Chapter 25 Knox
KNOX
I let the woman into my apartment and watched her carefully.
What the fuck was Rex’s sister doing here?
If my club knew anyone connected to The Black Saddles was in my fuckin’ apartment, they’d have a damn field day.
She stood at my door and watched me as I crossed through my place, then I looked back and studied her.
“You come to the wrong place if you want me to offer you something,” I said.
“So I’m going to stand here at the door like an idiot?” Everly asked.
“You’re gonna do whatever the hell you wanna do. Sit. Stand. Get a damn drink. You’re a grown girl. You can move.”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. Like I’d insulted her somehow. I pulled a couple of beers out of the fridge then made my way to where she was sitting. I offered her one and she shook her head, her body perched on the edge of my couch.
“Fine. More for me,” I said.
“I can’t keep secrets for my brother any longer,” Everly said. “It’s all… a bit too much.”
“What secrets?” I asked.
“Look, The Black Saddles don’t operate well.
They bring in anyone they want to and frequently put their families in danger.
I’ve been out and about in Redding and some guy will come up and flirt with me, then all of a sudden some asshole wearing a Black Saddles jacket will put his arm around me and claim me as his.
They’ll scare men off in a heartbeat. I haven’t been on a reasonable date in years. ”
“Not my problem,” I said.
“The Black Saddles are puny, at best. My brother thinks he’s tough stuff, but he’s got no idea. I can’t blame him. We were raised in a rough house. My mother left us with our drunk father and we frequently had to fend for ourselves.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Doesn’t matter. It doesn’t excuse what he’s done,” she said.
“How did you find me?” I asked.
“I overheard your name at one of their infamous campfires. I swear they’re gonna burn down the whole damn town someday.
But some of his crew or gang buddies or whatever were talking and your name came up pretty frequently.
A few online searches and a couple of newspaper articles later, and here I am. ”
“My information’s in news articles,” I said.
“It took me a few shots before I found you. Not like your address is out there for the public. But I finally found you and that was the point,” she said.
I studied the woman as she slowly slid back onto my couch.
She was as opposite from Rex as they came.
Her honey blonde hair was wrapped in a perfect twist on top of her head.
Hair sprayed and gelled down so not a flyaway was out of place.
Her long legs peeked out from underneath a perfectly-ironed skirt, and her shirt was smoothed down so no wrinkles were showing as she sat.
Her nails were perfectly groomed and her makeup looked like it had been applied with an industrial ruler.
I could only imagine the childhood she had that made her the way she was.
“Whatcha got for me?” I asked.
“Blaze’s death was a set up,” Everly said.
“I already know that,” I said. “Went to prison for it.”
“I know who framed you for it,” she said.
That phrase caught my attention. The woman’s hazel eyes connected with mine and I gave her a decent once over.
Could I trust this woman? Her and the words she was spewing?
Was she sent as some decoy to throw me off whatever trail my guys and I were on?
Finding me through some internet searches and news articles seemed pretty far-fetched.
But it wasn’t like I hid where I lived. I just didn’t know a lot of people who came over to shoot the shit.
Except Monroe.
And possibly Diesel.
“I know you don’t know if you can trust me, and that’s fine. Doesn’t change the information I have for you, though,” Everly said.
“So you’re sitting on a rival club’s couch looking at the man you know got framed and you’re about to roll over on your club?”
“Not my club. I don’t belong to The Black Saddles. I’m just related to an idiot in the group. I’ve got no passion to belong to it or know what they do with their lives or anything like that.”
“But you hang out with them,” I said.
“When I think my brother’s about to do something stupid, sure. It’s what I’ve always done. Tried to keep him out of trouble and deal with our mother leaving for years,” she said. “But he didn’t listen to me that night.”
“You were there?”
“I was. Sitting on a log bench off in the corner. They knew you guys were coming. I don’t know how, but they did.
They kept talking about how a guy named Diesel.
or something would probably send a guy named Knox.
Possibly with some other guys. I kept telling my brother to shut up and pay attention to the fire, but all he did was kick rocks at me. ”
“He kicked rocks at you.”
“He’s an idiot. Trust me.”
“What happened next?” I asked.
“I didn’t understand exactly what was going on.
I had no idea why they were excited about you guys coming, but they were.
We heard you guys coming through the woods and the closer you guys got the further they pushed us into the forest. Said they didn’t want us being seen with what was about to happen next. ”
“Are you saying your brother pinned this on me?” I asked.
“He did. The confrontation between you and Blaze happened, some of the guys in the back started talking. About how they could use that confrontation as leverage. When Blaze started beating up on you-”
I watched Everly pause as she gathered herself.
She turned her face away from me and looking out the window.
I studied her, waiting for her to gather herself.
I could see tears glistening in her eyes and I saw the hurt roll over her face.
Her hands started twirling up in her shirt and her leg started jiggling.
I drained the rest of my beer and waited for her to collect herself.
“Rex came running back to the edge of the woods where we were and said we needed to leave. The couple of other girls there turned to leave, but I was still trying to get to Rex. His guys were holding me back, trying to get me to run with the rest of them. Like the fucking cowards they really are.”
“Guess we agree on something,” I said.
“I saw Rex stab Blaze. When you hopped back up and knocked him to the ground, Rex was tiptoeing around the edge of the forest. Watching and just… waiting. Like some psychopath. I saw a guy grab you off him and once you guys disappeared Rex emerged. Slid a knife right into Blaze’s back.
He just… stabbed him like it was nothing. In the fucking back.”
Her entire body was shaking as a tear streaked across her cheek.
It took her makeup with it and it made her look even more tired than she already was.
She was probably suffering from nightmares, watching all that shit go down.
That was why our club kept family away from all this shit.
They couldn’t handle the lives we lived, and that wasn’t a fault of their own.
It meant they were pure and good. Filled with light and love.
That didn’t deserve to be tainted with the things she was talking about.
“Rex killed Blaze. I saw it,” Everly said.
“And I was shocked. Because I never thought my brother would kill one of his own. The guys started to panic and Blaze was choking on his own blood. He kept saying ‘we’ll pin it on him. We’ll pin it on him.
I had no idea what he was talking about until he came home one day.
Pissed that you had been let out of jail.
Had I known you were in jail, I would’ve come forward sooner.
I was just… trying to forget everything and move on. Distance myself from Rex altogether.”
“Why would your brother wanna frame me?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He was always bitching like a child about how Redding was getting too crowded with people he didn’t like. As if he fucking owned the damn place. My brother’s always been too territorial for his own good. Even if the territory isn’t his in the first place.”
“Did he want to pin the murder on me? Or on my club?” I asked.
“I think just you. But I really wouldn’t put the latter past him.
He always takes on more than he can chew, then pawns it off like it was someone else’s bad idea if it goes south.
My brother is the epitome of what a coward tries to do to act like a man.
My father was so drunk out of his mind most of the time that he didn’t know which way was up or where his own bedroom was.
My brother had no male role model growing up, but a shitty childhood doesn’t excuse being a shitty adult. ”
“Truer words were never said. But you know I gotta take this to my club, right? And they’re gonna wanna know where I got the information,” I said.
“I figured,” she said with a sigh.
“If I can get outta telling them who told me, I will. But if I can’t, we can protect you. It’s part of what we do.”
“I would say it’s not necessary, but with what I watched my brother do I’m not so sure,” she said.
“Gimme your number so we can stay in touch. I’ll let you know if my club wants to know where I got my information.
You can’t stay here. It’s gonna be safer if you get outta here as fast as you can once I get your number.
But you’ve got no idea how much you’re helping us out. We’ll owe you a favor in return.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll give you my number then.”
I put her number in my phone before I walked her out to her car.
She was shaken up and beyond tired, and I watched as she drove away from my apartment.
Her car was swerving a little bit, but I couldn't concern myself with that. What I needed to do was call Diesel immediately and tell him what the fuck I’d just found out.
“Knox. My man. What’s up?”
“Diesel, I got some serious news.”
“Define ‘serious’,” Diesel said.
“It blows our entire investigation we’ve been doing outta the water.”
“How so?” he asked.
“I know who fucking set me up. And you’ll never guess who the hell told me.”