Page 14 of Paternal Instincts
“It doesn’t matter what I want,” he snapped.
I grabbed his hand and weaved our fingers together, drawing his attention to me. “Quaid Valor. Follow your instincts. Follow your heart. This will eat at you otherwise, and you know it.”
He pressed his lips into a thin line, watching Sparrow, who had decided to add more people to her drawing. Since starting therapy, Quaid had been forced to take numerous trips down memory lane as he learned to accept the loss of his sister and the abandonment of his mother. It had been a rough road, but he was coming to terms with things he’d spent thirty years stuffing away in the closet of his mind.
I knew for a fact that when he looked at Sparrow, he saw a reflection of himself as a child. He saw his broken family and the suffering that had taken him thirty years to articulate. He didn’t want that for her, and I could hardly blame him.
I gave his hand another squeeze, drawing him back to the present. “Take the case. Sparrow needs someone like you on her side. Someone who gets it.”
The young girl lifted her head. She smiled, and for the first time, I noticed her missing front tooth. The new one poked through in a rigidline, barely past the gumline. “Are you talking about me? I heard my name.”
“We are.” Quaid crouched to be at her level. “Are you ready to go home?”
“Okay. Are you coming with me?”
Quaid glanced at me as though seeking reassurance, and I nodded.
“Yeah. I am.”
“Can I ride in the police car?”
Quaid’s smile softened the worry lines around his eyes. “That’s up to your daddy, but we can ask.”
I packed up Sparrow’s makeshift art supplies and returned Torin’s desk to its original state of chaos. Sparrow gave Quaid her drawing, and he carefully folded it and tucked it into a pocket.
“Thank you. I’ll put it on my fridge at home.”
As a group, with Sparrow between us, we traversed the long hallway to MPU. Jordyn waited with the girl’s upset father. The man looked like shit. Rumpled clothing, blotchy skin, swollen eyes, and a distinct slump gave the impression he was being crushed by the entire world. I would feel the same in his position. Defeated. Helpless. Afraid.
Quaid made introductions, but Nixon seemed too out of it to care who I was or that I’d spent the last thirty minutes entertaining his daughter. In fact, he barely acknowledged Sparrow at all. What did it say when the girl clung to Quaid’s hand and didn’t seek out her dad for support? It took Quaid’s coaxing to encourage the reluctant child toward her father.
Before Quaid could take off, I snagged his arm and drew him aside. “What can I do?”
“What do you mean?”
“I either go home and sit on the couch to wait for you to finish this case, or I lend a hand and hope we can solve it faster. You know, as well as I do, that more hands on deck can make a huge difference.”
“Az, you’re on leave.”
I chuckled. “Same as you, hot stuff. We’re a team. Let’s bring this boy home and end on a high note, then we can ride off into the sunset with our own happy family.”
Quaid glanced at Jordyn, who had one eye on her partner and one on Mr. Davis. They must have shared an unspoken conversation because Jordyn approached, carrying the iPad tucked against her chest.
Quaid indicated the device. “Who’s the business partner again?”
Jordyn eyed me with a wrinkle in her nose.
“Aww, don’t be like that, Frawley. Why do you gotta sneer like that?”
Jordyn rolled her eyes. “I had to listen to you two have sex. It traumatized me. I earned this face and will wear the perpetual look of disgust for an eternity.”
“No one told you to stand there and listen.”
Quaid, flush-cheeked with embarrassment, snapped, “Can we please focus?” To Jordyn, he said, “The business partner. Now.”
Jordyn smothered a grin as she tapped around on the iPad, finding the information. “Jude Marigold. Nixon claims they’ve been best friends since childhood. They went to university together and formed a tech startup company called NexGen when they graduated.”
“Hang on.” I snagged a Post-it and pen from a nearby desk and jotted everything down. “Anything else? Age, address?”
