28 Days: a romantic suspense (6 page)

Once he finished, Alex moved away to the window to calm his temper, which constantly ate at him. It was always there…whispering to him about how unfair every damn thing in his life was. But he needed action and he needed it now.

Saige cleared her throat. “I’m, um, ready when you are.”

“Perhaps we did get off to a wrong start, Ms. Lockwood.” Daniel held his hand out.

“You think.” Alex needed to hold his tongue now that he had the attorney moving along.

“Please call me Saige, and I’m here to read my statement, but I’d also like you to tell me what you remember from the case—the trial.”

Daniel deflated before their eyes. “The trial was exhausting and, for what it’s worth, I never believed that young man was guilty. I still don’t. To begin with, Quinten constantly asked about you and he wouldn’t settle. No one would tell him anything because they thought he was responsible for what happened to you.”

Alex watched as Saige took in what the defense attorney said, but the more he spoke, the deeper her frown became. He could practically see the wheels turning in her head because Alex had only told her about them working for her father. She still had no idea about what she became to Quinten, or him to her...at least he didn’t think she did. He was more or less convinced about her lack of memory; after all, he overheard her conversation with her father before she even saw him.

“He was a very distraught young man,” Daniel continued. “I was there when he was charged with five counts of first degree murder and your attempted murder. He was in shock and couldn’t believe what was happening to him...then word came that you had identified him as your abductor from a lineup of photographs. I think”—Daniel paused and gave Saige a searching look—“he gave up at that point.”

Saige wiped her eyes and Alex passed her a tissue. “I don’t understand.” She looked to him.

Alex moved to the seat beside her. He hesitated before he took her hands into his and closed his eyes. “My brother cared about you. A lot.” He opened his eyes and they met hers before he squeezed her fingers, letting go. “The rest I need you to remember on your own.”

“No.” She grabbed his wrist. “Please tell me.”

“Dammit. I can’t. I need you to remember without me putting words into your head. Don’t you see? If you get your memory back, then I want it to be
your
memory, not something I’ve put there.”

Saige searched his face, but Alex made sure he didn’t give anything away. Eventually Saige nodded. “I understand.” She sat back and let the silence settle. “Mr. Sterling, would it be possible to get a copy of my statement so that I can take it with me, and I noticed some photographs? If you have any of Quinten around the time he was charged, I’d appreciate a copy.”

Daniel looked at Alex for approval. Alex nodded softly. Daniel then made a sound of acceptance. “Let me pass this file to my secretary. I won’t be long…and it’s Daniel.”

They watched Daniel leave when Saige turned to him. “Will you tell me more about your brother? Not the trial, about what he was like. What did he like to do in his free time?”

He could do that. “Quinten is younger than me by two years, but he always acted like the one in charge.” A wisp of a smile adorned his face as he remembered. “We would have some arguments over the business, but the truth is, Quinten was the business minded one. I’d have screwed it all up. As to free time, he didn’t have that much, but when he did, he’d go fishing or read. He could spend all day by the river with a book. He loved suspense and I even teased him a few times because he read historical romances.” Alex smiled, having forgotten that memory until now. “My brother was a caring guy who should have never married that unfaithful bitch Jocelyn.”

Saige rubbed her brow.

A headache?

“When did their marriage end?” She rubbed at her forehead again.

“He talked to a lawyer about getting a divorce a week or so before we started working at your family home. He was saving money to actually proceed with it when his life was turned upside down, so she was the one to eventually divorce him. Good riddance, if you ask me.”

The minute the words left his mouth he realized what he admitted to, and if Saige thought she had something going on with his brother, then that probably wouldn’t sit well with her.

“Okay,” she whispered. “You know what I’m imagining, right?”

“I know.” He turned toward the door so he wouldn’t give anything away. “Let’s go and see what Daniel’s up to.” Alex offered his hand, which she took but let go of the minute she was on her feet.

“Let me look through everything and I’ll call you, but it will probably be tomorrow now as my head has started to pound. I won’t be able to read anything until the pain has disappeared.”

Alex hesitated because he wanted to be with her when she read the words she supposedly gave that implicated his brother.

“Or not.” Saige looked uncertain. “You don’t believe me? About remembering.”

“I overheard you talking to your father, but I won’t deny wanting to be with you while you read your statement.”

She nodded and wouldn’t meet his gaze. “If you want, you can bring breakfast tomorrow and the copies that Daniel is making now.” She shrugged and winced, her face paling. “At least then you’ll know I’m not reading them without you.”

She really wasn’t well and he realized that she’d made a big concession in trusting him. A part of him couldn’t help wonder why. “Don’t you fear for your own safety?”

“What?” she asked, surprise filling her eyes.

“You’ve been abducted before, yet you have no concern for your safety by inviting me back to your place.”

She opened and closed her mouth before her lips pulled tight in anger. “As you put it like that, then I suppose I’ll have to call you instead.”

Saige gripped her purse and when her hand touched the doorknob, Alex pressed his hand to the door. Once she calmed, and didn’t look to be about to leave, he stepped away from her.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pointed that out.”

“It’s the truth,” she said to the door, her voice tight with anger.

“Saige, please look at me.”

She turned.

“I was being a dick. I really am sorry, and I promise you’ll be safe with me.”

“Sometimes you look as though you hate me and I guess knowing that you believe my statement incriminated your brother, I can understand that.”

“I won’t hurt you,” he said as softly as he could manage.

She raised her gaze to his.

“You’re probably the only one who can help at this stage. You’re all he has and I promise I won’t hurt you...you need to go and rest right now. Sleep the migraine away.” He offered her a wry grin.

She nodded and then winced as they exited Daniel’s office.

Alex’s attention was diverted when he noticed the man’s secretary, Fern, bent over her desk.

He smirked and licked his lips.

Saige caught him and rolled her eyes.

He laughed, motioning for Saige to follow him out, but his eyes strayed back to the legs on display in Daniel’s office.

8
:00am

Q
uinten stared
at the blank pieces of paper that sat in front of him, at a loss as to what to write.

Saige hadn’t once visited him since he’d been arrested, charged, then incarcerated, so why would she come now?

The warden had asked him if he had any last requests, and the only one he’d been able to think of was to see
his
Saige. The form to have her vetted to visit had been completed, and he’d been assured she’d be granted access, but the rest would be up to her. As much as he tried not to get his hopes up, his heart raced at the thought that he’d get to see her one last time…even if there were bars between them.

Would she really come to see him though? Time was ticking and his hands shook with the reality of what was about to happen to him. He tried not to think about it, but how could he not when he was living this hell.

And what about his brother? Alex was due in a couple of days. It was a visit that he usually looked forward to, but now that he’d been moved and his death imminent, he didn’t know how to feel. His stomach was in turmoil, and he feared he’d puke.

He’d escaped a lot of the violence that happened in prison because, as a death row prisoner, he’d had a cell to himself and the security was different, or so he’d been told. It didn’t change his longing for the life that he had started to dream of before it was taken away from him.

The dreams had kept him going while Saige had been away at college, and the guilt he felt at being the one to bring her home the weekend she’d been taken still ate at him. He’d been sick and tired of his life, and had needed her badly. She’d heard his need through their connection over the phone and before he could say anything, she’d had a bag packed and was in her car.

That had been the last time they’d talked.

He missed her voice, her smile and, most of all, the feel of her arms around him. Even now, his heart swelled with the love they once shared, and no one could tell him it had all been a dream on his part. He knew that his brother believed the worst about Saige. She’d been the only thing to cause arguments between them over the years.

“You done?” the guard questioned.

They got edgy when he had a pencil in his hands. What they expected him to do with it, he didn’t know.

He wasn’t a killer.

“I haven’t thought of anything to write,” he admitted. “I thought the words would come, but now that I have the chance to write to her, I don’t know what to say. There’s so much.” He shook his head before he dropped his gaze to the sheet of paper. “What do you write to the girl you love, who you know you’ll never see again?”

Quinten had no idea how long he sat crying with the paper blurred in his vision. He just knew he had to write something because he couldn’t leave this life without her knowing how much he still loved her.

8
:30am

S
aige didn’t know
whether or not she could trust Alex. One minute, he seemed like Quinten’s caring older brother, and the next he glared at her as hate emanated from him. The only way she’d understand Alex more was to read the statement.

The statement that she’d given so many years before sat on her lap while she gazed out of the window. Saige knew she had to pick it up and read the words she supposedly said, but the thought of reading what happened to her made her belly quiver with nerves.

Alex told her that the statement didn’t go into detail, but if she wanted more details they would be in the hospital report that her doctor had written for the court. She opted to ignore the latter for now.

Draining the bottle of water that she’d been nursing, she placed it on the table and started to read.

He held me down...

There was so much hate inside him...

He kept talking about money...

His voice was distorted...like a machine...

He was so strong...

I don’t remember him raping me...

Did he?

I just wanted to leave...

I promised him I wouldn’t tell...

A short time later, Saige had reached the end of the report, and realized that tears ran down her face. So much so that she couldn’t even see the signature at the bottom of the page.

“Do you remember?” Alex offered another tissue while he stood to the side.

She shook her head. “My head is full of the report, but I didn’t see any mention of your brother.”

“Then you obviously didn’t read the last paragraph.” Alex pointed to the bit that she missed because her tears had prevented her from reading it.

Wiping her eyes, and blowing her nose, she took a drink from another bottle of water that Alex passed her, and started to read the last paragraph.

I, Saige Lockwood, state that the photograph selected, whilst in the hospital, from a lineup of ten photographs given to me by the District Attorney’s office, and Detective Coulter Robinson, is of my abductor, Quinten James Peterson.

She gasped, and managed to look at the signature before her tears started again, not that they’d ever stopped.

“That’s mine...oh, God.”

For five days she’d thought that maybe Quinten Peterson was innocent, but her statement obviously said otherwise.

“Saige.” Alex crouched beside her, and demanded, “Please stop crying and dry your eyes. I need you to take another look at the signature. Look at it. Don’t glance.”

She slowly quieted as she dried her eyes. She stared at the signature but she still couldn’t see it clearly. She jumped up. “Let me grab a notepad and a pen. I’ll sign my name and we’ll compare.” Grabbing the items from the end of the coffee table, she sat back down and put her signature to the paper.

“Okay. My signature.” Saige laid the paper out beside that of the statement.

“It looks the same,” she commented after a minute of looking between the two signatures.

“I have to agree.” Alex sighed.

Saige felt tired as she sat back and watched Alex trace the curves of her signature. She was disappointed because she hadn’t wanted to believe that Quinten was guilty after what she felt when she saw him. Even now, she wondered if she could have signed without actually giving the statement herself, but that wouldn’t have happened because someone in law enforcement would have taken the statement.

Feeling heavy of heart, Saige picked up the pack of photographs, wanting to see images of a time when Quinten had been free to enjoy life. She curled up in her favorite brown, leather chair and took the photographs out.

Her fingers shook with nerves as she slowly started going through them.

Some of the images were of Quinten with his brother, and others were of him alone. A few he mustn’t have had any idea that they were being taken because he looked deep in thought, or his gaze had been fixed on something off camera. Or someone.

She looked closer at one picture that was a close up of his handsome face. His dark eyes had pure joy in them and as her finger traced along his lips, a memory teased her mind.

She rounded the corner to the entrance of the boathouse and Quinten was there, waiting for her. Her heart felt so full of love at just the sight of him, and when he turned, his face lit up with pure joy.

Gasping, she sat up straighter in the chair, the photographs falling from her lap to the floor.

“What is it?” Alex quickly moved to crouch beside her.

“This picture.” She held up the image that had caught her attention. “I saw this and when I traced his smile with the tip of my finger, I remembered him smiling like this…for me, outside of the boathouse.” Saige met Alex’s gaze. “Did that happen? Did he smile like that for me?”

Alex stayed silent.

“Please tell me. You’ve hinted that Quinten and I were more than friends, so please tell me if what I remember was real?”

He nodded and cleared his throat. “It was real.” He looked away and then back at the photograph she held in her hand. “I used to tease him for having a sappy look on his face whenever he looked at you. So one day I spotted you in the garden and before I pointed you out, I got my cell ready and snapped that very image when he saw you. I wanted proof of the look on his face whenever he saw you.” Alex got up and relaxed back against the sofa. “I’d never seen him as happy. It was as though you gave him purpose to go on.”

“What went wrong, Alex?” Saige whispered, knowing that something had, otherwise he wouldn’t be behind bars, facing death.

Alex was silent for a while before he answered. “Your father.”

Saige frowned and quickly glanced at him. “My father? What does he have to do with Quinten being in prison?”

He ran his hand over his face. “I’ve never been able to find out for sure. Your father hated the time you spent with Quinten. He threatened to tell Jocelyn if he didn’t leave you alone. Quinten didn’t give a shit whether or not he told her, what he did give a shit about was you. He was concerned about what Jocelyn would do or say to you if she found out. So he tried to ignore you, which lasted all of two days.” Alex shook his head and smiled. “By day three, he realized how unhappy he was making you and himself. He couldn’t keep his distance any longer, regardless of the threat to you both. He needed you. So he went after you. The day before you went back to school, Jocelyn saw you both together. It didn’t help that my brother, um, dreamt. Sometimes vocally.” Alex shrugged. “But you’d gone back to school so he figured you were safe from her. She was deranged, and if he hadn’t been arrested then he’d have divorced her.”

So her impression of safety with him had been right, but why didn’t she feel anything else? If things took a turn for the worst and he took her, tortured her, then surely she should have felt something else at seeing his image. Instead she felt nothing but warmth and safety.

“I must have loved him, or thought I did.”

Alex sat forward. “He loved you, Saige. He was so miserable when you’d gone back to school.” He sighed heavily. “It was me who convinced him to call you to get you home on that weekend. He didn’t need much convincing, mind you. The minute I suggested it, he called you.” Alex smiled, obviously remembering the time. “He was so nervous and I teased his ass for the rest of the night at how bad he’d been over the phone. He eventually told you that he missed you. At first, he suggested that he could visit you for the weekend. But you surprised him by telling him you were already on the road to him. Although he never admitted it, I was sure his legs gave out at that point because he dropped his ass down into a chair, grinning like an idiot.” Alex laughed. “He was so in love with you, it was amusing.”

“How could it go so wrong, Alex? He was charged with killing those other girls, as well as my abduction and torture. My father said DNA evidence convicted him, yet if he was innocent, how? And why are you telling me about Quinten and me now when you refused to earlier?”

Saige’s head felt like it would explode with everything running through her mind, and yet, apart from that small piece of her memory, nothing else had returned.

“I’ve only really confirmed what you already thought about Quinten and you, anything else you’ll have to remember yourself. As for DNA, he’d needed twenty-two stitches, but at the time he bled everywhere—floor, table where you were held down, the straps holding you down. One of the surgical knives had his fingerprints and blood on it, but he’d used it to cut you free. He basically got his blood all over the whole damn crime scene. And the so-called rag that he used to stem the flow of his blood had been a shirt that belonged to one of the dead college girls. It had her DNA on it.” Alex sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Because he hurt himself, trying to get to you, everything pointed at Quinten being the killer.”

“No other DNA was found?” Saige asked, looking at the ground, surprised that she could still think straight.

“The girls, yours, Quinten’s...and an unidentified one. The unidentified DNA was in one place only. With as much blood as Quinten had lost in the shack, it kind of put the other one on the back burner.” Alex sighed. “My brother doesn’t have a bad bone in his body, Saige. He’d have given his life for you.”

“And you think I betrayed him by accusing him?” Saige had to gulp back her tears a few times before she got herself under control. “I don’t know what else to say. My statement is in black and white and it has my signature. If what you’re telling me about Quinten and me is true, then I don’t see why I would lie. I may not remember, but I do know that I’m not a liar. If I loved him, then I’d have wanted to protect him, not throw him to the wolves.”

Shaking her head, Saige leaned forward to get out of the chair, unable to sit still anymore with everything swirling around in her head, but as she did, her eyes caught on another photograph of Quinten. It was an image of him working. He wore protective goggles, and in his hands, he held the tools of his trade while he carved into a piece of wood.

“You have the smoothest skin.” Quinten caressed up her thighs while she watched his hands get closer to where she needed them the most.

She loved his hands and the beautiful tattoos that crept like vines along his arms to finish around the middle fingers of both hands.

And just as quickly another memory shot into focus.

She couldn’t move.

Her fear of what the man would do next was strong, but she refused to show him.

He wanted her to cry and scream, but so far she hadn’t given him that satisfaction.

She could hear him moving around and knew that soon the pain would begin again.

Everything was black because of the blindfold, but as she strained to see through the gap at the bottom, her eyes widened as she saw his hands move closer to her torso, holding a silver object…a knife.

“I’m going to be sick.” She shot out of the chair and ran to the bathroom, only just making it to the toilet.

Bent double, she retched until there was nothing left inside of her.