Behind Closed Doors
by Tara Taylor Quinn
Summary
Laura Elizabeth Clark saw herself as a peacemaker. Until the day she went against her parents’ wishes and married Harry Kendall, a brilliant history professor who happens to be biracial.
But happily-ever-after goes horribly wrong one night when an intruder forces his way into their bedroom and commits an unthinkable crime. The police say it was a random act of violence, but Harry will never forget those words whispered in the darkness: “White should stay with white.”
Seeking justice means confronting a group of white supremacists-the Ivory Nation-with its hush-hush ties to political power. Suddenly, opening the door on truth could threaten not just Harry and Laura’s love, but their lives…
Excerpt
The bed had been stripped. Boyd had warned them. Everything, including the gown the forensics officers had pulled out of the toilet, had been taken down to the police lab.
Staring at the bare mattress, Harry considered spray disinfectant. He
considered slashing the damned thing with a knife.
Instead he hauled it up with his good hand, flipped it on its side and
dragged it out to the trash. He’d call someone to take the mattress away.
They had a bed in the guest bedroom they could use it they couldn’t get a new mattress today.
At eight o’clock, fifteen minutes after he and Laura had returned home, he called his office at the university and left a message for the History department secretary telling her he wouldn’t be in that day.
Next he called the Botanical Garden where Laura worked, and spoke with her assistant and friend, Kelly Holbrook, saying only that Laura was under the weather and wouldn’t be in. His wife, who had a federal grant to study the medicinal qualities of desert plants, was her own boss. The garden where she did her research was city-owned and had even become something of a tourist attraction.
He cancelled their appointment at the fertility clinic, then arranged to have the sliding glass door bared and pin-locked until he could get a wrought iron dead-bolted security door placed on the outside.
And when he rang off, he was standing in front of his closet door. The
pistol was right where he’d stashed it years ago. Uncle Clement had owned a cleaning business in Manhattan; he’d believed that a black man always had to protect himself. He’d insisted, when Harry spend a summer with them as a teenager, that his nephew learn to shoot.
There were bullets under the sweaters he never wore in the bottom drawer of his dresser. He wasn’t sure he’d remember how to load it, but surprised himself when the bullets slipped in easily. He was competent even with a swollen face and one arm tied to his body.
“What are you doing?”
Laura’s shocked voice jolted him. He hadn’t expected her to be out so soon.
She was standing there dripping wet, a seldom-used guest towel wrapped
around her. He didn’t see any visible signs of the trauma she’d been
through.
“I just loaded this.”
“Why?”
“I would think that’s obvious.”
“Not to me it isn’t.”
Her gaze was resolute, harder than he was used to seeing, her chin raised.
“Laura, I was caught once. I will not be unprepared again.”
“You’ve never used that thing. You know what the statistics say about
civilians with guns, Harry. They’re often turned against you.”
“This one won’t be.”
“Harry-”
“Laura.” His voice was sharper than he’d intended but didn’t soften much as he continued. “I am not going to back down on this. From now on, I will be able to protect you. Period.”
Frowning, her lips a straight line, she stared at him. Her eyes welled with tears. But eventually she nodded.
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Author's Biography
With over 40 original novels, Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA Today bestselling author with more than five million copies sold. A finalist for the RWA Rita, National Reader’s Choice, Reviewer’s Choice and Bookseller’s Best Awards, she also appears regularly on the Waldenbooks bestsellers list. Tara writes emotionally gripping, character driven stories that will keep you on the edge of your seat.