Chapter 15 #2
Did she have to remind him of the arrest? I got that it was her way of exerting some control over the situation, sending a message that Dad wouldn’t intimidate her either. But she risked pissing him off. He was tight-lipped about this whole thing enough as it was.
Christ. I was going to end up playing mediator between the guys and Bryce.
“Let’s talk inside.” I waved everyone into the garage.
We all assumed places in the garage. Leo and Emmett both hopped up onto a tool bench. I stood against a wall. Dad stood in the center of the room, his legs planted wide and arms over his chest.
And Bryce, to torture me, went and leaned against the Mustang.
“How much does she know?” Dad asked, staring right at Bryce.
“Enough to bury you if you betray me,” she answered.
“Enough that she knows the risks involved,” I corrected. “We have an arrangement. It’s between me and her. And not the point of this meet.”
“She’s an outsider. And not part of—”
I held up a hand, silencing Leo’s protest. “It’s done.”
The garage went still. Bryce looked around the room, waiting to see if anyone would object.
But Leo’s would be the last. At least, the last objection while she was in the room.
Emmett would corner me later and voice his concerns.
Dad wouldn’t object; he knew it was too late.
His criticism would only come if I’d made a mistake and we were dealing with the fallout of Bryce writing a story that condemned us all.
“Emmett and Leo”—I looked to them— “any word around town about who might have it out for Dad?”
Both shook their heads as Emmett spoke up. “There’s nothing. Not a hint. I even met with a couple of old members who’d gone to the Warriors. They could be lying, but I don’t think it’s them.”
“That goes with the story they gave us when we met with them and Tucker.”
“It’s quiet because everyone thinks Draven did it,” Leo said.
My gaze met Bryce’s, silently reinforcing my message. He didn’t kill her. “Listen. Yesterday, Bryce and I went to—”
“How long were you sleeping with Amina?” Bryce fired the question at Dad.
“Jesus Christ,” I mumbled. So much for giving Dad a little background about our trip yesterday before springing it on him.
“I spent the night with her,” Dad answered, the tension in the garage spiking. “Though, you already knew that.”
“Not the night before she was killed.” Bryce shook her head. “Before. How many times did you go visit her?”
His eyebrows came together. “Visit her?”
“We went to her house in Bozeman yesterday,” I explained. “Looked around. Her neighbor said she had a guy about my height and your age visit every few weekends. Was it you?”
“No. The first time I saw Amina in over twenty years was the day she came here.”
“Why’d she come?” Bryce asked. “Did she tell you?”
“Said she wanted to visit. See how things had changed. Called me here at the garage and asked if I’d meet with her for a drink. I told her I’d pick her up from her room. Got there. We started talking. Never had that drink.”
I looked to Bryce. “That means there is a boyfriend out there. Maybe one who’d get jealous and kill her after he left.”
“Crime of passion makes sense,” Emmett said. “Given the number of times she was stabbed. But how’d he get your knife, Draven?”
“Hell if I know. I haven’t been hunting in years. I can’t even remember where I kept it. Somewhere at home, probably.”
“A boyfriend wouldn’t have known that.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Or who you were to go and steal it. No boyfriend acting in a jealous rage would take the time to set you up.”
“Unless.” Bryce began swaying, shifting her weight from foot to foot as a crease formed between her eyebrows.
“What if Amina was dating someone from Clifton Forge? Maybe she had come back here. Maybe she’d lied about not being here for decades.
If her boyfriend was from town, it would be plausible he could have set you up. Especially if he knew you, Draven.”
“She didn’t lie,” Dad said. “Amina had no reason to deceive me.”
“But what if she was part of the setup?” Bryce countered, talking with her hands moving.
“Maybe she and this boyfriend came to town. She called you to the motel while he went to your place to steal your knife. Except something goes wrong. Maybe they’d planned to plant the knife at another crime.
But he comes back to the motel and gets enraged that you two had sex. Kills her. Frames you.”
It was possible. Thin, but possible.
“Amina wasn’t out to get me,” Dad insisted. “She . . . she wasn’t like that.”
“You said there was history, Dad. Are you sure she wouldn’t want to see you in prison?”
“I’m sure.”
“How can—”
“Kingston.” One word and there was no room for argument. “I’m sure. Someone set me up to take the fall for murdering an innocent woman. She just wanted to visit a town she hadn’t been in for years. And to see me, an old friend from high school. That’s it.”
Bryce opened her mouth but took one look at my gaze and clamped it shut again. There would be no debating this with Dad. She didn’t know him well enough to hear the conviction in his voice.
“So where are we?” Emmett asked, taking his hair in his hands to tie it up.
“We’re in the same place we were.” Dad sighed. “Whoever did this has me dead to rights. The cops know I was there. They have my fingerprints on my weapon. There’s nothing we can do but wait and hope someone gets stupid and starts talking.”
“That’s not happening.” I fisted my hands. “No one is talking. Whoever did this is patient. Really fucking patient. They’ve made no move against the rest of us.”
“They probably won’t,” Emmett said. “At least not yet. They’re waiting to see what happens with Draven.”
“Exactly,” Leo muttered. “Meanwhile, we’re stuck. And we all gotta keep looking over our shoulders until we can make some headway.”
“Or,” Bryce said quietly, “we use the one lead we have. We make sure this boyfriend didn’t start dating Amina to get to Draven. If the killer knew there was a connection between Draven and Amina, he could have been playing her from the beginning.”
“Agreed,” I said. “We need to track this guy down.”
“How?” Leo asked.
“We could ask her daughter,” Bryce suggested.
“No.” Dad’s bark echoed off the walls.
“Why not?” I pushed off the wall. Was Dad really that set on life in prison? “She might know who her mother was seeing.”
“No.” He pointed at my face. “The daughter is off-limits. She just lost her mother. She doesn’t need to be bothered by a goddamn reporter and the son of the man who is suspected of killing her mom. Leave her alone. That’s an order.”
It had been a long time since he’d issued an order. Not since the days when he’d worn the president patch for the Kings rather than me.
“Am I understood?” Dad asked Emmett and Leo.
“Understood,” they answered in unison.
Dad looked to me, his gaze hard and unwavering. “Dash?”
Fuck. Bryce was seething but I was pinned in the corner. I wouldn’t go against Dad. Not when he’d gone this far to make his point. “Understood.”
“We’re with you, Prez,” Emmett said as Leo’s head bobbed in agreement.
“Good,” Dad said. “And that goes for her too. She bothers the daughter, I’ll see to it that she’ll never write another story again. Hard to write when you’re missing your hands.”
Hell. Did he have to keep making it worse? That was over the top. If his intent was to scare Bryce, he had failed. She was livid. I could feel the heat of her anger from across the room. She’d probably melt the paint on the Mustang.
But I didn’t say a word as Dad marched out the door.
“Guess this meeting is over.” Leo hopped down from the bench as Dad rode away from the garage. He jerked his chin up at Bryce as he walked backward toward his bike. “Change your mind about that ride—”
“I’ll call Dash.”
Leo looked between us, realization dawning, then laughed. “Ah. Good luck, brother.”
Emmett followed him out, waving as he walked to his bike. “I’ll keep an ear open.”
“Do that,” I said. “Have a good weekend.”
“I will.” He grinned. “Think I might need another coffee.”
When the noise from their bikes was gone and the garage was quiet, I turned to Bryce.
“He threatened me.”
“Yes, he did.”
She lifted her chin. “Will you take his side?”
My immediate response was yes. I’d always support Dad and he’d made it clear where he stood. But if it came down to that, to hurting her, I knew the answer was no. “No. But it doesn’t matter because you’re not going to bother the daughter. You’re more compassionate than that.”
“We have to talk to the daughter,” she said immediately. “Maybe the boyfriend is nothing, but it’s the only new information we have.”
“Dad has a point. She just lost her mother. If she’s living in Denver, the chances that she even knows her mom’s weekend hookup are small anyway. It’s not worth stirring up a bunch of hurt.”
“Even if it means your dad spends the rest of his life in prison? Do you still think he’s innocent after threatening to cut. Off. My. Hands?”
I raked a hand through my hair. “He wouldn’t do it.” Maybe he would have years ago, but not now. “He’s just trying to scare you. And yes, he’s innocent. If he wants to spend his life in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, then I guess that’s the reality of the situation.”
“It doesn’t have to be.”
No, it didn’t. Why won’t Dad fight? What is he hiding?
Draven Slater’s secrets were going to land him in the state penitentiary for the rest of his life. Son of a bitch. I clenched my teeth, resisting the urge to pick up a wrench and throw it across the shop. Why was he backing down? That wasn’t like him.
And why should I fight for his freedom when he wasn’t fighting himself?
“Don’t know what to do here, babe,” I confessed, shaking my head.
“I’m pissed, for sure. But Dad’s right. I honestly don’t think the daughter is going to give us any information.
And I’m at a dead end until Dad decides how hard he wants to push.
All I can do is respect my father’s wishes while defending him because I know he’s innocent.
What would you do if it was your father? ”
“I don’t know.” Bryce’s anger vanished. Her voice softened.
She crossed the room and put her delicate hand on my arm.
“We both want the truth, but I have a story. I can print exactly what happens with his trial. With his conviction. We both know it will come down to that. And I can accept that he’s the killer.
That justice is served. I can accept that as the truth. Can you?”
“He’s my dad,” I whispered. “It’s his choice.”
“Okay. Then I guess we’re done here.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
She dropped her hand and stepped away. “See you around, King.”
“Take care, Bryce.” My heart twisted. I was losing on both sides. Emmett had gotten one thing right: she was more than just under my skin. She was in there. Deeper than I wanted to admit to myself.
Her heels clipped on the floor as she made her way outside. But before disappearing, she paused and looked over her shoulder. “How about dinner, one last time?”
One last time.
“I’ll bring the beer.”