She pursed her mouth and thought for a moment. “I’m not, in a way. There’s just this…I don’t know. I worry about you, and I don’t know where this will lead, any of this, and if you add Aaron into the equation…”
“Yeah. But we’re adults now.”
“That’s the only plus here that I can see.” She then looked at him shrewdly and asked, “So, how about that kid of yours.”
Quinn groaned and moved his own mug to let his forehead thump against the kitchen table they were sitting at. “He’s not my kid,” he mumbled against the worn-out wood.
“He is a human being who has half of your DNA.”
“How long have you known?” He lifted his head and peered at her cautiously.
“Oh, since he was a toddler, I suppose. He looked exactly like you, even more than he looks like you now, when he was that age.” She shrugged and then sighed long and loud. “Jimmy’s bound to figure that one out, especially when Caroline has already been making noise about your old friends group hanging out together again.”
“You don’t think…”
“No. But we don’t exactly stay rational when someone threatens our loved ones, do we?”
She had a point there.
“I’ve told them to leave town if things get to that point. So, we’ll see.” Quinn finished his coffee. Then he looked at Karen and immediately she homed in on how serious he was.
She looked alarmed. “What? What’s going on?”
“Do you know anything about Jimmy’s warehouse? I heard a rumor that there’s been…activity there. During the nights.”
To Quinn’s shock, Karen cussed like a sailor. “I told that boy to behave. That as long as his father is alive, he doesn’t get to make his own rules, but does he listen to his mother? No, no he doesn’t, and he’s going to get us all killed!”
Taken aback, Quinn just sat there and watched at her fume. She cursed again, then looked at Quinn.
“I won’t say anything to him, but I might have to find a way to warn Ian. If Jimmy already has plans and is using that warehouse to store something he can’t move in daylight….”
“Yeah. That was what I thought too when I heard about it. I can’t go talk to Uncle Ian. Jimmy thinks I’m his favorite already. It’s just…stay safe, Aunt Karen, okay?”
She smiled in that bone-tired way only someone who was well aware of their situation could. “I’ll try my best, sweetheart. You just do your part and keep yourself and your family safe.”
“You are my family,” Quinn replied quietly.
“I know you mean well by that and I feel the same, but our bond isn’t hundred percent solid as it was when you were a boy. Not between any of us. So please, stay safe.”
For a moment, Quinn wondered if this was a warning, but he brushed the thought off. She wouldn’t warn him off so vaguely. She was nothing if not Ian MacGregor’s wife. She was capable of delivering her threats loud and clear.
Quinn helped her clean the living room by moving the couches for her as she vacuumed, and they talked about everything but the business. When he left, she kissed his cheek and he squeezed her tight, and hoped she could get out of town before it was all too late.
* * * *
Quinn sent a message to Day, asking for a status update, but got nothing back in the next few hours. He texted Aaron from his main phone, telling him he wouldn’t be coming over that evening. Quinn needed any information Day could get, and he didn’t want to take his burner phone to Aaron’s. Somehow the idea of spreading his work into Aaron’s life even in a small way like that made Quinn’s stomach churn. It was as if that would put a target on Aaron’s back, ludicrous as the idea was, really. Nobody would know if the phone was there. But fear was rarely completely rational, Quinn had accepted that a long time ago.
So he fed Shadow when she came calling, and went to bed feeling restless. Even the steady purring didn’t help this time.
He was jolted awake in the almost-morning hours by his phone ringing. Except it wasn’t the phone he was expecting.
“Brody?” he asked, instantly alert and ready to move.
“Uh…I’m not sure it’s anything super alarming, but I got my binoculars here after the last time we talked, and I can see past my fence and into Jimmy’s property, and I’m pretty sure they just unloaded something…different than usual.”
Quinn rubbed his eyes and then scratched the back of his neck. “What makes you think that?”
“Because there’s like, close to ten clearly armed guys there. Jimmy has maybe three normally. They’re looking around, like…inspecting things.”
