Make It Right (6 page)

“I'm not going anywhere.” Danny reached out and took her hand. Together they walked through the door. It wasn't a surprise to see James there waiting for them; he'd been the one to call, but he looked surprised to see Danny.

“Hey.” James came over to them, lowered his voice. “You should go, Danny. Quickly and quietly. I'll get Amelia home.”

“Like hell.” Danny replied. “I'm not leaving her here with you.”

“And why not, Mr. Benson? Surely she's safer with a sworn officer of the law than a convicted felon?” The woman who spoke came from the door marked 'restricted.'

“Piss off,” Amelia told the woman. “No one asked your opinion.”

“Such language.” The woman smiled. “I'm entitled to my opinion just like everyone else.”

“You're about to be entitled to a fist in the face.” Amelia was stressed enough without having to deal with some obviously deranged woman who didn't know how to mind her own business. “This is private and doesn't concern you.”

“On the contrary, Ms. Mason, it does concern me, as I'm the investigating detective on Fiona and Taylor's case. I'm Catherine Harris. You can call me Detective Harris. Now, I understand that this is a very trying time for you. I have a sister myself and can't imagine losing her in such a violent manner.”

“Get to the point,” Amelia suggested.

“My point is, I have some questions for you. If you could give me a few moments, I'd greatly appreciate it. I imagine after you see your family you're not going to be too talkative. It would be a big help if we could speak now, alone. There's an office here we can use for privacy.”

Amelia's head was spinning. James looked pissed, and she could feel the anger radiating off of Danny. “I'm sorry, Detective, but I'm not here to talk. I'm here to see my family.”

“That's understandable. Mr. Benson, perhaps you can answer a few questions for me.”

“I don't think so.”

“I can make it not a suggestion. Do you recognize this?” She held out her phone. “Look at the picture on the screen.”

Amelia looked and recognized the object immediately. The folding knives with the hand-carved wooden handle were custom made, and the emblem of Nightshade, two curling snakes, was burned into the wood, much the way Danny's initial had been burned onto her wrist.

“Maybe I can refresh your memory. One of these knives is presented to every member of Nightshade when they earn their patch.”

“Someone lied to you, Lady,” Danny replied. “I've never seen that knife before. Excuse us, my wife needs to see her family.”

“Ex-wife.” Detective Harris corrected him with a smile. “I'll need to speak to both of you very soon.” She shifted her attention to James. “Guess I'll see you when I see you, Monroe. For what it's worth, I think suspending you was a little harsh.”

With that the blonde walked away as if she didn't have a care in the world, and maybe she didn't. “Who the fuck is she?” Amelia turned her eyes to James.

“She's a nightmare,” James said simply. “Not even five minutes after I called you, she walked out of the Captain's office and everything went to shit. I'm suspended, she's in charge of Fiona and Taylor's case and no one knows a damn thing about her.”

“I need to make a call.” Danny's jaw was set in a grim line as he pulled out his phone. Amelia knew that he'd be calling Ace to look into the woman. As he spoke she tuned him out, tuned everything out until all she could see was the picture on the detective's phone.

The knife was given to every member of Nightshade. They all had one, and it wasn't something they just left lying around. The picture showed it against a plain white background, no doubt to enhance the detail, so it was obviously police evidence. “Where did they find that knife?”

“I wish I knew,” James admitted with a sigh. “It wasn't in any evidence report that I saw.”

“Which means that you were out of the loop.” Danny didn't sound happy. “We need to find out what she knows and we need to know yesterday.”

Amelia watched Danny pull his phone out again. He was calling Royal, she knew it as well as she knew her own name. The knife being in evidence and in the hands of the person investigating Fiona and Taylor's death wasn't good.

She didn't realize that she'd moved away from the two men until she was through the restricted doors. “Excuse me, you can't be in here,” a woman dressed in dark blue scrubs informed her.

“My sister and niece are here. They said that I could see them.” Amelia's heart was in her throat and she was pretty certain she was going to throw up if she had to say another word. She glanced over her shoulder, realized that Danny and James were still completely involved in their conversations.

“Of course. I'm sorry for your loss.” The woman's expression softened and she continued to talk, but Amelia didn't pay attention to a word. They walked over to a row of freezers and the woman opened two of the doors.

Amelia stood there for what seemed like an eternity, just looking at what was left of her family. Finally she shook herself out of her sudden stupor, nodded her thanks at the woman who'd backed discreetly away. In the waiting room Danny was still talking on his phone. James seemed to be texting, and neither had noticed she was gone.

She stood there, waited until Danny finally hung the phone up. “Sorry. You ready to go in?”

“Already did,”Amelia told him. “I'd like to leave now.”

“Why didn't you wait for me? Jesus, that must have been...”

“I don't want to talk about it. I needed to do it and it's done. Can we go?”

“Of course, come on. Royal wants to meet us at the bar.”

“Me too?” Amelia didn't bother controlling her sigh. “I am not up for the bar right now, Danny.” Or Missy if she was around. Or Allison. Fuck. All she really wanted to do was go back to his house, get in bed or the bathtub.

“It's not like it's going to be a party right now. It'll be quiet. After our meeting, we'll go grab dinner and then head home.”

“I can take her home now, if you want,” James offered. “Not like I have anything else to do.”

“Royal wants you there too,” Danny said shortly. His tone was one that left no room for argument. “We shouldn't keep him waiting.”

Royal wasn't known for his patience, and Amelia could only imagine his tolerance for bullshit was going to be at an all-time low with the Nightshade knife being in a police evidence locker. Because Amelia didn't want to cause a problem, she didn't say that she'd rather go home. Instead she followed Danny out to the bike so they could go to the bar.

Chapter Five

It was the first time that Danny could remember someone who wasn't Nightshade being involved in a meeting. James hadn't taken a seat at the table; instead he stood and leaned back against the door. He sounded oddly detached as he caught the rest of the room up on what Danny and Royal already knew: Nightshade had lost their inside man within the Detroit Police Department, which was a huge problem in itself.

“And if that's not enough, this bitch detective has one of our knives!” Royal shot up out of the chair. The expression on his face was beyond anger. This was fury. Danny sat up straighter, suddenly sure that this was going to end really badly. He pulled his own blade from the sheath on his belt, slammed it down on the table. “Which one of you is missing a knife?”

“It's mine.” Train spoke up with a sigh. “I broke the strap on my sheath a few weeks ago. Stuck the knife in my dresser and had Ace order me another one online. When the sheath came, I went looking for it. Wasn't there.”

“And you didn't mention this?” Royal's voice rose.

“Didn't seem important at the time. And we were all a little preoccupied.” Train looked as calm as he sounded.

Deep down in his gut, Danny knew that the knife had to have been used in the murders. It was the only logical explanation of why Detective Harris was so interested in it. The knife could tie Nightshade to the murders like a present on Christmas morning.

“Is it just me or is all this a little too coincidental?” Buster tapped his fingers against the table. “A stash house no one knew about goes up in flames. Your daughter and her mother disappear only to be found dead, and now the cops are showing you Train's knife?” He shook his head. “There couldn't be a worse time to lose our pet cop.”

“What do we know about this Detective Harris?”

“She's young, thirty-two on her last birthday.” Ace spoke without taking his eyes from the laptop screen in front of him. “Made a name for herself working in Washington, the nation's capital not the state. There aren't many female cops there, especially in the drug and gang task forces. She worked with both. Her last assignment was the gang unit.”

“She leaves all that to come to Detroit? Why?” Royal demanded.

“Still looking.”

“Find as much as you can. Focus on her family and friends. I want everything there is to know on her within the next twelve hours. James, is there still anyone on the inside that you trust?”

“There are a few.” James pushed away from the wall. “Not sure that they'll talk to me, but I'll reach out.”

“All the other knives need to go into the safe.” Royal looked around the table. “Best that our new friend doesn't find us with them, since we're denying the link. I want everyone to see Ace, get new phones. We'll keep swapping them out to be on the safe side. This is high alert time.”

Danny shifted in the chair. High alert meant that they were near lockdown conditions. No business, any business, would be discussed outside the walls of this room. They'd change phones, switch up routines and keep anything illegal to a minimum, which was going to be an issue. They had another shipment from The Millers due to arrive in just a few days.

“What about the next shipment?” Train questioned.

“It's got to go off without a hitch, or we can kiss our alliance with The Millers goodbye.” Royal let out a sigh. “They've been pretty clear that they won't tolerate any more complications, and we all know that there are other people they could choose to work with.”

“And if that happens, we might as well bend over and spread 'em.” Buster pointed out. “They'll
go to the Street Kings, and Manuel will jump at the chance to be the first to fuck us up the ass.”

“There won't be any hitches. There can't be. I need everyone focused, at the top of their game.” Royal replied. “Now, everyone leave their knives and get out. I need some time to think.”

Danny took his knife out, left it on the table with a little hesitation. He'd carried it every day since he earned his patch, except of course for when he was locked up. It was as much a symbol of the brotherhood he'd made his family as his cut.

Thinking of family made him think of Amelia. He'd really screwed the pooch earlier when he'd been so wrapped up in talking to Royal he hadn't realized she'd gone to see Fiona and Taylor on her own. She hadn't said much once they'd arrived at the bar, not that he'd been with her long. He'd come straight downstairs for the meeting.

Danny found the bar full of friends of the club who must have just gotten off of work. There wasn't an overabundance of places to drink in Detroit these days. He said hello to several people as he scanned the crowd for Amelia. There was no sign of her, but he did see Allison behind the bar. He crossed over to her. “You seen my wife?”

“I saw your ex-wife.” She leaned against the bar, no doubt to maximize the cleavage that she was already showing. They were nice tits, but he didn't give them a second glance.

“Where is she?”

“I'm not her babysitter. You look a little tense. I could help you out with that.” Allison purred the offer.

“No thanks.” Danny turned away from the bar. He should have known that she wouldn't have been any help. There weren't a lot of places to go in the bar. He checked them all, felt a flare of panic when she wasn't in any of them.

He went outside on the off chance she'd decided to smoke, and that was when he knew where she'd gone. Mrs. Washburn had lived next to the bar for as long as he could remember, she'd died about two years back. Amelia had always been fond of the woman and vice versa. She'd often spent time in the garden with the woman, helping her with the more physical tasks.

She was sitting on the back porch, her face streaked with tears, but she didn't seem to be actively crying. Danny approached her slowly. “Hey, Baby, what are you doing?”

“I just needed to get out of there before I rearranged Allison's face.”

“She said something?” Danny would turn around and throw her out of the bar on her ear if she had. In fact, he half hoped she had just so he could do something, because he was starting to feel pretty useless.

“She was trying to make small talk with me. Bitch.” Anger sparked in her eyes.

“I'll make it clear she stays away from you.” Danny sat down next to her.

“No, that gives her too much power. She'll like that.” She sighed heavily. “How did the meeting go? Or should I not ask?”

“It went. We're gonna keep our eyes and ears open, see what this detective has up her sleeve.” Danny left out the information about The Millers and the next make it or break it shipment, because she didn't need anything else to worry about.

“Did you figure out where the knife was from?”

“Train's knife went missing. We're assuming that it's his they found, not that we know how it got there.”

“So someone put it there. Someone wanted to connect Nightshade to the murders.” Amelia pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. “Royal's wrong, someone else knew about him and Fiona. Someone killed them because of it. There's no way to tell if it was personal against him or business.”

“We'll find out who did it and they'll pay.”

“That won't bring them back. Nothing will. Nothing can.” She didn't meet his eyes, she just kept staring out into the overgrown backyard. “I bet that Mrs. Washburn is rolling in her grave. She'd have hated things being all out of order back here, even if it's not a planting season.”

“You're right about that. The prospects keep the grass cut during the summer. Missy keeps in touch with her family. She's got a daughter who is supposed to move back once she finishes law school.” Danny struggled to remember more details but he couldn't. Truth was he tended to tune Missy out when she spoke.

“I hope she likes to garden. I used to love this place. It was always so peaceful even when the neighborhood was noisy. The smell of the plants and the grass, even the dirt, it was all just so comfortable. So safe.”

Danny knew how important feeling safe was to her. He didn't entirely understand where it came from and wasn't sure that he ever would. He also knew that if she was bringing it up she didn't feel safe, not even with him. “Where do you feel safe now?”

She hesitated before she answered. “At your house. Not at home. That's not home anymore.”

“My house is your house. It's home.” Danny put his arm around her, pulled her close. “You ready to go? You've got to be hungry by now.”

“I'm not hungry but we can go. I'm tired. I'd like to lie down. I'm feeling kind of weird actually.”

“You okay to ride?”

“I'm.... I'm not sure actually.” She leaned against him. “I can't believe that I'm going to say this but maybe we could just go back to the bar, crash in one of the bedrooms? You'll stay with me, right?”

“Try and get me to leave.”

<#<#<#

Joseph and Mark Miller were either brothers or cousins; no one knew for sure, and they weren't exactly talkative, so no one had ever asked. One thing was obvious, or at least it was obvious to Danny, the two men thought that they were better than the bikers they were dealing with.

“Recent events are problematic, Royal.” Joseph usually did most of the talking.

“We're on top of things.” Royal replied. “You haven't lost anything dealing with us. We paid what the last shipment was worth because of what happened. The fire was unfortunate, but it seems to be an isolated event. In fact, we've got reason to suspect the house was hit by mistake and the neighbors were the target.”

That was news to Danny, but he didn't let any surprise register on his face. He hadn't expected Royal to outright lie to The Millers, but the move made sense. Several moments of tense silence followed, and he saw Train go into what he thought of as stone killer mode. If The Millers made a move, this meet was going to turn into a bloodbath.

Finally, Mark Miller spoke up. “That's good to hear, especially as we've got something extra we need moved during this shipment.”

“Whatever you need,” Royal replied without missing a beat.

“Aren't you going to ask what it is?” Mark questioned. Danny didn't like the look on the other man's face or the change in the normal status quo of Joseph doing the talking while Mark stood back. In fact, the whole meet was starting to give him a knot in his stomach.

“Doesn't matter. We'll move it.”

“Good man,” Mark smiled. “I've got it right here.” He motioned to the briefcase he'd set down on the floor.

“You're going to want to move slow and easy.” Train spoke up as Mark bent down.

“Stand down, Train.” Royal gave him a look that would have killed him where he stood if that were possible. “We're all friends here.”

“You've got some very loyal men, Royal, which speaks to your skill as a leader.” Mark opened the briefcase and turned it to face the rest of the room. Danny was surprised to see that it was basically empty except for a small silver box in the center. “This may not look like much, Gentlemen, but I assure you, it is more valuable than you can even imagine.”

“It'll get where it needs to go.”

“If it doesn't, if there are any more hiccups, it will not end well for Nightshade. You will become a cautionary tale.” Danny didn't doubt that every word of that was true. There was a darkness to Mark Miller he hadn't noticed before. It was apparent he wasn't the only one noticing now. Even Joseph seemed a little taken aback.

“The merchandise, all of the merchandise, must be at the drop location in two days.” Joseph took control back. “There is a truck out back, as per our usual agreement.” And with that The Millers were gone as quickly as they'd come.

“Train, take the truck. Get the merchandise off and to the location. Danny, I want you to take the case. I'm sure that you can find a safe spot until it's time for us to move. The rest of you, head home. We'll meet in the morning, go over the final details.”

Danny saw he wasn't the only one surprised by the announcement. They'd always taken care of the shipment with at least two men, more often three or four just to be sure that everything went as smoothly as it could.

Royal must have noticed their hesitation. “Is there a fucking problem?” No one replied. “Get your asses moving.”

There was no way that Danny was going to take the briefcase home with him. No, he had another spot in mind, the same spot where he'd hidden Royal's package from the stash house. So instead of going home he went to the Mason house.

Much to his surprise, he wasn't the only one there. Amelia's battered Jeep was parked in the driveway, and she hadn't been back there since they'd found the bloody sheets. “Fuck.” Danny got off of the bike, took the briefcase out of the storage area and walked around to the back of the house. As quietly as he could he entered the toolshed and add
ed the briefcase already there with a sigh.

Finally, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Amelia's number. He didn't want to spook her by just walking inside. But she didn't answer, not even her voice mail; there was just a recording telling him the number wasn't in service?

Danny drew his gun, held it at his side as he used his key on the back door. He stepped around the part of the floor he knew creaked and did a quick search of the first floor. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or worried that she wasn't down there. There was no avoiding the creaking of the stairs, and by the time that he reached the top Amelia was already in the hallway, gun in hand. He'd taught her the two handed grip and felt a sense of pride that she was using it.