Twenty-One
Waiting for Craig to call wasn't going to get anything done. She knew that, but he hadn't told Erin near enough to track him down. She slipped into the old Jeep. The only connections she could make were that bike and that biker bar. Well, looking for a single motorcycle in a city this size wasn't going to turn into anything. Not for someone working off the books.
The only other option was tracking down the biker bar. She turned the key and got driving. She hadn't payed close attention to the route Hutchinson had taken when he took her there, but that didn't change anything. She knew how to get to the interstate. From there, it wasn't too hard to figure what came next.
She pulled in, gave the bikes a slow drive-by. Maybe Craig was there, she thought, but his bike wasn't. No matter. She pulled in. If he wasn't, then maybe someone else was. Someone else who she needed to get to know.
She caught a few funny looks as she came through the door. The sort of looks that should have told her exactly why she didn't belong there, but she'd been there with Craig already. For that matter, whether she had or not, it didn't matter, because she wasn't going to leave. Not when two women were already dead, and a third would be joining her any day now.
They had been slowly accelerating things for the past four years. Would it be two this time? Or did they have three lined up? More?
She took a breath and waited for the guy to bring her the beer and the fries. He did. Still piping hot, still piled far too high for any rational person, which was just high enough for a place like this.
Then she started looking from face to face, person to person. A smile crossed her face when she saw the face she was looking for. Plain-looking except for his broad nose that looked like it was an art deco attempt at a flattish face.
She took a couple fries and ate one as she walked up to the billiards table.
"Hey, I know you."
The guy turned and raised an eyebrow. "Well I don't know you, so buzz off."
"No, I definitely know you. You were here yesterday, right? You talked to Craig."
"You're—" he stiffened a little. "Look, I don't want any trouble, okay? Just go on, leave. I'm not looking for anything."
"Well maybe I am, you think about that?"
"It ain't going to happen, chickie. That man would kill me if he even saw me talkin' to you."
"Really, that much, huh?"
"So you need to buzz off, and you need to buzz off quick before one of the Angels see me, you feel me?"
"Angels?"
"Who the fuck are you? Some kind of reporter or something? Digging for a story? You a cop?"
"Just looking to find out who I've been seeing."
"Well why don't you ask him, then, and get the hell out of here?"
"You and I both know he won't tell it to me straight. You come over here, have a beer with me—" The guy on the other side of the table sent the cue ball into the side pocket, and now it was flat-nose's turn.
"I wish I could help you, alright? But I can't."
"You at least got a name?"
"Why?"
"Just in case Craig asks who I've been talkin' to."
"Fuck you."
"I just don't want to keep calling you 'hey you,' if we run into each other."
"I already said I wasn't going to tell you. Ain't gonna get myself into trouble giving out my name."
The guy across the table, leaning on his cue and waiting for flat-nose to make his shot spoke up. "His name's Ryan. Satisfied? Now take your fuckin' shot, asshole."
The way that flat-nose's face twisted up in annoyance told her that she hadn't just been played, unless they'd rehearsed it. He gave the tall guy a look and then started to line up his shot. He sent the nine into the corner pocket and Erin left them to play. She had to finish these fries before they got cold.
The ride home was longer than she would have liked, with too many questions to answer. Either they were better actors than she thought, or she'd gotten his real name. None of the names from the dating sites were 'Ryan,' so it was something new to go on.
She put her foot down harder. Speed limits were mostly a suggestion, this far out, anyways. Just don't go too far over. She whipped past something on the side of the road and immediately regretted it.
A motorcycle. A very familiar motorcycle, in fact. She swerved over four lanes and pulled off to the side of the road a ways up, trying to put her Jeep where nobody would pay it special attention, and then she got out the passenger side. No reason to risk getting hit by a damn car for this.
Then she went back. That was Craig's bike, no doubt about it. She thought for a minute before she kept going. This was a dangerous road she was headed out on, and no mistake. The man was dangerous and now, if she was lucky, she was finally about to find something out about him without his express permission.
The bike seemed abandoned, initially. Nobody would pull off to the side of the road like this. It looked fine from the outside. Two full tires, and she didn't figure him for the kind of guy who ran out of gas on the side of the road.
There was a place nearby where the trees spread just about enough for someone to go on through, and the grass kinked down where someone had stepped through, more than just once. She sucked in a breath and hoped to hell that she hadn't come at just the wrong time.
It was a tight squeeze, but it would have been tighter for Craig and he made it through. She stepped on through and found herself facing another path. It widened enough that she didn't have to go through sideways, which was a blessing all by itself.
Erin kept herself low. Any minute now, someone could come around the bend in the path, and the wall of trees were just a bit too thick to duck off to the side and try to let them slip by. If you were going to have someplace you didn't want people going, then there were worse ways to separate it from the street.
She heard the voices before she was close enough to know what they were saying. They weren't making any effort to speak in hushed tones, though, that was sure enough.
The path started up a hill, and around the base of the hill the trees started to spread out. She stepped off and went tree-to-tree. The way she'd hoped to have done it before, but there wasn't much opportunity up until now.
She peeked over the ridge-line of the hill and saw a dozen-odd men, most of them heavily tattooed, and not a one of them weighing less than two hundred pounds. Most looked like they could crush a baseball in one hand, and might do it if you disrespected their momma.
"My brother's none of your concern, Lee."
"Well, I just don't want to walk into nothin'."
"I ain't gonna compromise this club just for some family shit, you know that. I got that cop on the line specifically so I could get that monkey off our back. You got me?"