Chapter 21
21
MILA
“He’s on the move.”
My head snapped up, and I faced him, but he was staring down at his phone. “Where?”
“Just left the house.” He grabbed his seat belt and hooked it before throwing the SUV into drive and pulling out of the parking lot.
I hooked my seat belt and couldn’t deny the buzz of electricity I felt, knowing we might finally see what he’s been up to.
Ethan glanced at his phone before making a right at the next stop sign. Feeling impatient, I grabbed my phone and pulled up a map of the area. “According to this map, very few buildings are out here. He’s heading toward a fairly isolated area.”
“Think it’s a trap?”
“No.” My eyes widened when I saw his car going in the same direction as the pin I already had on the map. “But it does seem like he’s heading to the bar.”
Ethan turned his head swiftly in my direction. “Smokin’ Joe’s? The same place we’re already going to?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Could the Kevin they mentioned actually be Kevin Samson? I mean, I wanted it to be true, but it seems really unlikely.”
“And too coincidental.” Ethan turned onto a side street and veered toward the side of the road. We needed to stay back to see what Samson did, but I wasn’t surprised when he parked his car in the lot and headed inside.
“No sign outside,” Ethan announced. “No one would know what this place is if they just drove up to it. Wonder why.”
“They don’t want strangers,” I replied. “This is an invitation-only kind of place, which tells me Kyle is right. The bar and strip club are only a front for what’s really going on.” Grabbing my phone, I started tracing the deed. “Wonder who the owner is. Kyle said it wasn’t Samson, but I didn’t think to ask him who it was.”
“Does it matter?”
“In a case like this, every little thing matters. You never know what small thing could become the best evidence you have.”
“How the hell does Kyle know how to find this shit?”
“Military,” I answered simply. “Nick told me the FBI attempted to recruit him several times, but he never took the bait.”
“I’ll bet that pissed them off.”
I laughed. “I’d put money on that bet.” Pulling up the deed for the bar, I hummed. “Hmm...”
“What?”
“The bar is owned by a man named Walter Manning.”
“So?”
“I know that name.” I stared out the windshield, trying to remember why that name seemed familiar. “I’ve either read it or heard it, but...”
I trailed off, and Ethan spoke. “But what?”
I glanced over at him. “I can’t place it. I will. I just need a reminder.”
“Want to see if your reminder is in there?” When I smiled, he chuckled. “You can’t wait to get in there, can you?”
“Nope,” I answered honestly. “I want to find something, anything that we can give to Brody and Jax.”
“I agree.” Ethan pulled away from the side of the road and drove to the parking lot where he parked in the back. “We need a game plan.”
I nodded. “We watch him. If we see he’s getting ready to leave, we leave first so we can follow him.”
“What about Jenny and Carl?” Ethan asked.
“Shit,” I muttered. “I almost forgot they’re meeting us here.”
“It might be good that they are,” he suggested. “They give us a reason to be here.”
“True,” I agreed and threw open my door.
He followed, and we started across the lot. We were almost to the door when I stopped, turned to face Ethan, and laid my hands on his chest. “Just follow your instincts. Don’t forget we’re a couple, and we’ll need to act like one.” Reaching down, I wrapped my hand in his. “If something feels off, we’ll leave. We’re not going to solve this case tonight. We’re only here to gather information.”
“You trying to convince me of that or yourself?”
I grinned. “Both. I want this guy. I’ll need the reminder that he won’t show us all his cards tonight if he shows us any at all.”
He jerked up his chin, and we both turned to face the door. He flipped our hands so he could link our fingers, and arousal flared low in my belly. I loved it when he made a move that put him in control. There was a confidence in it that I found sexy, which puzzled me because I usually wanted to be in control.
But I had a feeling I wouldn't be disappointed if I gave him that control when he wanted it.
When I pulled open the door, the smell of pot and alcohol hit me like a tidal wave. “Jesus, I think I can get drunk and high just off the smell.”
“No kidding,” Ethan said just as we stepped through the opening.
I thought we might garner some attention as outsiders, but even I was surprised by the amount. Within seconds of the door opening, all eyes shifted in our direction. It was obvious this was a local joint, and they didn’t look interested in entertaining tourists. My gut also told me this was a place the men controlled. I recognized that from my time undercover and going to the motorcycle bars with Nick. They wouldn’t take kindly to me being the one to speak first.
I breathed a sigh of relief when Ethan seemed to get the same impression after the bartender addressed us. “You lost?”
“Here for the festival. We met a couple who invited us tonight. They’re supposed to meet us here.” I studied the people sitting at the bar while he spoke, but their expressions stayed neutral. “Said this might be our kind of place.”
“Might be. Depends on who invited you,” the bartender replied.
“Jenny and Carl. They come to the festival every year. Said last year someone named Kevin invited them here.”
The bartender nodded slowly. I squeezed Ethan’s hand, knowing we passed the first test, and we moved slowly toward the bar before sliding onto the stools at the end.
“Where’re you from?” the bartender asked.
“North Carolina,” Ethan answered, and the ball in my stomach started to untangle.
“You got a name?”
“Joe. This is April.”
He nodded slowly. “What’re ya drinkin’?
“Two beers, whatever you have on tap.”
The bartender looked between us before moving away.
“How’d you hear about the festival?” a woman sitting a few seats away from us asked.
I squeezed Ethan’s hand, letting him know I'd take this one before I answered. “A friend of mine came here once with her boyfriend. She told me how much fun they had, so we thought we’d check it out.”
She studied me closely. “You enjoy it?”
“Yeah.” I leaned my shoulder into Ethan’s and smiled. “It was fun but definitely seemed more family-oriented than we thought it would be.”
“Here you go.” The bartender slid two beers in front of us.
Ethan reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet before sliding a few bills toward the bartender. “Keep the change.”
The bartender’s eyebrows lifted slightly before he nodded and walked away.
“You looking for something not family-friendly?” the woman asked, and my attention shifted back to her. I couldn’t read her well, but I had the feeling she was studying my answers very closely.
“We were just looking for a little more excitement on this trip, that’s all.” I smiled and shrugged. “If you know what I mean.”
“You married?”
“Dating,” I replied. “The town we live in is a little boring, so we thought we’d take a trip and see what trouble we could find.”
A small smile played around her lips when I laughed, and I relaxed a little more. Nick was right about this place without ever stepping foot inside. This was starting to feel really familiar. My role was one I played for nearly two years. I wasn’t supposed to have much on my mind except partying and doing whatever it took to keep my man happy.
“Devil’s Lake wasn’t nothing exciting either before they started the festival and then the following year invited everyone in for bike week,” the man next to her said.
“When did they start the festival?” Ethan asked.
He considered that and looked at the woman beside him. “Both started a few years back.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “It’s been a few years now. It used to be we’d just fish in that lake. Now they got all kinds of activities all summer long.”
“Do the locals go to the festival?”
“Some do,” the man sitting next to her replied. “But it’s mostly tourists.”
When I heard Ethan’s voice, I shifted in my seat to face the couple a few seats away and leaned against his shoulder. It gave me the perfect vantage point to see around the bar without making it obvious that I was. I tried to hide my disappointment when I didn’t see Samson. “I’m guessing from the way you say that you don’t like having the tourists in town.”
“Usually a bunch of city snobs.” He scoffed. “Looking for an outdoor adventure, but we don’t have much time for them. There’s talk of a couple of high-rises going up so there are more places for them to stay.”
“And adding in another week or two so people stay even longer,” the woman added with obvious disgust.
“We don’t mind the bike week as much,” the man continued. “They come, they ride, they eat, and then they leave. But the festival brings all kinds of other shit we don’t care for.”
The woman jerked her chin in Ethan’s direction. “You ride?”
“Used to,” he replied, and I tried very hard not to change my expression at all, although it was hard. I’d never pegged Ethan as someone who rode a motorcycle, but maybe he was just pretending to as part of our cover. These people obviously preferred bikers to tourists.
“What’d you ride?” the bartender asked, and when I rolled my head to face him, I noticed he was drying a glass.
“Had a Kawasaki Ninja for about a year.”
“Wasn’t even broken in yet. Why’d you get rid of it?”
“My sister got pregnant. Needed shit for the baby. I wasn’t makin’ enough at the time to take care of that, so I sold my bike.”
The bartender nodded slowly. “Any regrets?”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “I’ll get another one when the time is right.”
He gestured toward me with the towel in his hands before he tossed it over his shoulder. “You like bikes?”
I almost said I’d never been on one, but then quickly changed my mind. My instincts told me I needed to play up my time with Nick a little to gain more traction with these people. “Love ’em.”
The bartender studied me closely. “You ride your own?”
“No way.” I giggled. “Not sure I could handle it myself, but my last boyfriend was in a club and rode.”
“Motorcycle club?” When I nodded, he continued. “Which one?”
“Black Widows,” I answered casually. “I was hired as a dancer at the club. Met when I was workin’.”
“You still dancin’ there?”
“Nah.” I shook my head. “My ex got killed in a raid. Decided I didn’t want to go down the same way, so I moved on.” I smiled. “Sure do miss ridin’ on the back of that bike, though.”
The bartender grinned slowly, and the knot in my stomach untangled. That story helped us more than anything else. “Sounds like your man is gonna fix that.”
Ethan chuckled and tightened his arm around my waist, but his eyes stayed on the bartender. “You ride?”
He nodded. “Got a Kawasaki myself. Been thinking lately about getting a Harley, though.”
“Can’t go wrong with a Harley,” Ethan agreed.
Shifting, I smiled at the woman I’d been talking to. “Can you tell me where the restrooms are?”
She glanced at the bartender, which I found odd, but then gestured toward the hallway across the room. “Back there.”
“Thanks.” I slid from the stool and patted Ethan’s leg. “Be right back.”
After he nodded, the bartender started talking about motorcycles, and I moved away. Crossing the room, I walked slowly, hoping to spot Samson, but besides the few people sitting at the bar, the room was empty. Where the hell did he go? We watched him walk through those doors, but there wasn’t a sign of him anywhere. Stepping into the hallway, I saw the doors to my left marked with women and men, but a quick look down the hallway in the other direction showed two more doors without any markings.
“To the left.”
I was careful not to show she startled me when I heard the voice behind me. Looking over my shoulder, I smiled. “Thanks.”
A little surprised the woman from the bar followed me, I made my way into the restroom with her hot on my heels. Something was definitely going on in this place. There was no reason for her to follow me to the bathroom except to hide something they didn’t want us to see. Closing the stall door, I pushed down the lid on the seat and sat, watching her through the crack. She stayed in front of the sink as if she were washing her hands, but she never reached for the soap.
Not really having to pee, I waited a minute and then flushed the toilet before standing and waiting as if I had to fix myself. Then I walked out and stood in front of the sink beside her.
She watched me in the mirror until I smiled. “What’s your name?”
She studied me but then slowly smiled when I turned on the water and began washing my hands. “Linda.”
Still smiling, I finished and grabbed a paper towel from the roll sitting on the counter. “Nice to meet you, Linda.”
“Didn't take you for a dancer when you first walked in.”
I thought that was an odd thing to say, but I wanted to hear the rest of it, so I encouraged her to continue. “No?”
She shook her head. “Most dancers around here are strung out on drugs.”
It was as if she was trying to gauge my reaction, but I’d been trained to always appear neutral and open to anything. That kept every door open to me. “Had some trouble with that shit in the past.”
“Clean now?”
I thrust my elbow against her arm and grinned. “Clean enough.”
She laughed, and I hoped like hell that Ethan was playing up my past if he was being questioned. We hadn’t discussed the information we should share, but we should’ve. That was my mistake.
She turned toward the door, and I followed her out of the bathroom, pausing briefly when one of the doors down the hallway opened, and a couple walked through. The girl smiled at Linda and raised her hand in a small wave. “Hey, Linda.”
Linda looked back and forth between us, but I kept my expression neutral once again. She nodded at the girl, and they moved past us toward the door. She was laughing while they passed, and it was apparent, by the way her clothes were disheveled, that they’d been doing more than drinking. Wanting to know what was behind that door, I decided to make a joke and see if Linda took the bait.
Smirking, I glanced at Linda. “Looks like the real party is in that room.”
She frowned slightly and ignored me while I walked toward the bar.
I followed but had a feeling Ethan and I had just stumbled onto something useful.