How to stop rotating posts

I am using code that allows for 3 rotating posts (and images). for a new site i would like to just list the top 3 stories, instead of having them rotate. i have been trying to “turn off” the rotation, but am making no headway. can someone tell me what in the php controls this, and how i can just list the stories?
thanks in advance….
<!– begin featured news –>
<div class=”featured”>
<h2>Featured News</h2>
<div id=”featured”>
<?php
$tmp_query = $wp_query;
query_posts(‘showposts=3&cat=’ . get_cat_ID(dp_settings(‘featured’)));
if (have_posts()) :
while (have_posts()) : the_post();
?>
<!– begin post –>
<div class=”fpost”>
“><img src=”<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, “front_image”, true);?>” title=”<?php the_title(); ?>” alt=”<?php the_title(); ?>” />
<h3>“><?php the_title(); ?></h3>
<p class=”details”><?php the_time(‘F j, Y’) ?></p>

<?php
$max_length = 245;
$length = $max_length-1;
$blurb = dp_clean($post->post_content, 265); // 300 should be far enough from 265 to find a space

// try and find where we have a space character
while ( substr($blurb, $length, 1) != ‘ ‘ ) {
$length++;
};

// now $length is how many characters we want from the post_content
?>
<p><?php echo dp_clean($post->post_content, $length); ?>… “>Read more</p>

</div>
<!– end post –>
<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
</div>
</div>
<!– end featured news –>