The Calling Of Quinn Taylor

Chapter Twenty

    I can’t do this alone. Wes and I can’t be the only ones able to take a stand. We need numbers, we need to overpower Larsen. If there’s enough of us, she won’t be able to say no. She’ll be forced to investigate further. 
    So I’m going to my last resorts. 
    First up, Keller. 
    He lives in a white house with a pool in their front yard and a beautiful landscaping surrounding the perimeter of the stunning house. 
    I haven’t seen this house all summer. 
    I knock on the door and his mom opens with a cheesy smile spread ear-to-ear. 
    Her blonde hair is sitting in a bun on top of her head and her bright yellow eyes lay behind her round, metal glasses. Keller resembles her so much, it’s almost insane. 
    Behind her, sits Keller’s dad and his older brother at the kitchen island.
    “Quinn!” she beams. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!” She wraps around me in a hug like a boa constrictor, lessening my air flow and forcing me to let out a cough. 
    “Is uh,” I mumble. “Is Keller here?” She releases me from the hug. 
    “Downstairs!” his brother yells. “In his nerdy man cave.”
    I stumble out of the mudroom and walk through the kitchen, making my way to the basement door. 
    “How are you, Quinn?” his Dad asks. 
    “Heard you been investigatin’ a murder,” his brother adds. “Pretty dope.”
    “Fine,” I say, opening the door. “Yeah, I’ve been fine.” 
    Guess it’s all around town that I’m the key investigator of Maeve’s death.     
    When I reach the basement, I find Keller with a headset covering his ears and his voice shouting cuss words into the T.V screen.
    He’s surrounded by bags of chips and sitting next to him, is a glass bottle of beer. 
    He never drinks… something must be wrong for this to happen. 
    “Keller,” I say, stepping further into his room, which consists of the entirety of their basement. 
    Maybe this was a mistake. He did something horrendous and just yesterday, I refused to forgive him. 
    He pauses his game and takes off his headset. 
    “What the hell do you want?” he asks, taking a sip of his beer. 
    Oh, Keller. I’m sorry… sorry for not giving you a second chance sooner. 
    But I don’t say that. Instead, I take a deep breath in and ready myself to speak. 
    “I need help,” I say, taking the seat next to him in his filthy, cheeto-dust covered sofa. I can smell the stench of alcohol with every breath he takes. 
    “Right,” he says, slouching back. “Well I’m kind of in the middle of something.” He slides the headset back on. 
    Okay. I deserve that.
    “Keller,” I say, jumping up. I’ve got his attention now. “Look, I’m sorry for not forgiving you but here I am, giving you another chance. What you did was terrible and I-I- who the hell even told you?” I exclaim, ranting. “It doesn’t matter-- Wes and I need your help. Mr. Milgram’s wife fucking killed Maeve and Larsen is protecting her ass! If we get a confession out of her, that’s enough to put her sorry ass in jail and we’re gonna’ need help. It’s dangerous, Keller. And we need you to protect us.” 
    He stares at me with wide eyes and a jaw hung open.
    Until eventually, the words finally leave his mouth. 
    “Give everyone else a chance,” he says. “Then I’ll help you put yourself in danger.”
    What does he mean? I’m giving him one-- why does anyone else need a second chance? Not everyone can crawl out of the holes they’ve dug themselves. 
    “Riley, Mia, Jessie. Tell Skye and Carter you’re sorry for accusing them,” he says, pressing a button on his controller that prompts his game to begin playing again. 
    Is he serious? Jessie doesn’t deserve an apology! He threatened us! And Mia kept Maeve’s pain a secret when she shouldn’t have. She could’ve gone to the police, told her parents, or at least do something. And Riley? She hurt Maeve and Mia. Jessie cheated on both of them with her and she walks around like nothing is wrong. 
    I’ll apologize to Skye and Carter and I’ll admit they didn’t deserve what I did to them. But Keller was there too! He held Carter’s wrists and refused to let him go. He-
    It doesn’t matter. If that’s what it takes to get Keller, I’ll do it.
    “Fine,” I say as my phone buzzes. 
    A smirk tugs on Keller’s face as I peer at my phone. 
    Wes: I need you. 
    “I have to go,” I say, tucking my phone in my back pocket. 
    What’s wrong? I’m coming Wes. 
    I start to turn around, but Keller says,
    “It was Mia.”
    “What?” I ask, pivoting back around. 
    “Mia told me what happened and Riley asked me about it… I shouldn’t have told her.”