Rod (27 page)

“Please, no more,” Boris begs, his eye
black and his lip bloody.
 
Dad draws
closer to Boris and asks, “Do you want to tell us the full story?”

Boris looks to Ken, but remains steadfast
in his lie.
 
“It was Lester.
 
It was all Lester!
 
He was going to shoot us!”

My father gives another wave of his hand
and the men around Boris and Ken begin beating them to a pulp.
 
I watch from afar as Rodney holds me
close.
 
I don’t feel guilty in watching
these guys go down because of the poor treatment of my sister.
 

They both fall to the floor as blood
gushes from their bodies.
 
My father
draws closer to them again and pushes them for more information.

“Is there anything you want to tell
me?”
 
he
asks
them both.

“It was Seth Vinton,” Ken says as he has
trouble forming the words.
 
His lips are
bleeding and he clutches his abdomen.
 

Boris looks to Ken as if to say he’s a
traitor, but Ken maintains his story.
 

“It was all Seth Vinton.
 
He put us up to it, he said you would never
find out.
 
He told us he would make us
rich.”

“And why would Seth Vinton want you to
kidnap my daughter?” he questions them.

“He wanted to take over this territory and
thought that if we took Sasha, it would be a distraction to the club.
 
He said you guys would all be so quick to
focus on the search and you’d be an easy target.”

“Fucking traitors,” he tells them as he
kicks Boris in the head and follows suit with Ken.

When my father stops, I hear the sound of
a siren emanating from outside of the club.
 

“The cops are here,” I tell everyone as
they back away from Boris and Ken, who lay helpless on the floor in the center
of the room.

The police barge in and look around.
 
The officers yell, “Boris
Cardov
and Ken Clayton!”

My dad walks around the club and over to
me and Rodney.
 
Scott Pence looks at the
cops and informs them, “That is Boris
Cardov
and the
other guy is Ken Clayton.”

“Thanks, son,” the officer tells him.
 

They reach down and grab the men by their
hands and drag them to their feet.

“What happened to them?” the officer asks
anyone who’s listening.

“They fell down some stairs,” my dad
offers kindly.

One of the officers looks to the other and
says, “We’re going to need to make a stop at the hospital before we take them
in for booking.
 
Cuff ‘
em
.”

The other cop whips his cuffs from his
belt loop and places them around Ken’s hands.
 
He reads Ken his rights and Ken nods that he understands.
 
The officer then reaches down with a second
set of handcuffs and puts them on Boris’ hands.
 
He reads Boris his rights and he also nods to say that he
understands.
 
They yank both men to their
feet and cart them out of the club as they hobble on the way out.

I follow them outside and say, “Hey, can I
have a word with you guys?”

The first cop comes over to me and says,
“What can I do for you?”

“Well, I don’t know if you are aware, but
these two told us that Seth Vinton is involved in my sister’s kidnapping.”

“We will definitely look into that.
 
Did they tell you anything else before they
suffered their unfortunate falls?”

“Yeah, that Lester Samson was also
involved in this,” I tell him.

“I’m pretty sure we’ve already got Lester
Samson into custody,” he tells me.

“Okay, good,” I say.

Before the officers can stuff both men
into the cruisers, they look at me bewildered and say, “We’ll testify!”

“You better,” I threaten them both.

The officer radios someone and says into
his
walkie
talkie, “We’ve arrested Ken Clayton and
Boris
Cardov
with regard to the kidnapping of Sasha
Fitzgerald.
 
They claim that Seth Vinton
is also involved.
 
Can you bring him in
for questioning?”

A voice comes from the radio saying,
“Roger that.
 
We have a car
en
route to
Hayleysville
to check
out Seth Vinton’s last known address.
 
Over.”

“Roger that.
 
Over and out,” he says into the radio.

“We think this is going to be a pretty
open and shut case.
 
We’ll get Seth
Vinton and anyone else who’s involved in this situation.”

The officer tosses Ken into the back of
his car and slams the back door shut.

“So tell me,” he says.
 
“Did you do all of this by yourself?”

“All of what?” I ask him.

“The whole investigation,” he clarifies.

“No, I had some help.
 
Mostly, though, it was just sniffing out
things when they didn’t seem right,” I tell him.

“Maybe you should consider a career in law
enforcement,” he tells me with a smile.

“I’ll consider that,” I tell him as he
hands me his card.
 

“You’d make a great detective,” he assures
me as he walks to the car and gets into the driver’s seat.

I walk over and he rolls the window down.

“Anything else?” he asks.

“Yeah, make sure you bust Boris for
running drugs in our club and the surrounding areas,” I tell him.

“Do you have proof?” He asks.

“I’m sure his stash is probably still at
his place.
 
A couple of our newer members
told me that he tried to sell them drugs.”

“Good
thinkin
’,”
he says.
 
Once I turn around to walk
away, they pull out of our parking lot and head out.

I walk back to the club and walk in the
door.
 
Once inside the back room, I am in
the middle of what looks to be a celebration.
 

“Get a beer, Trish, you’ve earned it!” My
dad yells to me.

I make my way to the bar and order up a
beer.
 
I sit there on the old red stool
and think about how quickly everything came to pass tonight.
 
Rodney sidles up next to me and occupies the
empty stool.

“A toast!” My father yells to the room.

“Yeah!” Everyone in attendance cheers.

“To my wonderful daughter Trish for her
amazing detective work.
 
To Rodney Vinton
for being an integral part of the team in getting Sasha back and to Jason Maple
for his work in helping the case.”

With a raise of our beer bottles, we all
collectively cheers each other, clanking our bottles together.

“None of us would be able to celebrate
this day without the help of all of you, so I thank each and every one of you,”
my father tells us.

“Hey wait,” Jason Maple chimes in.

“Yeah son?” my dad asks.

“Rodney Vinton?
 
Wouldn’t that make him Seth Vinton’s
son?
 
Are we hanging out with the enemy?”
He questions my father.

Everyone fixates on my father as he
prepares to deliver his response.

“Yes and no.
 
Yes, he’s Seth Vinton’s kid, but he’s no
enemy of the Dragons.
 
In fact, tonight
we’re making him a full patch member of our little club.”

I hold onto him tightly as he smiles and
it melts my heart into a million pieces.
 
Rodney arises from the stool, walks over to my dad and says, “Ronan
Fitzgerald, the honor is mine.”

I look on with pride as they shake hands.

“This wouldn’t be possible without Trish,”
Rodney tells my dad.

Everyone’s eyes are on me and I walk to
where my dad is standing with Rodney.
 
The whole room erupts into applause as I hug them both.

“Everyone, I would like to make another
announcement,” he tells them.

A hush falls over the room and he says,
“As of tonight, not only am I making Trish a full patch member, but I’m also
promoting her to the club’s official title of Investigator.”

Chapter Fourteen

Rodney Vinton

I look on as Jasmine sews my patch into my
jean jacket and I wear it proudly, showing off my colors for the whole club to
see.
 
I watch as Jasmine repeats the
process with Trish’s patch, but includes a front patch that says “Chief
Investigator” for her jacket.
 

I watch as she dons the jacket proudly and
we hold each other tightly.
 
I don’t get
an invitation to be present for the officer’s meetings just yet, but I’m okay
with that.

“Hey, are
ya
coming?” Trish asks me.

“You know it,” I tell her.
 

We screech out of sight on our bikes
making our way to Missy’s house.
 
It’s
our day to ensure she makes it to school without any issue.
 
We pull up outside of the house and await her
exit from the place.

“Hey guys,” she says as she walks to
us.
 
She gets on the back of Trish’s
motorcycle and secures her helmet on her head.

“Ready?” Trish asks her.
 
She nods in response and they speed off to
the school.
 
I’m hot on their tails and
when we get there, Trish tells her that we will be back at three o’clock in the
afternoon to make sure she gets home.
 
She smiles at the idea of getting an escort back and forth to school and
I watch as she gets off of the bike and disappears inside the school.

Trish and I ride back to the Dragon’s Lair
and grab a couple of cold ones from the bar.
 
As we sit there and drink, Trish looks emotional.

“Is everything okay?” I ask her.

“Sure.
 
I’m just sitting here thinking about whether or not Sasha is ready for
what’s to come,” she tells me.

“I think that is one strong little girl,”
I tell her.
 
“She’ll be ready, I just
know it.”

“It just seems like it’s all happening so
fast,” she says.

“Yeah, but when it’s all over, it’ll be
totally worth it.”

“You are absolutely right,” she says and
we both take a long swallow of beer.

Our conversation gets cut off abruptly by
the ringing of my cell phone.
 
I take it
from my pocket and look at the caller ID.
 
It is identified as the state correctional facility.

She looks down at the caller ID and asks,
“Is that your dad calling?”

“That’s my guess,” I tell her.

“Are you going to answer it to see what he
wants?” she asks.

“Should I?” I ask her in return.

“Sure, it can’t hurt anything to see what
he wants.”

“Alright,” I cave in to her long, brown
lashes batting at me as she speaks.

“Yeah?” I say into the phone after hitting
‘accept’ to take the call.

A recording plays telling me that the call
is from the state correctional facility and the caller’s name is my dad’s voice
saying “Seth Vinton”.
 
The recording
tells me to press the number one on my keypad if I will accept the call and to
disconnect the call to decline.
 
I take
my phone away from my ear and hit the one button.
 
Static erupts on the line and it clears up
when I hear the voice on the other end.

“I have about two minutes and thirty
seconds,” my father dictates from the other end of the phone.

“I guess you’d better make it snappy,” I
tell him sarcastically.

“Uh huh,” he says and it sounds like he’s
already mad.
 

“So what’s up?” I ask, pushing him for
what he wants from me.

“I need you to testify,” he tells me.

“Oh I’m going to testify, alright,” I
reply with a willingness in my inflection.

“You will?” he asks curiously.

“Yeah, but not on your behalf,” I tell
him, slaying any thoughts of us working together for his release.

“But you’re my son; my own flesh and
blood.
 
You came from me!” he yells
angrily.

“I just can’t believe that it took you
this long to get caught for something,” I tell him triumphantly.

“I gave
you
life
and this is how you treat me?” he yells, his voice is getting raspier with
every syllable.

“Let’s pretend that you didn’t make my
life a living hell,” I say into the phone.
 
The recording interjects to let me know that he and I have one minute
left on our call.

“I didn’t know how to be a father, but I
can try now,” he pleads.

“Well you’re right about one thing.
 
You don’t know how to be a father.
 
I hope you rot in there.”

Suddenly, the line goes dead and I gather
that my father doesn’t take too kindly to rejection.

“What happened?” Trish asks.

“Can you believe that asshole thought I
would testify on his behalf?” I tell her.

“He what?” she says.

“He had the nerve to call me up just to
ask if I would act as a character witness for him!” I reiterate.

“Now that’s funny,” she says as she takes
a sip of her beer.
 
“What else?”

“He said that he didn’t know how to be a
father but that he would try now,” I relay to her.

“From where, prison?” she inquires.

I shake my head in disbelief that he and I
could ever see eye to eye, even after he gets eventually released from
prison.
 

“You’re a strong man, Rodney Vinton,” she
tells me as she curls up next to me on her stool.

“I couldn’t have any of this if it hadn’t
been for you,” I tell her in all honesty.

“Now you’re just being silly,” she jokes.

“I’m being serious,” I say, trying to
convince her of my sincerity.

“Uh huh,” she says, drawing closer and
zeroing in on my lips for a kiss.
 
Her
scent is sweet and reminds me of being in a field on a warm summer day.
 

“So, court is next month,” I tell her in
an attempt to change the subject.

“Yeah, we’ll all be ready.”

“Good, because I know my father probably
has some cash socked away for a rainy day.
 
He won’t be coming in there with a cheap or inexperienced lawyer.”

“That’s okay, because the facts on our
side,” she tells me.
 
I smile because
she’s right.
 

“You are right again, as usual,” I tell
her.

“You know what we need to do?” she says
rhetorically.

“What’s that?” I ask her.

“We need to make a schedule for each one
of our reliable members to escort Sasha back and forth to school each day.
 
That way, the workload is spread out among
all of us.”

“Trish, you’re a genius,” I tell her as I
near her face with mine.
 
I plant a kiss
on her soft lips and caress her cheek.

“I’ll come up with something and then I’ll
present it to my father,” she says as she’s obviously planning it out in her
head.

“Sounds good,” I tell her.

Hours pass and Trish comes into the club
with a bag of stuff in her hand.
 
I
finish up my fourth beer and walk over to her.

“What’s in the bag?” I inquire.

“It’s some calendars,” she tells me.

“Calendars?”

“Yeah, for Sasha’s schedule.
 
Right now, our club has a total of thirty-two
members.
 
If everyone takes a day to take
her back and forth to school, it’ll be less work for everyone.”

“Great,” I tell her with a grin on my
face.
 
“Isn’t it already past three?
 
Shouldn’t we have gone to her school to take
her home?”

“I already did that,” she says
confidently.

“
Gotcha
,” I say.

“So, we’re going to talk to my dad first
and get the okay for cleared members to do the run to Sasha’s school and then
we’re going to let everyone know to check the calendars for their days.”

“You are a double threat, Trish.”

“A double threat?
 
How so?” she asks me.

“Not only are you smart, but you’re
beautiful, too.”

“Kiss ass,” she says jokingly.

“I’d like to kiss your ass,” I tease her
with a devious grin on my face.

She slaps my chest playfully and I point
to her father’s office with a question on my face.

“Yeah, let’s see what he says.”

We walk over to Ronan’s office and she
taps on the door.

“Come in,” he barks from the other side
and I wonder how receptive he’s going to be to her idea.

“Oh it’s you guys.
 
Come on in and have a seat,” he tells us
pleasantly.

“Hi dad, I just wanted to run something by
you,” she tells him.

“What’s up, honey?”

“You know that we have a lot of members in
this club that have been vetted and we trust, right?”

His face looks like a puzzle.

“Yeah?” he asks.

“Well, I was thinking that I could split
my runs back and forth to Sasha’s school with the other members.
 
You know, to make it easier on everyone.”

He smiles and says, “I don’t see the
problem with that, just as long as it’s members that we fully trust.”

“Good, because I’ve already bought
calendars and I’m
gonna
get started on setting up the
schedules.”

“Alright, sounds perfect,” he tells her.

Trish and I both stand and he offers his
hand forward to shake hers and mine.
 
As
we walk out, I say quietly, “You’re a triple threat!”

“A triple threat?” she asks.

“Yeah, not only are you smart and
beautiful, but you’re amazingly confident.”

She flashes a giant smile at me and in my
heart, I feel like I want to be the only one she uses that smile on.

Trish takes the rest of the day to set the
schedule up and I go over it with her.

“This looks really good,” I tell her.
 
“But do you really want to have Alex Maple
take your sister back and forth to school?”

“What’s wrong with Alex Maple?” she asks
me curiously.

“Nothing, if you can overlook the fact
that he has only offered to blow up Lester Samson’s house five times.”

She laughs and I interject, “And that’s
just this month.”

We both share a laugh, but she insists
that Alex is a loyal member of the Dragons.