Page 104 of His Forgotten Colton Fiancee
Finn held up a hand. “You’re going tothe hospital, Agent Brand.”
“Don’t argue with the chief,” Quinn told him. She gripped his hand. “Please.”
Another EMT began giving her first aid for the head wound. West scowled. “Only if you go with me, sweetheart.”
“Deal. But this is nothing. I regained my memory.” She looked at Finn. “I remember everything. About Tia, the explosion and Nestor.”
“His real name is Aston Reston.He’s a career criminal,” West told her.
The medic pulled a blanket over Quinn’s shoulders. “We’ll bring you in as well to get checked out. Head wounds are tricky.”
“Tell me about it,” Quinn muttered.
* * *
An hour later, she sat by West’s bed in the ER. Finn paced the room as West gave his report. The antiseptic smells bothered her, but not as much as the sight of an injured West,chest bare, the ugly white bandage on his shoulder.
“I still don’t understand how my landlord is connected to this, other than this Santo/Aston person being a cousin. Why would Larson want to blow up his building?”
“Insurance would cover it.”
West struggled to get up, but Finn pushed him down. “Easy, big guy. You’re not going anywhere.”
“I should have aimed for his damn heart,”West scowled.
“Good thing you didn’t,” Finn told him. “Reston is in lockup. DA will apply pressure, get him to talk about who hired him to blow up Tia Linwicki.”
“Reston did it, but I think the Larsons were connected,” Quinn blurted out.
Both men looked at her. She blushed, touched her head. “Now that I got my memory back, I remember the conversation Tia had with Noel Larson on thephone the day before the explosion. She backed out on the deal to sell Pine Paradise. Larson wasn’t going to own the deed to the property. She found out the Larsons were deeding the property to Aston Reston right after the sale. He planned to take it over, renovate the property with a loan from his cousins.”
“A loan?” Finn raised his brows. “I’ll bet the payback was letting the Larsons useit for illegal activity.”
“Tia found out Reston would be on the deed, and she backed out. She told me with his record, she didn’t want her family’s property going to a convicted felon.”
She’d been in a rush that day, anxious to get back to the store to fill a big catering order, and had tucked the conversation in the back of her mind. Until now.
It felt wonderful to recall everythingnow. Even the price she’d paid was worth it. Quinn knew she could finally get her life back.
Finn finished taking West and Quinn’s formal statements and left. Alone with West, she held his hand.
His gaze met hers. “Quinn, there’s still the matter of Demi. Did you give the jacket back to Demi recently?”
“No. I had loaned my compact to Tia last month. She never returned it. It was shortlybefore she met Larson at the abandoned hardware store. She told me Larson wanted to see it, maybe buy the property.”
“That’s how it ended up there. She probably dropped it.” West gave her a level look. “Demi’s jacket?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. That’s the biggest puzzle of all. Someone took it from my closet, but how? Only you and I had keys to my apartment.”
“And security cameras wouldhave picked up footage in the hallway.” West shifted his weight on the bed. “Soon as I’m out of here, I’ll look into it.”
