Sensing my interest in her, Menace glanced over to me with a smirk. “She’s a real looker, isn’t she?”
“Whatever.”
“Oh, come on, brother.” A big, mischievous smirk crossed my brother’s unshaven face, making the bristles of his day-old beard protrude from his chin. The asshole was mocking me when he said, “You gotta admit that she’s hot.”
“Focus, Menace.”
“Damn, this chick has gotten all up in your head, hasn’t she?”
“Menace,” I warned.
“Okay, okay. Back at it.”
Menace turned his attention to the task at hand, and it wasn’t long before he was able to connect the information from her Facebook page to confirm the identity of her parents, her friends, and where she worked. With that knowledge, he was able to locate her address, driver’s license, and medical history, and that was just the beginning. It wasn’t long before he had everything there was to know about her—including the fact that she’d only been living in Nashville for a couple of months. He was still focused on the screen when he asked, “You seeing something I don’t? ’Cause I’m not finding anything that could possibly connect her to the cop or the Punishers.”
“Nah, man. I don’t see anything either.”
He turned to face me as he suggested, “Maybe it’s as simple as she was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Could be, but I’ve got a feeling there’s more to it than that.”
“I hate to say it, but I do too.” Concern marked his face as he glanced back at the screen and shook his head. “I’m afraid we’ve got big trouble coming our way with all of this.”
“I don’t disagree.” I thought for a moment, then suggested, “Why don’t you dig into this Thomas Long guy? Maybe we can find a connection there.”
He nodded, then got busy typing away on his laptop. He pulled up everything there was on the guy, and from what we could tell, he’d been investigating several guys within the metro unit. Other than that, there wasn’t much on the guy. Menace shook his head as he said, “I don’t know, Shotgun. Everything from his track record with the force to his bank accounts makes it look like this guy is legit.”
“What about the restaurant they mentioned on the news? You think they’ve got any security cameras?”
“No idea, but I can look.” As he turned back to his laptop, he asked, “It was the Parlor, right?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
I waited for several minutes, hoping he’d be able to come up with something. Eventually, he looked over to me and said, “Sorry, man. Looks like someone fucked with it. No feed whatsoever from the night of the attack.”
“Fuck.”
“I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time to track down Drake and Alfonzo.”
“Agreed.”
“I’ll go talk to Prez as soon as I find their location. If I can run them down, I’ll get with Viper and check with him about bringing them in.”
“Sounds good.” I stood up and started towards the door. “While you’re doing that, I’m gonna go back and talk to Remington. See if she’s remembered anything.”
“That would be good, but yeah. Try and go easy on her.”
“This isn’t my first rodeo, brother.”
“I’m well aware, but this isn’t the kind of thing you usually deal with. This isn’t some asshole who tried to fuck with the club. You can’t torture her or threaten her like you do them. You push this girl too hard and she’s liable to freak out, and we’ll never get anything out of her.” Before I had a chance to respond, he continued, “I know this is your job and all, but considering everything that’s happened to her, I’d start with the basic stuff like who her friends are and work. And who knows? Maybe it’ll trigger something.”
“I got this, brother. Don’t worry.”
He gave me a nod, then turned his focus back to his computer. Giving him some room to work, I left his room and started down the hall. I thought about what he’d said about handling Remington, and even though I wasn’t eager to admit it, I knew he was right. I was a man who tortured and used mind manipulation to get the information I needed, but that wouldn’t work in this situation. She’d already been beaten to hell, and the last thing I wanted to do was cause her even more trauma. I needed to do my best to keep a level head, remember what she’d been through, and at the same time, get her to tell me what I needed to know. Sadly, I had no idea how the fuck I was supposed to do that. There was so much about dealing with her that had already been difficult, and something told me that this would be the hardest thing yet.
I was about to reach the infirmary when Rafe called out to me, “Yo, Shotgun. You got a minute?”
“Yeah, brother.” I stopped and turned to face him. “What’s going on?”
“I need your advice on something.” He paused for a moment, like he was second-guessing coming to me, then sighed. “I would’ve gone to Hawk, but I’m not sure he’d be much help because of Delilah and all.”
“Got no idea what you’re talking about, brother.”
“It’s about Krissy. You know, Delilah’s friend from the other night.”
“Yeah? What about her?”
“You know the other night when she came to the clubhouse?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, I guess you could say we hooked up, and we had a damn good time.”
Rafe was a good guy, often soft-hearted and an overthinker. Something I was not. I also wasn’t one to have more than a quick fix with a woman. As far as I was concerned, relationships were a no-go. I had no idea why he’d come to me for advice, especially over a female, but he had all the same. I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, so I asked, “So, what’s the problem?”
“I thought we were both on the same page but”—his brows furrowed into a grimace—“I think she’s interested in more than I bargained for. I don’t want to hurt her feelings or whatever, but damn, she’s been calling and texting like we got something going on.”
I could see Rafe was honestly concerned, and I felt a twinge of sympathy for him, but that was quickly overridden after I’d realized that I won my fifty bucks. I swallowed my smile, then said, “Just be straight with her.”
“Yeah, but Hawk’s gonna be all kinds of pissed if this chick gets pissed.”
“That’s why you don’t shit where you eat, brother.”
“You’re not wrong there.”
“What’s done is done. Tell them both what’s up and move on.”
“You’re right. I will.” His expression turned serious as he asked, “You find out any more about the girl?”
“Not much, but we’re gettin’ there. This whole thing is all kinds of fucked up.”
“I saw the news. She’s plastered all over the place.”
“I know. Seems everybody’s looking for her, and it’s not helping a damn thing.”
“Well, whoever left her for dead in our dumpster has to know the cops didn’t find her there. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re out there looking for her, too.”