off.”
Quinn dropped it. “Lay off the feisty flakes, babe.”
“Feisty flakes,” Petra snorted. “That’s a new one.”
Sledge grabbed the empty chair next to me, flipped it around, and straddled it. “You think we can get on with this?”
Quinn’s eyes turned to me. “Gunner’s dad, Queenie. Do you have any idea who he is?”
I shook my head. “Not really. Duchess never told me who it was. I don’t think she knew for sure.”
Quinn frowned. “Cops pulled his birth certificate and there wasn’t one listed.”
A sigh dropped from my lips. “I’m not surprised by that. I only saw Duchess with one boyfriend ever and that was when she was fifteen. Pretty sure he wasn’t the one who got her pregnant.”
Fancy cleared her throat. “You don’t have to be dating or married to someone to get pregnant.” Fancy glanced at Dyno who rolled his eyes. “Not meaning to say anything bad about your sister or anything,” she added quickly.
I waved my hand at Fancy. “I know what you mean. My sister was far from a saint. I’m not in the least offended by what you’re saying.” Duchess wasn’t a saint in any form of the word. She lived a hard life and had finally started straightening out when she found out she was pregnant. I was worried that the life she lived before Gunner had caught up with her somehow.
“Did she have any friends? Someone who might have known who she was seeing?” Sledge asked.
I glanced over at him. “I don’t know why we’re so focused on who Gunner’s dad is. Not once has anyone taken interest in Gunner besides Duchess and me. As I said, I don’t think Duchess knew who the father was.”
Petra timidly raised her hand. “Maybe this was random.”
Quinn shook his head. “You don’t randomly kill someone and steal their kid. Not the way that it happened with Queenie. Whoever did this wanted Queenie dead and Gunner alive.”
A flat laugh rose from my chest. “Well, looks like they weren’t successful with that first one.”
“Thank God for that.” Petra reached over and squeezed my hand.
Kimber knocked her knuckles on the table. “This is probably not the right time to say this, but am I the only one who wants to ask if Queenie’s sister’s name is actually Duchess and not a nickname?” She looked around the table. “No? Just me?”
“Never again,” Quinn mumbled.
Fancy raised her hand. “I want to know too, but I was trying to be respectful.” She held her closed fist to Kimber. “That’s why you and I are friends.”
Kimber bumped her fist against hers. “The best.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, those are our names. Our mom wanted us to be treated with respect. I guess in her mind, Queenie and Duchess were names that demanded respect.”
In reality, it had just offered a reason for kids to make fun of us and guaranteed parents would look down their noses at us. A complete reverse of what our mom had wanted.
Quinn ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t even know what the hell I was talking about anymore.”
“Baby daddy,” one of the guys I didn’t know called.
“Right,” Quinn muttered. “No one talk besides Queenie and me, got it?”
Kimber and Fancy acted like they zipped up their lips and Petra held up her hands.
“I don’t know who Gunner’s dad is,” I repeated.
“Who were her friends? Who did she hang out with around the time that she got pregnant?” Quinn asked.
“Uh, she talked about a girl named Lynn a couple of times.” I tipped my head to the side. “Though I think she was more of her counselor than a friend. Duchess was in and out of programs before she finally got clean.”
“You know what programs she was in?”
Boy did I. “Yeah. I was the one always footing the bill.” One reason I lived in this tiny hole of an apartment. I had been tapped dry by rehab stints for Duchess. I had bankrupted myself just to get her clean. One finally stuck and then, she was dead not even a year later.
“Make a list of the ones she was in around the time she got pregnant. Maybe even before. If the more recent one doesn’t pan out, we’ll go back further.”
“I can do that, but don’t you think the police should be the ones to look into this?” I asked.
“If they ask you for a list like that, give it to them,” Quinn replied. “But if they don’t, then don’t worry about it.”
Petra cringed and shifted in her chair.