Chapter 28 #2
“Um…” he frowns, unsure, which makes me chuckle. I’m not dumb. I was a teenager once, too, and I’m not blind. I know exactly what the old ladies look like.
“You ever want to prospect, best not get caught ogling the president’s or VP’s old ladies.”
“I’ll come with you,” he answers in a rush.
“I knew you were a smart kid.” I slap him on the shoulder, careful to pull my weight so it doesn’t hurt him, then head out.
I sigh, wishing I had my bike, but shit happens. I slip off my cut and lay it on the passenger seat before climbing in and heading to the clubhouse. When I get there, I find Havoc and G talking at the bar.
“Hey, you guys got a minute?”
G looks at his watch. “Not meeting Amity for an hour, so I’m good for a bit.”
“This about Theo? He good?”
“He’s bouncing back faster than I thought he would.”
“He’s surrounded by people who care about him. It’s a fuck of a lot easier to bounce back when you know there are people to catch you if you stumble,” Havoc points out.
“True. And on that note, please tell me you have some good news to tell me.”
“Well, as Josh is Theo’s stepfather, you don’t actually need him to give up his rights to the kid because he never had any rights to begin with.
He never adopted Theo. If he did, it would be different.
But in this case, it doesn’t apply. They don’t even share the same last name.
Throw in the assault, and he’s fucked in the head if he thinks CPS will put Theo back in that environment. ” G crosses his arms.
“They did before. There have been multiple reports to child services from teachers, coaches, and even neighbors, which is a miracle in that neighborhood, but the kid is well-liked. Every time the allegations were investigated, they were dismissed. I passed the info on to the woman on Theo’s case—Greer, right? ”
When I nod, he continues. “Yeah, she’s pissed and looking into it, but I’m still digging to see if it’s purposeful—as in they took a bribe. Or it’s just another case of being overworked and overwhelmed.”
I rub my hands over my face and sigh. “Everything feels like it’s taking forever. I know that’s not your fault. I just don’t like how easy it would be right now for Diane to swoop in and take Theo back.”
“Diane’s being watched for now. The second she steps out of line, we’ll have her. Besides, I’m not sure that kid would go anywhere if it meant leaving you guys behind, especially Delphi.”
I nod. He’s right, but I’m not sure I’ll relax until he’s legally ours. “Alright, anything else I need to know about? Circus and Capone are with Delphi and Theo, so I was going to head into the office for a while. I have a couple of leads I need to follow up on regarding Lil.”
“What kind of leads?” G asks, leaning closer.
“The kind I need to verify first because almost everything I’ve had so far has been bogus.”
“How is that possible? Between you, G—” Havoc starts before G jumps in.
“I had Byte look into her as well.”
“Right, so you, G, and Byte—three of the best at what you do—and none of you can find a trace of her?”
“Lilian Watkins is a fake name. So is the history she gave us. We were already starting with a disadvantage.”
Havoc rubs his hand over his face. “Lil’s a smart cookie, no matter how much she downplayed it. But I didn’t think she was particularly tech savvy, so how the fuck is she evading us?”
“Either she downplayed that part too, or she’s got someone helping her.” G shakes his head.
“Or she’s not tech savvy at all, but she knows we are, so she’s gone off the grid.”
“Well, that’s what I thought originally. But do you know how hard it is to go off the grid in this day and age, with social media being what it is, not to mention how many cameras there are out there now?” G tells me, though it’s something I already know, of course.
“Well, the alternative is she’s dead, and I’m not quite fucking ready to admit defeat yet.”
Havoc grunts. “Nobody’s saying we should do that.”
“I know, I’m just fucking frustrated.”
“We all are,” Havoc states as Powers and Dice walk in.
“Some of us more than others,” G mumbles, looking their way.
“Huh? What did I miss?”
“Nothing. Just Powers has been a lot more cut up about Lil being gone than others.”
“Prospects aren’t allowed to fuck the club girls,” Havoc growls.
“Nobody said he did.” G shrugs.
“I loved Delphi way before I fucked her, Havoc. Powers has been loyal from the start. My guess is he would have waited until he patched in before making a move.”
“Only she disappeared the night of the patching-in party.”
“Anyone talk to him about it?”
“He was the one who realized she was missing. But beyond that, no, I didn’t question him.” Havoc turns to look at him again before calling him over. “No time like the present.”
Powers looks over, says something to Dice before heading our way. “Everything okay, pres?”
“Yeah, just talking about Lil.”
“You find her?”
“No, but we’re still looking.”
He deflates. “Right, okay.”
“You don’t think we will?” G questions.
“I don’t know. I just have this feeling that if she doesn’t want to be found, she won’t be.”
Havoc folds his arms. “She said anything to you that, looking back now, seemed off?”
“We talked a lot. I often ended up on Lil duty if Kruger was busy, so being friends was inevitable. But I always felt like she was holding back. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain.
Then, a couple of nights before she left, I picked her up from the shelter, and she was as white as a ghost. I thought the stalker had done something.
But she swore he didn’t, that she was just tired and hadn’t been sleeping properly.
I didn’t push because she looked like she might break, but the next day she seemed to bounce back. ”
“You think something happened, and then she faked everything about being okay, so none of us suspected anything?”
“Looks that way now. I don’t know what, though. With everything going on with Legs and then Delphi, we kind of lost sight of her a little.” G sighs.
“I think she was banking on that. Being able to slip away, that is. I just wish I knew what the fuck she was thinking. It doesn’t matter what kind of trouble she’s in. She had a whole-ass MC behind her here, and now she’s out there alone. I’m as pissed as I am worried,” Powers admits.
“She didn’t leave you a note or anything? No clues?” I push.
“You think I wouldn’t tell you guys if I knew something?” He frowns before clarity dawns. “It wasn’t like that. I mean, maybe it could have been one day, but neither of us was in the right headspace to go there, and I was a prospect. Neither of us was willing to jeopardize that.”
I tap the bar. “Alright, I’m gonna head out. If I find something, I’ll let you know.”
“Same if I find anything on this CPS asshole,” G offers.
I turn to leave when Powers calls my name.
“Dog tags.”
“Say what now?”
“I don’t know if it was Lil, or even why she would take them, but I haven’t been able to find mine since she left.”
“Did she know where you kept them?”
“I always wore them. Only time I took them off was to shower or if I knew I was going to be doing something gross.”
I snort at that. Prospects end up with the shitty jobs, so I can’t blame him.
“I know that doesn’t help with anything, but I still can’t figure out why she took them.”
Havoc slaps him on the shoulder as I tilt my head.
“It might have been just a friendship for you, Powers. But it sounds to me you were a lifeline to Lil. Takes a fuckload of courage to walk away from your home and family, no matter the reason you’re doing it.
She wanted a clean break with untraceable steps, probably to protect us from the danger dogging her heels.
But she couldn’t sever that lifeline because as long as she has it, she can find her way home. ”
I follow up on the leads I have at the office.
As I suspected, none of them pan out, except perhaps for one.
A woman matching Lil’s description was involved in a multi-vehicle car accident.
Though she wasn’t injured, several others were.
The woman provided aid and assistance at the roadside until emergency services and paramedics arrived.
Before police could take her statement, she disappeared, abandoning the empty truck.
The truck was registered to an Earl Jaimison, an eighty-seven-year-old vet living in a care facility down in Jackson, Florida.
It had been sold by his grandson, but apparently neither he nor the new owner bothered to get the title changed.
And the person who bought it? A Wednesday Adams look-alike, apparently.
That description doesn’t sound like Lil, but it wouldn’t take much to switch up her appearance if she wanted to.
After digging around for another hour, I have alerts set up in the system ready to ping if she trips them. But right now, I have nothing else to go on.
“Dammit, Lil, I’m going to throttle you myself when I get hold of you.”
I rub my eyes before I return to my messages, finally finding one I’ve been waiting for. I open it up and read it, before picking up my cell phone and dialing Hannibal.
“Kruger, how’s it going?”
“It’s going.” I huff out a laugh. “Got some information on this Sam Davenport for you.”
“Sounds ominous.”
“Probably because it is. I did some digging on this guy and found next to nothing, so I sent one of my guys down there to check out their firm. It’s legit and Sam Davenport does indeed work there, but whoever this guy is in the photo, is not Sam.”
“What?”
“Got a picture of the guy right in front of me. I’ll email it over with my report. The real Sam Davenport is dark-haired, slightly overweight, and has a thing for shiny suits. He’s also horrified that someone is using his identity.”
“You have any idea who the man in the photo is, if he’s not Sam?”
“No luck there, and believe me, I’ve tried. I’m more concerned about why he wanted access to your club.”
“Hmm…Alright, thanks, Kruger. I’ll make sure everyone has their eyes open for him. I’d like a little chat with the fraudster.”
He hangs up, leaving me shaking my head. Only a fucking idiot would mess with Hannibal.
I email everything I have over to him before shutting the computer down and heading out.
I close the door to my office and almost run into Nathan when I turn around.
“Whoa, sorry, boss,” he says, distracted.
“What’s going on?”
“Just one of those weeks where I had to remind myself that setting fire to people is frowned upon.”
“Only if you get caught.”
I expect him to laugh, but he just sighs, loosening his tie. “It might come to that.”
“Alright, what’s going on?”
“You know that fuckwit we met with?”
“That Jack guy?”
“Yeah, Jack Davis. Well, I told him repeatedly, we couldn’t take his case. But he keeps insisting we take it. He offered more money, which I declined. He threw in a dozen other incentives like golf days and dinners out, really random shit, like I’m a client he’s trying to entertain.”
I frown. “Why the fuck does this guy have such a hard-on for our company?”
“No clue.”
“You ever manage to track down the ex he wants us to find?”
“Yep, and that’s where it gets weirder.”
“Weirder how?”
“She doesn’t know what we’re talking about. She doesn’t know who he is, but he’s not Jack Davis, her ex-husband.”
“Wait, what?”
“Had one of the team show her photos of him. She swore blind it wasn’t her ex. Either way, there was no fear or panic in her eyes, and I know, because I was FaceTiming her so I could explain shit. She’s remarried, and her husband is built like a fucking linebacker. Has twin sons with him.”
“Are you sure you got the right woman?”
“I’m sure that’s Annie Davis. What I’m not sure about is Jack.”
“You think he’s impersonating the real ex?”
“Right now, that’s all I can come up with. I just can’t understand why.”
“Give me a minute. I want to check something.”
“Alright.”
I head back into my office and turn the laptop back on, pulling up the photo of the fake Sam Davenport.
“Take a look at his. Who do you see?”
“It’s not the best photo, but it kind of looks like Jack. Where’d you get this?”
“From a still sent to me by Hannibal. This guy posed as Sam Davenport, a security specialist who presented Hannibal with a you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-ours deal.”
“It was never about Annie. It was about Raven Souls.”
“I’ll let Havoc know and call Hannibal back. If he calls back again to arrange a meet, take it. I want to know what this fucker wants.”
Motherfucker made a stupid decision fucking with us. It’s time for him to deal with the consequences.