Chapter 11
The next day, when everyone was working off their hangovers, Roarke and Hanna called them together in the bar, first thing in the morning. They weren’t exactly thrilled about it and Amber put together an entire pitcher of Bloody Marys and greasy food from Dunkin Donuts that was practically demolished in the first seconds the groups began arriving.
“Alright, what do we have that couldn’t wait until at least noon?” Rick asked, mouth have full of a donut and guzzling some coffee he brought.
“Long story short—and no there is no time for questions—we think Isabelle is in with Isiah Clark,” Hanna said.
“Well that was obvious,” Rick said.
“She’s pregnant. Was pregnant. She had a kid,” Roarke said. “At least we’re pretty sure she is. We don’t know that Isiah is the father, but I’m willing to bet he is.”
“Wait, you know that for a fact?” James asked, stepping forward.
He was still weak, though he was far more bushy eyed than anyone else around him. But he was in sheriff mode, quizzical, skeptical.
“The evidence is circumstantial, I’ll be the first to admit that,” Hanna said. “But it also checks out against her character profile. It’s the only thing that really seems to string all her actions together thus far.”
James started stroking his chin, thinking. He made her pass tests like this as a kid, trying to convince him of her theories, the evidence trail she was following. Then had it had been a fun game, now she desperately needed him to believe her. They’d never convince the rest of the group to go after the Caracals in force, against Isiah personally, unless they were absolutely certain. They’d lost several men already fighting Roarke’s battles for him against his sister. They couldn’t ask them to do it another time with certainty.
“This is fucked,” Rick said.
“Clark has that huge rancher on the edge of town,” Roarke said. “He’s had gang members patrolling it nonstop for months now.”
“Yeah, because has a fuck-ton of money invested in a lot of drugs and guns there, we’ve been through this,” Rick said.
“Why would he store goods at his own house?” Hanna asked. “Wouldn’t they use the same warehouse where they were hiding the girls?”
“That is a point worth examining,” James said.
“He’s got something personal there that wasn’t there before,” Roarke said. “Isabelle and a baby?”
It wasn’t enough convincing to make this a foregone conclusion. But they put doubt in everyone’s minds. There was a very real possibility that this is what was going on, the answer to what they were trying to figure out. They very nearly reached a conclusion. Would it be worth the risk to figure it out? Try to shut all this down?
And, if it was true, they were talking about more family. Isabelle’s child would be Roarke’s niece or nephew. He’d be the uncle to the child of the Caracal leader. That had to burn at him in a way nothing else did. Isabelle truly did get her revenge where that was concerned. Hanna had to hand her that one for the ingenuity. She wanted to believe that Isabelle might truly care for this man, for the baby. And maybe she did. Maybe she fell in love in an unexpected place as well and was trying to make the best of it for the baby who was about to enter an unstable world.
But it was coincidental that it just happened to be the Caracal leader who was the father of her child. With her it seemed impossible to tell what was genuine, what was real, and what was all part of a larger game that only she seemed to know the rules of.
She was gambling with the life of a child who didn’t ask to be born and who would depend on her its entire life. She prayed that Isabelle understood that and didn’t bring that child into the world lightly.
They adjourned. Anyone who was willing to help was going to meet again at dawn the next day. Roarke promised there would be no punishment for anyone who didn’t want to get involved, who would rather stay out. The problem of course, with gangs, was that family matters concerned everyone. This wasn’t just about one member having a squabble with a sibling. This was about the gang itself being threatened by someone they once considered a friend.
They would see how many were ready to take on that revenge.