Justice for Corrie (Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Book 3) (4 page)

C
orrie made
her way down the hall and disappeared into the women’s restroom. Quint pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Cruz, letting him know he was headed back to the station and he’d talk to him later. He knew Cruz would ask him a million questions about Corrie and what was going on, and Quint would be happy to answer them…after
he
figured out exactly what was going on.

After reading Cruz’s affirmative response, Quint put his phone back into his pocket and thought about Corrie. She intrigued him, and he wasn’t usually so captivated by a woman after knowing her for such a short period of time. He’d seen a lot throughout his career as an officer with the San Antonio Police Department. People usually fit into stereotypical molds he’d formed in his mind, especially women.

Flirty, scared, victimized, angry, entitled…the list went on and on, but he couldn’t for the life of him place Corrie into any of the items on that list. He’d been amused at her feisty reaction to the busboy and even her rejection of him at first was cute.

Then when he’d figured out exactly who she was and why she was at the restaurant in the first place, she’d stunned him with the matter-of-fact way she seemed to be dealing with everything that had happened to her over the last week or so. Oh, she was unsure and shaken about the phone call, but she wasn’t outwardly freaking out or crying uncontrollably, and that went a long way toward raising his opinion about her.

Of course he’d heard about the shooting that had happened. All the officers had been briefed on the incident and were told to be on the lookout for anything suspicious. The detectives didn’t have a lot to go on in finding the killer, and the media had been putting a lot of pressure on the chief and the department to find who had killed all those people.

Quint had even been aware there was a witness, but he’d had no idea the “witness” was blind. He still hadn’t heard everything Corrie had gone through while the man was killing her friends and workers, but he would.

He realized suddenly that he wanted to know everything about Corrie. Why was she blind? Was it an accident? How had she survived? Was she seeing anyone?

His last thought brought him up short. Seeing someone? He wasn’t one to have relationships with women. He wasn’t a man-whore, but he’d never found anyone who he felt like he’d want to spend the rest of his life with. He’d dated women, he’d had a couple of one-night stands, he’d even thought he was in love once, but it wasn’t until recently he’d decided he was missing out by being single. After watching Cruz and his other friend, Dax, find the loves of their lives, he’d seen firsthand that having someone to love, and being loved in return, could be an amazing thing.

Not only that, but he genuinely liked both Mackenzie and Mickie. They were tough women who seemed to bring out the best in both Dax and Cruz. They lightened up their gatherings and for some reason he could totally see Corrie fitting in with them. Of course he was getting ahead of himself, he’d just met the woman after all, but the thought was there nonetheless.

Quint used to think that having a serious girlfriend would be a handicap, especially for him. Being a police officer wasn’t an easy job. It involved lots of long hours, including overtime, and he was in danger more often than not. Over the last year or so, there had been a lot of highly publicized cases of what the public was calling unnecessary roughness against citizens. It was tough to be a police officer today, but Quint wouldn’t want to do anything else.

Quint had wanted to be a cop since he was a little kid. Most children grew out of their first dreams of occupation, but not Quint. As soon as he was old enough, he’d asked for cop toys. His mom had bought him curtains with police cars on them. His bedding was blue and white. Quint knew his parents had thought it was cute at first and that he’d grow out of it. But he’d joined the junior officer league when he was in high school and hadn’t looked back. He’d gone to college and earned his Criminal Justice degree and had been hired not long after his graduation.

Quint smiled, thinking back to the green cop he’d once been. Luckily he’d started his career in the town of Bowling Green, Ohio. It was a small Midwestern college town. It was close to Toledo, but not so close that they had murders and other extreme crimes all the time. The college kids used to call it “Boring Green” because not much exciting ever happened there…other than the annual tractor-pull championships.

In time he’d needed more of a challenge, and while Quint knew his parents wanted him to stay in Ohio, he’d eventually moved south to Texas.

Quint loved San Antonio and truly felt he’d found his ideal job and police department. He had close friends and enjoyed the way the other law enforcement agencies in the city worked together. The feeling of comradery between him and Cruz, Dax, Calder, TJ, Hayden, and Conor were unique. Not to mention the group of firefighters they hung out with on a regular basis. Having so many friends who were involved with serving the city was rewarding. They worked hard, and played hard, and got along amazingly well. He knew he’d never find a better group of friends than the firefighters at Station 7 and the law enforcement officers he hung around with.

Not only that, but Quint felt a deep satisfaction in being able to find and arrest people who were a danger to society…and unfortunately there were a lot of people who were a danger to others in the southern Texas city he called home.

He’d recognized that same urge, that urge for justice, in Corrie today. She’d been disturbed to realize her testimony, because of her blindness, would be discounted. She so badly wanted justice for her friends, and wanted to be a part of that justice, he could almost feel her disappointment.

Quint hadn’t been around many blind people—hell, really
any
blind people—but Corrie oozed competence and independence out of every pore. If she hadn’t spoken up, and hadn’t been carrying a cane, he wouldn’t have known she couldn’t see.

His thoughts turned to her situation. He had no idea what she planned to do after seeing the detective, but hopefully she had somewhere she could go where’d she be safe.

Q
uint kept
his eye on the door to the interrogation room. After leaving the restaurant, he’d taken Corrie to the station and released her to the care of Detective Algood. Matt was an excellent cop who’d treat her with care and make sure she was comfortable while telling him all she remembered.

He shook his head. Since when did he care if Matt treated someone with care?

Since Corrie. She’d been friendly and funny on the way to the station. He’d given her the “tour” of his cruiser when they’d first gotten in. She’d asked if she could touch the things he was explaining to her. He’d agreed and helped her find and run her fingers over things like the switches for the lights and siren, the laptop, the shotgun safely locked in its holder. The bright smile she flashed him when he let her flick on the siren for a moment lit up her face. Even in the midst of all the shit going on in her life, she didn’t hesitate to show her pleasure in something as simple as riding in a squad car for the first time.

Quint supposed it was because she couldn’t see the world passing by as they drove, but she’d kept her head turned toward him, and had concentrated on him, the entire trip to the station. He’d had her complete attention as he explained proper protocol of things like when to use lights and sirens, and how he’d use the laptop as he hurried his way to a call.

They’d arrived at the station and Quint had asked Corrie to wait in the car and he’d gone around to her side and helped her out, not letting go of her hand as he walked them into the back door of the station. Her hand felt small and fragile in his, although he knew that was a lie. She was strong, if not physically, mentally. After what had happened to both Mackenzie, Dax’s woman, and Mickie, Quint knew being mentally strong was sometimes a better trait to have than simple physical strength.

Luckily, Quint had some paperwork he had to catch up on, so he was able to stay at the station and finish it while Matt spoke with Corrie. He could watch and wait for her to be done and he could help her get to where she was going next. He didn’t even bother to analyze
why
he wanted to be there when Corrie was finished. He wouldn’t be able to sleep well without talking to her and finding out what her future plans were.

Finally, after a long two hours, the door opened and Matt and Corrie walked out. Matt looked stressed, running his hand though his hair as he looped Corrie’s hand over his elbow and led her down the hall toward Quint.

Quint closed down the report he was working on, knowing he’d easily be able to finish it in the morning, and stood. He met them before they reached his desk.

“Hey, Matt. Corrie.”

“Hey, Quint,” Matt returned. “Thanks for bringing Corrie back in.”

“You get what you need?”

“Maybe. It’s more than we had to start with. I’m going to see what more we can do to find Shaun. We’d already been looking for him, but knowing he was most likely the reason that guy was there puts things in a different perspective. I have a feeling he can shed a lot of light on this case.”

Quint looked at Corrie. He’d thought she was good when she and Matt walked toward his desk, but up close, he could now see the furrows in her brow and the pinched look around her lips.

“You okay, Corrie?”

She nodded, but didn’t say anything.

Quint looked at Matt and raised his chin, asking what was up.

Matt just gazed back at him with a frustrated look on his face and shrugged his shoulders. Quint shook his head at his friend.

“What? I know you guys are talking with that nonverbal man-speak crap. I’m standing right here. It’s rude. I
hate
when people do that.” Corrie’s voice was a mixture of pissed off and sad at the same time.

Quint immediately felt bad. “Sorry, Corrie. Really. I’m worried about you. I was simply trying to ask my buddy here what was up.”

“You could’ve asked me directly.” Corrie dropped Matt’s elbow and put her arms around her stomach defensively. Her stance made her look uncomfortable and vulnerable.

“You’re right. I should’ve. I’m sorry. Come on, let’s go sit over here.” Quint didn’t bother trying to defend himself. Corrie was right. It
was
rude. He hadn’t thought so at the time but looking at it from her perspective, he knew he had to change his thinking.

There were a lot of ways he had to change his thinking, he suddenly realized. Just because Corrie was blind didn’t mean she was helpless or clueless. Trying to talk about her, in front of her, when she couldn’t see, was like talking about someone who didn’t speak English in front of them…they’d know you were talking about them but wouldn’t be able to understand what you were saying.

Quint took Corrie’s hand again and led her into a small room. “There’s a chair to your left.” He dropped her right hand and took her left in his and guided it to the arm of the chair. “There’s a desk in front of you and I’m going to go and close the door. It’s private in here, no one can overhear us.”

Corrie nodded and eased herself into the chair. Once she got her bearings, she didn’t fumble or fidget, she just sat and waited for him to return.

Quint closed the door and pulled a seat over so he could sit next to Corrie, and not behind the desk. He didn’t want to be that far away from her.

“So…what’s up? Are you okay? What did Matt have to say?”

Corrie couldn’t stay mad at Quint. She’d been furious when she’d realized he and Matt were “talking” right there in front of her. She’d called him on it and he’d immediately apologized. Most people, when she confronted them on the same thing, tried to make excuses or lied and said they weren’t talking about her right in front of her face. Quint got points for that.

“I’m fine. I told Detective Algood about the threatening phone call. We went over everything that happened that day ad nauseam and here I am. He’s going to see if he can find Shaun and figure out what in tarnation is going on.”

“What about the threat you received?”

“What about it?”

Quint clenched his teeth. He’d never met such a stubborn woman before. This was almost as bad as interrogating someone. “What is he doing about that?”

Corrie shrugged. “There’s not much he
can
do about it. He’s going to tap my phone; if the guy calls back, it’ll be recorded and we’ll go from there.”

“Where are you staying then?”

Corrie squirmed uncomfortably in her chair for the first time. The detective had asked the same thing and she’d tried to explain. She’d known he hadn’t liked it, and Corrie knew in her gut, Quint wouldn’t either.

“Home. I’m staying at my apartment.”

“Corrie—”

“Really, Quint, it’s fine. Look, I’m sure once whoever it is finds out I’m not allowed to testify, they’ll be appeased. I’ll make sure to lock my door, and I’d already decided to call a security company to install some sort of alarm.”

“Can’t you go somewhere to stay?”

“Like where?”

“I don’t know…a friend’s house? Your parents’?”

“If you were me, would you go to your friend’s or parents’ house if you thought for a second it might put them in danger?” Knowing the answer, Corrie continued. “No, you freaking wouldn’t. My best friend, Emily, and her partner, Bethany, have a little boy. There’s no way in heck I’d put either of them in danger, and I’d rather die myself than bring a killer to their doorstep who might possibly hurt Ethan. He’s only six months old, for goodness sake. He can’t protect himself.”

Corrie was working herself into a full tizzy, and couldn’t see the tender look on Quint’s face.

“And my parents? Are you crazy? After all they’ve done for me…after they helped make me independent, you think I’d go running back and ask to hide behind them? No freaking way. I’m fine. Detective Algood is going to figure this out, and everything will go back to normal.”

Corrie was startled out of her angsty ramblings when Quint put his hand on her cheek and turned her head toward him.

“I don’t like it.” His tone didn’t match the words. He sounded amused.