Chapter 15
Onyx
As we walk up the path to the back gate, it’s early morning and the sun’s not all the way up yet.
The clubhouse is quiet because everyone who wasn’t out trying to save my cabin last night is still sleeping.
We grab a quick shower and climb into bed as well.
I could easily go without sleeping, but I want to ensure Emily gets some sleep, so I crash out with her for a bit.
We get about three hours of sleep before Jasper sends word that Detective Morgan is on his way.
I’m becoming less enamored of that fucker by the damn day.
His job was to dig up actionable information on Brennan and make the charges stick.
I don’t know what went wrong, but I’m eager to fucking find out.
Emily sits on an old couch in the bar area, clutching a cup of coffee. She hasn’t said much since last night. Frisky is sitting in her lap, making biscuits on her leg. I don’t know how she stands it. I adore that fuckin’ cat of hers, but that biscuit thing would drive me nuts.
I’m standing by the bar, forcing down my own cup of coffee. Jasper’s pacing slowly behind me. He fuckin’ hates waiting with the fire of a thousand suns. He keeps checking his phone. I can tell he’s trying to calm down. He’s just doing a shit job of it.
Morgan shows up just after eight. He’s wearing the same plain clothes he was wearing at Emily’s cabin earlier, along with the same flat expression. I try not to mean mug him when he walks past.
We go back to the meeting room. I bring Emily because she deserves to hear things that relate to her own safety. Morgan doesn’t waste time. The second the door shuts behind him, he starts talking.
“Brennan’s jumped bail entirely. We tracked his phone and found he ditched it along with his laptop and his vehicle in an industrial lot off the highway. He just disappeared off the face of the Earth.”
Emily’s eyes lift, and her lips press into a thin line. She doesn’t speak, but I know she wants to point out that he didn’t disappear. He came and burned her house to the ground.
“He clearly planned it out in advance,” I say, setting my now empty cup down. “He didn’t just jump bail. He popped over to Emily’s cabin for a little revenge.”
Morgan nods once. “Yeah, unfortunately it looks that way. There were no signs of panic, disorganized thinking, or chaotic behavior. And there has been no activity on his cards. That likely means he’s spending cash, got help, or is holed up with friends somewhere.”
“Bet that fuckin’ judge is regretting the decision to take him off house arrest about now,” Slate points out.
Detective Morgan glances at him, then back at me. “He’ll be momentarily embarrassed, is all. We’ll keep pushing what we can through official channels, but if you’ve got people who know how to dig, now’s the time to put them to work. Meanwhile, I’m going to get the word out.”
He means about the cabin and sending the message in red paint. Maybe now that he’s burned down someone’s home, they’ll understand what a psycho he is and lock him up until his case goes to trial.
Jasper steps forward. “If you get him in your sights and need help taking him down, give us a call.”
“Will do,” Morgan says. “We’ve got every officer in the tri-county area looking for him, so we should have plenty of help taking him down when the time comes.”
Emily shifts on the couch. The motion’s small, but it draws my notice immediately. I take a minute to look her over. Her skin’s pale and blotchy in places from crying, but she’s laser focused on our conversation. Finally, she speaks up.
“Do you think he might be gone for good? He could have seen this as an opportunity to make a clean getaway, particularly if he is responsible for his girlfriend’s disappearance.”
“No,” I answer, before Morgan can. “It’s more likely he’s hiding out somewhere waiting for his lawyers to make all his problems go away.”
Emily’s face falls when Morgan doesn’t contradict me. I could kick myself for being so quick to dash her hopes that this asshole might have enacted his revenge and then simply taken off to avoid consequences. I can see how thinking that might bring her some peace and maybe make her feel safer.
We wrap up the conversation quickly so we can all get after Brennan. Detective Morgan heads out. The door closes behind him with a soft snick. And for a brief moment, no one moves.
Right now there are only club officers in the room, along with Rock, who has remained silent during all this, and Emily. It doesn’t take a fucking genius to know the next step is calling a club meeting to get everyone on the same page in hunting this asshole down.
Jasper sends out a text, calling everyone for a meeting my club brothers knew was coming after a long night of wrestling the fire at Emily’s cabin. That’s simply not the kind of shit we tolerate in our backyard. And we for sure don’t let people target a club officer’s old lady that way.
I go over, put my arm around Emily, and spend some time quietly fuckin’ consoling her.
This has been an incredibly stressful situation for her.
The fuckin’ cherry on top was Brennan setting her property on fire.
I doubt that rich asshole fully understands the legacy he took from her.
Before this is all over, I’m going to make absolutely certain he not only knows but regrets it.
Normally church is for patched-in brothers only, but this involves Emily, so I lead her into our meeting room.
Jasper stands in the front of the room with his arms crossed, watching every brother come in and take a seat.
He raises his eyebrow at Emily, but he must see the expression on my face because he just gives a shrug and doesn’t comment.
After he makes quick work of explaining what’s at stake, the brothers sit up a little straighter and take turns eyeing Emily at my side.
Striker’s the first to speak. “I’ve been looking into this asshole since he first landed at Onyx’s old lady’s place several weeks ago.
I’ve discovered he’s a real piece of shit.
He’s gotten fired from every job he ever had that wasn’t given to him by his daddy.
I wouldn’t be surprised if his last girlfriend ran off to get away from him.
He’s your typical rich guy, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. ”
Rock growls, “So why weren’t we watching the fucker?”
“That’s on me,” I say, my voice low. “As Em was staying here, I thought the cops would keep an eye on him, so I pulled off the prospects.”
Jasper nods. “It’s understandable, brother. No one’s blaming you.”
“So what else you got on him?” I ask Striker.
Striker runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t have a lot to report about his digital footprint.
Everything this asshole has is held in a trust. I think all we can say with any certainty is that he’s the kind of asshole who thinks he’s untouchable.
So when you’re tryin’ to figure out his next move, don’t exclude anything. ”
I glance over at my old man. “That actually makes hella good sense if you think about it. From what we’ve seen of him the fucker is brazen.”
Jinx spreads a map across the table with areas marked in red and orange.
“The last time he was in our territory, we found evidence of him in the areas I’ve marked in red.
Since he destroyed Emily’s cabin, he can’t go back there.
I’ve marked areas he would likely choose as secondary hiding places.
They are places with higher ground so he can see trouble coming, a natural water source, and some place to shelter.
I think that because he fancies himself an outdoorsman, there is a high probability he will find and use one of these sites. ”
Emily stands near the back wall, her arms folded across her stomach. I can tell she doesn’t want to be in here, but she didn’t balk when I brought her to the meeting. She’s paying close attention and listening to every word being said. Therefore, I’m not terribly surprised when she speaks up.
“I don’t think he’s going to come back to your territory.”
Jasper takes a step forward. “Do you think he has another fallback spot?”
“Yes.” Emily’s voice is quiet, but she sounds sure of herself. “When he forced entry into my cabin, he was really shaken up from running from the police. He spent a lot of time threatening to hurt my cat if I didn’t do what he wanted and a lot of time rambling to himself.”
Mica perks up immediately. “That might turn out to be a goldmine of information.”
“He was really insistent that he didn’t do what they were accusing him of.
That was the thing he rambled about the most. He called the cops stupid and incompetent, he said they were framing him.
But another thing I remember hearing him mumbling to himself about was something about how he should have gone north instead of south.
I could have sworn that I heard him say something under his breath that sounded like, ‘I could be at Silverwood right now, instead of this dump’.
At the time it didn’t seem important enough to dwell on. ”
I pick up where my old lady left off. “So, you’re thinking that since this Silverwood place was his preference when hiding out the last time, he might go there this time to get off the radar?”
She nods, her expression grateful. “He seemed to think he was capable of outsmarting law enforcement and everyone else.”
Slate mutters, “You don’t have to be anything special to outsmart law enforcement in this town.”
When Jasper shoots him an exasperated look, he adds, “Detective Morgan excepted, of course.”
Striker pulls up local maps on his laptop. “Silverwood isn’t ringing any bells with me, and I’ve lived here my whole life. I’m going to cross-reference anything with silver or wood in the name.”
Jasper makes good use of the time it’s taking Striker to do his electronic search.
He launches into a bunch of housekeeping issues, like tightening security at the clubhouse, making sure all the women knew where the safe room was and to go there immediately if something pops off.
Thank God, Striker interrupts him with information on Brennan.
“I found something. It isn’t Silverwood. It’s Sliverwood. It’s an old hunting area to the north of us, on the other side of the interstate.”
My old man speaks up. “I remember Sliverwood. We scouted it back in the day when we were tracking a rival MC through that area. And if memory serves, someone was cooking meth there a few years back.”