Midnight Wreckage - Winter Travers Page 0,46
held a bundle of blankets in her arms, and she had a smile on her face.
“Mommy?” Queenie whispered. Her eyes connected with mine, and my heart exploded in my chest.
“That’s you, sugar.”
Kaye laid Gunner in Queenie’s arms and stepped back. “He went through every exam possible. He has a perfect clean bill of health. He was just fed and changed. He’s probably ready for a nap. I hope it’s okay, but I stayed with him the whole exam and everything. I knew you were up here and couldn’t be with him so I was.”
Queenie didn’t take her eyes off Gunner. Her bottom lip quivered, and she leaned down to press a kiss to his temple. “Hello, my boy. You’re back home.”
“He’s even cuter,” Kimber gushed.
Kaye stepped back from the bed and Kimber, Fancy, and Petra crowed around her. Kaye nodded to the door, and I followed her out.
“He’s perfect,” she whispered.
“I have to agree with you on that one.”
She smiled, and for a second, I saw a hint of sadness in her eyes. As soon as I saw it, it was gone. “I’ll give you the quick rundown of what happened so you can tell Queenie later.”
“Tell me.”
“Jimmy Clark is, of course, as you know, dead. His wife, Bella, is sitting in the county jail along with the housekeeper and one of the sons.”
“Just one of them?” I asked.
Kaye nodded. “Yeah. The other has been out of the country for the past seventeen months. He apparently had a falling out with the father over the new business venture and took off for Italy. We’re still investigating to see if that checks out completely, but I’m thinking it will.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “Lord, this is just a clusterfuck, isn’t it?”
“You don’t even know the half of it. Everything basically played out the way you guys pictured. Raymond went to prison. Duchess turned up pregnant. The Clarks hired a hitman to kill her and make it look like an accident so they would get custody of Gunner. Enter Queenie. We all know what happens after that.”
“So what happens next?” Gunner was back, but none of this was for sure set in stone.
“We’re gonna book the mom, brother, and housekeeper. Then they have to go in front of the judge and yada yada yada until we get to the trial and they all hopefully go to jail for a long time.” She clapped her hands and frowned. “Though it’s gonna be a long time before we get to that point.”
“Well, I don’t care how long it takes as long as they all rot in jail.”
“Same,” Kaye laughed. “I saw Quinn on the way up earlier and I gave him the same rundown. If you guys have any questions, I told him to just give me a call.”
As long as Bella didn’t walk out of jail, I wasn’t going to have any questions.
“And, all the information you guys gave us before didn’t really pan out. We’re still investigating who the Clarks hired to kill Duchess, but we hit a brick wall when it came to even finding C.”
I didn’t find that hard to believe. Quinn was right when he said no one who was in that deep with shit used their real names. “If we hear anything, I’m sure we’ll let you know.”
Kaye smirked. “I’m sure you will. I’m gonna head out. It’s been a long night, and I still have a pile of paperwork to work on before I can get some sleep.”
“Thanks for everything, Kaye.”
She gave me a nod and headed down the hallway.
“Sledge,” Kimber called, “get your butt in here and hold this baby.”
I leaned against the doorframe, my eyes on Queenie.
“I’m gonna go find the guys. Point was complaining about being hungry before so I bet they’re down in the cafeteria.” Petra grabbed her purse and hitched it over her shoulder. “You guys want anything?”
“We’ll come with,” Kimber called. “I’m hungry as a horse.” She grabbed Fancy’s hand and pulled her away from the bed. “Let the kid breath, Fan.”
They hustled out of the room in a tornado of gabbing and squeals over Gunner.
“You wanna hold him?” Queenie asked. “He fell asleep as soon as Kaye put him in my arms.”
“Won’t that wake him up?”
Queenie laughed and shook her head. “No. He’s out.”
I cleared my throat and shuffled my feet. “Uh, maybe later.”
“Sledge,” Queenie called softly, “get your butt over her and hold him. I promise it won’t hurt.”
But it would. I knew as soon as I