Chapter 9 – Stone
STONE
As I drove back to the clubhouse, I wondered what in the hell I was doing. Why was I putting my life and the club on the line for a woman who was a complete stranger? I didn’t know, but I needed to come up with an answer Sin would accept.
Maybe it was because I knew what it was like to have someone else’s actions completely fuck up your life. Or maybe I was trying to right all the wrongs I made with Kim. I just knew that she needed help and I had the means to help her.
My thoughts were interrupted when my phone rang with Sin’s name on the screen.
Fuck. I wasn’t ready to talk to him, but I couldn’t ignore his call.
“Hey, Prez.”
“The prospects watching the house called. The roommate just got home and parked in the garage. They said only one person was visible inside the vehicle, but the other girl could’ve been lying down. You wanna go talk to her?”
“No need, Prez. I found the girl and spoke to her.”
“You fucking what?” he yelled.
“I talked to her, and I got what we needed. I’m on my way back, and I’ll explain everything when I get there.”
“When will that be?” he gritted out.
“Thirty or forty minutes.”
“Any chance she was with the roommate?”
“No, absolutely not,” I said confidently. “And after talking to her, I don’t think we need to be concerned about the roommate. But if it’s all right with you, I’d prefer to discuss the details in person.”
“Right,” Sin said tightly. “I’ll have the prospects continue as they were until we’ve spoken.”
“Thanks, Prez. I’ll be there soon.”
I knew he was pissed, but that would change once I explained and he saw the video. At least, I hoped it would.
When I arrived at the clubhouse, I found Sin alone in his office.
“Close the door and start talking.”
I did as he said and reached for my phone as I dropped into a chair in front of his desk. “I have a video that proves the Wood brothers put Whitney in the bag with Glenn.” With the video on the screen, I pressed play and handed him my phone.
“Lying motherfuckers,” he mumbled as he watched Whitney run into Wood Pawn behind Glenn. “This isn’t enough,” he said when the video ended. “Yes, she goes inside, but then what?”
“Play it again and zoom in on the window beside the front door after she goes inside.”
“What the fuck?” he breathed as he watched the Wood brothers knock out Whitney and Glenn before dragging them out of the camera’s view. “How the fuck did you get this?”
“The simple answer is I recorded it while someone else played the video on a laptop.”
“I want the detailed explanation.”
“I stopped to have dinner at the diner in Montgomery Ridge before I called it a day. While I was there, the roommate drove by, and I overheard the server talking about her. She said something about wishing Ms. Montgomery’s friends could have stayed longer.
I asked about Ms. Montgomery, and she told me where she lives.
I went to check it out and found Whitney there.
She’s not involved with the Wood brothers.
She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and wants to pretend like none of this ever happened.
I told her we might be able to help her, but we needed proof that the Wood brothers were involved.
She showed me the video and asked if it would be enough. I told her it would be.”
“You offered her our help?” he asked incredulously.
“I gave her my ring.”
He froze. Most of the brothers gave their matching ring to their Old Lady when they claimed her. I never gave my ring to Kim, but I gave it to Whitney. “I … I, um, holy shit, Stone.”
I shrugged. “She had what we needed, and I needed her to trust me.”
“Can we trust her?”
“Fuck, I hope so, but I understand what that means if I’m wrong.”
“God damn it, Stone!”
“I know how this looks, Prez.”
“Really? Because it looks like you found the woman who might have enough information to take us down and literally gave her the gun to do it with while making her your Old Lady!”
“Yes, but I don’t think we have anything to worry about. For one thing, she didn’t scream and try to call the cops when I showed up. She met me on the back balcony with a shotgun aimed at my face. Oh, and she knew my name. The one my momma gave me.”
Sin stared at me in disbelief. “Let me see if I have this straight. She knew your name and was waiting for you with a shotgun, as if she were expecting you. Then, she provided a surveillance video of her own attempted murder. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
He slammed his hands on his desk. “Who the fuck have you gotten us involved with?”
“I don’t … what?”
“Glitch has been trying to find something for days, yet this girl was just sitting on the exact video evidence we needed. And she knew your name. That doesn’t seem suspicious to you?”
“Not really. She said the video was acquired through illegal means. I assume there are other hackers besides Glitch,” I said.
“As for my name, she could’ve figured that out by looking up my funeral director’s license with the state board.
” There were only a few licensed funeral directors in Cross Creek, and all of them were Grave Prowlers.
“So she’s a hacker?”
“No, I don’t think so. Well, she didn’t say she was, but I guess she could be.”
He nodded. “We need to get the brothers in for church.”
Thirty minutes later, Sin updated the other officers and showed them the video.
“How the fuck did you get that?” Glitch asked in a tone I’d rarely heard from him. “That looks like it’s from the gas station across the street. I’ve been trying to get into their system all weekend.”
“I don’t know how it was originally acquired,” I said.
“Damn. I’d like to know how they did it.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Juice said. “You boys better never disappoint me like that. Killing people in plain view of a damn camera.” He shook his head. “That’s embarrassing.”
“No worries, Pop,” Danger said. “You taught us well. Assault in public; kill at home.”
“Don’t let your mother hear you say that.”
Ignoring them, Sin continued. “I’m not interested in giving them another chance to make things right. They chose to fuck us over the first time they did business with us, and they put our business at risk by doing so. I suggest we pick them up tomorrow night after their shop closes.”
“Why wait until tomorrow night?” Halo asked. “We should scoop them up in the morning before they open the shop when there’s less traffic.”
“Good point. We’ll go in the morning. Any objections?”
No one objected, and surprisingly, Juice didn’t have anything to add.
“All right. In the morning, Danger, Stone, and Tomb, you three are with me. We’ll leave at six. The rest of you be here by eight.”
* * *