Quinn came in on the tail end of the officer’s statement. She leaned in the door jamb before speaking.
“I found you by following Jade to that warehouse she had you holed up in.”
“What?” I shook my head. “She was there. She was there. Somebody grabbed her too. She’s a victim. She didn’t do this. She didn’t do this. She didn’t do this…” It became my mantra as I wrapped my arms around myself and started to rock.
“I think that’s enough for today, Officer. You’ll have to come back another time.”
“I-” The officer started to object, but something made him falter. My guess was that he’d seen the look on Rev Mama’s face. I didn’t need to look at her to know that her facial expression was enough to make him rethink his words.
When he left, she kissed my forehead and left too. Quinn moved from her position in the doorway to sit next to me on the bed. She wrapped her arms around me. I had forgotten how good it felt to be held by her. I leaned back into her arms.
“I am so mad at you.” She whispered against my hair.
“Why?”
“For letting yourself get caught up in all of this. You were so innocent, so sweet, so pure…”
“Whatever. You weren’t interested in the innocence, the sweetness or the purity. You were constantly avoiding it all.”
“I wasn’t avoiding it. I was running from it.”
“Quinn? What’s the difference?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be the writer?” We both laughed softly. “I was running from it all because it was more than I could handle. It was more than I was ready for. It was more than I thought I deserved.” Tears started sliding down my face. She kissed my cheek.
“Sam kept telling me to leave you alone. If I wasn’t serious, to just back off. I finally understood that she was right. That’s why I left you alone. Well, that and Jade.”
“Sam? What happened to Sam?”
“What do you mean?”
“That night. She was with me. What happened to her?”
“Li… I haven’t heard from Sam.”
