Chapter 9
German
Heading downstairs with my gun in hand, I quietly moved to the side of the front door so the person behind it couldn’t see me. Peeking through the frosted glass, I noted a man in a thread-bare suit and immediately recognized it was the detective who’d been following Maddy around town.
Holstering my weapon, I opened the door. “Can I help you?”
The detective eyed me with suspicion before saying, “I’m Detective Emerson Frydek. I need to speak with Mr. Framingham.”
Filling the doorframe with my large body, I crossed my arms alongside my chest and smiled. “Mr. Framingham is out of town on business. He’ll be back in a few weeks. Try back then.”
I motioned to close the door, but Frydek held it open with his palm. “Well, if Mr. Framingham isn’t available, I’d like to speak to his daughter, Madelynn Framingham.”
“She’s in bed. Is there anything I can help you with, Detective?” Frydek knew I wasn’t going to be helpful, but I needed to at least give the illusion of being useful for plausible deniability’s sake.
“And you would be?” the detective pressed, although we both knew I was no stranger to the man.
I’m sure he’d used his fancy Federal database to pull up everything from my childhood juvie record, subsequent military service, and my joining the Devil’s Riders to learn as much as he could about the man following Framingham’s wealthy daughter around. Fuck, I was no different! I did the same thing every time I had a question about somebody using my Brother Pipe’s amazing skills.
“I’m a friend of the Framinghams,” I smoothly inserted, not obligated to answer beyond that.
Frydek thought over his next move then. “I have some important information Ms. Framingham needs in the interest of her safety. I think it best if you wake her.”
I was just about to deny him a second time when Maddy came down the stairs. My gaze slid up to hers, feeling the heat of her presence like a punch to the gut. She was wearing an oversized T-shirt and yoga pants that made her look so fucking young and vulnerable I nearly ached to protect her.
Everything we’d just done together in her bedroom whipped through my mind’s eye then. My dick jumped with excitement at the electrifying memories. Tamping down my lust, I quelled the desire to drag her back to her room, strip her naked, and spank her ass red for defying my order to “stay put”. The thought of spanking her ass only got me harder though, which wasn’t really helpful at the moment. Christ! This woman was going to be the death of me.
“It’s okay, German,” Maddy said, hugging her arms tightly around her middle. “You can let the detective in. I want to talk to him.”
Reluctantly, I stepped aside to let Frydek enter. I may have given him only enough room so he had to uncomfortably slink through the entranceway. Aware of my little power move, Frydek pressed onward, his gaze not passing over a single detail in the nearly dark space.
“It’s late, Detective,” Maddy began, dark circles already shadowing her fatigued eyes. “Is there something you need to tell me that can’t wait until morning?”
My question exactly. It was past eleven. What did the man hope to gain by coming to Coldwell Manor so late? Did he truly have vital information to share? Or, more likely, did he know Maddy’s father was out of town and he was trying to catch her alone in a vulnerable moment?
But there was one thing the Detective hadn’t counted on. Maddy wasn’t alone. I was here. And I wasn’t about to let this man, or any other, take advantage of my girl.
Shit. My girl? What the fuck was I even saying? Despite what had happened upstairs, Maddy wasn’t mine. I was sure it had only been the adrenaline talking when she’d said she needed me. Perhaps what she needed was to feel safe and cared for after experiencing what that dickwad Richie Rich had pulled. Whatever it was though, I couldn’t deny it meant something to me. That Maddy meant something to me. More than she should.
“Let’s you and I go talk in your father’s study,” Frydek suggested, intentionally trying to separate Maddy from my presence.
Maddy answered before I could. “No. German is a trusted friend. Anything you have to tell me, Detective, you can say in front of him.”
Frydek glanced wearily in my direction and I coldly stared him down in return. “We think we might know one of the men involved in Christine Beupray’s attack,” Frydek finally stated. “We were hoping perhaps you could confirm the man’s identity.”
Maddy’s body stiffened. “If I can help in any way to put those monsters behind bars, I will,” she passionately declared.
I was proud of her spunk, but inwardly cursed. The best thing Maddy could do in this circumstance was deny any knowledge of whatever Frydek was about to show her. That way, me and my Club could quietly deal with the situation however we saw fit. And our justice system, unlike the State’s lengthy, drawn-out one, was swift and absolute.
Taking out his phone, the Detective handed it over to Maddy. Positioning myself strategically behind her, I waited for the beautiful woman to look in my direction. Unfortunately, Maddy’s china-blue gaze was transfixed on the screen as she scanned the image there.
“Yes, I know this man. His name is Ken Mitchem. He worked for my dad for years, but he’s no longer with the company,” she explained, handing back the cell.
“What do you know about Mr. Mitchem’s employment with your father?” Frydek asked, taking a step back so I wasn’t out of his range of vision. Shit, the man wasn’t a complete idiot. That was unfortunate.
Maddy shrugged. “I don’t know much. Just that he was my father’s oldest employee but he left the company last year when they disagreed on some project they were working on together.”
This was why we tried never to share information with the Old Ladies within the Club. They might think they were being helpful, but all they were doing was arming the cops in whatever bullshit charge they were about to level. For all we knew, Frydek was trying to go after Maddy’s father for something, and I didn’t want his daughter to be the one handing them the smoking gun to incarcerate his ass. How would Maddy feel then? She’d never forgive herself. Well, I wasn’t about to let her fall into a trap like that.
“What’s this about, Detective?” I cut in, trying to waylay the conversation before any more damning information could be shared.
Frydek looked peeved at my intervention. “Ms. Framingham, I’d really like to speak to you alone.”
“I’m sure you would,” I interjected. “But we’ve already established that’s not going to happen.”
Frydek took a step in my direction. “And who are you to determine anything for Ms. Framingham, Mr. German?”
So it was like I thought. Frydek had clearly done some research on me. “It’s not Mr. German, it’s just German,” I corrected him. “And I’m her friend suggesting that before Maddy says anything further, she first consults her family’s lawyer.”
Realizing he’d been overzealous, Frydek took a step back. “That won’t be necessary. I came here tonight as a courtesy to the Framingham family. It’s my goal to keep Maddelyn safe. To do that, I wanted her to know about this new potential threat the department uncovered, as soon as possible.”
“But you haven’t explained what that threat is yet, Detective,” Maddy pointed out then.
Frydek bobbed his chin. “I’ve just come from a crime scene in which we discovered Mr. Mitchem’s body.”
I sure didn’t see that one coming. Maddy gasped and I crossed the room to comfort her. Looping my arm around her shoulders, she leaned into me and I into her.
Frydek watched this interplay between us as I silently berated myself for making such a novice mistake. The last thing I wanted to do was give the Detective any insight into my relationship with Maddy when I was just supposed to be a family “friend”. But it was too late now. Frydek had witnessed our intimate exchange and he’d have no doubt in his mind there was more to our relationship than meets the eye.
“What happened to him?” Maddy inquired after she’d pulled her frayed emotions together.
“We’re not sure yet,” Frydek answered vaguely. “He was found dismembered in the trunk of his car. It’s estimated by the coroner he’s been there for over a week. Since we know Mitchem didn’t put himself in that trunk, we need to gather some information about him to further determine what happened.”
“Why do you think his death is tied to Maddy’s case?” I asked.
“I never said I thought that,” Frydek countered, though he wasn’t denying it either.
“Why else would you be here, asking me these questions, if you didn’t?” Maddy sagely reasoned.
Frydek’s lips compressed into a flat line. “There were some suspicious things found at the man’s house that might point to a connection between the thugs who hurt Ms. Beupray and Mr. Mitchem. Can you tell us anything about the nature of Christine’s relationship with Mr. Mitchem? Any fights, or intimate relations, you might have witnessed between the two of them?”
Maddy seemed bowled over by the question. “Outside of Christmas parties and summer barbecues, I had next to no contact with Mr. Mitchem. I can’t tell you about Christine, but from what I observed, there was no ill will between the two that I saw.”
I didn’t need Frydek to tell me anything more. It was clear he was holding back far too much information already. Once he left, I’d place a call to Pipe and put him on the case. If anyone could uncover the protected information, my Brother could. And once he’d discovered Mitchem’s dirty little secrets, he’d be able to relay to the Club all the gritty details the Detective was holding back on.
Maddy, unaware of my connection, angled for more information to make sense of this tragedy. I didn’t blame her. From what I’d gleaned, Christine had been like a mother to her. The thought of a long-term employee being involved in the secretary’s cowardly attack, especially in such a tight-knit company that had operated like a family for so many years, was tremendously unsettling.
The horror on her face made my chest ache. “What did you find at Ken’s house that linked him to Christine’s attack?”
Squeezing her closer to me, I glanced at Frydek, who was unabashedly watching the two of us as closely as an anthropologist does a new culture he’d unexpectedly stumbled upon.
“I can’t say much,” Frydek began, “but there were some text messages discovered by our experts that seem to tie him, however tacitly, to the crime.”
I took that to mean Mitchem had been caught messaging whoever was behind the physical assault just prior to the attack.
“Why would Ken hurt Christine? They worked together peacefully for years?” Maddy asked, the disbelief obvious in her voice.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the answer to that yet, Ms. Framingham,” Frydek said, though I highly doubted he was telling us the full truth.
Needing to speak to Maddy privately so I could pump her for details about this situation without Frydek’s prying eyes, I decided to put an end to this conversation before the Detective got more than we did out of it. “Thank you for coming here tonight, Detective. If there’s nothing more for you to share, I think we’d better call it a night.”
I could tell that Frydek wanted to protest. However, there wasn’t much he could say. It was late. Maddy was obviously tired, and he’d supposedly shared all the details about the case he knew. He’d backed himself into a corner and he knew it.
Walking toward the door, I opened it and said, “Have a safe drive home.”
Frydek looked over at Maddy then. “Thank you for all your help tonight, Ms. Framingham. I’ll be in touch shortly,” he promised, before strolling out the door.
Closing it behind him, I waited for the man to get into his car before I looked over at Maddy. She seemed to be lost in her thoughts, miles away from the sensuous, hellcat of a woman I’d been with earlier.
That was another thing to consider. What we’d nearly done in her bedroom tonight. It was a mistake. Getting so close to the woman I was supposed to be protecting. But still, I didn’t regret it. I wanted Maddy more than any woman I’d ever known. And, if I wasn’t careful, it might distract me from my main purpose here. To keep the woman safe. I needed to always remember that. If something happened to Maddy because I was too busy thinking about getting my dick wet, I’d never forgive myself.
“You don’t trust him?” Maddy said then, interrupting my thoughts.
“Not one bit.”
Leaning against the banister to keep herself upright, she asked, “Why not?”
She needed to get to bed. The poor thing was worn out and could barely stay on her feet. “I don’t think he’s being honest about his motives.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, I think his net might be wider than just finding Christine’s attacker.”
Maddy frowned. “Who else is there to catch?” The answer suddenly dawned on her. “Do you believe the Detective might think my father had something to do with all this? That this attack is part of something much bigger?”
Maddy wasn’t a simpleton. That Ivy League education of hers had actually paid off. “I can’t be certain, but I’m not ruling out the possibility. What do you know about your father’s interaction with his former employee Ken Mitchem?”
Maddy bit her bottom lip. “Like I told the Detective, Ken was my dad’s oldest employee. They got along great, until they didn’t. I was under the impression that Ken left over a disagreement they’d had about one of their newer accounts.”“Do you think Ken could have been angry enough at your father to retaliate?” I hate to say it, but ego was a hard thing for people to swallow. Depending on what kind of man Ken Mitchem was, the blow to his pride over his losing the new account could have sent him into a rage. Sad to say, but I’d seen men do much worse over less.
Wringing her hands together, Maddy gave the question some real thought. “I mean, Ken always had a temper. But he was just as quick to forgive as he was to anger. He attended my mother’s funeral and I played alongside his children at all company functions. The thought of him hurting Christine and trying to kidnap me? I just don’t see him doing something like that. I really don’t, German.”
Maddy began to shake and I decided she’d had enough for one night. “Come on, it’s time for bed.” When she glanced at me hopefully, my dick gave an involuntary salute. Squashing my desire, I braced my hand on her shoulder. “I’ve got to place a phone call to one of my Brothers to check into Ken Mitchem’s past. See what he’s been up to for the last few decades that led to him being stuffed into the trunk of his car. You don’t need to be there for that. You need sleep.”
Maddy’s face fell, but I could see she understood. “All right.”
Turning toward the stairs, Maddy began to tiredly climb them. Deciding I didn’t like seeing her struggle, I picked her up in my arms and carried her the rest of the way.
I knew how tired she was when she didn’t even protest or complain. When I got to her room, I set her down on her bed.
Maddy fluffed her pillow and snuggled into the sheets. As soon as she was comfortable, her fat orange cat jumped onto the mattress and curled himself on top of her pillow. Reaching up, she stroked his fur and the useless beast began to purr.
“After you talk with your Club, can you come and sleep with me tonight? I don’t want to be alone after everything that’s happened,” she asked, her wide, innocent, blue eyes begging me to concede.
I knew it was a terrible idea, but I didn’t want to be apart from her either. “Yeah. Go to sleep,” I told her. “I’m going to be a bit, but I’ll be back as soon as I’m done.”