Chapter Thirty-Three
James
Church started earlier than normal today, but it’s already dark when I step outside for a smoke.
The unlit cigarette dangles between my fingers, and I dig the lighter from my back pocket.
But I hesitate before lighting it, remembering Sadie’s words this morning.
She’d kissed me and commented how she preferred my taste when I haven’t recently smoked.
Those words have stopped me each time I went to light a cigarette all day, but the restless craving for nicotine is becoming stronger every hour.
I know without a smoke, the irritability will probably keep me up tonight, and now is not the time to be attempting to survive on no sleep.
Before I give in, distraction comes in the form of a Road King Special motorcycle cruising down the clubhouse driveway. It stops a few feet away and the rider tugs his helmet off.
“Ace?”
The man in question nods in greeting, his slicked back black hair barely ruffled from the helmet.
“What are you doing here?”
“Need to talk to you and T.”
“We have phones.”
The scowl is his typical expression, but it looks more severe than normal.
Or maybe the fact that he’s here, at the Saints’ clubhouse, is throwing a film of unease over the situation.
Before recent weeks, I saw this man maybe twice a year.
He works in the background. He also hates most people, with Theo being one of his only real friends.
So, showing up here, when there are at least sixteen people inside, is alarming.
“Is church over?”
I nod. “They’re finishing up right now.”
“Got somewhere private we can talk?”
“What’s going on, man?”
He just glares. Being well-versed in the look, I know he’s not going to offer an explanation.
Not yet. So, I sigh and nod, tucking the cigarettes back into my pocket.
Inside, the commotion of several people talking at once sounds more chaotic than normal.
I’m hyperaware of Ace at my back, knowing that he’s so far out of his comfort zone he might as well be in a different atmosphere.
Benny sees us first, his smile morphing into confusion as he looks first at me then Ace.
“Everything good?” Benny asks.
“Yeah. Benny, this is Actaeon. Ace, this is Benny. He’s an excellent cook.”
“Wow, is that all I am to you? A food dispenser?”
“Where’s Theo?”
Benny scans the living room, then shrugs. “He was talking to Daryus.”
Since I don’t see Daryus anywhere, my guess is they went somewhere quiet to talk. “Wait here, I’ll go find him,” I say to Ace.
He looks like he’s about to argue, but then Benny asks him if he’s the Actaeon from Actaeon’s Custodians, dragging him into a conversation he can’t instantly escape from.
Smirking at the pained look on Ace’s face, I check the back rooms first, then head out the back door.
There, leaning against the wall while Daryus smokes across from him, is Theo.
“Can you come with me, T?” I ask.
His brows lower. “Why do you look nervous?”
“He’s finally going to admit his undying love for you,” Daryus deadpans.
“Fuck off,” I say. Then to Theo, “Come on. Ace is here.”
Theo’s mouth drops open. “Ace is here? Why?”
“No idea. But he’s stuck inside with Benny, so we should go now before Luna and Raph find him.”
Unfortunately, when we get back inside, we find Luna already there, facing Ace, who looks slightly horrified.
“Because you would be the perfect undercover agent. You give sexy ‘I don’t play by the rules’ vibes. Like you’re the bad boy of the FBI,” she’s saying.
“Alright, Luna, that’s enough,” Theo says. “Ace, what’s up?”
His eyes take in the space again and the many people who could overhear us. “Can we go somewhere private?”
I’m about to suggest we head to our house but Luna offers the apartment above the garage. Theo thanks her, probably just as anxious to hear what he has to say. Once we’re alone behind closed doors, I cross my arms and lift an eyebrow, waiting for the explanation.
“We got a tap on Detective Cruz’s phone,” he says. “And access to some encrypted files kept by that dead cop, McCoy.”
“Who is ‘we’?” I ask. As far as I know, Ace doesn’t have anyone working for him who deals with the tech-side of his business. And he doesn’t hire out for jobs this sensitive.
“There’s this hacker I sometimes work with who’s the best in the business.
” Theo tenses next to me and I frown, but Ace continues, alleviating our fears.
“I wouldn’t have ever brought this to her, but I noticed her signature when trying to get into the detective’s computer.
I never knew her name before, but it didn’t take long to figure out the connection. ”
“Maple?”
He nods. “I had no idea the hacker I’ve worked with for years was a twenty-four year old girl, much less that she’s friends with June. Makes sense, though.”
“How does that make sense?” I ask. It’s far too coincidental for my comfort, but Theo doesn’t seem to care. He’s more interested in what information Ace has, not how he got it.
“Did you figure out who the C.I. is?”
“I don’t think there is a C.I.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“I think Bowie is the C.I. and that Cruz is dirty. Cruz pretends to have a C.I., but all the information he gets puts away guys Bowie wants gone. Like men in his ranks he doesn’t trust or partnerships he wants out of.
For the past couple of months, nearly all the information Cruz has received has been focused on deals happening near or in Saints’ territory.
And before that, it was all about an apparent murderer. A girl.”
Theo and I exchange a worried look. That’s June. We knew Lorry was looking into her, but if Cruz is too… We really can’t afford more dead cops on our hands.
“Don’t worry. Maple wouldn’t let anyone get too close to her.”
Mine and Theo’s eyes fling to Ace. All the tension is back in my brother’s muscles.
“Calm down, T. I told you. Your family is mine. I have your back.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Theo’s voice is low and threatening, but Ace doesn’t flinch. He holds Theo’s gaze with an almost bored expression.
“The criminal world is small, but the circle of people who deal with dead bodies? That’s even smaller,” Ace says. “I would never divulge information about past jobs, and I rarely even know who my clients are. But anyway, that’s not why I’m here.”
“It’s not?” I ask, disbelieving.
He shakes his head. “Cruz has a secret that likely would’ve prevented him from ever becoming a cop. When he was in college, he briefly had a stepmother. She and his dad were only married for a few years before they divorced when she got pregnant.”
“What a gentleman,” I mutter.
“The baby wasn’t his. It was the kid of a local gang member. Jaime Silva.”
My mouth parts in shock. Theo says, “Bowie’s uncle?”
“Yeah. The baby is Leticia.”
“Holy shit.” I glance at Theo, who shares my surprised expression.
“The connection to such a notorious crime family, however distant, would’ve kept Cruz from becoming a cop. I’m not sure when he and Bowie connected, but I’d bet anything it was around the time he made detective about eight and a half years ago. The same time that Cruz’s stepmother died.”
“What happened?” Theo asks.
“I’m not completely sure,” Ace admits. “Maple managed to get the report from the cop’s old database.
It’s oddly short with few details. Sounds like it was an attempted robbery of one of the Fivers’ stash houses.
The stepmom was shot several times. Cops wrote it off as a drug deal gone wrong, but Detective Cruz tried pinning the whole thing on someone named Cole Maddox. ”
“Wrench?” I say, using the name I knew him as. “He was the club’s VP before me. One of my dad’s best friends.”
“Yeah, the Saints of Purgatory were mentioned a few times in the report, but only Cruz seemed certain your group had anything to do with that.”
“Wait, I think I remember that,” Theo says. He looks at me. “Wasn’t that after Wrench’s ol' lady died?”
“Yeah, she OD’d. Wrench and Dad blamed the Fivers for selling her the drugs in our territory, since she’d been cut off from our supply. That raid probably was them.” Then to Theo, I ask, “Didn’t we help kidnap the Fiver to get information about the seller?”
Theo nods. “Scottie seduced one of their higher members to get him alone, then you and I grabbed him.”
The memory returns then. Scottie rarely got involved with Saints business, especially after having Shiloh, but she’d been feeling restless, and Dad was eager to get revenge on Wrench’s behalf as soon as possible, so he let her help.
After all, Scottie seducing a guy was a lot faster and less bloody than our way would’ve been.
“We didn’t go with them on the actual raid,” I tell Ace. “They also never talked about it after.”
“Probably because it ended with seven deaths, two of which were women and one was a young boy who’d been living with Bowie at the time.”
I inwardly recoil from the news. Dad never told me that. The Saints aren’t known for our pristine morals, but we make it a point to never involve children. Women are also typically off limits. They weren’t even allowed to join the club until Theo took over.
“Well, shit,” I mutter.
We’re all quiet, until Ace clears his throat.
The trepidation returns, and he takes a step back before speaking again.
“Earlier today, Maple sent me a recording of one of Cruz’s phone calls.
He didn’t use any names, but he was clearly talking to Bowie.
Bowie told him he better find a way to put away that ‘purgatory trash leader’ or he’d have to take matters into his own hands. ”
“It’s not surprising to hear he wants to kill us,” Theo says.
Ace shakes his head. “Cruz told him to be careful, because he won’t cover for him again if he hurts someone innocent. Bowie laughed, said no one willingly aligning themselves with you guys is innocent, especially your… whores.”
“We know he’s out for June too.”
“He mentioned the whore who tried to trick him, some girl he just had dinner with.”
Iciness trickles down my back. From Ace’s look, he knows exactly who Bowie was talking about. “Sadie?”
He nods.
So, she didn’t manage to convince Bowie of her innocence after all. Or if she did, he doesn’t care.
“He said it wouldn’t be the first time you’d let your girls take the punishment for your actions. Cruz sounded really upset about that, kept saying he wouldn’t cover for him again. That drug dealers and bikers are one thing, but he won’t help Bowie get away with hurting an innocent again.”
“Again? What is he talking about?” Theo asks.
But the pieces are starting to fit together in my own head. I can’t see the final picture, though the coldness continues spreading through my extremities, numbing me of any other thought or emotion.
Words from Arlo, Sadie, and Ace play on a loop in my head, drawing connections I don’t want to make.
“Who cares what the truth is, right? As long as you Saints get the revenge you want.”
“He also said that you went after children first and told me to remind you what happens when you try to attack him. He insinuated that none of you will care about me and would gladly let me die.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time you’d let your girls take the punishment for your actions.”
But no… there’s no way. Not even Bowie would stoop that low.
Right?
This is just because Theo and I talked about her this morning. Her killer was caught. Murdered in prison. We made sure of that.
Except it never made sense, did it?
It was broad daylight. And out of everyone, why would he pick her?
He always insisted on his innocence. Which wouldn’t have been weird if he hadn’t admitted to several other assaults.
His other victims had been at least five years older than her.
Predators like that have an age preference they rarely deviate from.
But the DNA was there to convict him, so it had to be him.
Unless he really was innocent.
Unless it wasn’t a random attack.
Unless it was a completely targeted move for revenge.
And a detective could’ve helped make sure a patsy took the fall.
But we would’ve had to have known the truth for the revenge to mean anything.
Memories of Dad’s rapidly devolving mental state play in my mind.
Of course he was depressed, but there was more.
I remember one night, I arrived at his house to find him nearly blackout drunk.
He kept saying it was his fault, and I just told him no, it wasn’t.
Secretly, I was blaming myself. But he was adamant that it was his fault. That she was gone because of him.
After that, we never crossed the South Five. I didn’t think much about it because we had a truce with them, but Dad went out of the way to respect their territory up until he left the state.
He left the state and never returned.
“James?”
Theo’s voice penetrates the invasion of realizations and memories.
It’s a puncture that allows me to feel my body again, as if I’d retreated so far into my mind I forgot I had a physical form.
Only then do I register how tight my chest is and how my lungs are burning.
When is the last time I took a full breath?
I gasp, sucking one in, and suddenly feel dizzy. I reach out for something to grab, and then Theo is there, holding me.
“James? What’s going on?”
With a struggle, I manage to get my eyes to focus on him. Bone-deep sympathy replaces the panic.
This could break him.
I could lose him.
But I won’t keep this from him. I won’t lie. And I won’t leave. I’ll be here.
This time, I’ll be here.
“Shiloh,” I say. At the sound of her name, his hold on me loosens. “The last time Cruz helped Bowie get away with hurting an innocent. The last time one of our girls was punished for the Saints’ actions. It was Shiloh. Theo… the South Five killed Shiloh.”