Chapter 10
RED
Emily and I are finishing breakfast when my phone rings, flashing Maestro’s name.
“Son,” I greet.
“Hey, Pops. Hard-Drive has a lead on the ex’s car. You’ll never believe where it is. Can you both come down to the club and we’ll head over to where it is?”
“Sure, son. I’ll let Em know. Give us twenty minutes to get dressed.”
“That works, see you both soon.”
“Where are we going?” Em asks, closing the dishwasher door, and turning to me.
“No idea. Maestro has a lead on your ex’s car. He wants us to go with.”
Excitement lights up her eyes.
“Give me ten minutes,” she tells me, throwing the tea towel she’d been holding on the counter and rushing out of the kitchen.
Shaking my head, I chuckle. I walk over to the rack that holds my boots and sit to pull them on. True to her word, Emily is back in ten minutes, dressed in her leathers, with her cut in her hands. She sits next to me and pulls on her boots.
“I wonder if we’ll find anything? It’s been years,” she murmurs, pulling on the zip.
“If we do we do and if we don’t it doesn’t matter. I’m curious like you though.”
“Well then,” Em slaps her thighs and stands, tugging on my hand to get me to move. “Let’s get going, old man.” She grins at me.
Picking her cut up from where she’d laid it, I hold it out for her and settle it on her shoulders. I press a kiss to the back of her head. “Love seeing you with my name on your back, darlin’.”
She shivers and leans back against me. I wrap my arms around her in a hug.
“Love that, Deck. Never thought I’d ever agree to be an Old Lady again.
This time it’s different. What I feel for you is a hundred times more than what I felt for Jared.
Not sure what I did right in another life but I’m damn well going to enjoy however long I’ve got with you. ”
Tightening my grip on her, I kiss her temple. “Love you, Em.”
Em tilts and turns her head on my shoulder, smiling softly up at me. “Love you too, Deck.”
“Let’s get this over with so we can get back here. I’m sure you invited Ford for lunch.”
“Sounds like a plan,” she agrees, walking out the door. “And yes, I invited him for lunch and I’m sure the girls and RJ will be over, too.”
We walk over to my sled, and I swing a leg over the seat, settling down before holding my hand out to Emily, who gets on behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist.
By the time we ride up to the clubhouse, the brothers are ready to leave. We don’t ride for long, and I’m surprised to see where we end up.
We’d recently bought the local wrecking yard, and that’s where we stopped.
Pulling my helmet off, I look at Maestro. “You’ve got to be shitting me?”
He laughs and shakes his head. “Nope it’s here. We’ll have to hunt for it but Hard-Drive spoke to Rowena and she’s drawn us a map of where she thinks it’s most likely to be.”
“Come on,” Emily grips my shoulder and gets off my sled. “Let’s go see what the idiot hid in his car. I’ve got shit to do and grandkids to feed.”
The brothers laugh at her as we crowd around Maestro, who has the map.
We break up into pairs, each taking a corner.
The yard is massive, about fifty acres in total.
And it’s full to bursting. We’ve been working our way through it and selling off the profitable metal and trying to make sense of how Rowena’s family had run it.
There were two towing trucks that came with the company, and we’d immediately put them to work.
We’d only had the place a little over a month, but we could already see that it was going to be a good earner.
We just needed to get better staff for it.
Three hours later, I’d just about given up when Cash shouted our names. We hurried over to where everyone was congregated.
“Is this it, Em?” Cash asks. It’s definitely a Mustang, but it’s got so much shit piled around it, it’s hard to tell if it’s the one we’re looking for.
She pushes forward. “I’m not sure. As faded as it is, it’s hard to tell what the colour is. I’ll know if I can get to the inside of the passenger door.”
“Okay,” Cash replies. “Give us a couple of hours and we’ll get it cleared for you to have a look. You and Red head on home. I know you’ve got all the kids coming for lunch.”
“Thanks, Cash,” Emily says, patting his arm. “I’ll be back as soon as you call.”
Turning to me, she asks, “Do you want to stay or are you coming home? If you want to stay, I’ll see if Stacey can pick me up.”
“You mean would I rather spend time with you and my grandkids at home where it’s nice and warm or with these yahoos?
That’s not even a question, darlin’,” I grin at her.
“You’ll win every time. We’ll see you boys later,” I call out to the brothers, who are looking at the pile of scrap and discussing the best way to get the car out.
We walk away. I’ve still got the idiot in the shack. Duke, Roar and I’ve been playing with him for a week. I need to put him out of his misery, but that was a job for another day. Today was about spending time with my Old Lady and our grandkids.
***
It was late in the evening when my phone rang.
Maestro had kept us updated as the day progressed, and they’d thought that they’d have to wait until tomorrow to continue.
It was getting dark, and they weren’t confident using the heavy equipment in the dark.
There are too many ways for people to get hurt.
Emily had told them to wait. Another day wasn’t going to make any difference.
“Hey, son. Are you home?”
“We’re over at the garage. Do you want to bring Em over so she can see if it’s his car? We’ve had a look over it but can’t see anything unusual about the car. We’re cleaning off the rust to see if we can read the VIN number.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Emily putting her sneakers on. “We’ll be there soon. Em’s already putting her shoes on.”
“See you soon, Pops.”
When Em is ready, we leave the house and walk hand in hand to the garage. It’s not far. It’s the only business we have attached to the clubhouse grounds.
They’ve unloaded the Mustang and have it parked in one of the bays. It’s in rough shape, but if someone were interested, it would make a nice project.
“Doesn’t look too bad,” Em murmurs, walking straight to the passenger door.
She pulls it open, grimacing when it creaks loudly.
“Sorry, Betty,” she pats the car’s roof before squatting down and rubbing a finger on the panel just above the lock.
“Yep,” she turns to look at me. “This is Jared’s car.
See here,” she shows me some initials scratched into the panel.
I can just make out an E. “I did this one day when I was bored. He was so mad,” she giggled, looking up at me with sparkling eyes.
Taking the hand I hold out to her, I help her stand.
“Did you search her?” Em asks Maestro, who nods.
“We did but couldn’t find anything.”
“Mm, I wonder,” she mumbles to herself before turning back to the car and the passenger side.
She presses down on something, and the chair flips back.
“Here we go,” she says, pulling at the floorboard, but it doesn’t move.
She steps back. “I think one of you may have to have a go at this, it's rusted shut. I’ll check the one on the driver’s side. ”
She walks away, leaving us to have a look at what she’s uncovered.
A fake panel and a dropped chassis. There wouldn’t be a lot of room, but there would be some.
“Here you go.” She says, flipping back the driver’s seat.
“There’s one more but it’s more difficult to get to as we’ll have to take out the back seat. Let’s check these first.”
Duke comes back with a crowbar and fits it under the lip of the panel, forcing it up.
Em comes back to my side and slips her arms around me. “I don’t know why, but I’m nervous. I hope it’s nothing bad.”
“Um, no it’s not bad,” Duke reassures her, stepping back so she can get closer. “In fact, I’d say it’s pretty fucking good.”
“Holy shit,” Em exclaims, eyes wide with surprise when we’re greeted with piles of money. Still in surprisingly good condition considering. “That’s a shit ton of money.”
“It really is,” I agree, rubbing a thumb over my chin. I think of all the ways we’re going to have to clean it. They’re old bills but still legal tender.
Duke moves to the other side and opens it up. There’s the same amount in there.
“Best you tell the boys where the other compartment is darlin’.”
Em stares wide-eyed at me before she shows Maestro and Duke the other hiding places. At the end of the night, she’s got just over a million dollars from the hidden compartments in the Mustang. She’s reeling and trying to figure out where he got it.
I had my suspicions that he was doing side jobs and hoarding the money to get them away from the club, but then he’d been put in prison and the car put in the impound lot. It was just lucky that it had ended up in our scrapyard.
“What the hell are we going to do with all that money?” Em asks us, looking worried.
Maestro and I share a look. “We’ll clean it, darlin’ and then there are a couple of business propositions we can discuss. Unless you want to do something else with it?”
“Will whatever business you need it for benefit the club?” she wants to know, eyes darting between me and Maestro.
“It will,” he assures her. She nods.
“Okay, if you can get it clean because I’m not about to report us finding this and opening a whole can of worms that none of us need. The only other thing I want is to keep some to put aside for Poppy and Ford's college.”
Maestro’s gaze softens as he looks at her. “We’ve got that sorted, Em.”
“Then use some for a scholarship or something. It will make me feel better if it’s used for good,” Em says.
“We can do that, no problem.” Cash assures her with a smile.
She inhales a relieved breath and lets it out with a gusty sigh. “Guess he really did have a treasure hidden away. Stupid idiot.” She shakes her head before continuing, “If you are all good here, I’m going to head to bed.”
“We’re good Em,” Maestro assures her. “We’ll get together tomorrow and Dad and I’ll fill you in on the business we’re looking at.”
She beams a tired smile at him. “I look forward to it.”
“Come on Em,” I wrap an arm around her shoulders and turn us toward our home. “Let’s get you home.”
“You won’t hear me complaining,” she says, letting out a loud yawn. Looking at my watch, I’m surprised to see it’s gone one in the morning. No wonder we’re exhausted.
Tomorrow would come soon enough for us to make plans.