Turbo’s trot was smooth to sit, and we cruised around the pen at a brisk pace.
“What was that about?” Gage asked.
“Not sure. But I’m pretty sure it had nothing to do with a trip to Hawaii.”
Chapter 8
Luke
I checked on the house and grabbed the mail. Everything was in order. No death threats painted on the front door or snakes in the mailbox. I could only assume Dreygon had put off looking for his granddaughter while he terrorized the few people who had dared to question his authority. Rick, who’d sided with Gunner, had definitely looked nervous, and with good reason. Dreygon was ruthless.
I’d filled in the homicide detectives on some of the stuff that Rick had mentioned and what I knew about Dreygon and the way he did things, and they promised to look into him as a possible suspect. Unfortunately, there had been very little evidence at the scene other than the victim’s body. They’d found Gunner in an alley between two empty buildings, not far from the industrial park where he’d held Angel hostage. He was hidden behind a forest of weeds.
My phone rang. “Hey, Carson, what’s up?”
“Well, besides everyone here at the office busting my balls for suspending you, I thought you might want to know that the funeral home is picking up Paxton’s body from the morgue in an hour. You never know who might show up to see his send off, and someone’s got to sign for him.”
“I’ll head over there right now. I thought everyone was pissed at me for ignoring protocol when I smashed that guy’s head in.”
“Yeah, they were all putting on a professional front, but everyone loved Dex, you know?”
“Yeah, I do. It sure felt good cracking that asshole’s skull. But you know what? I needed this time off. I’ve got to deal with all this shit first. I need to make sure Angel is safe.”
“Then I’m glad I could help by suspending you.”
“Yeah, now if you could figure out a way to pay me too.”
“You need money?” Carson had stepped in as a father figure after my dad died, and he was still always there when I needed him.
“Nah, I’m good. I’m going to head over to the morgue. I’ll let you know if anything interesting happens.”
I hopped in the car and headed to the freeway. The phone rang and Angel’s voice came through the speaker. Just hearing her sweet tone made me smile. “Luke, is everything all right?”
“Yeah, Baby, it’s all good. What’s up?”
“I was out riding Gage’s horse—”
My heart raced ahead. “Did you get hurt?”
“No, I’m fine. I guess I shouldn’t have started with that. I’m so lame on the phone.”
“Not lame at all. I was just thinking how hot you sound. I guess we’ve never really spoken over the phone. That’s weird to think. But I’m completely turned on right now just listening to you.”
She laughed. “I borrowed Gage’s cell phone to call you.”
“Way to throw cold water on a guy by mentioning his brother.”
“Sounded like you needed it, Bro. Especially if you’re driving,” Gage’s voice came through loud and clear.
“Angel, are you on speaker phone?”
“I don’t know. I guess so. I don’t have to hold the phone to my ear to hear you.”
“Yep, that’s speaker. So, what’s up?”
“Jericho got a call while I was riding, and he looked kind of freaked out about it. He laughed it off as some timeshare sales call, but something is up.”
“Did you or Gage catch any of it?”
“No, he seemed shocked when he looked at the phone to see who it was and then he turned away. I was riding around the pen, and Gage was in the barn. It wasn’t a very long call.”
“Where’s Jericho at right now?”
“He took the dirt bike out for a cruise.”
“I’ll try and call him later. Gage,” I figured he was still listening.
“Yeah?”
“I’ll be landing at eleven thirty tonight.”
“I guess I’ll pick you up,” Gage said. “Although, I’ve got to be up at four for work. Couldn’t you get an earlier flight?”
“Sorry man, I’ll make it up to you somehow. Now take it off speaker phone so I can talk dirty to my girlfriend without you listening in.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Gage asked and then the background noise quieted.
“Are we alone?”
“Well, you are,” Angel said softly, “but I’ve still got your brother in the room.”
“That’s fine, you can just listen. Remember that night on your favorite rocks under the stars with the bandana?”
She laughed softly. “Yes.” Loud footsteps pounded the floor and grew quiet. “Gage just walked out.”
“I’m thinking you, naked, and hands bound and me free to do whatever I like . . .and whatever you like.”
“I’m thinking that could work. Just come home soon.”
“I will. And don’t worry about Jericho. I’ll call him later.”
“Love you. Bye.”
An ivory white van was parked in the loading zone with black and silver letters spelling out Franklin’s Funeral Home on the side. I didn’t see any motorcycles or anyone else for that matter. It was entirely possible that only the funeral home people had shown. I walked in through the front door.
A small woman in medical scrubs was looking through some papers on the front desk. “I’ll be right with you,” she said and quickly went to the backroom where all the action seemed to be happening.
I leaned against the counter and listened, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation, but the walls were thick and the voices were muffled. There wasn’t really too much I could gleam from all this anyhow, and now I was wishing I hadn’t bothered to come.
I headed back outside and pulled out my phone to see if I could reach Jericho. Then a voice behind me stopped me cold.
“You and I just can’t stop running into each other, Special Agent Barringer.” Dreygon used his most sarcastic, stinging tone while pronouncing my name. I turned around. He was wearing sunglasses and a wicked smirk.
“You’ll have to excuse the dark shades. I’ve lost someone very dear to me, and I’m having a hard time getting over it.” He walked closer and every muscle in my body surged with adrenaline. “I guess you came to pay your respects as well.” He clucked his tongue and the sound of it was chilling. “Going to miss old Gunner. Those Bent for Hell assholes will have to pay, I’m afraid.”
“Just shut the hell up, Sharpe. I know it was you, and I’m going to find a way to prove it.”
A harsh laugh stuttered from his throat. “Whatever you say, Special Agent. Talked to Jericho today.”
That explained the phone call and Jericho’s reaction.
“I knew my granddaughter wouldn’t talk to me now that you’ve poisoned her against me.”
Now it was my turn for a cold laugh. “Is that what you think? You did that all on your own. She wants nothing to do with you. She’s in my care now, so you won’t ever see or talk to her again.”
The back door to the morgue opened, and the attendants rolled out the gurney with Gunner’s body. We both watched as they pushed the gurney to the van and lowered it inside. I peered over at Dreygon. His face reminded me of craggy gray stone. Sunglasses or not, there was not even a flicker of emotion.
“Poor Gunner,” he said, “I’m just sick about it.” He pushed his glasses up on his head, and dragged his attention away from the van. A glint of ice cold hatred shined in his eyes as he looked at me. “I told Jericho to warn Angel that if she stayed away too long, people she cared about might start meeting with terrible fates.”
I gritted my teeth and tried my damndest not to flinch at his words. I felt certai
n Jericho wouldn’t say anything to Angel. This had to be kept from her. And then I thought about the secret of the arranged marriage I’d kept from her, and how upset she’d been with me. But this was different. This was a threat that Dreygon knew would cut straight into Angel’s soul. She would die first before letting harm come to someone else.
My teeth ground against each other. “You’re not getting near her. I will kill you first.”
Dreygon nodded and grinned at my threat. He started to walk away but stopped. “How’s Montana?”
My fists tightened. It was not all that surprising that he’d already found out where we were staying. Gage, Seth and I were all named on the deed to the ranch. But I had to admit, the old bastard was good. “You’re not there, so it’s fine.”
“Well, say hello to everyone.” He pushed his sunglasses back down. “I’ll see you later, Barringer.” He walked to a truck that was sitting outside of the parking lot and climbed into it. Sunlight flicked off his silver earrings, and while the windows of the truck were tinted, I could see that he was still watching me.
I sat in my car and it seemed we were playing a game of chicken until he started the engine of his truck and drove off. I was just coming down from the rush of rage when my phone rang again. It was Jericho.
“Angel went out with Gage to feed the horses. I’ve been waiting for her to get out of the house. Guess who called me today?” he asked.
“Dreygon?”
He hesitated, seemingly a little disappointed that I’d just screwed him out of a chance to surprise me. “Yeah. He was using Gunner’s phone, and for a second, I thought he was pulling a back from the dead move like you.”
“Nah, I just watched them roll his body into the funeral home’s van. He’s gone and he’s not coming back.”
Short silence again. “He was calling to tell me that he was cutting me off his friends and family plan.”
I laughed. It wasn’t the time for it, but it sounded so comical. “You’re on his phone plan?”
“Not after today. In fact, I’m surprised my phone is still on right now. The money I had was always cash, so I didn’t have a bank account to qualify for a phone contract. Plus, it was cheaper when we were all on the plan together.”
I thought about the conversation with Angel and how she’d never even known about speaker phone. “Angel was never part of that plan, was she?”
“Nah, Dreygon never let her have one. And she didn’t care. Who would she have called? She didn’t really have any friends outside of the walls. It was like he had Evie wrapped in an invisible cocoon inside the compound. He always kept a close watch on her as if he’d expected someone to come and take her from him.” He grew quiet for a second. “I guess he’d been right. Anyhow, here’s the shitty stuff. He told me to warn Angel that more members would be harmed if she didn’t return to him.”
“I know. You didn’t tell her, did you?”
“No way. That would eat her up. And there’s more, he knows where we are.”
“I know.”
“This whole conversation isn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. Are you reading my mind through the phone, or what?”
The van with Gunner’s body drove off, and the lot was empty. “Just ran into the silver-haired bastard in the parking lot of the morgue.”
“No fucking way. What did he say?”
“The same stuff you just told me. We can’t let Angel know any of this. She’ll blame herself for Gunner’s death. She saw your reaction to Dreygon’s phone call. She asked me to find out what it was about. I’ll tell her that it was Rick just letting you know that the funeral was arranged and you were upset because you knew you wouldn’t be going.”
“That should work.”
“Listen, when you get a chance, write down any numbers you have on that phone that you think might be needed to nail the old man’s ass to the wall. People who you can trust and that know some of the inner workings of the club.”
“That used to be Gunner, Cash and me. Not sure who he’s confiding in now with the exception of that asshole who shot me, J.D.. But we don’t have any history of trust or friendship, obviously. I’ll go through my contacts and write them down before he shuts off my phone.”
The morgue seemed quiet, a good time to go inside and ask some questions. “I’ll be home tonight. In the meantime, I’m going get a hold of Seth and see where he’s at. We might be on the move again. He’s living on a boat on the water. It might be safer for you and Angel out there.”
“A boat?” There was no enthusiasm in his tone. “A boat on crutches, that’s not going to work.”
“Better than having to look over your shoulder all the time. I’ll see you soon.”
The same woman in medical scrubs was now sitting behind the desk sipping a bottle of iced tea. “There you are. Sorry about that. We were busy sending off a body for burial prep.” She got up and walked to the counter. “What can I do for you?”
“Gunner Paxton, the man they just wheeled out of here, was an acquaintance of mine.”
She looked at me with a small dose of suspicion, so I pulled out my badge. “I know some of the members of the Bedlam MC, Gunner’s club. In fact, I was just talking to the president, Dreygon Sharpe.”
She twitched slightly at his name. “He was very intense. I had to talk to him twice, and frankly, I’m glad they have that victim out of here just so I don’t have to deal with that man again. Don’t know what it was about him, but—”
“Don’t worry, you’re not alone in your assessment. He is scary. I just wanted to know if there were any unusual details about Paxton’s murder. Any evidence that he was being robbed or that there was a big struggle?”
“No, actually, there wasn’t any struggle, and whoever killed him, knew what they were doing. Straight to the jugular and clean. We’re still trying to figure out what kind of knife it was. We couldn’t find skin or blood or even hair from anyone else on the victim’s clothing, which always leads us to believe that—”
“It was someone he knew well.” I finished for her.
“And trusted. No struggle means he was taken completely by surprise, and the deceased was a big, menacing man. It seemed like he could do some damage if he was attacked.”
“You’re right.” I thought about my first day at the compound when Gunner had me strung up from the ceiling of the room they called the dungeon. He had definitely enjoyed beating the hell out of me while I was chained up.
The examiner took a sip of her drink. “Otherwise, that’s all I’ve got. He bled out pretty quickly, I’d say. Probably died in minutes. Whoever it was must have grabbed some weeds from the alley and scratched away all the footprints. Like I said, it was someone who knew what they were doing.”
I nodded. “Thanks,” I hesitated, and she supplied her name.
“Dr. Vogel.”
“Thanks again, Dr. Vogel. You’ve been a great help.” I walked out to the car. There was no way Gunner would have walked calmly into an alley with a Bent for Hell member and not have been ready to fight. He thought he was ducking behind a building to have a secret conversation with someone he knew, someone he trusted, someone from the Bedlam club. Which was exactly as I’d expected.
Chapter 9
Angel
It was well past midnight by the time we reached Gage’s place. Gage and Jericho had gone straight into bed.
Luke was back with me, and even though all kinds of ugly stuff was happening outside of our quiet, scenic hiding place, I was always content when he was near. After going for several long, horrid days thinking he was dead, I was always ready to pinch myself whenever I saw him.“It’s such a pretty night,” I said, “the stars seem to be extra bright. Let’s sit on the porch for awhile.” I smiled at him. “I’ve got a treat for you.”
The two lines on the sides o
f his mouth appeared as he grinned. I’d grown extremely fond of those two lines. Just like every angle and plane of his handsome face, they were utterly familiar and appealing. “I’m all for treats.”
“They are chocolate chip cookies.”
There was no missing the twinge of disappointment but then he seemed to decide cookies were an almost acceptable alternative to sex. “Cookies are fine. Now if you’re naked when you serve them to me that would make it extra special.”
I kissed him lightly. “Luke, I know you were all up for something a little more raunchy than baked goods tonight, but I really just need to sit in your arms and feel you near me. The whole Gunner thing has sort of depressed me.”
“No problem. Cookies, stars and you in my arms? Can’t complain about that scenario. I’ll get a blanket to wrap around us.”
I carried out two cups of milk and a plate of cookies. Luke was already sitting on the porch. I placed the food down on the step next to him, and he lifted a side of the blanket for me to crawl under.
The lights in the barn sprayed a yellow glow over the yard. Tree branches shuddered in the cool breeze, dropping a few tender leaves with each gentle gust and heralding in the change of season.
“It’s already warm and toasty under here.” I squiggled closer to him. “I’ll bet autumn is beautiful on this ranch.”
“It is, but winter is brutal.”
“How was the weather back home?”
“A lot hotter than here, but there was a hint of fall in the air.”
It was strange, but occasionally I would get a pang of homesickness for my little cabin in the compound. I’d spent most of my life there, and despite all the awful shit that had happened, I’d been left with plenty of good memories. I couldn’t imagine what a dreary, grim place it had become with all of us gone. I wondered if Rose and Candy had stayed on. Neither of them really had any other place to go, which was a sad thought.