Destroy You (Destroy #3) (24 page)

“I can’t answer those questions, but I think you need to continue keeping a low profile until we have more information. I have a friend in the FBI that can look into this. I’m actually heading out of the office to go speak with your mother alone.”

“Good luck with that. I doubt you’ll get much out of her,” I grumbled.

I hung up the phone and left it on the dresser. I needed to get some air. I walked out of the house alone and headed for the shore. I wasn’t trying to hide. I was visible from the house, but I needed to be alone.

The sounds of water lapping against the rocks, the wind through the trees, and the occasional call of birds helped me to push back what Agent Perez told me. I couldn’t have witnessed a murder. How would I have been alone with a woman that was murdered? No, I refused to consider it.

After a while, Trent came running down to where I paced aimlessly. He seemed shaken once he reached me. “We need to go,” he urged.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, refusing to move.

“It’s your mom. She’s in the hospital. Agent Perez found her beaten unconscious. He’s managed to secure a safe house and guards for us so you can go see her. I don’t want to bring you back, but I know you, so I made sure we’ll be safe when you insist we return.”

“You were right. I need to see her.”

He led me straight to the boat. “I already packed our stuff. Jeremy and Cameron are coming with us. Everyone else is taking a helicopter tomorrow to Seattle. Kate can’t take another boat ride. If the helicopter could have been arranged for today, we’d have you back in town sooner, but they couldn’t get it here until tomorrow. C’mon, we’ll get you to the hospital tonight.”

I took his hand. I didn’t know what to say. Who would beat my mother unconscious? I needed to see her, Trent was right about that, but was I playing into someone’s scheme by returning?

Chapter 31

Trent

We dropped Jeremy and Cameron off at home and drove straight to the hospital. When we got to the parking lot, Toni sat without opening the door.

“Aren’t we going in?” I asked.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t want you to come in with me,” she said, looking away from me.

I clenched my jaw and tried to take several deep breaths. Didn’t help. I’d just spent nearly a week away from my business, basically walked away from my life to stand by her, but when it came to her parents, she didn’t want me around. I knew they were a bit prejudiced, but did she feel the same way? Was I some kind of phase?

“How else am I supposed to take it?” I snapped.

She turned to face me, licked her lips, and fidgeted. “Please, just listen, okay? I need to see that she’s okay, and then I’m done with both of them. I hated the way they treated you at Kate and Reed’s wedding. You don’t have to put up with their shit ever again.”

I exhaled in relief. “I want to be there for you.”

She smiled slightly. “And I love you for that, but it’s my turn to protect you, even if you don’t need me to. I can’t be there for her and want to kill her at the same time. Why don’t you go see how things are going at the bar, and I’ll have Zack bring me to you after I’ve gotten in to see her?”

I nodded, because it was important to her to do this alone, and I did need to check in on my business. “Are you sure? I can wait in the waiting room for you to get done.”

She shook her head. “No, you’ve neglected your life enough trying to protect me. I’ll be safe here, so go do what you need to do, and I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay, but don’t go to the bar when you’re done. Have Zack take you to the safe house. I’ll have them bring me there once I’m done.”

Zack walked up next to the car and tapped on the window just as I finished speaking. “There he is now,” she said and reached for the door. She paused before she climbed out. “Try not to be gone too long, though, okay?”

“I’m just going to check in with Melody and Rocky and look over the books. I’ll see you soon, all right?” I promised.

She nodded and climbed out. After I watched Zack lead her into the hospital, I pulled out of the parking lot and drove the few blocks over to my bar. It was still early afternoon, and the bar was mostly deserted when I walked in.

“Hey, Mel,” I called out and waved as I walked through the door. My mom and Melody decided to return to town a few days ago, not buying into there being an actual threat against them. I hated it, but both refused to let fear rule their lives. It seemed the women in my life were all stubborn.

“Thank God you’re here,” she said and glanced to the bathroom.

“Where’s Rocky?” I asked, realizing he wasn’t at the door.

She sighed. “Trinity is here and totally loaded. Rocky is trying to get her out of the bathroom to send her home in a cab, but she’s being difficult.”

“I’ll deal with her,” I said begrudgingly and headed toward the restrooms.

When I turned the corner of the hallway to the men’s and women’s bathrooms, I saw Rocky trying to shove open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “How in the hell did she manage to lock the door?” I demanded, startling him.

“I haven’t a clue. It feels like there is something heavy wedged against the door, but I didn’t see her bring anything in there.”

A sinking feeling came over me, and I joined him in trying to shove the door open. Even with both of us, we could barely move it even a fraction.

“No, no, no, no,” I shouted, pushing more frantically.

Rocky grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. “We aren’t going to get in this way. Let’s go back into the main room and call the fire department.”

Hurrying down the hallway, I ran into Leo Maroni, nearly knocking him down. “Why is it every time I see you in my bar, something bad happens?” I asked.

“Just a horrible coincidence. I couldn’t help but overhear that someone is stuck in the bathroom. Is there a window we can access?” he asked.

I nodded. Why hadn’t I thought of that? “Yeah, it opens to the alley. Not much of a view, but it’s really for emergency use only.”

Leo looked at me pointedly. “I’d say this qualifies, wouldn’t you?”

“Rocky, stay ready on this side of the door,” I called out while I ran toward the exit with Leo.

We went through the storage room, along the shelves filled with bottles of liquor, next to cases of beer and boxes of other supplies. I bumped into a corner of the shelving, sending about three bottles of Everclear crashing to the floor. We rarely served it, and it had been precariously shoved to the front. A lot of things had been neglected since I’d been absent.

The back door slammed closed, telling me Leo had exited, and I stopped worrying about the bottles as I hurried to follow him outside. When I made it over to him, he’d already moved a crate under the window to try to access it.

“Go get something to get this window open,” Leo shouted down to me.

I ran back inside and grabbed the large push broom set near the door. “Can you use this?” I asked and handed it to him.

“Only if you don’t mind if I bust through the glass.”

“Just do it.” He reared back with the handle and smashed the rounded end into the center of the pane. It crashed to the ground with a tinkling shatter. With the broom, he knocked the rest of the glass free before reaching in and unlatching the window.

Leo started to hoist himself up, but it was clear that his shoulders weren’t going to fit through the small opening. “Shit, Trent, we need to find someone that can get through this window.”

“Do you see what’s blocking the door?” I asked, but I already knew.

He nodded. “It’s Trinity, and I can’t really see how she’s doing. We need to get her out of there and probably call an ambulance.”

“Let’s go inside and get Melody. We could probably boost her through the window.”

We ran around the building to the front entrance to avoid the broken bottles of alcohol. Melody was wiping down the bar when we burst through the doors. “Mel, we need you to come with us and help get Trinity out of the bathroom.”

Quickly we made our way back to the alley and under the bathroom window. I helped hoist Melody up, and she was through the window without much struggle. Since Mel was tall, she made it down to the floor without hurting herself.

She grunted a few times, and a dull thud let me know she’d dropped Trinity at least once. Leo and I cut back through the storage room to save time and burst out of the hallway just as Melody opened the bathroom door.

I bent down to hoist Trinity up, but she cracked her eye open and swatted my hands. “G’way,” she slurred and began to crawl away.

“Trinity, I’m trying to help you,” I told her.

“I don’t want your help,” she screamed. “Don’t you get it?” Trinity had maneuvered her way around the bar. She picked up the closest bottle to her, popped off the spout, and took a large drink. “I’m beyond anyone’s help! Everything I touch turns to shit, and I can’t do this anymore.” She threw the half-full bottle, and it crashed against one of the tables, exploding into dozens of shards.

“Jesus, Trinity,” I yelled. “What the fuck have I ever done to you? I’ve dropped everything to help you over and over again, and you do this shit?” I gestured to the mess she was making.

Trinity found the child’s baseball bat I had hidden under the bar for the girls to use to protect themselves if they ever found themselves threatened when Rocky or I weren’t around. She swung it wildly, breaking dozens of bottles and spraying everything around her in liquor and glass.

“What—”
swing
“—have—”
swing
“—you—”
swing
“—done?” She dropped the bat and panted from the exertion of destroying my business. “You were supposed to love me, not her,” she shouted once she caught her breath. “You fucked practically every woman that walked through the door, and I stood by and waited for you to finally see me. Then I realized you never kept them, and you always left them when I needed you. I thought that meant I was special and someday you’d get tired of them and stay with me. You were supposed to stay with me!”

“Trinity.” I approached the bar cautiously. “You have always been like a little sister to me. I’m sorry that isn’t what you had hoped for, but it’s all I’ve got.”

She pulled a lighter out of her pocket, and I froze. It was a fancy, metal, flip-lid type that stays lit when it’s opened. She started playing with the top, opening it and closing it. Considering she was covered in alcohol and standing in a pool of it, seeing the tiny flame flicker each time the top opened made me nervous.

There was still a crowd of gawkers behind us. “Free show is over. The bar is closed. Please come back sometime when all the alcohol isn’t running all over the floor,” Melody announced. Rocky jumped into action and started moving everyone out.

“You two join them,” I demanded.

“I’m not leaving you here with psycho Barbie,” Melody argued.

“Mel, get your ass out that door. You can go call the police, the press, hell, call the fucking president if you’d like, just get outside where I know you’ll be safe.”

“Fine, but I’m going to call Toni and tell her you’re a dumbass,” she snapped.

“Fuck! Why are all the women in my life insane? Please, don’t call Toni,” I begged. “Her mom is in the hospital. She definitely doesn’t need any shit from my life dumped on her right now.”

“You’ll have to follow me out to stop me,” she taunted. I knew she was trying to bait me, but I had to try to save Trinity. Every time I told myself I couldn’t do it again, but the truth was, I’d probably always try to save her if I believed I could save her, so again I’d give it one last try.

“Come on, Trinity,” I said, refocusing my attention back on her. “You don’t want to do anything stupid. I know everything seems bad now, but it won’t always be this way. I had no idea I could feel the way I do about Toni until I met her. Someday, you’ll find that, too. But you’ve got to stop tempting fate with that lighter. Please, just give it to me.” I held out my hand and didn’t breathe while I waited for her to hand it to me.

She sighed but placed it in my hand. I exhaled in relief. “Now will you please come out from there?”

Trinity nodded and turned to come out from behind the counter and slipped. She reached for something to break her fall, and I watched in horror as she latched on to the fluorescent beer sign hanging in front of the mirror above where the bottles used to be.

One of the chains broke free, and the thin glass bulb shattered, cutting into her hand and sending sparks flying. Unable to stop herself, she fell into the broken glass and alcohol that littered the ground. Liquor mixed with rivulets of blood from the dozens of lacerations she’d gotten from the impact with the shards of broken bottles.

The light swung back and forth from the lone remaining chain, sending out the occasional spark. Leo, the only one still with me inside the bar, grabbed my arm and started to pull. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“I know, but we’ve got to get Trinity first,” I pointed out.

He nodded, and we moved to help her up off the floor and outside, but before we could reach her, the swinging motion of the light busted the chain completely, and it fell to the ground with a cascade of sparks.

One hit the pool of alcohol and blood and sent a flame racing across the flammable mixture, and within seconds Trinity’s clothes were on fire. The fire extinguisher was under the bar, which was currently engulfed in flames. Trinity managed to crawl out, and we tried to smother the flames the best we could, but all we really managed to do was burn our hands.

Once the fire reached the main part of the room, it spread rapidly. The building was old, and obviously not built to withstand fire, and that was without the wooden furniture and alcohol to help fuel it. The combination had us trapped.

We got down low and tried to crawl to the storage room. My hands were red and starting to blister, but I couldn’t focus on them while I tried to reach safety. The glass from Trinity’s tirade was a bit harder to ignore as it dug into my hands and knees while I tried to stay below the billowing cloud of smoke rapidly filling the large open room.

We’d nearly made it to the storage room when the fire raced above us across the ceiling and found the alcohol stored inside. The sound of bottles exploding and the roaring of the fire was nothing compared to the searing heat that seemed to be closing in on us.

We coughed and fought for every breath, and each one felt like we were trying to breathe in acid. I tried to hold my breath, but my body fought me until I gave in and sucked in a lungful of the noxious, black air. The lack of oxygen was more painful than every piece of glass imbedded in my skin, and I was starting to wonder if I would live long enough to burn to death, but neither option sounded appealing.

I’d been pulling Trinity through the bar with me. One hand firmly gripped in hers as we scooted behind Leo, trying to find an exit. She was struggling more than I was to breathe, and burns covered most of her body.