Page 38 of Do Not Disturb
I suck in a breath. “You saw her? When?”
“Um. I’m not sure. Maybe five o’clock? I had just finished work.”
My heart is pounding. He saw Quinn. He saw her after our phone call. “Was she alone?”
“Seemed to be. She bought a few things at the store, I think she took out some money, then she ran off. She seemed to be in a big hurry.”
“There was nobody else in the car?”
“Not that I could see.”
I chew on my lower lip. “How did she look? Did she look… nervous? Scared? Hurt?”
He thinks about it for a moment. “Now that you mention it, she seemed kind of nervous. But she looked good otherwise.Reallygood.”
Great. This idiot was hitting on my sister. “Is the phone locked?”
“Yeah. I could only call you because your phone call was on the lock screen.”
That means even if I get my hands on the phone, I won’t be able to do much with it. “Look,” I say, “I’m going to call the police about the phone. They’re going to come pick it up from you.”
“The police?” Bill Walsh sounds panicked. “But I didn’t steal it! I found it in my truck. I swear…”
“I know. But… Quinn is missing.”
His breath hitches. “You don’t think that I…”
I don’t. My gut is telling me this guy is just an innocent passerby. Quinn wanted to get rid of her phone so she couldn’t be tracked, so she tossed it in his truck. It’s what I would’ve done. I’m proud of her for thinking on her feet.
And that means Quinn isn’t being held captive somewhere. She left on her own volition. Probably right after she stabbed Derek to death.
This changes everything.
It means that if the police find Quinn, she’s going straight to jail. It means this is a manhunt, not a rescue mission.
The right thing to do—thelegalthing to do—would be to call Scott Dwyer and tell him this new piece of information. He’s in charge of this investigation, and this is a significant piece of evidence.
But I don’t trust Scott. I don’t know what he’s going to do when he finds out that Quinn was alive and well andaloneright after her husband was stabbed. But it won’t be good for Quinn.
I can’t let that happen. I have to play this right.
“Well, you could see how this looks,” I say. “A woman goes missing and you mysteriously have her phone. Doesn’t look good for you, Bill.”
“But I just found it in my truck,” he says in a tiny voice. “I swear, I didn’t touch her.”
“I hope for your sake the police believe that story.”
“Shit,” I hear him mutter under his breath. “I… I don’t know what to say. I’m a good guy. I’d never hurt a woman. And… Christ, my girlfriend would kill me if she thought I…”
“Look,” I say. “I believe you. I’m just not sure the police will.”
“Well, maybe I could give you back the phone and you don’t have to tell them…”
I glance at the door to the bedroom. Rob is still downstairs—I’d rather he not hear this. “Tell you what, Bill. Why don’t I come by and get the phone from you. I’ll bring it to the police tomorrow and I won’t tell them you were involved.”
“You would do that?”
“Sure. I can tell from your voice you’re an honest man. I just want to find out what happened to my sister.”
