Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
S carlet was a freaking wreck. There was no other way to describe it. Sleeping in Matt’s embrace, enveloped in his strength, had helped. Until she’d woken up. Then reality had crashed down all around her.
It was Saturday, and she’d never been more grateful to not work the weekend shift. The last place she wanted to be was the diner where that man had?—
Nope. Not going there.
She was home with Daisy and Matt, and she was focusing on that.
Her daughter’s high-pitched giggles filled the air, along with several deep rumbles of laughter. It wasn’t just Daisy and Matt, she reminded herself. Xander was here, too. As were a couple of techs from Hudson Security, who were upgrading Matt’s already extensive security system. Apparently, there were “blind spots,” but additional cameras would fix that problem.
Following the voices, Scarlet came to a halt as she turned the corner to the great room. All the furniture had been pushed to the edges. In the center were various cushions, chairs, books... All sorts of things that made zero sense to her. Matt and Xander were in the middle of the mix, arranging pillows and placing more items among the cushions.
“Mama!” Daisy exclaimed, bouncing up and down at the far edge of the room. “Matty and Xandy are making an ossticyle course for me and Mr. Slothy and Baby Unicorn and my new Squishys!”
“And your other stuffies,” Matt chimed in. “You want to make sure they all get a turn, too.”
Daisy’s answering nod was sage, her blue eyes big. “I don’t want any stuffy to be sad.”
“That’s right,” Xander said. “I’ll help you and the stuffies. That way, they get to know me better and aren’t scared of me. Because, you know, I’m kind of a scary guy.”
“You’re not scary, Xandy,” Daisy said, giggling. “You have a bun on top of your head like Mama!”
Xander chuckled and shot Scarlet a wink. “That I do, kiddo. That I do.”
Scarlet’s heart squeezed at what the men were doing. She knew Daisy recognized Xander from Rebecca’s, but the man was still quite intimidating. He stood just as tall as Matt’s six-four, was stacked with muscles, and gave off a serious alpha vibe. But evidently, building an obstacle course and sporting a man-bun negated all that in the eyes of her four-year-old daughter. The tough personal security officer had even been dubbed Xandy .
“All right, Otter Pop,” Matt said, standing to survey their work. “You and Xander walk Mr. Slothy through the obstacle course while I talk to your mom, okay?”
Daisy squealed in delight as she grabbed Mr. Slothy and rushed to the starting point. Matt gave Xander a chin lift, then claimed Scarlet’s hand and led her out of the room. Trepidation stirred in her gut when he closed the door to his office behind them. Something in his expression told her this wasn’t him sneaking her away for a good time.
“Bean has new info,” he said, pulling an additional chair behind his desk.
The trepidation transformed into full-fledged worry, and it sat like a rock in her gut. Yup. No good times here.
She took the seat next to Matt as he opened a couple of tabs on his computer. Bean’s grim face filled the monitor. Seconds later, the screen split. On the left were three boxes: Bean, Gavin, and her and Matt together. The other side looked like Bean’s laptop screen.
“Hey, guys. I’ll get right to it,” Bean said. “Unfortunately, the mystery man remains a mystery.”
“Morning,” Gavin said with an equally somber expression. “Quinn called this morning and let me know the guy didn’t make it. Lost too much blood. He was stabbed in the gut fourteen times.”
Bean sighed. “The man’s prints aren’t in the system, so we still have no ID. The car he drove onto Hudson was reported stolen five days ago. However...” Bean chewed her lip. “I do have footage from the ferry that shows the actual attack.”
A video began playing on the right side of the monitor, and Scarlet held her breath. There was no audio, but the security feed showed the mystery man walking to his car, which was parked on the ferry’s upper deck along the exterior row. He opened the driver’s door and settled inside.
Scarlet’s eyes widened as another figure quickly approached. The stocky man—at least, she assumed it was a man, considering his size—wore dark pants, a bulky jacket, and a dark ball cap pulled down low to shield his face. Before the guy in the car could close his door, the newcomer leaned into the driver’s side. His right arm was a blur of motion.
Her stomach lurched. The guy in the car was getting stabbed. Over and over and over again. He had been given no chance to defend himself, no time to even struggle.
The attacker straightened, tucked something in his jacket, closed the car door, and walked off. With his back to the camera.
Thirty seconds. That’s all it had taken to end a man’s life and get away scot-free.
Thirty. Damn. Seconds.
The video stopped, and Scarlet blinked. Matt’s hand squeezed her shoulder, and she glanced at him. But she had no words.
Bean cleared her throat. “In matching up the times, it looks like the mystery man—the one in the car—drove right off the ferry and went straight to the diner.”
Where he had tried to tell Scarlet something she still didn’t understand.
With shaking hands, she rubbed her face. “Now what?”
“Now I’m tracking that car’s plates, finding out where it’s been since it was stolen. Hopefully, that’ll give us some insight into what the mystery guy’s motives were. Also, Quinn sent me a photo of his face, so I set it up with my facial rec program. I’m running it against the different DMV databases. It may take some time to ID him, though.” Bean shrugged. “I’m sorry I don’t have better information for you.”
“The person who stabbed the guy. Any additional footage?” Matt asked.
“Negative,” Gavin said. “Quinn’s checking with the ferry and their waste management crew to see if any clothes or other evidence were dumped, but so far, nothing.”
Matt leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “He could be on the island.”
“Yeah,” Bean said. “But even if he left, he could be working with a larger group.”
“Ohmygod,” Scarlet whispered, closing her eyes. There were so many unanswered questions. So many unknowns.
“Next steps?” Matt asked, covering her clenched hands with his.
She held on tight.
“I’m still running the next of kin and known associates of the four deceased club members,” Bean said. “The preliminary reports show that the relatives that aren’t in jail or prison are still in the South Dakota area. After Steele was put away, there were nearly two dozen more trials involving the remaining club members and known associates over that next year. Almost all were found guilty and sent away.”
“Did they all end up in the same prison?” Gavin asked.
Bean pursed her lips. “Not all. Looks like five or six ended up in the same prison as Steele, but the majority did shorter sentences in jail. A number of them have been in and out of jail since.”
“For the ones that are out or about to be sprung, pull their mug shots and send them to Quinn,” Gavin said.
“Already done, boss. Also, with the facial rec, we’ll get notified if any of them hop on a ferry coming this way.”
“Good work, B. Scarlet?”
Her gaze shot to Gavin’s. “Yes?”
“We’ll keep Xander on Daisy. Have you met Natasha Silver?”
She shook her head.
“Well, you’re about to. I’m assigning Tash to you for the next couple weeks.” Scarlet’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but Gavin kept talking. “I’ll have her swing by your house today so you can meet her.”
“Okay, um, but do you think that’s necess?—”
“Yes,” Matt said. “Until we know who the players are and whether it’s you or Daisy or both of you being targeted, it’s better to play it safe.”
Gavin nodded. “Agreed. We’ll give it a week, then reevaluate. I’ll check in with you two lat?—”
A loud ding drew their attention.
“Hang on,” Bean murmured. Her brow furrowed in concentration, and Scarlet heard the furious clicks of the woman typing. “Got him.”
The right side of the screen changed to a video of the mystery man entering a gas station. The camera provided a full, clear, color view of his face.
“That’s Michael Wilson,” Bean said. “Thirty-nine. Resides in Beulah, Wyoming, which is right across the border from South Dakota. No arrests. No warrants. Not even a parking ticket.”
Another image appeared. A Wyoming driver’s license. Bean enlarged it, and Scarlet gasped. She knew her eyes were bugging out of her head, but ohmygod...
Seconds of silence ticked by before Matt muttered a curse. “Pull up Steele’s photo, B. Side by side.”
“Oh wow,” Bean said at the same time Gavin asked, “Are they brothers?”
Looking at the photos of the men next to each other had Scarlet’s heart hammering in her chest. Her palms grew damp. This was not good. Not good at all.
“Maybe, but it’s more than that,” Matt said, tapping on his phone. He held it up and showed Gavin and Bean his screen.
Scarlet didn’t need to see. She knew what he was showing them.
“Holy shit,” Bean said on an exhale.
Gavin made a noise in the back of his throat. It sounded a lot like a growl. “Okay, then. Scarlet?”
She looked up, but before meeting Gavin’s gaze, she examined the photo on Matt’s phone screen. It was of Daisy. Close up. Her mouth and chin were stained blue and red from popsicles, and her face was lit up with joy. Her bright-blue eyes twinkled with laughter. Bright-blue eyes that were the exact same shade as Steele’s. The exact same shade as Michael Wilson’s.
“Scarlet?” Gavin repeated.
When she finally met his gaze, the intensity in his expression should have scared her. Or at least made her nervous. But it didn’t. Instead, it soothed her. Gavin was on her side. On their side.
“We will protect Daisy. I swear it.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
“I found their connection,” Bean said.
Another mug shot appeared on the screen. This time, of an older woman with the same bright-blue eyes.
“Tracy Ruth Wilson. Bio mom to both Steele MacBride and Michael Wilson.” Bean’s eyes narrowed as she read something offscreen. “She had four kids. Three boys and a girl, but Steele looks to be the only one she didn’t have custody of. He was raised by his dad, Rory MacBride, aka the president of the Reaper’s Assassins Motorcycle Club. Five months after Steele died in prison, MacBride was arrested for killing two cops. He got two consecutive life sentences and will be at Jameson Annex, South Dakota’s Level V facility, until he dies.”
“Are they affiliated with any of the larger MCs?” Gavin asked.
“It looks like they’re allied with Hells Angels.” Bean sipped a fluorescent-green drink. “Which makes sense if they’re running guns and drugs in South Dakota.”
“What about the other siblings and the mom?” Matt asked.
Bean circled her cursor over Tracy’s mug shot. “This is from the mom’s most recent DUI arrest two and a half weeks ago. She’s still in jail. She couldn’t post bond, so she’ll probably be there another month or so. Nothing yet on the other siblings—not even driver’s licenses—but I’m on it.”
Matt stared at the photos onscreen. “I’m wondering if Wilson was possibly trying to protect you. Or at the very least, trying to warn you.”
Scarlet folded her arms over her chest. “Yeah, but from who?”
Matt shook his head and scowled. Seeing the frustration in his eyes, she took his hand in hers.
“That’s the question,” Gavin said. “All right, we’ll keep digging over here.”
“If we pull enough strings, something’s bound to unravel,” Bean added.
“In the meantime, Tash will be swinging by. We’ll update her beforehand. Stay vigilant. And, Scarlet? We’ve got eyes on you and Daisy.”
“Thank you again. Both of you.”
Matt disconnected the video call, and Scarlet released a long sigh. They didn’t have much, but at least they had something. Granted, she didn’t know how it was going to help. Still, it was more than they knew this morning. That had to be positive.