Best Kept Secret (Rochester Trilogy 3)

From the way my pulse feels, it’s going to escalate past all reason. I don’t know who’s going to get out of this unscathed. None of us, probably. Whatever happens tonight will follow us all into the future. I can’t bring myself to think of all the different paths it could take.

I want to run between the two of them and demand they stop, but making a sudden movement near Joe Causey seems like the worst of all worlds. I’d never forgive myself if I set him off and something happened to Paige. So I stay where I am.

“I’m here to arrest a couple of fucking criminals,” Joe spits back at him. “You and your whore nanny.”

“You’re not doing this.” Beau gets him another few feet to the door. It looks difficult. Joe came here with his mind made up. There’s only one more obstacle in front of him.

“I have the warrant, and I have the rights, and it’s time for this to come to an end. You’ve lived outside the law for too long now, Rochester.” What is he talking about? Joe’s the one who’s been outside the law. It strikes me that he might be more than a little delusional. He might have twisted this all around in his mind so he’s the hero. There’s no other way he could be justifying this.

“I don’t believe you. I haven’t been able to read it. Why the hell isn’t anyone here with you?”

“I’m in charge of this case.”

“You’re not in any state of mind to be doing this. You’ve entered a home with women and children in it and you’re acting like a goddamn menace. You want any of us to go with you, you get on your phone right now and call the prosecutor.”

“I’m not going to do that. You’re going to—”

Beau reaches into his pocket and takes out his phone. “I’ll call her, then. I want to know what the hell is happening, and why the entire police department agreed to send you.”

And that’s when Joe reaches for his gun. Levels it at Beau. “Drop it.”

Beau throws the phone disgustedly into a corner of the room and puts his hands out in front of him. “You’re afraid of a phone call now? I thought you had a warrant.” He’s still moving, just slower. Angling Joe away from Emily and Paige. She ducks down and hustles Paige behind him, their footsteps light. We’re still close enough for Joe to shoot.

“Put the gun away,” Beau demands. He does it in the tone of a man who gets what he wants. Who wears fancy suits to meetings and can afford to buy anything he wants. “Paige is in here.”

Joe’s eyes go to the three of us, and indecision comes into his expression. No matter how this ends, it’s going badly for him. He just pulled a gun on Beau, who doesn’t have one, and two women, and a child. “I’m not done here. I have a warrant, and that’s the end of the line for you.”

“Put the damn thing away.”

Joe Causey hesitates for another few seconds. My heart races and pounds. It’s all I can hear in this room. My own heartbeat. The gun goes down an inch, then another. He’s deciding whether to shoot Beau, I can tell. He’s still deciding whether he’s going to do this.

I might be seconds away from watching Beau die. I’m afraid to breathe.

Joe lowers the gun another few inches. His arm flexes. He’s going to put it away. If he would just let go of it, I would feel better. It would give us a little time. A few seconds, at least, to figure out what to do.

It’s an inch away from the holster when his eyes darken. “No,” he says, and he starts to bring it back up.

Beau jumps toward him, swinging, fighting, and I can’t understand a word either of them is saying. Curses and shouts. Beside me, Paige has Emily’s coat in a death grip. We end up by the kitchen door, Emily kneeling down, working hard to detach her daughter’s nails from her coat. She pushes us fully into the kitchen, but it’s not far enough. We’re blocked by the door. If Joe’s gun goes off, it probably won’t hit us, but if Paige breaks and runs—

“This only ends if I do this,” she says, and I realize after a beat that she’s talking to me. “You have to take her.”

“Emily. No.”

“Paige.” Emily takes her baby’s face in her hands and looks into her eyes. Her entire expression transforms. There’s no fear in it now, only seriousness. Only love. “You need to go with Jane now. Okay? You have to stay with her in the kitchen.”

A lamp crashes to the ground. Paige has stopped making any noise but she’s crying. Her little shoulders shake. My chest feels like it’s about to implode from the pressure. I can’t see what Beau’s hands are doing. The light from the kitchen makes them into shadows.