“There were too many innocent bystanders,” Quin said, ignoring Lumpy. “Until we got the rest of your friends out of here, there were too many people to protect. My priority was their safety. Is. Your safety.”
“You don’t have a friend high up in the FBI, DEA, alphabetsoup,” I said.
“In point of fact,” Quin said. “I have a lot of them.”
“Why have you been hanging around McPhee’s?”
“For Wednesday night music club, of course,” he said.
“And?”
He took a big breath and blew it out. “And… everything we already talked about. Edith Maxwell. I told you she was getting trackedbecause of the company she kept. Well, she led us… here. And whatever this is.”
“You’ve been nursing a single beer for amonth,” I said. “Once you realized Edith was just trying to buy the place, why stick around?”
“This investigation is, uh, classified,” he said, like he was reading from the manual. “I can only dispense information on a need-to-know basis.”
I gestured at the ridiculous scene around us. “A mobster leads you to Edith, Edith delivers you to McPhee’s, and—tough job if you can get it—you have beers on Uncle Sam until the entire place gets taken hostage? You just stood aside and let it happen.”
Just as when Joey’s body was found. Quin had stood aside and watched. He’d stood aside and asked nosy, nonsense questions about Joey.
“There were other threads we needed to see to their end,” Quin was saying. “We couldn’t close down the operation here until we were entirely sure.”
Nosy questions… aboutAlex.
I looked up at him. “You were digging into Alex.”
“I can’t confirm or deny—”
“You asked me all about what dirty business Alex was doing, telling me how addiction was forever, once it’s under your skin, sweetheart—”
“I don’t believe I called you sweetheart,” he said. “That would be condescending. And highly unprofessional.”
“Hey, G-man, you know what would also be highly unprofessional? Letting all the private citizens around you exit by way of themorgue.”
“I have no intention of letting that happen,” he said. “In fact, I’ve been trying to get you out of this situation for the last five minutes. Dahlia, will you please go?” He lowered his voice. “Please.”
I looked toward the opening. It had been quiet down below for a while, and I hoped that meant everyone had gone ahead, had beenboosted out, pulled up, all of them to safety, to a phone, to the end of this day, this nightmare.
“You’re refusing a chance at escape so you can stay here and what? Keep an eye on me?” Quin said.
I didn’t know if I could climb through that hole and drop into nothing. My nightmares, come to life. But worse than that, it had been a long time since I’d seen Alex led away with a gun to his back.
“I can’t,” I choked out. “I can’t leave Alex.”
“Iwon’t leave Alex,” Quin said. “I promise you. I like him. I like—” His voice dropped further. “This place.Please, Dahlia. I can cover one hostage better than two. And our mutual friend out at the door can’t begin to fit through this gap.”
“Neither willyou,” Lumpy Jim jeered from the next room.
“When they come back, I’ll have the element of surprise,” Quin said. “I’ll use it. Please. Trust me. As soon as that door opens, I will take control of this situation.”
I was so tired. I wanted someone else to be in charge for a minute. He seemed like he meant it.
Quin held out his hand. Finally, I took it and he handed me up. Boots into the sink, then one leg over, saddle-style, into the dark. There were stairs, Pascal had said. It was easy, he’d said.
My hand was bloody from grasping Quin’s. “Don’t bleed out before you allow someone to help you,” I said.
“Good advice,” he said. “I’ll try.”
