ISAIAH #2
“Tucker could have killed us at any time,” Bryce added. “If he wanted us dead, we’d be dead.”
“She’s right.” Dash nodded, going over to his wife and putting his hand on Xander’s head. “When Tucker wants someone dead, they’re in the ground.”
“And his name isn’t Lee,” Emmett added.
“Fuck,” Leo barked. “It almost works, but not quite. We know Tucker. He’s also not the kind of guy to hide behind ski masks and sunglasses.”
“My gut says it’s not Tucker.” Dash growled. “Damn it. But you’re right about one thing, Isaiah, this was always about Dad. Goddamn, I wish he were here. He had a way of looking at things from a different point of view.”
“What are we missing?” Bryce asked.
“What if it wasn’t the kidnapper who planted the necklace?” Genevieve’s voice caught our attention. “Maybe I had that wrong.”
“Then who?”
She gulped. “A cop. That place would have been swarming with cops.”
“Which cop?” Dash and Emmett asked in unison.
“Marcus,” she whispered. “He hates Draven.”
“No, he doesn’t.” Dash shook his head. “They always got along. Yeah, Marcus had to arrest him a couple of times, but the charges never stuck. After the club disbanded, they’d meet for drinks every couple months at The Betsy.”
It was hard to picture Draven sitting down across from the chief of police at the local dive bar to eat salty popcorn and shoot the breeze over a beer.
“I’m telling you,” Genevieve insisted, “there was so much poison in his voice today. He said Draven was a coward for killing himself. And the way he looked was . . . there was something off about it. He hates Draven. Loathes him. I’m sure of it.”
The room went still except for a gurgle coming from the baby.
“You’re sure?” I asked Genevieve. Going up against Tucker would have been difficult. Making an accusation against the chief of police was downright impossible.
She didn’t answer right away. Her eyes stayed narrowed and unfocused at a grease spot on the floor.
“Genevieve?”
She lifted her face. “I need to go to the office. I never put him in my notebook. But he could have planted the necklace. He could have framed Draven. It has to be him. Chief Wagner is Lee.”
“Emmett, what’s Marcus’s middle name?” Dash asked.
He shrugged. “No fucking clue.”
“I can look it up, but I need to be at work to do it,” Genevieve said.
“I got it.” Emmett whipped out his phone, typing with fury. We waited as he scrolled and scrolled. “It’s not listed anywhere public. I need one of my laptops.”
Chairs went rolling as bodies shot to their feet.
Following Emmett’s lead, we all rushed to the side door and into the summer sunshine.
Then we marched to the clubhouse, opening the locked doors so Emmett could disappear to wherever Emmett had disappeared to and the rest of us stood in the open room—waiting.
Xander let out a loud squawk, filling the musty room with his noise. The echo must have startled him, because his eyes got wide.
“Will you take him?” Bryce asked Dash. “He’s getting heavy.”
“Sure, babe.” He grinned at his son, scooping him up in his arms. “Come here, little man.”
I put my arm around Genevieve, pulling her into my side. “You okay?”
“It stinks in here,” she whispered. “I can’t believe this is happening. What if it’s not him? What if I’m wrong? What if—”
“V.” I pressed my finger to her rambling lips. “It’ll be okay.”
“But—”
“You’re walking away from this.”
Her eyes turned glassy. “But I don’t want to walk away from this if you’re not with me. Promise me you won’t confess.”
I gave her a sad smile. “Can’t do it, doll.”
“I won’t lose you too.” She closed her eyes, dropping her forehead to my chest. “I love you.”
I wrapped my arms around her. “I love you too.”
I’d been so hesitant to say those words. The last time I’d told a woman that I loved her, I’d killed her not long after. But seeing Genevieve flanked by two cops had flipped a switch.
What if I lost her? What if I didn’t get the chance to say those words?
Life was fleeting. The accident had taught me that.
The I love you had come out in a panicked rush. I’d slow them down, every day for the rest of her life.
My wife.
She’d found me. She’d broken through. She loved me.
I wasn’t losing her. We’d figure this out or die trying.
We stood there, holding on to one another as we shifted our weight from one foot to another. We waited for Emmett to return. Bryce and Dash stood by the bar, their attention on their son, while Leo wandered around the room, looking over pieces from the past.
His fingers lingered on the rack of pool cues. His hand skimmed the green felt on the table. “We should burn this place down.”
His statement caught the room’s attention, but before anyone could respond, Emmett came running back into the room.
“It’s Lee,” Emmett panted. “He’s got two middle names. Marcus Ross Lee Wagner.”
“Fuck.” Dash was on the verge of losing it, but he held it together for the baby in his arms. “He set Dad up. He planned all this. How? Why?”
“Marcus said something to me once,” Bryce said. “About a year ago. He said that Draven always came away clean. I didn’t think much of it at the time. It was before I knew you guys. But he sounded . . . bitter. Like he’d failed as a cop.”
“That’s reason enough to take out a personal vendetta.” I nodded. “Add in a relationship with Amina—if he was a jealous lover, it’s believable. And he’s smart. Smart enough to pull it off.”
“No wonder he didn’t investigate when we printed that article about the knife being stolen.” Bryce was fuming, pacing in a fast circle. “The bastard. He stole it himself.”
“Now what?” I asked. “We have no evidence. He’s the chief of police.”
And he’d all but gotten away with murder.
“We have to get him to admit it,” Genevieve said.
“Never gonna happen.” Leo shook his head. “Never.”
“We have to try.” She pointed to her chest. “I have to try. For my mom and dad. I can’t let him get away with this. Maybe if I confront him—”
“Out of the question.” There was no way in hell she’d ever be around that man again. “It’s too risky.”
“Isaiah, it’s our only hope.” Her eyes pleaded with me. “If Marcus is behind this, there won’t be any evidence. He’s destroyed it all or made sure it pointed to Draven. The only way to know is if he confesses.”
She was right. We were trapped. His confession was the only way we’d be free. “Fuck, I hate this.”
“Me too.” She took my hand. “But we have to try.”
“How?” Bryce asked.
“Torture?” Emmett raised an eyebrow. “We haven’t had any guests in the basement for a while. Would be fitting since that was how Draven would have played it.”
Dash raised an eyebrow, entertaining the idea.
“No.” Bryce glared. “No more violence. There’s been enough.”
Beside me, Genevieve shuddered. Her face paled as she met my gaze. “I have an idea.”
“What?” I asked.
“We’re going to do what we’ve been doing all year. Lie like our lives depend on it.”