Loving The Biker (MC Biker Romance) (7 page)

Nine

Terin

“Raina? She and Tank are engaged aren’t they?” I asked, stunned.

“Yes,” he replied. “I’m sure it’s bullshit.  The Devil’s Rangers are trying to pin this on them because of what happened today. And then there’s the other obvious reason - Cole deserted the club and is now with the Gold Vipers. That must have really charred them.”

“The guys here tonight were definitely pissed off at him,” I replied. “The man, if it really was Cole, did mention that he was supposed to meet with Ronnie, their V.P. I wonder what that was all about?”

He frowned. “Hmm… not sure and I doubt we’ll ever find out.”

“Do you think it might be possible that Cole is spying on the Gold Vipers for Ronnie?”

He scratched his head and smiled grimly. “With these guys, anything is possible. Questioning him about Slammer’s murder is sounding better by the moment.”

“What about Cole’s sister? Maybe we should talk to her as well?”

“Raina? She’s marrying Slammer’s son. He’d be putting a bullet through her heart instead of a ring around her finger.”

“What if he didn’t know she did it?”

He gave me a curious look.

“Better yet, what if he
did
know?” I said, the idea making the hair stand up on the back of my neck. “What if it was a setup and Tank wanted his old man killed so that he could become president or maybe something else was going on between them?”

“It’s a good theory if you didn’t know how tight they were. Tank looked up to his old man and when he learned about his death, my sources say he took it very hard.”

“What about Slammer’s new wife?” I asked, having read that he’d remarried a couple of years before. “Maybe she needed money and decided to cash out on his insurance policy?”

“We already checked that out. In fact, I personally interviewed her after he was murdered and she seemed pretty upset. The insurance policy was big but not substantial. Most of it went to his son, Tank, anyway.”

“Did you get a chance to talk to Cole and Raina’s uncle, Sal?” I asked.

“No. I learned that he’s in some kind of a rehab center, right now.”

“Drugs?”

“I doubt it. He always was a drinker, though. Probably for that.” Walters’ phone began to ring again. “Excuse me,” he said, answering it. Shock registered across his face as the person on the other end spoke.

“Thanks. We’ll be down shortly,” he said, hanging up.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“That was Bronson. Apparently, Cole Johnson just showed up at the station. He wants to give a statement about what happened today at Red’s Deli.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “You’re kidding? I thought we were going to have to drag him down there, especially after the way he took off.”

“This is definitely a new one for me. Normally these guys refuse to work with us.”

“Maybe Cole found out that someone is trying to frame him and his sister for Slammer’s murder?”

He shoved his phone back into his pocket. “That’s entirely possible. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

Something in my gut told me that even though we’d be interviewing him, and voluntarily, the answers we needed wouldn’t exactly be the ones we needed.

Ten

Cole

As I waited to speak with Detective O’Brien, I sat alone in one of the interrogation rooms, drinking coffee and playing games on my phone. It was then that I received a text from Patty. Groaning inwardly, I read her message.

Some guy named Tank called and left a message for me about the shooting. Isn’t he the leader of the Devil’s Rangers?

No. He’s the president of the Gold Vipers, the club I’m now with.

What does he want with me?!

He just wants to talk to you about that night. See if you remember anything useful about the shooters.

She called me and I reluctantly picked it up.

“Dammit, Cole! Why did you give him my phone number?”

“Because he asked for it.”

“Well, I’m not talking to him and I’ll call the cops if he shows up at my job or my home.”

“No you won’t,” I replied as calmly as I could. “You’ll answer his questions truthfully and be courteous.”

“Quit telling me what to do,” she snapped. “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to.”

“Not even for Billy?”

She gasped. “Look, I told you how sorry I was for what happened and…” there were tears in her voice, “he’s fine now. Billy is fine and I thank God for that every night.”

“So do we.”

I could hear her blowing her nose on the other end of the phone. “Sorry,” she said after a few seconds. “I still lose it when I think about that night. I keep reliving it in my head, over and over.”

“And you don’t remember anything about the guys on the motorcycles?”

“Not really.” She started crying again. “Dammit, Cole, why can’t you just let things rest so we can all move forward?”

I lowered my voice. “Because we need to know who did it.”

“Well… I don’t know!” she cried.

“Calm down,” I said, softening my voice.

“I will if you quit drilling me about that night. I’ve told you so many times now, I don’t know who in the hell they were. All I heard were the shots and I only caught a glimpse of the drivers. Honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference between one club and another.”

“What about their patches?”

“I told you I couldn’t see any patches,” she said. “Why do you keep asking me the same things over and over? Do you have any idea how upsetting this is?”

“I’m sorry this is upsetting you,” I said, trying not to lose my cool. “Think about how upset Raina was when she found out about Billy. She almost lost everything that night.”

“I know and I’m sorry,” she said sadly. “I did something so stupid and believe me, if I could go back in time and change things, I would. I’m just glad that he’s alive.”

“So are we. Still, don’t you think the men responsible for hurting him should pay?”

“You mean go to jail?” she asked dryly. “Or pay with blood?”

I wanted to ask her why she even cared. She could have died that night. “Patty, if you won’t talk to him for me, at least do it for Raina and Billy. See if the two of you can come up with something,” I said, ignoring her snide comment.

“All he wants to do is talk?” she asked in a sulky way. “And he won’t…. hurt me?”

“He isn’t looking to hurt you, Patty. He just wants answers. He’s marrying Raina and wants to help her.”

She was silent for a few seconds and then sighed. “I guess I can talk to him. But, seriously, I don’t have anything more to tell him than what I told the cops.”

“Then just tell him the same thing. The point is, he knows the streets and knows what the other clubs are capable of. Something you may have told the cops might make more sense to him.”

“Fine. As long as he doesn’t threaten me.”

“He’s not going to threaten you,” I replied. “Tank just wants answers.”

She sucked in her breath. “Oh, crap… I think he’s actually calling back already. You owe me big time.”

I wanted to tell her that she was the one who owed my family something, but knew it would just start another argument. “Thanks Patty.”

Mumbling something, she hung up.

I set my phone down and looked over at the clock. It was almost three in the afternoon and the longer I waited, the more I felt it was a mistake just being there. Craving a cigarette, I pulled out the pack I had in my jacket pocket and debated on lighting it.  Before I could, however, the door opened and two people walked into the room. The first one being the woman from the deli.

“Hi,” she said, pushing a piece of red hair behind her ear.  “I have to say, I never thought I’d see you again. At least not this soon.”

Eleven

Terin

“I was in the neighborhood and figured you might need my statement,” he replied, his lip twitching. “And… you’re welcome.”

Cocky bastard.

I smirked. “Well, I do appreciate it. Thank you.”

“What about Chips? Did you catch him?” asked Cole.

“No. Unfortunately, he got away,” I replied, checking out the many tattoos he had on his muscular arms. He’d removed his jacket and was wearing a cut that identified him as a Gold Viper Prospect. “As did Gomer. Obviously.”

“At least you know who they are.” He looked at Walters. “I see you brought back up this time.”

Tearing my eyes away from his biceps, I introduced Walters.

“I think we’ve met,” said Cole, pulling out a small lighter from the front pocket of his jeans. “You don’t mind if I smoke, do you?”

“Unfortunately, there’s no smoking in this building,” said Walters.  “And we did meet before. The night your nephew and Old Lady were shot.”

“Patty is not my Old Lady,” said Cole, shoving it back into his pocket, along with a pack of cigarettes.

“You two broke up?” asked Walters.

“Our relationship ended the night she brought Billy to a kegger and almost got him killed,” said Cole, frowning. “I guess I should blame myself for not kicking her out of my bed, after our first date.”

“Do you think the guilt should only rest on her shoulders?” asked Walters.

“If she hadn’t brought him there, he’d have never been shot,” he said. “It’s pretty obvious.”

“You’re not going to blame anything on yourself or your lifestyle?” asked Walters.

“What do you know of my ‘lifestyle’, Detective?” asked Cole.

I cleared my throat and jumped back into the conversation. “You belong to a pretty notorious club.”

Cole looked at me. Unlike when he addressed Walters, there was amusement in his eyes. “Notorious for what?”

“Hell-raising,” I replied, noticing the warning look that Walters was giving me.

“Hell-raising. Can you be more specific?” asked Cole, innocently.

“Come off it, Johnson. You know exactly what she’s talking about. But, that’s not why we’re here,” said Walters.

“That’s right. We’re here to talk about the Devil’s Rangers. Speaking of them, did you ever find out who the shooters were?” Cole asked.

“No,” said Walters, watching him carefully. “Have you?”

“Nope,” said Cole, a look of irritation flashed across his face. “Believe me, we’ve tried.”

“Speaking of club activity, you switched sides,” said Walters. “Why is that?”

“The Gold Vipers are a better fit for me,” said Cole, matter-of-factly.

“And your sister is marrying the president,” I said. “That would have caused a lot of tension at family gatherings.”

“Definitely,” said Cole, smiling slightly.

“So you did it for Raina?” asked Walters.

“I did it for myself,” he replied.

“Because..?” prodded Walters, waiting for a better response.

“Just like I stated, they’re a better fit. We’ve already established that I didn’t come down here to get grilled about my club. I dropped by to help Detective O’Brien here. Do you want my statement or not?” he asked.

“Yes. We do,” said Walters. “I’m going to get some coffee first.  Would you like any, Mr. Johnson?”

“Yes I could use a cup,” replied Cole. “Thank you.”

“How do you like it?” he asked.

“Black is fine,” replied Cole.

“You want one, too?” Walters asked me.

“No. Thanks,” I replied.

Walters left us alone, which I’d known that he was going to do. He thought that Cole would feel more open to talking if it was just the two of us. Pen was on the other side of the wall, listening in.

“So, why did you take off?” I asked him.

“I don’t know. I guess I was hungry at the time and didn’t want to spend the rest of the day down here,” he said.

“But here you are anyway.”

“Yep. Here I am,” he replied, staring back at me.

“Well, like I said before… I do appreciate it.”

“I know.”

I grinned.

He smiled back. “So, how did you find yourself in that situation, anyway?”

“I was there to pick up lunch.”

“And they just grabbed you?”

I knew that I could discuss what had happened before he showed up. “Something like that.”

“There’s more to it,” he replied, studying me.

I just smiled.

“The place had been evacuated pretty quickly, it looked like to me. No customers. No staff.”

I nodded. I wanted to ask him why he was there, but wasn’t allowed to. His statement had to be given directly to Walters, since I was involved.

“Do you know why Pete took off with Ronnie?” he asked.

“No. I was going to ask you the same thing,” I replied.

He shrugged. “My guess is that he was collecting on some kind of debt. Maybe gambling.”

“So, Ronnie’s a bookie?”

“Ronnie is a lot of things,” he replied.

The door opened back up and Walters walked in carrying two cups of coffee. He set one down in front of Cole.

“Thanks,” said Cole.

“No problem,” said Walters, sitting back down. He opened up a file and pulled out the paperwork for Cole’s testimonial statement. “Before I forget, there’s something else we need to ask you.”

“What’s that?” said Cole.

“Why did your sister kill Slammer?” asked Walters, as Cole raised the cup to his lips.