She was biker bait.
8
Sadie bolted for her van door, but for a big guy, the biker moved surprisingly fast. He quick-stepped down the narrow stretch of gravel between her van and the ditch and met Sadie at the rear. In one quick movement, he had her pinned with her back to the van and a knife to her throat.
“We meet again, huh?” The tight curls of his beard vibrated as he spoke.
He smelled of body odor, leather, and rotting teeth. Sadie almost gagged, but she was terrified to do so much as swallow with the long blade pressed against her larynx.
“I didn’t do it, Curly!” Sadie squeaked. She knew she was taking a chance calling the guy by name.
He raised his eyebrows.
“Do what? Huh? How do you know who I am, and how can you know what I’m pissed about, bitch, if you didn’t do it?”
He leaned one forearm on her throat and pressed his body weight against her, while his right hand, which held the knife blade, moved up to the side of her nose. “I want what’s mine,” he snarled, and the spray of his spit hit her face. “I can’t help what the pigs took, but I can sure get back the other half. I didn’t know it at the time, but we saw you load it into your van.”
Sadie couldn’t breathe. Her vision was blurring and she could only think of one word.
“Bambi,” she said, the sound of her voice a choked gasp.
“What did you say?” He startled backward, releasing his arm from her throat.
Sadie nearly collapsed and she brought air into her lungs in huge gulps. Thinking quick, she started to talk.
“Bambi. She told me she knows you feel bad about what happened, Curly. She knows you love her.”
“Bambi’s dead.” He narrowed his black eyes to slits and his fingers tightened on the knife.
Sadie took a chance.
“They just wanted you to think she was dead. Your boys thought she’d turned informant, so they fed her extrapure coke. They told you they buried her under the monkey puzzle tree on the Kenmore property, but she wasn’t dead. She escaped and she’s inside the trailer right now.”
“You’re lying!” he screamed
Sadie shrank away from the blow she thought was coming, but he didn’t hit her. Yet.
“I saw her with my own two eyes and I know dead when I see it. Trust me.”
She did trust him on that one, but she also knew bad guys themselves did not have a very high trust ratio. Sadie was betting Curly would’ve sold his own mother for a few bucks, so it was in his nature to believe everyone else was just as corrupt.
“I’m sure you thought she was dead. It was a close call.”
She could just about smell rubber burning as he considered what she’d told him.
Sadie rushed on. “Come on, think about it. How else would I know anything about Bambi? Go inside and see for yourself.”
“I will. If you’re lying, you’re dead,” he hissed.
As if I was walking away before, Sadie thought.
“Hand over your keys,” he said.
Without flinching, Sadie handed him the van keys that she was holding. He stuffed them in the front pocket of his jeans and turned on his heel, his boots kicking up dirt as he went. He walked up the steps of the RV and when he was at the top one, he called over to her.
“There’s nothing but farmland for five miles in every direction. Don’t even think you can run.”
But the second he was inside the RV, she did just that. Sadie bolted around the side of her van, reached behind the front tire, and found the magnetic box that held her spare key. Her hands shook as she sprang the key from the box. Then in one fluid movement she hopped onto the driver’s seat, closed the door, and managed to stab the key in the ignition. The engine sprang to life and in her rearview mirror Sadie saw Curly fling the door to the RV open and bolt down the steps. She punched the accelerator and heard the crunch of metal as her van winged the Harley in front of her and sent it flying into the ditch off to the side.
Cranking the wheel, she was out of the driveway, barreling down the gravel road. She was back careening down the highway before she let up on the gas.
When she pulled into the parking lot of Zack’s apartment building, Sadie decided she’d better call first before just going straight to his apartment. When he didn’t answer in his apartment, she called his cell. He picked up on the first ring and she didn’t give him a chance to say more than hello before she told him everything.
“Jesus H. Christ, Sadie.” He blew out a breath. “Don’t go home.”
“I’m not at home.” She paused. “Actually, I’m in the parking lot of your apartment.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes. I’m just out for coffee with a friend. I’ll bring him along. Wait there.”
When he showed up, Sadie was really glad to find out that his friend was a cop.
Nobody said too much until they were inside Zack’s apartment, sitting down with beers in their hands. Zack introduced his cop friend as Nick. He was in his forties with the start of a beer gut and military hair with a bald spot.
“Zack told me you were lured out to the middle of nowhere for a job on a trailer, and it turned into a setup with a biker named Curly. Is that correct?”
Sadie nodded. She noticed her hands were trembling and she tightened her grip on her beer.
“And I’m to believe you had enough horseshoes up your ass that you were able to get away and you drove over his motorcycle?”
“Yes.”
He let out a low whistle.
“First I’m going to need to know where this all happened.”
Sadie gave him the precise directions she’d received from the man who gave his name as Lou Montie.
Nick the cop got up, made a phone call, and sat back down.
“We got a car going out to check,” he said, and downed what remained of his beer. “Describe Curly.”
“Ugly,” Sadie said, and drank from her own bottle. “Curly beard that’s kind of reddish. Fat head. Big belly. Mean eyes. About five ten.”
Nick nodded. “Sure as hell sounds like Carl Boyle.” He walked across the room to Zack’s desk and punched the name into the computer there. A few clicks later and a picture filled the screen.
“That’s him,” Sadie said, her lower lip trembling.
“Carl Boyle,” Nick said. “He was the very first president of Fierce Force when it started up in the early nineties. He ran the organization like a finely oiled machine and never hesitated to take out the competition. Carl goes by the name ‘Curly the Cutter.’ ”
Sadie thought about the sharp knife pressed to her throat.
“I don’t think I want to know why he goes by ‘Cutter, ’ ” she said, a hand to her throat.
“No. You don’t,” Nick said seriously.
“I remember hearing about him when I was on the force,” Zack said. “But I thought he moved out of Seattle years ago.”
“He moved a little north, but he kept his fingers in the FF pie. The feds have had their eye on him for ages. They suspect he’s been laundering money through his business in Bellingham.”
“What business is that?” Zack asked.
“He runs an RV lot selling used and new motor homes,” Nick said matter-of-factly.
“He thinks I stole from the FF. Half the money in the walls was taken as evidence. There was a hundred thousand, right?”
Nick nodded in confirmation.
“There was supposed to be double that. Curly thinks I took it. Loaded it into my van in the waste bins.” She took a deep breath. “If I could write him a check, I would. I’ve got a feeling this isn’t going away.”
“Especially after you drove over his baby. His black cherry Road King Classic Harley,” Nick said, and offered her a wry smile.
Zack smiled too, but it was more of a way to break the tension, because nobody really found any of this funny.
Sadie gave Nick the contact phone number she had for Lou Montie, now Curly the Cutter.
�
�We’ll look into it, but—,” Nick said.
“It’s most likely an untraceable cell phone that has already been tossed into the ocean,” Zack finished.
“Yup,” Nick agreed, getting up to leave.
“There’s more,” Sadie said quietly.
Zack’s gaze cut quickly to her face, trying to read what she was going to say. Sadie had been attempting to figure out a way to say it without revealing her secret talent. She had a choice to lie or tell the truth. Today, lying won.
“Curly said something about the body of a woman buried under the monkey tree on the Kenmore property.”
“You mean Penny Torrez, the woman who had the baby cut out of her?” Nick asked.
“No. It’s a different one. Someone named Bambi. She may have been a prostitute.”
“Hot damn.” Nick rubbed his hands together. “The feds may be trying to put Curly away for money laundering, but murder’s even better.”
Not for Penny or Bambi, Sadie thought.
“I’m pretty sure it was an accidental OD,” Sadie said.
“If there’s a body, we’ll let the coroner decide cause of death,” Nick said.
Sadie couldn’t argue with that.
“I need to get home,” she said.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Zack said.
“He’s right.” Nick nodded. “Sounds like Curly’s got a big hard-on for making sure you end up dead. You need to stay safe.”
Sadie thought about the tip of the razor-sharp blade as it pressed against her throat, and felt her legs go weak. She sat down on the sofa.
“So it’s settled. You’ll stay here,” Zack said firmly.
“Over my dead body,” Sadie grumbled.
Zack strode angrily toward her and stabbed a finger in her face.
“You will end up dead if you think you can go toe-to-toe with bikers.” He turned to Nick. “Tell her how stupid she’s being.”
“Stupid?” Sadie narrowed her eyes and let anger propel her to her feet. “Don’t call me stupid.”
“Then don’t act stupid,” Zack said.
Sadie knew she was in danger from Curly the Cutter if she didn’t go into hiding, but she wasn’t all that sure that staying with Zack would be less dangerous for her heart.
9
“It’s just a bad idea,” Sadie said.
“It’s the only idea,” Zack countered.
“I’m not staying with you, and that’s final.”
“You’d rather be dead?”
“You’re not exactly the only person I know with a sofa!” Sadie shot back.
“Well, I’ll let you kids work out the details,” Nick said. “I’m going up to Kenmore to watch ’em dig for a body. Given that you two are the ones who called it in, I could pull some strings to allow you to be on the sidelines. You game?”
“Yes,” Zack said.
“Whatever,” Sadie replied.
Nick took his own vehicle. Sadie and Zack drove in Zack’s Mustang. They didn’t talk and Sadie was relieved. She was petrified of Curly finding her and dissecting her with his knife. But she was also scared to death of sleeping in Zack’s apartment and making an already stressed-out situation more difficult.
They were almost in Kenmore when Sadie’s phone rang. It was Dawn, and Sadie was never more relieved to hear her sister’s voice.
“What are you doing?” Dawn asked.
“Oh, you know . . . same old, same old,” Sadie replied drily. “A body here, a ghost or two there.”
She saw Zack’s fingers tighten on the steering wheel. His own cell phone rang and he answered.
“If you have the time, I’d appreciate it if you’d come over and save me,” Dawn whispered. “Auntie Lynn’s been camped out at my kitchen table all morning. She’s driving me nuts!”
Sadie heard Zack talking into his own phone and relaying what he was up to. By the way he talked, Sadie figured he was talking to Jackie.
“I thought you liked Aunt Lynn,” Sadie said into her phone while she tried to listen to Zack’s conversation.
“We haven’t really seen the woman much since Brian died. Apparently in six short years a woman on her own can totally lose the ability to tell when people want her to stop talking,” Dawn hissed.
Sadie laughed.
“Okay, well, if Auntie Lynn’s at the kitchen table, where are you?”
“I’m in the bathroom. This baby is sitting on my bladder and I have to pee every fifteen minutes.”
Sadie heard the toilet flush.
“As much as I’d love to save you, I’m kinda in the middle of something right now.” Then Sadie thought about her own situation and how she needed saving herself. “But I could use a place to stay. Would you consider putting me and Hairy up for a couple days?” Sadie carefully ignored Zack’s big sigh.
“Any particular reason why you need a place to stay?”
“Um. I got a rat problem.” Big hairy tattooed rats.
“It’s good timing. John’s going to L.A. for a conference and he’ll be gone for a few days. It would be nice to have company. I’ll roll out the welcome mat if you get your ass over here before Aunt Lynn tells any more stories about how I used to run around without panties.”
“You were quite the exhibitionist.”
“I was three years old!” Dawn shrieked. Then off to the side she added, “I’m fine, Auntie Lynn. I saw a spider in the tub, that’s all. I’ll be right out.” To Sadie she hissed, “Hurry up. You owe me for doing such a half-assed job on arranging my baby shower.”
Dawn hung up before Sadie could argue. By then Zack was just pulling onto the street at the Kenmore house. No sooner were they climbing out of Zack’s Mustang and onto the sizzling hot pavement than they saw an Emerald Nine News van pull up behind them.
“Oh, great,” Zack growled as Scott Reed hopped out of the van followed by his cameraman. “The wolf has sniffed out a fresh kill.”
“Hey, Sweets,” Scott Reed called out.
The journalist sauntered over to them, wearing freshly ironed khakis and a royal blue shirt that made his eyes look almost impossibly blue. Zack cursed under his breath as Reed strolled over until he was scant inches from Sadie. She took a step back to protect her personal space.
“We’re busy,” Sadie said, feeling sweat already pooling beneath her breasts.
“Hey, I’m working too,” Scott said. “This isn’t all fun and games, but I gotta say it’s a nice surprise to see you so soon after our date.” He made a comical clucking noise and punctuated it with a wink.
“It wasn’t a date,” Sadie said curtly.
“Ignore him,” Zack said, putting a hand on Sadie’s elbow.
“Oh, it was a date, Sweets.” Scott leaned in close to Sadie but spoke loud enough for Zack to hear. “My favorite part was the good-night kiss.”
“You kissed him?” Zack demanded roughly, releasing Sadie’s arm. A look of hot fury fled across his face.
“He kissed me,” Sadie said. Not that it’s any of your goddamn business.
“Yes,” Scott admitted. “But you definitely kissed me back.”
“You kissed him back?!” Zack demanded.
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Sadie threw her hands up in exasperation. She noticed more investigators had arrived on scene and the Emerald Nine van was blocking access to parking. “Look, Reed, you’re going to have to move your vehicle before the cops get pissed and throw you out of here.”
“About that, my sources tell me you’ve encountered yet another Fierce Force crime scene. How about some details, Sweets, and I’ll not only move my vehicle—I’ll take you in the back and rock your world.”
“Argh!” Sadie shouted. She stormed off in the direction of Nick, who was talking with Detective Carr in the driveway of the house.
“Well, if it ain’t Typhoid Mary,” Carr quipped under his breath.
“I don’t kill people,” Sadie shot back.
“No, but every time I hear your name, it seems to be surrounded by death,”
Carr countered.
Sadie couldn’t deny that.
“They found a woman’s body,” Nick said to her.
“Buried under the tree?” Sadie asked, looking from Detective Carr to Officer Nick.
The detective gave a sharp nod.
“But that’s not all. There was another body buried beside her.”
“Another body?”
“Yeah, but it’ll take a while to identify this one. It’s burned beyond recognition.”
“Oh my God,” Sadie gasped, rubbing the back of her neck.
“What I don’t get is why the hell Curly the Cutter would confess murder to you.”
“I guess because he was about to kill me too,” Sadie said, forcing herself to look him in the eye. “He was trying to scare me into telling him where I put the money I took from him.”
“Don’t get that either,” Carr said. “Why does he think you took money if he knows it’s in evidence?”
Sadie was getting hot under the collar and not just because the sun was blazing ninety degrees of concentrated heat on her head.
“Because he claims money went missing before the cops showed up and took the rest into evidence.” Sadie threw her hands up in the air. “Look, I’d like to know all the answers too. Hey, I’ve got an idea, why don’t you guys get in your little cars and go driving around to find the asshole so we can ask him?” Sadie screeched.
“Cool it,” Zack said, his gaze sliding over to Scott Reed, who was obviously pointing out their loud discussion to his cameraman.
Sadie hadn’t noticed Zack come up behind her, but she turned on him now.
“Don’t tell me to cool it!” She squared her shoulders and pinged her sharp gaze off each of the three men. “I was the one that was almost carved into itty-bitty pieces by some crazed lunatic just a couple hours ago! And let’s not forget that I just helped you get evidence to lock this guy away.”
“Not that we don’t all appreciate finding the body, but it’s a long shot from proving the guy’s guilty,” Carr pointed out.
“Oh, and the fact that Curly told me where the body was doesn’t help?” Sadie asked. “Did you expect me to get him to write it out in my blood for you too? He tried to kill me! Isn’t attempted murder still a crime?” She squeezed her eyes shut against a powerful headache rolling up her shoulders and into her neck. “You don’t need me here, do you?”
Devil May Ride Page 10