AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No.” Finley shook her head. “I’m not all right.”
“We should get coffee.” Jack stood. “You up for a stroll to the cafeteria, Bart?”
“Sure.” He rose from his chair. “We’ll bring coffee,” he said to his wife and daughter. His eyes urged the two of them to remain calm.
Finley might never feel calm again.
The two men were out of there faster than either one should’ve been able to move in light of their ages.
The thumb drive in Finley’s pocket seemed to sting her skin through the fabric of her slacks. She had to find a way to open it, assuming it required a password as well. “Dempsey got to Matt.”
The Judge stared at Finley, her face clean of emotion. “Jack explained what happened.”
Finley struggled to hold back the emotion threatening to explode from her. “It was one of his hired guns. Dempsey’s. One of the three who broke into my house and killed Derrick ... and raped me.”
Her mother flinched. “If what you say is true, you have my word Dempsey will not get away with it.”
Finley suddenly felt more helpless than she ever had in her life. “You don’t understand. He already got away with it, and now he’ll get away with what he’s done to Matt and to Detective Houser. He won’t ever stop.”
Not unless Finley stopped him.
The door opened and a nurse appeared. “We have Mr.Quinn in a room now, and he can have one visitor.”
Finley shot to her feet. She turned back to the Judge. “I’ll be back soon so someone else can see him.”
The Judge nodded. “Go. I’ll let your father and Jack know.”
Finley followed the nurse down the seemingly endless corridor and to the elevator. One floor up, and they were in another long corridor.
The nurse paused at a door. “He’s still drowsy. He may go in and out on you, but that’s normal.”
Finley nodded her understanding. “Thank you.”
She stepped inside. The sight of her dear friend made her breath stick deep in her lungs. His eyes were closed. There was a repaired cut onhis forehead. Like Houser, he was attached to the machines monitoring his vitals and keeping him hydrated and hopefully out of pain.
Finley moved closer. For a long time she stood there staring at him, terrified to touch him. She’d never seen Matt look vulnerable or fragile. When she had been recovering afterthatnight, he had sat at her bedside night after night. Whenever she opened her eyes, he would be there. Sometimes reading to her. Sometimes just smiling at her.
She needed—wanted—to do that same thing for him.
Nothing could have stopped the tears. She didn’t even try. She just stood there and cried like a damned baby.
When the tears finally stopped, she squared her shoulders and did what needed to be done. She leaned down and kissed his cheek, then walked out of the hospital and to her Subaru. She climbed behind the wheel and sat for a long time. Minutes, maybe a half hour. Then she picked up her cell and made the call to the only person she knew who had the necessary expertise to help her with no questions.
“Finley,” Winthrop said, “I’m surprised you called.”
Finley licked her lips. “I need your help.”
There was a distinct moment of silence.
“How can I help?”
The words poured out of her. She couldn’t have stopped if her life had depended on it.
When she finished, there was no hesitation. “I understand. I’m sending someone to you now. When we have the thumb drive unlocked, I will notify you.”
“Thank you.”
Finley ended the call.
