CHAPTER 31
Quinn walked into the restaurant a couple of moments after Kurt left. She spotted Reed at his both and she stormed over to him.
"Where's Kurt?" Quinn snapped.
"I heard about you and your partner…" Reed started.
"Where is he?" She spat. Suddenly, a waitress walked over to them.
"Everything alright over here?" She asked.
"We're looking for the gentleman that was just here." Quinn said.
"The apple juice guy?" The waitress asked. "He had me bring, like, four rounds of apple juice. On the rocks. He said it was part of some prank he was playing."
"Apple juice… he wanted you to think he was drunk." Quinn murmured. "What did you guys talk about?" She demanded. Reed stood up but Quinn pushed him back down.
"Did Barton know he was here?" she asked.
"You're in my way, Detective." He growled before walking away. Quinn quickly called Finn.
"Finn, Kurt isn't here!" She shouted when he answered the phone. "I think he's in trouble."
"All right, Tina's got a cell ping from his car. Looks like it's at a house in Carson."
"You got an address?" Quinn asked.
"4415 Moreno Drive." He replied. "Last homeowner is… oh my god, Azimio Adams."
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Kurt's hands were tied roughly behind his back and he was tied to a chair.
"You can kill me here, but it's just a matter of time…" Kurt started but he was cut off.
"Shut up." Luke Barton snapped as he tightened Kurt's restraints. "I'm not killing you. Sins of the past. Let me introduce to you Azimio Adams…"
The door to the house swung open and Azimio walked into the room. But this wasn't the Azimio Kurt remembered. The man was now sickly thin and he walked with a severe limp. However, what hadn't changed was the hatred in the man's eyes when he saw Kurt.
"Hey, Azimio, do you remember Captain Hummel here? He's the man who framed you for murder. So, here's how it happened: the well-respected captains couldn't let bygones be bygones when confronting the recently released inmate who he had sent away years earlier. He risked his career to get rid of him once. He decides to do it again, but this time things don't quite go his way. Luckily, I was on to him and you and came to save you."
"But you got here a little too late." Kurt finished. Luke nodded.
"Yup." He replied. He then took out a pistol and handed it to Azimio. Azimio picked it up and aimed…
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"That's Kurt's car. They're here." Quinn murmured as they parked in front of the house.
"How do you want to play this?" Finn asked.
"Delicate." Quinn replied. She then turned the car back on and went flying towards the house. Finn's eyes widened.
"Um… Quinn?" Finn shouted as they came closer and closer to the glass doors of the house. Quinn just gritted her teeth and she sent the car through the doors. Guns blazing, Quinn took out Azimio and his henchmen while Finn chased after a fleeing Luke. The two of them raced down the street, Finn turning and diving for cover as Luke shot at her. Suddenly, Finn ducked behind a garbage can and hit. As Luke tiptoed towards him, Finn slipped around the side and approached him from behind, gun held aloft.
"You know, I was never really good at math. But I think that weapon's empty." He remarked, pointing at Luke's gun. Luke sighed and dropped the gun. Smiling, rather than shooting or handcuffing him, Finn dropped his own gun and rolled up his sleeves.
"I've been waiting for this." Finn growled. The two of them then proceeded to have an extremely intense fight. A flurry of hands, kicks and grapples flew around for a good couple of minutes before Finn finally had Luke pinned on the ground. Finn then took out his gun again and placed it under Luke's chin.
"You said we're not that different, you and I? Huh?" Finn growled as he started to squeeze the trigger. He ended up pulling the trigger and despite Luke's screams of fear, no bullet was released. Finn had sneakily emptied his gun. "You're under arrest." He smirked.
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The next day, Samuel Petry walked into the precinct and over to Finn's desk. Him and Quinn were just finishing the final bits of paperwork for the case.
"I'm headed home now. I just wanted to thank you for finding the men who did this." He said. Finn shook his hand.
"Oh, well, I had a little help, you know." Finn chuckled. "Not exactly one riot, one Ranger around here. Oh, and I need to give you something." Finn said. He opened his drawer and took out the flask that he retrieved at the crime scene at the very beginning. It was complete with the Texas Ranger logo on it. Finn gave it to Samuel. "That was your ranger's."
"You know what, son? I think Mark would've wanted somebody like you to have it."
Finn smiled.
"Thank you." He replied.
"And hey, if you ever decided to get back out to Texas, we could use a ranger like you."
Finn looked across the precinct at Quinn, who was busy working on paperwork. He smiled faintly.
"Nah, I gotta keep 'em honest out here."
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"So this is it, huh?" Finn remarked, reading Kurt's letter of resignation in his office. Kurt was sitting, defeated, in his chair for possibly the last time. "You resign and Reed keeps his job at the Sheriff's."
"That's how it works." Kurt shrugged. "He can prove my involvement, I can't prove his. Barton destroyed the recording."
Finn sighed.
"When this goes public, they're gonna charge you with a felony, and then every arrest that you made, including the 400 with Quinn as your partner, are going to be thrown out or subject to appeal."
"Regrettably, yes." Kurt replied.
"That means hundreds of criminals that you and her put away might be back on the streets."
"Yeah, but… this is what I've come to realise, even if that weren't the case, even if I could go back and keep what I did a secret, I wouldn't."
"Yeah, well, you know what I realise? You have to."
"What do you mean?"
"Those convictions are Quinn's convictions, too. So this is about both of you, okay? Having all of those convictions wiped… it would kill her and you and I both know that. You made a mistake, a big one. But you're gonna find a way to live with it. And you're gonna make every day you do this job going forward all about doing it the right way."
"It's not that simple."
"Oh, I know. It's all kinds of complicated. But this is what you're gonna do, okay?"
"All right."
Finn smiled and nodded. He then leaned in.
"Oh, hey. There's something going down tonight and Quinn's gonna need as much backup as she can possibly get…"
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Quinn picked up her bowling ball for the first time, in front of all of her friends, as well as many members of the Sheriff's department.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tina asked.
"I have no choice." She growled, determinedly, looking at the men from the Sheriff's department.
"So you really think you can bowl another perfect game?" Marley laughed.
"Marley…"
"I'm just saying that seems a bit… unlikely."
Suddenly, the members of the Sheriff's department walked up to them. They smirked at Quinn.
"We just wanted to say you did right by putting Barton and his guys away." One of them said. "They made the whole department look bad. But that doesn't mean there's a man or woman here that believes you bowled a perfect game."
"Hey, listen…" Quinn said. "I just, I just wanted to say that…"
"How does $1000 to the charity of my sister's choice sound to you, huh?" Santana announced, standing up.
"Oh, okay, now that sounds great. But you put $1000 in there for the charity of our choice when she doesn't."
"Oh, honey, you're not gonna get that. 'Cause he will." Santana stated, confidently. Quinn raised her hands.
"Woah, woah, woah. Look, this is fun. And, uh… nobody likes raising the stakes more than me, but gambling in California's illegal so…"
"$2000!" Finn exclaimed as he walked into the bowling alley. He walked over to Quinn and put his arm around her. "Nobody questions my partner's bowling skills."
Quinn took a deep breath nervously and she turned to Finn. The two of them walked out of earshot.
"Hey Quinn. Is everything okay?" He asked.
"Um… It wasn't quite perfect." She muttered.
"I-I'm sorry, what's that?" Finn asked, a huge grin on his face.
"I rounded up." She whispered.
"Rounded up? W-what does that mean?" Finn asked.
"A perfect score is 300. I bowled a 290."
Finn rolled his eyes.
"Do you want to have dinner with me tonight?" Finn blurted out. Quinn raised an eyebrow.
"Are you asking me out?" She asked, astonished. Finn blushed furiously and looked down.
"I mean, if you're into it…" He murmured. She beamed at him.
"I mean I'd love to… but are you sure it's not too soon, though? I mean, you still clearly have feelings for your ex-wife."
Finn sighed.
"Look, I'm always going to love her. But I know that she's gone and she isn't coming back. The only way to move on is forward, right? And here, to show that I've moved on, you can watch as I remove Rachel as my phone wallpaper."
Finn took out his phone and as he turned it on, Quinn's eyes widened when she saw the screensaver. The girl staring back at her looked eerily familiar. It was almost as if Quinn had seen her before. She shook her head. That was impossible, right? She watched as Finn replaced the wallpaper with a plain blue background. He then smiled at her.
"See? Now you have to go out with me!" He exclaimed. Quinn smiled at him.
"Sure, I'd love to."
Finn nodded.
"Okay, let's make a deal." He said. "You bowl a perfect game right here, right now and I'll pay for dinner. You don't and you're playing."
Quinn giggled.
"Deal." She replied. Her mind was whirring though. She could have sworn she had seen Rachel before. She was just trying to remember where from. An hour later, it hit her…
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That night, Finn sat at the table, nervously. He hadn't been on a date in over a year and this wasn't just any date… this was a date with Quinn Fabray! He waited and waited and waited for 30 minutes. Eventually, just as he was about to give up and go home, Quinn walked into the restaurant. Finn's face broke out into a relieved smile as she walked over to him.
"Hi." Finn said.
"Hi. I'm sorry I'm late." She said. Finn shrugged.
"Oh, no worries. So, they have tater tots as appetizers here, so this is basically like my favourite restaurant, so…"
Finn then noticed the expression on Quinn's face. It wasn't happiness. It was devastation, mixed with… sympathy.
"What's up?" Finn asked. "Something wrong?"
Quinn took a deep breath.
"I have to tell you something, and I think once I do, you're not gonna want me to stay." She murmured. Finn smiled comfortingly at her.
"Well, I doubt that, but you can give it a shot." He responded.
"When I saw that picture of your wife in the bowling alley, I thought I recognised her. Like I'd seen her before. And I should have said something to you, but I didn't. I was really hoping I was wrong, but it turns out, uh…" Quinn's voice trailed off. Finn looked at her, nervously. He had a sinking feeling about what Quinn was talking about but he hoped he was wrong. He hoped to god he was wrong.
"Where have you seen her before?" Finn murmured.
"In a case file. Ten months ago, uh… Mexican police raided the house of a known cartel hit man in Juarez, his name Jessie St. James. Jessie escaped, but they were able to recover documents and emails and photos of murder victims and assigned hits, hard targets of the cartel."
She took out a file and placed it, closed, on the table.
"And her photo's in there?" He whispered. Quinn nodded, tears in her eyes.
"Your wife's death wasn't an accident, Finn. I think Jessie killed her…"
