fucking people. We have to get as far away from this bumfuck town and find a place to ditch this Tahoe.”

  “How about we take him to Grant’s place? No one would look for us there.”

  “That’s clear across town. Besides, the entire fucking LAPD has been crawling up our asses for days, checking out anyone who knows us. They’ve surely checked out all of our friends by this time.”

  Collin started crying. “Everyone’s dying. They’re all dead. I’m sick of this, man. I’m out of here, Cade. This could’ve been you or me. I’m done with this. I’m heading down to Mexico.”

  “No! Goddamn it! You’re in this until I say you’re done. Stop that crying shit! We owe it to Connor to get those bastards, to get all of them and finish this thing out for good.”

  “We got them today. That’s enough. Now it’s time to get out of here. We use the money in the offshore accounts no one knows about. We get new identities, start over in Tahiti or someplace warm.”

  “Stop it! I know a place to go where no one will ever find us. A place that ensures we get back at Kit once and for all. That’s what you want, right?”

  “I guess.” It didn’t seem so important now that Scott was bleeding to death. “He’s stopped breathing, Cade. It looks like the bullet pierced a lung. There’s blood everywhere.”