The vet recommends an X-ray to check for internal injuries. Ember agrees immediately. I notice she never once asks how expensive any of this is going to be. All she wants is for Bert to be okay. I’m pretty sure she’d pay for anything that will make sure of that.
We wait until the X-rays are done and Bert’s leg is set. The vet says he’s got some bruising and swelling around the abdomen, but she doesn’t see any evidence of internal injuries. Ember starts to cry with relief.
“Can we take him home?” she asks weepily as she clings to me.
“I think it’s best if we keep him overnight, just to make sure he’s fine,” the vet replies. “He’ll get good rest here. We can monitor him for any problems.”
Ember agrees. We make arrangements to come pick him up tomorrow — well, later on today — in the afternoon. The vet lets us go into the back to say goodbye to Bert, and Ember clings to him and whispers some stuff in his ear before planting a long, soft kiss on his forehead.
“Get some sleep, Bert,” I tell him gruffly, clearing my throat. I give him a scratch behind the ear. “We’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” His tail thumps slowly in response.
By the time I lead Ember out of the animal hospital, it’s after two in the morning. I’m fucking exhausted, and she must be, too, especially given how much she’s been crying in the last hour. I think about taking her back to her place, but I want her to get some rest and not be faced with her trashed house. So instead, I decide to take her to mine.
I’d be embarrassed by what a shit-hole the place is, but it’s late as hell, and anyway, Ember’s too tired and upset to notice much. I take her hand and she trudges behind me to my bedroom, where we both fall onto the mattress. Wordlessly, she curls toward me. I take her in my arms.
“If Bert had died because of me…” she sniffles into my shoulder, but she can’t finish.
Silently, I swear to myself the people who did this will pay for it.
I kiss the top of Ember’s head. “If you wanted to quit Cady’s case after this, I’m sure she’d understand.”
“No. I won’t do that to them. But…” She pulls in a ragged breath. “I am scared. What would they have done to me if they found me there, Striker?”
“If you had been there, I would have been there, babe.” My chest tightens with determination. “No one will hurt you, you hear me?” I say fiercely. “No one. And don’t worry. I’m gonna take care of this.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Don’t worry about that, okay?” I plant a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Right now, let’s get some sleep.”
In the morning, while Ember’s in my bathroom taking a shower, I call Tank and tell him what happened.
“Shit,” Tanks spits. “How’s she doing?”
“Shaken up. We’re at my place.”
“Fuck, I shoulda told you this, but Cady got another call from her family. Her stepdad this time, tryin’ to threaten her into coming home and dropping the divorce. Cady told him to pound sand.”
I listen to make sure the water’s still running. “But no one has physically threatened her, or trashed your place?”
“No, nothin’ like that. But now I’m starting to think that might be coming.”
“Yeah. This is fucked up. I think we ought to talk to Angel about sending some of the club to have a little talk to those fuckers. Show them we mean business.”
“I agree.” Tank clears his throat. I wonder if Cady’s close by. “You wanna meet me at the clubhouse to do that today?”
“I got some shit to do. Why don’t you talk to Angel? If he’s good with it, set it up and let me know the details.”
“Will do, brother. Stay safe.”
“Always.”
After I hang up with Tank, I call Jude and tell him to head over to Ember’s place with one of the other prospects to clean shit up, so she doesn’t have to deal with it.
“Make sure to keep an eye out for anything strange,” I tell him. “Anything they might have left behind, anything they might have used to send a message. If you find anything, I want you to tell me, not Ember. She doesn’t need to worry any more than she already is.”
By now, the shower’s off in the bathroom. Ember comes into the living room as I’m hanging up with Jude. She’s dressed in the same clothes as yesterday, her hair still wrapped in a towel.
“I just got a call from Tweak,” she tells me, waving her own cell in the air. “He gave me an address where he thinks Jess is. According to his source, she was there as of last night.”
I stand up from the couch. “We shouldn’t waste any time, then. Fuck only knows how long she’ll stick around.”
“I agree.” Ember takes the towel off, starts drying her hair with it. “I’m going to call Margot and tell her I won’t be in the office today. Let’s go see Jess.”
“You sure you’re okay to do this right now?”
Ember’s jaw sets into a hard line as she pulls a hair tie from her wrist and gathers her brown mane into a high ponytail. “I am. At least this is something I can do. And hopefully it will keep my mind off Bert.”
30
Striker
The house where we find Jess is a boarded-up shack, in a shitty area of inner east Dayton. When Ember told me where it was, I tried to get her to let me go in alone, but she insisted on coming and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Now, as I look over at her, I wonder if she’s having second thoughts. This place seems like a trap house. I’m glad for the weight of my pistol in its belt holster under my cut.
I park the car across the street and down the block, in front of a convenience store with bars on the windows. Ember walks close beside me as we approach the house and bang loudly on the front door. There’s some shouting inside, and then an emaciated dude with leather-like skin, coiled salt and pepper hair, and a stained wife-beater appears behind the broken screen door.
“Watchu want?” he asks.
“We’re looking for Jess Anderle.”
At his scowl of confusion, I try again. “Pretty, young, long light-blond hair, kinda fried-looking.”
His brow wrinkles. I can’t tell if he’s thinking, or just pretending to.
“You cops?”
I snort. “No. The opposite.”
He narrows his eyes at me, then turns and walks back into the house. I hear him yell something.
“You think she’s here?” Ember asks me.
“Maybe. That guy didn’t say she wasn’t.”
“How long do we wait?”
“We’ll see. We’ll play it by ear.”
“I’m nervous about this,” Ember whispers.
“It’s okay. If they were gonna shoot us, they would have done it already. That guy’s too messed up to be a threat.”
We wait for three minutes, four minutes. I start to think about whether I should have Ember go wait in the car and go inside by myself. I turn to say something to her, but just then a shadow moves inside the house.