“She’s big as a house. Going to give me a son any day now.”
“Long dark hair to her waist? Dark green eyes?” Sadie asked, swallowing nervously.
He frowned. “You know Penny?”
“What’s her last name?”
“Penny Torrez. Why?”
Because the cops would like the name of the woman given an impromptu C-section in a field behind a meth lab.
“And your dog, Brutus, is he a big old Rottweiler?”
“Yeah.”
“And did Penny and Brutus hang around the meth cookery over in Kenmore?”
“Sometimes. I told her not to go inside the house. I didn’t want her breathing in that shit with her being pregnant and all. She got together with a bunch of loony tunes and they had their weird meetings in the yard at night.”
Sadie sighed.
“I’ve got some bad news, Snake.” Sadie closed her eyes. “Penny’s body was found in the field behind that house. She’s dead.”
“You’re lying!” he roared.
“I wish I was.”
A thunderous scream exploded from his lips, and in a rage, his hand formed a fist and he drove it at Sadie’s face. His hand coursed straight through her, causing Sadie to shrink with nausea from his touch. He wound up again.
“Stop that!” Sadie shouted. “Your son. Your baby. He was delivered just fine.”
Snake stopped short of throwing another blow.
“My baby boy’s okay?”
“He’s beautiful.” Except that his little body was stuffed beside a dead goat and he may have his own miniature crystal meth addiction. Sadie left all that out. “They’ll give him a checkup and then I’m sure Child Protective Services will make sure he goes to a very good home.”
A heart-wrenching sob broke from the large man’s lips and he sank to his knees.
“We were going to be a family,” he cried. “I told Penny we could make a fresh start. Maybe head down to California. I was getting outta the FF. Her away from those creepy Witigo nuts.”
“Witi who?” Sadie asked.
“It doesn’t matter.” He covered his face with his hands and sobbed. “Nothing matters anymore. It’s all gone to shit.”
“But you can still be together,” Sadie assured him. “Let go of this place. Go to be with Penny. She needs you.”
He looked up at Sadie.
“How can I know that for sure?” he asked, narrowing his eyes. “You can’t make that kind of promise. How do I even know she’ll be in the same place that I’m going?”
It was a question Sadie had never been asked. She thought about Penny Torrez’s red glowing eyes and looked at Snake with his freakish tattoos. Somehow she didn’t think Saint Peter was standing at the golden gates waiting for either of them.
“I don’t know,” Sadie admitted. “But I do know you can’t stay here.”
“The hell I can’t,” he said defiantly. His essence was gone then, but his shape didn’t shimmer. No shimmer meant he did not move on to the next dimension. He wasn’t truly gone from this dimension. He was only invisible to Sadie.
Tired of dealing with Snake and grateful to be alone with blood, guts, and gore rather than biker-gorilla ghosts, Sadie got down to work. She was at the point where she knew she had to start taking out the floor-boards in the kitchen when she heard Jackie outside the kitchen door.
Sadie got up and unlocked the door. Jackie was fully suited up again and ready to go back to work.
“I had to drop Zack back at the Kenmore scene. Detective Carr called his cell and asked for him,” Jackie shouted through her respirator.
“How’s he getting back here?” Sadie shouted back.
“Carr said he’d drop him.” She nodded outside. “Your burger’s in my car. By the way, thanks for the new phone.” She paused. “Sorry I screwed up.”
Sadie shrugged it off, then pointed to the cracked linoleum she’d been just about to lift. Jackie nodded, picked up a sharp tool similar to a crowbar. The house was built in the early 1950s and it didn’t look like the faded yellow linoleum had ever been changed. All the cracks and curled corners of the old lino had allowed bodily fluids to seep beneath. The entire subfloor of the room would need to be removed wherever it was contaminated.
Jackie pointed to a baseboard. It was already loose and looked like it would come away easily. Sadie worked the tool into the crack between the trim and the wall, and the board popped off easily. Too easily. It was like it wasn’t properly attached to begin with. Maybe David Egan’s meth-clean company, Scour Power, had removed the board when cleaning the meth lab, but they should’ve done a better job than that.
Careful not to snag her gloves on the nails, Sadie lifted the baseboard free. Behind the eight-inch-wide piece of wood, the drywall had been oddly cut away. Sadie sat back on her haunches and stared at what looked like black plastic trash bags stashed inside the cavity where there should’ve been insulation.
Then she realized this entire part of the wall was newly painted.
“What the hell . . . ?” Sadie murmured.
Jackie came over to kneel beside her.
“Someone hid stuff in the wall,” Jackie commented loudly. She nudged a plastic bundle with her foot. “Open one up,” Jackie encouraged.
Sadie hesitated, then hooked a gloved finger into the plastic wrap and pulled it free. One tightly wrapped square package came away, but there were a whole lot more stashed there.
Jackie’s eyes were bright, as if they’d just found buried treasure. Sadie felt another housecleaning job slipping out of her hands, convinced the walls were lined with drugs, not gold.
Jackie made ripping motions with her gloved hands. She wanted Sadie to tear into the packaging. It was the logical thing to do. Sadie’s stomach was a knot of tension as she tore open the plastic.
When the bag split open, Sadie and Jackie simultaneously gasped in shock.
4
Jackie was whooping and hollering with excitement. Sadie rolled her eyes and began packing up their cleaning gear. Her employee helped, but the minute they’d brought the bins outside to the carport, Jackie tore off her respirator and laughed loudly.
“Oh my God, there’s got to be thousands in there!” Jackie giggled. “Wow. I can’t get over it!”
“I’ll call it in,” Sadie said with a dire tone after removing her own headgear.
“Oh. Yeah.” Jackie nodded. “I guess this job’ll be put on hold too, huh?”
“I wish we’d never opened up the walls until the rest was done,” Sadie said, toeing the ground angrily. “And I wish I’d never opened the package and found that cash.”
“But it’s your job,” Jackie insisted. “You’re removing the boards due to contamination. Whatever was in the plastic could be contaminated too, so you needed to check.” She grinned. “Besides, weren’t you curious?”
“We don’t get paid to be curious,” Sadie snapped. “There are still supplies inside. While I make the call to the authorities, could you go back in and get the rest of the stuff?”
“Sure.”
Sadie took a couple of bins and loaded them into the van. Then she took a seat behind the wheel and dug out her cell phone to call in their findings to the local law. When she was off the phone, she watched Jackie bring a bin out of the house. She had almost completely removed her gear when she changed her mind and began donning it again before going back inside. She must’ve forgotten something.
I’ll have to talk to her about double-checking before doffing her gear.
While Jackie was inside, a single motorcycle rider pulled up. He sat on his idling bike, staring at her. Sadie looked in the side mirrors of her van and watched him. Behind his matte black full-face helmet, Sadie couldn’t see his face, but she felt his eyes on her. After a moment, he turned his bike around and took off in the direction he’d come.
A few minutes later, there was a sound in the distance. The unmistakable growing roar of a platoon of Harley-Davidsons headed their way. Sadie�
�s throat clogged with fear. She saw Jackie had just made it outside with yet another bin. She picked up the container and walked with it toward the van. She looked unconcerned by the growing roar of the motorcycles until Sadie rolled down her window and screamed, “Run!”
Suddenly Jackie got it. She bolted the final few feet toward the van clumsily carrying the bin. Sadie helped her heave it into the back. The two jumped inside Sadie’s vehicle. Just as they locked their doors, the hogs thundered up the driveway. Two cornered tightly around to the front of Sadie’s van and a dozen surrounded them. She couldn’t go anywhere. They were trapped unless she chose to back over some bikes and take out some tattooed thugs. Probably she wouldn’t get far after that. She was pretty sure those who remained would take offense.
“What do we do? What do we do?” Jackie squealed.
“We lock our doors,” Sadie said. Her voice was calm, but she was no longer perspiring just because of the heat.
To the left of the van was a black cherry Harley with flame detailing on the tank. Astride the bike was a large, bearded man in faded leathers. Sadie watched as he swung his beefy legs off his bike and strode toward the van.
“Tell him we’re just leaving,” Jackie advised. “And tell him the cops are on the way because of the money.”
“Yeah, I’ll just tell this group of fine gentlemen that we uncovered one of their stashes of cash inside their old clubhouse and they’re about to lose it all to the evidence room,” Sadie whispered back sarcastically.
“On second thought, maybe we should be quiet about the money.”
“You think?”
The beefy guy rapped his Neanderthal knuckles hard against the driver’s-side window, and Sadie flinched.
“What the hell are you doing here?” the bearded biker dude shouted through Sadie’s window.
“We were hired to do cleaning,” Sadie shouted back. “But we’re just leaving.”
There was no way she was lowering her window, but the thin plate of glass gave her little comfort. She knew it wouldn’t take these thugs long to break her windows and haul her and Jackie out for their own amusement. Swallowing the acrid taste of fear, Sadie slipped the gearshift into reverse but carefully kept her foot on the brake as she did, and she looked him in the face. Even though she felt she’d pee her pants from fear, Sadie’s gaze never faltered. They stared each other down for a full minute. Then the ugly dude glanced around Sadie over to Jackie. His eyes scraped hotly over her body and he made a crude display of elaborately licking his lips before he returned his gaze to Sadie’s.
“This here is Fierce Force property,” he growled, and a fine spray of spittle hit her window. “This ain’t a place for broads unless you wanna be our broads.”
“Got it.”
He tapped the window with a thick finger yellowed from nicotine.
“Don’t come back.”
With an abrupt nod of his head all the riders angled their bikes away from the property. Within seconds the roar of their bikes grew distant, but Sadie’s hands still had a death grip on her steering wheel.
“Holy shit,” Jackie breathed. “I thought we were dead meat.”
Sadie could only nod. She didn’t breathe steady again until the cops were on the property and Zack was with them.
“I leave you alone for an hour and you end up rolling in cash,” Zack said, dragging his fingers through his hair. “And pissing off a platoon of career criminals.”
“It was somethin’,” Jackie laughed, leaning casually up against the hood of her car as if she hadn’t just been shaking like a leaf along with Sadie. “We pop off the baseboard and there’s all this plastic stuff. We opened one and it’s money. Thousands. We can’t believe it. Then the next thing you know, we’re in the van surrounded by scary bikers, but Sadie here wasn’t even fazed. It was cool.”
“It was not cool,” Sadie corrected, ticked off at Jackie’s attempt to glamorize the situation. “Those bikers wanted to chew us up and spit us out. But first they would’ve had themselves a little gang rape party.” Her voice caught. After a deep breath she focused on the business side. “Plus, this is the second job in one day that we’ve been pulled from. I’m losing money here.”
“Guess you could’ve pocketed a few of those bundles from the wall and you would’ve been just fine,” Jackie said. At Sadie’s cutting look she quickly added, “Just kidding.”
Jackie bent over to pick up her water bottle from where she’d put it on the ground. Sadie watched Zack as he watched Jackie. Her cutoffs rode up and revealed more of her firm, twenty-eight-year-old legs that disappeared into her frayed cut-offs. Sadie’s thirty-six-year-old calves ached sadly in reply. It wasn’t that she was out of shape. Sadie knew she could outpace Jackie on a long-distance run. She just didn’t think Zack would consider another go-round in bed just because she beat Jackie in a marathon.
“Could you give us a minute?” Sadie asked Jackie.
“Sure. There are at least two cute cops around here who haven’t taken my statement yet,” Jackie said with a giggle. She sauntered away, adding an extra swing to her hips that made Sadie want to throw up.
Sadie turned to Zack. “The woman who was sliced open and left in the field, her name was Penny Torrez.” Zack looked like he was daydreaming and Sadie had a feeling those thoughts were about Jackie. “Hello?!” She snapped her fingers in front of his face.
“Sorry,” he said. “Got a lot on my mind.”
“Tough. We’ve all got to work together. If you and Jackie would just roll up your hanging tongues and keep the drool off your chins for long enough to get the job done, I’d really appreciate it,” Sadie spit.
“Excuse me?” He looked at her with a combination of amusement and anger on his face. “Huh. How about that? I swear your eyes are looking just a little green today.”
She blushed from her head to her toes.
“As I was trying to say, the woman in the field—her name was Penny Torrez,” Sadie said impatiently. “We need to find a way to let the cops know so they don’t waste time searching for her identity.”
“They already know. Her purse was found nearby. Doesn’t look like any attempt was made to hide who she was, or else they didn’t get a chance because we scared them off.”
“Oh. Good.”
“That’s why Carr asked me to come back to the house in Kenmore. Torrez’s rap sheet showed I was the arresting officer when she was picked up hooking.”
“Wow. Small world.”
“Yeah. Her name doesn’t ring familiar to me, but she wasn’t the only solicitation pickup I ever made.”
There was a forced casualness to Zack’s tone and Sadie got the feeling he was leading up to something.
“Is Carr worried about you cleaning the meth lab there, since you got a connection to Penny Torrez?” Sadie guessed.
“Not just that scene. He’s considering getting me to back off all jobs linked to Fierce Force. That means this one too. Just in case.”
“In case what?”
“My guess is the order came from higher up. Who knows what kind of case the feds are trying to put together against the leaders of the FF? They’ll want to eliminate any possible conflict of interest that could blow their case.”
“Conflict? What kind of conflict could there be when you aren’t called in except by me to help clean up after all evidence is collected?” Sadie said, sounding annoyed.
“Look, Torrez was the old lady of an FF member. Her body was found outside an FF meth lab. Torrez had links to FF. I had links to Torrez.” He shrugged. “It’s not exactly brain surgery.”
“Yeah, but it’s stupid. If she was hooking, probably half of the force had links to her.”
“Yeah, but half of the force wasn’t encouraged to hand in their badge because of a drug problem,” he said quietly.
“You became addicted to painkillers after taking a bullet for your partner,” Sadie said indignantly. “That hardly makes you a meth addict. Besides, you’re working for me now. I’
m talking to Carr and telling him he can’t treat one of my employees like this.”
“Let it go.”
“No, it’s just not right and—”
“I said, let it go!” Zack shouted.
When she opened her mouth to speak, he stopped her.
“They need to protect the integrity of the case. I’m fine with it. As long as Egan is back handling his meth-lab cleanup company soon, this won’t affect my working for you, right? So it’s no big deal.”
She nodded.
“Okay. Fine.”
After a minute Zack relaxed.
“So Torrez’s name—I take it a little bird told you.”
“Actually, a big gorilla. I’m glad the cops know her name. I couldn’t figure out how to explain that Torrez’s dead, tattooed biker boyfriend gave me her name.” Sadie looked over and watched the police coming and going from the house in full hazmat gear. “I should’ve gotten Jake the Snake to tell me about the money.”
“Jake the Snake?”
“The guy we’re mopping up at this location. Torrez’s hunka hunka burning love.”
“Right. Gorilla, tattooed biker dude.”
“Yup. How much money do they figure was inside that wall anyway?”
“They won’t know for sure until it’s counted, but I remember seeing bundles of cash like that in evidence from a bank heist. If that wall is floor-to-ceiling with bundles of twenties, it could easily make a hundred grand.”
Sadie let out a low whistle.
“We mop a lot of blood for that kind of cash and these guys make it selling crank to kids. Doesn’t seem right. Snake said something about helping himself to some of the valuables.”
“If he tried to make off with the FF’s cash, that was probably what bought him a bullet in the chest.”
“He wanted to start a new life with Torrez and the baby.”
“Stealing from bikers gets you a death warrant and a life in hiding or on the run. Not exactly a riding-off-into-the-sunset ending.”
“For a guy who handed in his badge, you’ve got a big mouth,” Detective Orr suddenly barked from behind them. Orr was a cynical cop who had a bulldog face and looked like he ate nails for breakfast without any sugar.
Devil May Ride Page 5