Allison Brennan - Cutting Edge

“I’m curious. I’m a captive audience, after all.”

She shrugged. “You’re not part of this anymore.”

“Then let me go.”

She laughed again. “Silly. I was joking. You’re the best part.”

Maggie unpacked the bag. Peanut butter. Bread. Bottled water. She proceeded to make a sandwich, then held it to Quin’s mouth. “Go on, bite,” she said.

Quin turned away. She didn’t care how hungry she was, she wanted nothing from Maggie.

“Fine,” Maggie snapped. She ate the sandwich herself and chased it down with water.

“Maggie, why did you kill all those people?”

She frowned. “Is that what she’s saying? That’s what she told you? That I killed someone?” Maggie sounded almost indignant, but there was a hint of pride in her voice.

“She told me everything.”

“I seriously doubt that.”

“You were involved in the arson, you killed Dr. Payne. You poisoned your friends.”

Maggie pouted. “I’m not talking about that, and if you want to live, you’ll shut up.”

“Nora never hurt you.”

Maggie slammed her fist on the table. The cat jumped off and ran behind the small couch. “You made me scare him,” Maggie said, obviously upset. She slapped Quin. “Nora killed my father and she deserves to die for it. You don’t know how long I’ve been planning this. Years . I came up here to go to Rose College just to be close to you, and you didn’t want me around.”

“That was because Nora might have seen you!”

“Nora doesn’t even know what I look like. I walked right by her twice this week and she didn’t notice. You could have introduced me as your friend Maggie.”

“Nora knows what you look like now,” Quin said. “She knows everything about you.”

“She doesn’t know me and she never will. Because I’ll kill her the minute she walks into my trap. I could have been special. I could have been important! But she made me a nobody.”

She wasn’t making sense, and Quin had little experience talking to killers. What was she supposed to say to this girl? This wasn’t the Maggie she knew.

“You are special,” she said quietly. “You were always special. I saw that the minute we met.” And in some ways she had-she’d been enamored of having a little sister, and thrilled to have a secret she’d kept from Nora.

“You’re just saying that.”

“I’m not. I’ve always liked you, Maggie. We are so much alike.” That’s what Quin thought before finding out Maggie was a killer.

Maggie looked at her as if she didn’t know whether to believe her or not. “I don’t believe you, not after I killed your boyfriend. Why, Quin? Why did you pick him over me?”

For a moment, Quin thought Maggie was talking about a sexual relationship, but she quickly realized that it wasn’t about sex, it was about kinship. Maggie had wanted Quin for herself.

“I liked him, but it wasn’t you or Devon. We could have been friends forever.” Now Devon was dead and Quin felt responsible. She’d befriended Maggie, never thinking she was a killer.

“No!” Maggie shouted, and began to pace the length of the cabin. “You don’t understand! You’re just like everyone else. Don’t placate me. Don’t pretend we’re friends, because we’re not. The only reason I talked to you was because you gave me information I needed.”

“What? I never-”

“Little things. Like Nora is allergic to peanuts.” Maggie picked up the jar of peanut butter. “This might come in handy. Face it, Quin, you’ll be better off without her.”

Quin couldn’t remember ever telling Maggie about the peanuts, but maybe she had, in conversation. She’d had a lot of talks with Maggie, mostly about growing up … with Nora. Missing her mother. Not understanding why Nora never let her see Lorraine. Complaining, always criticizing Nora.

It was no wonder Maggie thought Nora was to blame for everything. Quin had blamed her, too.

“Please, Maggie. Stop this right now. You can leave and disappear and it’ll be over.”

“No!” She kicked Quin in the stomach so hard and suddenly that the chair fell backward. “I can’t stop this. I don’t want to stop this. It has to be finished.”

All air rushed from her lungs and Quin couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, the pain spreading from her gut so fast she thought she’d pass out. She focused on taking shallow breaths.

Maggie walked past Quin on the floor and went into the bathroom. She was talking to herself and Quin made out a few words here and there: Prison. Traitor. Hopeless.

When Nora said Maggie was crazy, Quin hadn’t believed her.

She shuddered. She sure as hell believed her now.

At the former Mather Air Force Base, where J. T. Caruso housed his small plane, Duke pulled Sean aside.

“Be careful, Sean. You just got your license in June, you don’t have a lot of solo hours logged.”

“You’re doing it again, Duke.”

He wasn’t going to apologize for caring about his family. “I’m worried. Not just about you, but about Nora.”

“You really care about her.” Sean raised an eyebrow. “I’m not going to crash, Duke, I promise.”

Sean was the only one Duke had confided in about being nervous when flying; ever since their parents’ small-plane crash. Sending Sean and Nora in the air to fly to Victorville to talk to Lorraine Wright was hard, but it had to be done.

Duke was staying behind, because Nora had asked him to.

“Okay,” Duke said.

“You’re fueled and ready, Mr. Rogan,” the attendant said to Sean.

Mr. Rogan. Duke didn’t think he’d ever heard Sean addressed as such.

“I’ll get Nora,” he said.

She was talking on her phone, making arrangements with Warden Greene for landing privileges on prison property. “We just don’t have a lot of time, Warden. This is the fastest way in and out. Please.”

When her shoulders relaxed, Duke knew she’d gotten her way.

“Thank you.” She hung up and smiled wearily at Duke. “We’ll be there between four and five this morning, and he’ll let me question her immediately. I will find out where Quin is.”

“I know you will,” he said, though he had his doubts. Sending Nora down there was a risk. If Lorraine was playing a game and didn’t know where Maggie was, then Nora was going to waste precious time and suffer emotionally. She hadn’t seen her mother in twenty years-Duke had wanted to go with her. To support her.

“Thank you, Duke,” she said. “For staying. I need you here, helping find Quin. You can do more than the FBI can.”

He read between the lines. And while he did have some abilities that weren’t sanctioned by the government, he didn’t think they would help now. But he would pull out all his resources, human and otherwise, to find Nora’s sister and the killer who’d abducted her.

“Call me, okay? As soon as you leave the prison.”

She nodded. Dark circles sagged her eyes. He leaned over and kissed her, then pulled her into a hug. She squeezed him back, clinging to him. He whispered, “Remember, Nora, you’ve overcome your past. Don’t let her drag you back down there. Be strong, and know that I’m here waiting for you.”

Duke reluctantly let go of Nora and helped her step into the Cessna. He closed the door and stepped away from the plane. Why was it so hard to let go? But he did. While Nora needed his support, she needed him to find Quin more.

He watched the plane under Sean’s command roll toward the runway, where he stopped, waiting for the okay from air traffic control. Duke realized at that moment the two people he loved the most-his brother and Nora English-were leaving in a plane eerily similar to the plane his father had been flying when he crashed in the Cascades.