Chapter 12 #2
Ranger’s back stiffened. “The guy had a heart attack! It wasn’t my fault! Maybe if someone had told me he had a pacemaker, I wouldn’t have hooked him up to a car battery!”
Eyes then flew to Bear, who immediately put his hands up. “I’m sorry. Next time you bring someone to the cellar to torture them, I’ll make sure to double check their medical records before you start torturing them.”
Ghost let out a sharp whistle. “Look, it doesn’t change the fact that we have more questions than answers.”
“Most important being where Debra Anderson still is,” Ranger reminded the table. “I still have to tell Toni that the finger Pike gave her wasn’t her mother’s.”
“It’s been almost two days since I told you that,” Keys said, aghast. “What are you waiting for?”
“And how long did it take you to tell us you were hiding Rose in your fortress across the street?” Lucky rhetorically asked Keys, coming to Ranger’s defense.
“We’ve found no evidence to suggest Debra Anderson is alive.
No credit card trails, no signs of her car.
Both Wayne and Debra were fired from their jobs months ago, so she hasn’t been to work, or to Toni’s house since the night Wayne Anderson was killed.
And the one person who could possibly confirm Debra’s whereabouts is now dead. ”
Ranger winced. The only thing Pike had been able to confirm about Debra was that she was the one who’d relapsed first, almost five months ago. Wayne had followed the very next day. He also had not given Toni those details.
“I’ll talk to her tonight,” Ranger resolved. “She has a right to know.”
Ghost gave him a reassuring nod before asking Keys, “Have you figured out who the finger does belong to?”
Based on comparing the finger’s blood type to Toni’s, Keys was able to determine that it had not been Debra’s. Keys shook his head. “I’d need an actual forensics lab for that. I gave the finger to Carlos, who can actually get some answers from it.”
“Where does he think it came from?” Bulldog asked, a bit amused.
“I think by now Carlos just knows better than to ask that sort of question,” Keys answered dryly.
Rose shrugged, “I tried to tell him I found it on the sidewalk, but I don’t think he believed me.”
Given that Rose could barely keep a straight face while telling the club, Ranger had no trouble believing that she was unable to get that line past Carlos.
Ghost scratched his chin. “Until we have proof that Debra Anderson is alive or dead, we still need to work off the assumption that she’s alive.
Once we have an answer to who the finger belongs to, we’ll deal with that then, too.
Keys, were you able to confirm the list of clients Pike gave us before he died? ”
His expression solemn, Keys nodded. “And Bulldog also found a ledger he kept in a safe at his house that had even more names on it. About seven hundred, spanning back at least a decade. One hundred and seven are still current ranging from Cottonville to Johnstown, and even down to Morgantown and as far as Ohiopyle. Here in Mount Grove, I was able to confirm eighteen residents.”
Eighteen. A year ago, that number would have seemed astronomical to Ranger.
Especially after the club supposedly put a stop to dealings years ago.
But Ranger had recently learned the arrogance of that assumption.
The club hadn’t put a stop to drug deals or substance abuse within the town.
They’d just created an environment where residents had to learn to hide their habits better.
Mount Grove had a population of roughly five thousand people.
On average, sixty to two hundred of the population had some form of substance use disorders, with thirty to eighty people using illicit drugs.
Having eighteen of those thirty to eighty people being active customers of a drug dealer like Pike only meant that Pike had established a decent foothold in their town.
Rumblings of unhappiness at this knowledge wove around the table. No one was happy about those numbers.
Keys then dropped a bigger bomb on them. “Two are club employees. Shawna at the diner,” he said to Pirate, “and Ricky at the construction site,” he added to Cage. He turned to Ghost, “There’s also one more name you’re not going to be happy with.”
Keys slid a tablet across the polished wood to Ghost at the head. Ghost caught the device before lifting it to see what Keys wouldn’t say out loud.
Shock was the immediate expression on Ghost’s face. “You have got to be fucking with me.”
Keys shook his head as Ghost passed the tablet to Lucky.
“Principal Rockland?” the VP gasped out, lowering the tablet.
“No way!” came down the table from the other end. Jigsaw and Pirate exchanged astonished looks. Pirate had worked for years as the high school’s security guard, and when he left to start a charity for disabled veterans, Jigsaw took his place.
Since Bree had graduated high school last spring, currently there were no more club kids at that school, but Ghost still left Jigsaw in place to keep an ear to the ground on things the town’s youth were getting up to.
“I’ve met Rockland on numerous occasions,” Lucky argued to Keys. “He’s a good man! He stood up for Scotty. He’s Harper’s boss! I never would even suspect him of using meth.”
“Would you suspect me of using heroin?” Ranger asked, staring Lucky down.
Lucky immediately snapped his mouth shut. After a second, he said softer, “That’s not what I meant.”
Ranger nodded, knowing Lucky hadn’t meant anything malicious by it. “You don’t know how or why someone chooses to use. To assume all are street rats or low members of society is ignorant, and frankly, stereotyping.”
“I know,” Lucky told him gently. “I’m sorry. I’m just surprised, and I misspoke.”
There was a heavy moment of silence in the room before Keys spoke up again, his voice hesitant. “Based on the numbers we found in his ledger, we don’t think meth was the only product Pike was dealing, or collecting money for. We don’t have a record of what Rockland was buying from Pike.”
“I’ve been in contact with Colby,” Ghost told the table.
“We’re going to have our hands full trying to reach out to all the townspeople on this list, but any who wish to go to rehab, we will sponsor and pay for with Pike’s money.
Any who wish to get sober will have a number of options presented to them. ”
“I want to talk to Cross, too,” Ranger added. “Nothing specific, obviously. But tell him I’ve met someone who doesn’t want to get sober and see if he has any suggestions of how to approach talking to them and encouraging them.”
It wasn’t like Ranger had any personal experience in that.
When he’d relapsed, Ghost hadn’t given him much of a choice about going to rehab.
And by the time Ranger was cognizant enough to realize what had happened and what he’d done, there’d been so much shame in him that he hadn’t fought Ghost’s decision in the slightest.
Ghost nodded his approval to Ranger. “Not a bad idea. With this number of people, chances are we’re going to have people who fight getting clean.”
“I’ll take Rockland,” Lucky said, his voice proclaiming it wasn’t up for discussion. “I don’t want to ambush him or embarrass him. Maybe we can come up with a way to discreetly get him to rehab.”
“Either way, he’s going to lose his job,” Jigsaw murmured.
“The school’s no drug policy includes faculty and staff.
I don’t know about anyone else, and I mean no offense by this,” he said specifically to Ranger before addressing the whole club, “but I certainly don’t want an addict in charge of the town’s youth. ”
Ranger wasn’t happy about it, but he did agree with Jigsaw. What happened if a student found out? How easy would it be to bribe the principal into compliance?
“Let’s see who we can discreetly help,” Ghost said, playing peacemaker.
“Ranger, you concentrate on Toni. The rest of us will work to figure out who wants to get clean, and if any troublemakers arise, we’ll bring Carlos in.
Scar, I—” When Ghost paused speaking, everyone turned to the last place anyone had seen Scar.
Hasty looks around the room confirmed the former enforcer was no longer present. “Well, shit.”
“I’ll find him,” Keys muttered, getting on his laptop.
“You don’t think he’s going after Rockland?” Lucky asked Bulldog.
“For potentially being high while being in charge of our town’s youth?” Bulldog shot back at him.
“Fuck,” Ghost snapped, standing. “Let’s get him. The rest of you, get your assignments from Keys.”
Apparently Church was adjourned.
* * *
Toni dozed while waiting for Ranger. She specifically did not want to fall asleep, knowing she’d have to call Becks once Ranger arrived.
The past couple of days had been trying, to say the least. And yet Toni couldn’t remember a time when she’d been happier in her life.
It seemed so contradictory, but it was true.
While living in the club’s trailer wasn’t ideal, going back to her house hadn’t even crossed her mind.
Becks, Jasmine, and Sophia were slowly introducing her to the club’s ol’ ladies, and true to her initial assumption, Toni had started creating a list to remember them all.
And did the men of the club have a breeding kink or something?
Toni had no idea of the actual number of club kids, which was still growing with Becks’ pregnancy and Oscar’s recent addition.