CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
Lana stared at the woman after her statement for several seconds. How the hell did Brewer get to the Blackmans before they did?
“Dennis showed up because I called him. We are friends from way back. He said he would handle it. Now why the fuck are you people here?”
“We are here because we are the assigned detectives handling your daughter’s disappearance, not Detective Brewer,” Lana answered the man straightforward.
“No. I demand Dennis to handle my daughter’s case. Not you bitches. You aren’t from here and couldn’t care less about what happens to the people in this town!”
Lana placed her hand on Jayson’s arm when he started to respond. She counted to ten before she responded to the man.
“Mr. Blackman, I get that you would prefer someone you know handling your daughter’s case.
Now, while Detectives Stallone and Goldsman here are from out of the state, I am from here.
I know you worked for my father before his passing.
The sheriff requested my team to help with the fact that there are a slew of young girls going missing.
That is our specialty. The chief and the mayor, for reasons I cannot share, took detective Brewer off of the original case and placed him on suspension.
I know you care about your daughter, Mr. Blackman, but please allow us a chance to find her,” Lana softly and calmly reasoned with the man.
Lana had to bite her tongue as she waited for the man to respond. She wanted to gut Brewer right now. She wondered now if he had also gone to the Jessep’s house and did the same thing with them.
Brewer interfering in their investigations now had her wondering if Brewer was purposely inserting himself because he had something he was trying to hide since he was no longer investigating the actual cases. She made a mental note to dive into his background.
“You swear on your kids’ lives you’re going to do everything that you can to find my daughter?” Mr. Blackman demanded, stepping into her space.
Lana took her own step, putting them toe to toe, since the man was a clear foot and a half taller than she was. “I swear on every life of my team, we will do everything in our God given power to find and bring your daughter home.”
For the next forty-five minutes, the team asked questions and looked around the young girl’s room. While in the room, they noticed the tidy space was kept immaculate.
“Mrs. Blackman, did you clean your daughter’s room since she went missing, or is she this OCD?”
“She actually cleaned it. It was part of the deal we made for her to stay the weekend with Deanna. She was told if I did it, anything I found was fair game for me to snoop at or throw away as I saw fit.”
“Is that normally the deal to spend time with her friends?” Rocky asked as she looked at the bookshelf in Patricia’s room.
“For her to do anything she wants, really. Spend time with friends, go to school events, sleepovers, the mall, movies.”
“Aside from Deanna, were there any other friends the two girls were tight with?” Sunny asked as she pointed out a photo on the young girl’s mirror that was attached to her dresser.
“She’s been friends with several girls for a while.
We are a small town. She’d been distraught over the McKenzie and the Miller girls that went missing recently.
She swore up and down to her dad that she knew nothing about their disappearance.
They weren’t going to parties or anything like that.
First them girls go missing, then the Miller girl winds up dead and now my baby is missing.
” Mrs. Blackman wailed into her husband’s arms.
Lana, Rocky, and Sunny continued to look around the room. Looking at the wall behind Patricia’s bed had her looking closer at the huge poster of Taylor Swift that hung above the girl’s headboard.
Bingo! Lana hit the jackpot when she lifted the lower end of the poster and found what appeared to be a piece of the wall cut out with a shoddy-looking piece of poster board entered to keep the wall looking even so that anyone looking would look over it.
She had to give it to the young girl, she was smart.
Lana carefully moved the poster out of her way and reached up to remove the carefully placed poster board. Inside the hole was a diary and a picture book.
She pulled both out and handed them to Rocky so she could put everything back into its place. She didn’t want to give away the young girl’s hiding spot if she could help it.
“Oh, shit!” Rocky murmured, looking at a photo in the picture book.
Lana knew right away that shit was about to get very serious when Rocky showed her the photo. It was an old photo that had been touched up to look more modern.
“Jay, what MC is Blackman a part of?” Lana asked, looking at the photo that had clearly been photoshopped.
“Enforcers. It’s why I’m shocked he called Brewer. Jenkins hates the air that fucker breathes.”
“Is there a chance he could be with the Hellfires and embedded into the Enforcers as a spy?” Sunny asked, looking at the photo herself.
“Wait, that says Dragons. Is there a Dragon MC here?” Lana questioned as she pointed out what she saw to Rocky.
“Yes. The Red Dragons. And no, I’m not with the fucking Hellfires.
Dennis is my fucking stepbrother. My father’s ex-wife’s spawn of fucking Satan.
His bitch of a mother was my father’s second wife, after he and my mother divorced.
We were raised together for ten years before my father wised up and got rid of their lazy asses. That’s also not a Red Dragon cut.”
“I know.” Lana took the photo from Rocky. “It’s photoshopped, bad. You said your daughter doesn’t have access to the internet or a cell phone?”
“No. Look, we may have a bad rap for the drugs, strip clubs, and the gunrunning, but we have a very strict rule where women and kids are concerned. They are to be protected. We don’t force any of the women to work at the strip clubs.
The ones that do will tell you that we make sure they are protected at all costs when they are working.
If they mention any issues, we handle it.
The Hellfires don’t give two shits about women or children. ”
“Thank you for being honest. I have to ask, if your prez can’t stand Brewer, and neither can you, why did you call him about your daughter’s disappearance?”
“I didn’t call him. My wife called 9-1-1. He was the responding officer. He admitted he has someone in dispatch letting him know of any girls that are reported missing. Claims a group of outsiders came in and stole his case. Said you ladies got his boss brainwashed that he wasn’t doing his job.”
Lana shook her head at what she was being told. Brewer was a fast-sinking ship.
He was digging himself a huge hole that he wouldn’t be able to get out of. Looks like they were going to have the big boss have a meeting with their dispatchers and set them straight.
Maybe she and Rocky would make an appearance with the brass. She had a feeling that Brewer was feeding someone there a heavy line of bullshit with a side of pity dick.
“Lana.”
When she looked over at Jayson, she knew with no doubt hell was being unleashed. They had another body.