Page 83 of Do Not Disturb
I checked my phone, to make sure he hadn’t texted me and told me not to come. But there was nothing.
“Derek?” I stepped into the living room, looking around. “Are you here?”
He didn’t answer, so I went into the kitchen and…
I fell to my knees in front of his dead body. Yes, he was definitely dead. I didn’t have any medical knowledge, but I could tell that much. He was lying in a pool of drying blood, his beautiful face chalky, his lips parted, his eyes cracked open. I thought of this man as being so full of life, and here he was, totally and utterly dead.
I picked up his hand, which already felt stiff. Vaguely, I knew that I shouldn’t be touching things around what was clearly a crime scene. But I couldn’t help myself. I loved this man.
And now he was dead. Just like my parents.
“Who did this to you?” I whispered.
Unsurprisingly, he did not answer.
I got to my feet. I scanned the first floor of the house. “Quinn!” I shrieked.
I went running from room to room, screaming Quinn’s name. I wanted to smash everything in their beautiful house, but even through my haze of grief, I knew that would be stupid. Anyway, she was long gone by then.
I thought there was a tiny possibility that somebody had killed Derek and taken Quinn hostage. But I knew how Quinn felt about him. I knew they fought constantly. Really, there was never any doubt in my mind that she was the one who stabbed him to death.
I also knew she would get away with it. Okay, she was stupid to run—that would hurt her case. But she would use some sort of defense about how he abused her, and she’d get off scot-free. Hewasn’tabusive to her. I know how Quinn can be. Sometimes I wanted to smack her upside the head myself.
I had to find Quinn. And then I promised myself I would make her pay for what she had done to the man I loved.
I triple dipper promised with a cherry on top.
It was lucky I found her phone before the police did. It helped that Deputy Scotty Dwyer was such an idiot. I attempted to throw them off her trail, but it didn’t work. Quinn was too careless and managed to get herself pulled over. She couldn’t even do that part right. Even our hopelessly incompetent police force would find her at this rate.
So I went after her. To the Baxter Motel.
When I parked in the lot, the motel looked almost deserted. The lights were off in all the rooms. It looked like nobody had stayed there in years. For a moment, I thought I had made a mistake. Maybe Quinn hadn’t come here after all.
But then I saw her bursting from the front door. She was dragging her luggage behind her, and there were tears in her eyes. She was making a quick getaway, that’s for sure. If I had shown up one minute later, I would have missed her entirely. The timing could not have been better.
I dug around in my purse until I found Rob’s pocket knife. I left my purse behind and got out of the car, gripping the knife in my right hand.
“Hi, Quinn!” I called out.
She looked up at me in surprise. She never expected to see me again. But she didn’t look upset. Of course not. I’m her big sister. The one who always bails her out of trouble. She probably thought I was here to help.
Ha.
“Thank God, Claudia!” she sobbed.
She started toward me and tried to embrace me, but I took a step back. She blinked, surprised by my rebuff.
“Claudia?” she said.
“How could you?” I choked out. “How could you do that?”
“He…” Her hands flew to her neck. “He was trying to choke me. I… I had to…”
“Liar!” I hissed at her. “You couldn’t stand it that he liked me better.”
“Claudia, what are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
