Stirred

The drive was made both bearable and unbearable by Harry and Herb singing old Neil Diamond songs, egged on by their newfound bromance and some heavy-duty narcotic painkillers.

It was cute at first, but after the fifth rendition of “Song Sung Blue,” which neither of them knew completely, I was grinding my teeth hard enough to crush granite.

When we finally got to Peoria, I checked to make sure the cylinder of my Colt was full, even though I hoped I wouldn’t need it.

“Harry, Herb, the back. Take one of the universal keys. Phin, you should wait here.”

“Like hell.”

“You just had major surgery.”

He rolled his eyes like that was no big thing and then grabbed the other key.

The four of us extricated ourselves from my Juke and converged on the residence of Violet King.

It had to be her.

Andrew had been sending her his royalty checks.

Andrew had felt responsible for the loss of her baby.

Andrew must have had help to get out of those zip ties, and although the Detroit PD still hadn’t decrypted any of the footage he recorded, I knew in my gut who’d helped him.

The Sam Adams Cherry Wheat bottle had been the clincher.

And my hunch proved correct when I got up to the front door and heard the wonderful, musical sound of a baby crying.

Phin had stitches, and I wasn’t faring much better, so we brought along two universal keys—a paint can filled with concrete. One swing at the latch and the door burst inward.

We rushed in.

Violet was on her couch, my daughter cradled in her arms. She stared up at us, surprised.

The surprise quickly melted into sadness.

“Andy didn’t kill you all at the hospital,” she said.

“No. He didn’t.” Neither Phin nor I had drawn our weapons. “You’re the one that helped him escape.”

Violet nodded, her eyes welling up. “After what he did to me, he owed me. Is he dead?”

“Yeah.”

Another nod. “Was it those two? Lucy and Donaldson?”

“You sent them?”

I heard the sound of the back door breaking in.

“I told them they could kill Andy, but only after I got the baby.” Violet glanced down to look at the child in her arms. “She’s beautiful.”

“I know.”

Phin stepped forward, reached out his hands. Violet hesitated.

“She’s not yours,” I said. “She’s ours. Please don’t make this messy.”

After a tender finger stroke across the cheek, she handed the baby over, and Phin snuggled her up in the crook of his arm.

“Hi, there,” he said. “I’m your dad.”

“Got her!” I yelled. Herb and Harry stampeded in a moment later.

We all watched Phin hold her, everyone quiet for almost a minute, no sounds but our breathing and the crying of my little girl.

The crying eventually gave way to cooing.

“There are diapers upstairs,” Violet said. “Bottles in the fridge. I didn’t hurt her.”

“I know,” I told her.

“I’d never hurt her.”

“I know.”

Herb called the police.

I walked over to Phin, and he put his free arm around me. We both stared at our child.

I couldn’t explain it, but somehow, I felt whole.

“We still haven’t named her,” Phin said.

“I’ve been thinking about that. Your last name, Troutt, really sucks.”

“Tell me about it.”

“And Daniels is from my ex-husband. So I think we should pick a whole new name for her.”

“What have you got in mind?” he asked.

I looked beyond the baby, to Violet’s table, still stacked with empty beer bottles.

It had been her Cherry Wheat bottle, back in Michigan, that I’d hit Andy with. That had saved my life back in the Violence room.

It had saved all of our lives.

“Let’s call her Samantha,” I said.

“Samantha?”

“Samantha Adams.”

Phin held me tighter. “I think it’s perfect.”

“Sam Adams?” Harry said. “Hell, yeah!”

“Nice,” Herb said.

We held Sam until the cops arrived and arrested Violet.

Then we held her all the way back home.

“The Guide and I into that hidden road

Now entered, to return to the bright world;

And without care of having any rest

We mounted up, he first and I the second,

Till I beheld through a round aperture

Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear;

Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.”

DANTE ALIGHIERI, The Divine Comedy

I signed for the next-day FedEx package and eagerly opened it while still standing at my front door. There was a note next to the baggie.

Nice rock. I had it professionally cleaned.

Will FedEx your dog back tomorrow. —Duffy

I took the engagement ring out of the bag and stared at it. The midafternoon sunlight caught the facets on the diamond and made it sparkle like a disco ball.

“Who was at the door?”

I turned, saw that Phin had come up behind me.

“I’ll tell you later. Right now, I need you to drive me someplace.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Where?”

“City Hall. If we get the marriage license today, we can be married by tomorrow.”

Phin’s face lit up. “I’ll go put Samantha in her carrier.”

“Wait. First, I need you to put this on me.” I held up the ring and my left hand. “Please.”

Phin came over. He touched me so gently I got a lump in my throat.

“Jacqueline Daniels, will you make me the happiest person on the planet?”

“No,” I said.

“No?” His features went from soft to confused.

“I’ll marry you, Phineas Troutt. But it won’t make you the happiest person on the planet.” I smiled, my eyes getting misty. “You’ll have to settle for second happiest.”

Then he slipped the ring on my finger and kissed me, and in that single, magical moment, I became the woman I had always wanted to be.

In the past, my job had defined me.

Then my relationships had defined me.

But now I was ready to define myself.

I was ready to like myself.

I was ready to be happy.

Phin hustled off to get our daughter. His kiss lingered, making me smile. I stared at myself in the hallway mirror and almost didn’t recognize my reflection. That woman was so relaxed. So content. So sure of herself.

That woman was me.

Andrew Z. Thomas had wanted to break me. He’d tried his best.

But I wasn’t broken.

For the first time in my forty-eight years, I was fixed.

They’d been searching the warehouses and factories all day, coming across one horrific scene from hell after another.

Bodies everywhere.

No survivors.

What kind of a monster had dreamed up and actually built a place like this?

What kind of a mind?

This was hell on earth. No other adequate description.

Knight wondered how he was going to sleep tonight, how he could look into the faces of his children after seeing a place like this.