Chapter 28
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
Haze
“Holy shit,” I say. “So the son of a bitch was alive all that time.”
“It appears so. He also had a bunch of aliases and had a dozen name changes over the years, so I haven’t quite figured out yet if he has any family members in the area,” she goes on. “But I thought you might like to know that this son of a gun is six feet under, so he can’t be your guy.”
“I guess death kinda does rule that out.”
“Yep. Weird that the letters were almost identical to that of his father.”
“That’s what has me worried,” I admit. “But then again, lots of sickos use that kind of scare tactic, or it could be a copycat. There’s some weirdos out there.”
“That’s true. He was also wanted for questioning on a string of homicides. Seems like he left a wake of dead bodies from the Big Easy all the way to fucking Alabama. Son of a bitch had a calling card.”
“Sounds about right. Least he’s six feet under and can’t do any more damage.”
“He also kept a low profile,” she says. “He was pretty good at staying out of the spotlight, which leads me to believe he would’ve known people in low places. He was one of the main orchestrators of that gang a few years back and almost got it off the ground.”
“With help from the Skeletons,” I mutter. “Not that we need to rehash that.”
“Well, I’ll keep digging. He must have some family members. If that’s the case, I can do a deep dive into them as well.”
“Thanks, Star, I appreciate it.” My phone chimes and I glance down. Sawyer’s name appears on the screen. I hold a finger up. “One sec, it’s Sawyer.”
She nods.
“Yo, H,” Sawyer says. “Found somethin’ interestin’ you might wanna come take a look at.”
I frown. “Can’t you just tell me?”
“Well, I could, but it’s surveillance, and I don’t know exactly what I’m lookin’ at.”
“And I do?”
“You know the cops in the station, but this chick I’m not sure about.”
I scratch the back of my head. “What’s she doin’?”
“Well, she broke into the lab after hours. Could be tamperin’ with evidence.” Trust Sawyer to go above and beyond. “Just looked kinda off.”
My eyes widen. “What the fuck?”
“So, I hacked into the mainframe computer she was usin’ and planted a bug the other day — you can thank me later.”
“If you get caught, you’ll face a minimum penalty of twenty-five years,” I remind him
“I’ll take my chances.”
“And?”
“She typed some names into the database.”
“Who were they?”
“Nobody we know. Maybe she’s workin’ a cold case for all we know, could be nothin’, except—”
“Except what? Spit it out, asshole.”
“She looked up Max Sinclair.”
“Max?” I frown.
I think back for a second. “Wait, is she cute, blonde hair, short in stature, and wears a long ponytail?”
“Didn’t see much of her face, but she has a nice ass,” he says.
“There’s a cop there called Hally Baltmore,” I say. “She’s the one who arrested Max in Mississippi a couple of years ago. What the fuck is she up to?”
Sawyer sighs. “It’s always the quiet, hot ones.”
“She hasn’t done anythin’ yet,” I say, trying to fathom how this seemingly sweet woman could be doing anything underhanded. She came across as genuine, if not a little naive. “Oh, and Bolt is dead.”
“What the fuck?”
“Lookin’ at his death certificate, so we need to start barkin’ up another tree because he ain’t breathin’.”
“I’ll look her up. I’ll let you know what I find.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Roger that.”
We hang up. Huh. Well, today is sure as shit turning out to be a day of reckoning.
“Sorry about that,” I say to Star. “Gotta head back to the office.”
“No problems. I’ll keep working on the names, and I’ll let you know if anything comes up.”
“Appreciate it.” I stand, letting myself out as I wave goodbye to Laurel, who’s taking a phone call.
Hally Baltmore.
Maybe she’s looking up Max because she wants to connect with him.
I know she felt bad about arresting him, and that he was Willow’s brother.
In my haste to get to Willow the other day, I had forgotten to tell her about our conversation, and for putting in a good word for Hally, not that I know this woman from Adam.
I remember her saying she was working on the Rooftop Killer case, and my alarm bells kinda ring just a little. Sawyer has me speeding up my steps as I hurry down the staircase and head to my sled. My gut instinct has never been wrong, but I don’t wanna prove that theory.
She could very well be breaking into the lab for a good reason, and she seemed pretty intent on making sure I knew she felt bad about the Max situation, even though we both know she was just doing her job.
I get back to the office. Checking my phone, I see a text from Willow.
Wife
Need to talk. Call me when you get this
I was dreading having to face it, but there’s no way around it.
I’m still mad, but not as much as I was.
I don’t for one second regret punching that asswipe in the face.
Seeing how he berated Max like that just wasn’t cool.
Like his sister, they’ve both been subjected to this mean bully their entire lives and I don’t partake in standing by watching that shit unfold before me.
Not. Gonna. Happen.
I quickly thumb a text back.
Me
Tonight
I grab the manilla folder on my desk knowing I have to tell Willow about what’s been going on.
I can’t keep secrets from her any longer.
Not after I told her I’d never hurt her.
This is the same as lying. Even if it is for the greater good, it’s gone on long enough.
After that conversation with her father, I know now that it was wrong to keep it from her in the first place.
I tuck it into my cut because I need to take it home so I can show her.
Do I want her to see the letters? No. But since a new one arrived, even more sinister than the last, it’s making me realize more each day that this can’t go on.
We were wrong to keep it from her, and now I need to fess up and face the consequences.
I head to Sawyer’s office and he looks up as I enter. “You break every red light across town?”
“My Harley’s made for speed,” I tell him. “Show me the footage.”
He brings up the surveillance on his screen and, sure enough, Hally Baltmore is sure as shit sneaking into the laboratory. I say sneaking because of the way she keeps looking around as if she’ll get sprung. What the fuck is she doing?
“That’s her,” I say. “Question is, what is she up to, and why is she retrieving information on Max.”
“Maybe she’s sweet on him?” Sawyer suggests and I shoot him a look.
“I doubt it. She felt bad for being the one who arrested him, and I believe her. But this is kinda weird behavior.”
“Well, she’s got a squeaky clean record. I hacked into her email, her IP is clean, too. Give her a fuckin’ medal for bein’ citizen of the year.”
I roll my eyes. “Looks like we’re gonna have to broach this carefully. Bargin’ in there to question her will only have her tittle tattlin’.”
“I could do it.”
“I think Willow has to do it.”
Sawyer meets my gaze. “Willow?”
I sigh. “I’m gonna have to fess up. I can’t keep this shit from her any longer. It’s eatin’ me up inside. And since the most recent letter, I have this sour feelin’ in my gut. This isn’t just a game anymore.”
“I’m hearin’ ya,” he says. “Tell me what I can do.”
“Exactly what you’re doin’. I’ll deal with Willow—”
“Is that right?” Willow stands in the doorway, about to knock on the open door.
Fuck.
That’s all I need.
“Honey,” I say, immediately standing. “We need to talk.”
“Damn straight we do.” She glances at Sawyer and gives him a chin lift when he waves.
The tension in here feels nuclear.
I don’t touch her, even though I want to. I want to make things right, but she’s gonna hate me for what I have to say.
Once we’re in my office, she turns to face me. “Haze? What’s going on?”
I gesture to the chair. “Take a seat.”
“If this is about before, I need to talk to you about that.” She swallows hard. “I yelled at my dad and kinda told him to butt out. I don’t want him in my life anymore, and I’m sorry for jumping to his defense without knowing the details.”
Pain stabs at my heart. Fuck.
“We can talk about that later. I have somethin’ I need to say.”
“Is it about why you were arguing with my dad?”
“Yes.” I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “I want you to know I kept this from you because I’m an ass and I thought I was doin’ the right thing.”
She stares at me, her eyes wide, then she folds her arms over her chest. “I’m listening.”
“I, well, there’s no easy way to say this.” I puff out my cheeks. “Willow, your dad came to me because he’d received multiple death threats toward you, threats he’s been interceptin’ so you didn’t know.”
“W-what?”
I swallow. “He came to me to ask if I’d keep an eye on you. A protection order, and the contract for the maintenance and upgrade of the security system and cameras.”
“Oh, my god.”
“And I agreed, obviously—”
“Is that… is that why you’ve been sleeping with me? Because it’s part of your job?”
“No,” I say quickly. “I don’t know how you can even think that. You know what we have together. But these threats, Willow, you have to understand we were tryin’ to protect you.”
“How? By trying to rule my life just like my father? He clearly thinks I can’t run my own life, and so do you!”
“That isn’t true. Trust me when I say I never wanted to lie or keep things from you. I love you. The idea that you could be hurt, or someone could take you away from me, overruled every other emotion inside of me.”
She shakes her head. “That is not a good enough justification for lying and keeping shit from me. Who else knows?”
I look down at my feet.
“Haze? Who else knows?”
“Just my brothers, Sawyer, Cash, Ryder and Star.”
“Star?”
“She was doin’ some PI work.”
She backs away. “I don’t believe this. You not only went behind my back and sided with my father, but then the entire club is aware of something I’m not even privy to?”
“When you put it like that, it does sound shitty.”
“How dare you,” she says, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. “I trusted you!”
“Babe.” I reach for her. “I’m sorry. This fuckin’ creep sent letters. You don’t understand how depraved he is.”
“Show me.”
“Just look at me, please.”
She does, and all I see is pain. “You sided with the one man who truly only has his best interests at heart. How could you?”
“I know it looks bad, and he is an asshole, but believe it or not, he was lookin’ out for you.”
“Show me. I’m not gonna ask you again.”
I reach into my cut to pull out the folder. “I was gonna show you tonight.”
“How long have you known about this?”
I sigh. “Just over a week.”
“Before we decided to rekindle things?”
“No. After that. We were always gonna rekindle things.”
She frowns, looking at the photocopies. Her face an exact replica of how I’d imagined it when I finally came clean. “Holy shit.”
There’s a long stretch of silence between us.
“Please say somethin’.”
“I-I don’t know what to say, Aust. I thought I knew what kind of person you are, and clearly I don’t know a damn thing.”
I move in front of her before she can leave. “Don’t go like this. Let’s talk it over.”
She wipes a tear, her face angry. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Yes, there is. I was always going to tell you, but I was scared out of my mind.”
“All I hear in that sentence is I. This isn’t about you, it’s about me,” she says, her eyes hard. “It isn’t even this.” She waves the papers at me. “It’s the idea of my dad and you having a secret meeting about me, and I’m the last one to know.”
My heart sinks. “It wasn’t like that. I swear to god. He was desperate. He doesn’t trust anyone, and he came to me, that meant something.”
“I’m sure it did, from a man you hate.”
I shake my head. “That’s not what I mean. For him to be worried, that had me panicking.”
“And to think I came here to apologize!” she snorts. “Never thought I would be the one walking out of here with bitter disappointment.”
“You’re not goin’,” I tell her when she tries to reach past me for the door. “I let you go once, and that was a mistake.”
“Austin, move.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “What matters is that we find out who’s doin’ this, and we need to start with questionin’ Hally Baltmore.”
She frowns. “What did she do?”
“Let’s just say she’s been snoopin’ around and we need to know why.”
“Fine. I’ll talk to her.”
“No. I’m steppin’ up as a husband, and you may not like the idea that I’m gonna be right here next to you when you’re mad at me, but I don’t care. I’m not lettin’ you walk outta here.”
She closes her eyes. I can see how tired she is and I hate myself because I’m putting her through more stress. “I don’t like you right now.”
“You don’t have to like me. But this is serious.”
“No shit, which is why you should have told me.” Tears and anger fill her eyes. The trust we had between us shattered.
“I’m gonna make it up to you,” I say. “I promise.”
“Just shut up and tell me what happened with Hally.”
Small steps. I don’t deserve it, but I’ll take whatever crumbs she has to give me.