She turned off the engine and turned to face him. “Come home with me. Let’s talk about this some more.”
But he unfastened his seatbelt and reached for the door. “Not tonight. I...” He shook his head. “Not tonight.”
“I want to help.” She could hear the desperation in her voice, but she couldn’t do anything about it. She felt like if she let him go now, they were never going to repair this. He was going to shut her out.
“The best way you can help is respecting the fact that I haven’t told anyone else about this.”
“Of course. I would never say anything to anyone. All I meant—”
He opened the door and stepped out. “Good night, Cupcake. Thanks for dinner.”
He closed the car door, and he was gone.
By the time Quinn was almost home, she’d worked herself into a state of near-panic. She had to do more. She didn’t know the unusual parameters around Baby’s situation, but she wasn’t going to let him shut her out either.
She would drop her stuff off at home, then go over and talk to him.
A bitter fear clogged her throat at the thought that he might send her away again. In the greater scheme of things, she was nothing more to him than a pleasant pastime. Which was what he should be to her, too—although she knew he was much, much more.
But damn it, she was going to be his friend. Baby did such a good job of taking care of everyone around here, with his quick smile and affability—and she wanted to be a friend for him.
And what about everyone else? They all might have considered he was struggling on some level, but they hadn’t dug deeper.
Digging deeper, researching, figuring out problems and how to solve them? By God, she had spent her entire adult life devoting herself to that. And if she could help him, she was damn well going to do it.
Starting tonight.
“Hey Grizzly.”
She patted the dog’s head, ignoring his slight growl. She’d come to realize that was how he communicated. Growled when he was upset. Growled when he was content.
He’d been on her porch every day since the break-in. Every once in a while, he would come inside, sniff around as if something had changed, then settle back outside. It was a situation that suited both of them. Quinn left him some food a couple of times a day, and he tolerated her existence.
She got him another bowl of food and grabbed a change of clothes, hoping she’d need them once she was at Baby’s apartment. She decided to take her computer. She would need it if they decided to do some research. She didn’t recall ever seeing a computer in Baby’s apartment.
Now she understood why.
She stopped abruptly on her way to the door when she heard a knock.
Please let that be Baby.
But when she opened the door it was a stranger. A cop, probably in her early thirties. Quinn recalled seeing around town but didn’t know her name.
“Quinn Harrison–Pritchard?”
“Yes?” She took a slight step back.
“I’m Officer Mercer. Acting Sheriff Gavin Zimmerman needs to ask you a few questions about the break-in and vandalism of your house a few days ago.”
“Why? Did they catch the person responsible?”
“I’m not at liberty to say,” the woman responded. “I’ve been asked to take you down to the station for questioning.”
“Right now?”
She nodded. “Some of the questions are time-sensitive.”
“Fine.”
Officer Mercer nodded. “You can follow me in your car.”
Quinn grabbed her stuff and walked out to her car. This wasn’t great timing, but she’d also like to find out who had vandalized her house if they knew. And at least she wasn’t riding in the back of the squad car. That was a good sign, right?
She wasn’t feeling the same way when Officer Mercer ushered her into a small office a few minutes later, and then perched herself along the windowsill.
“Ms. Harrison-Pritchard, thank you for coming in.” Gavin held out his hand and Quinn shook it a little tentatively.
“Please call me Quinn. And it didn’t seem like I had much option about coming in.” She sat down in the chair he gestured toward.
“We have a few follow-up questions regarding the vandalism at your house.”
“Did you figure out who did it?”
Gavin nodded. “We are making some progress. Have you had any other issues? Any trouble in town or anything you wanted to let us know about?”
“No, not really.” Normally she would ask him to explain what he meant, but all she wanted to do