by Dani Pettrey
“We believe they’ve got the wrong man,” Landon said.
“Because he’s related to her?”
“Because someone was after Karli before she died, someone other than Reef McKenna.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what I know, but I’m not sure how much help it’ll be.”
“Any insight you can give us into the Mongols and Karli’s link to them would be helpful.”
“I pulled Michelle’s case file after you called.” He slid it to Landon.
Piper leaned over to get a better look as Landon skimmed through it. It was hard to believe less than twelve hours ago his lips had been pressed to hers, that his strong arms had been wrapped around her. What she wouldn’t give to go back to that moment when everything seemed so clear, so right.
“I was working vice here in Long Beach when Michelle turned on Bryan and his crew and went into Witness Protection. When we got word from the Marshals that Michelle had been killed in Government Camp, Oregon, we offered our services to the police in that neck of the woods. They were very cooperative and let us spearhead the case, since we’d been following the Mongols for more than a decade at that point.”
Landon glanced up from the case file. “It looks like the evidence against Mr. Terry was quite compelling.”
“He got sloppy, and we got lucky.”
“How do you mean?”
“Most times these guys go in at night and kill the victim without any witnesses around. They make it quick and clean, while still leaving a powerful message.”
“What kind of message?” Piper asked.
“If you rat on the brotherhood, you’ll pay with your life.”
“Meaning sliced tongues, guts spilled out . . .” Landon said.
“Exactly.”
Piper stiffened. “That’s horrible.”
“That’s organized crime. Makes no difference whether it’s Mafia, drug cartels, or outlaw motorcycle gangs. They all have rules—you break them, and you’ll be punished.”
“And Michelle broke the rules by turning State’s evidence on her hubby.”
“And a handful of his brothers, all senior-ranking officers in the Mongols’ outfit.”
“All of them went to jail?”
“Yes, and all are out now, except two.” Robertson slid over their rap sheets.
“We found an article that indicated Karli’s father was released this past summer,” Piper said.
“Correct.”
“You don’t think her own father . . . ?” The thought was too horrid.
“What you’ve got to ask yourselves,” Robertson said, “is how much effort the Mongols are going to be willing to go through to try and kill Karli again. When they killed Michelle, the house was rigged to explode. Karli would have simply been collateral damage if she’d been home. Going after her a second time as a specific target, not just collateral damage, is an entirely different matter. And I am not certain what their motive would be.”
“And why wasn’t Karli home?” Piper asked just to be sure they’d gotten their facts straight, that Karli had snuck out to meet some friends.
“Karli went to meet Erik.”
Piper leaned forward. “Erik?”
“Karli’s handler, Henry Mars, grabbed Karli as soon as she showed back up at what remained of her house and moved her immediately. As soon as I got the call, I hopped a plane to Government Camp and worked the case. It’s a small community and it didn’t take long interviewing folks to learn that Karli spent the majority of her time with one boy in particular, Erik Johnson. His picture’s in the case file.”
Landon flipped to the photos, scanning them quickly. “These are of Karli and her mom. And they look like surveillance photos.”
“That’s exactly what they are. I told you John Terry got sloppy. Not only did a neighbor remember seeing a gas company worker poking around the outside of Karli and Michelle’s place earlier that day, she was able to give us a good description. Cracked the case wide open. We narrowed in on Terry right away.
“The fool must have thought he was untouchable, because he hadn’t even bothered to dispose of any of the evidence, including the surveillance photos he’d taken of Karli and Michelle prior to the hit.” Robertson leaned across the desk and pointed at a dark-haired young man in the background of the first photograph. “There and . . .” He flipped to the next photograph of Karli outside of school with the same young man walking a few feet behind her. “There.”
“I recognize him,” Piper said.
Both Robertson’s and Landon’s gazes shot to her.
“You do?” Landon asked.
“I’m pretty sure he’s the guy from the picture you found in Karli’s belongings. He’s got the same dark, curly hair.”
“Could be. He looks a good five or six years older.”
“Which would fit the time gap.”
“You think she kept in touch with him after her handler moved her?” Robertson asked.
It certainly wouldn’t surprise her, not with what they’d learned about Karli’s inclination to break rules.
“Looks that way,” Landon said.
Robertson rubbed his palms together. “It’s hard to believe it took them five years to track her down.”
Landon slumped back with a sigh. “Yeah, it is.”
She knew that sigh, and it wasn’t good. “What?”
“I’m just thinking . . . why did it take them so long? Tracking her down should have been easy. It looks like she kept in contact with someone she shouldn’t have, she joined a high-profile extreme sports circuit, pulled herself out of Witness Protection and—”
“She did what?” Robertson nearly choked.
“You didn’t know?” Landon asked.
“I’d never worked with Henry Mars before. We were only brought together because of Michelle’s case. After Terry was convicted, we had no reason to stay in contact.”
Piper fastened her gaze on Landon. “I don’t understand where you’re going with this.” Was he starting to doubt that Mongols were responsible for Karli’s murder?
“I’m just spitballing. Karli kept in touch with someone from her past; she pulled herself out of Witness Protection and joined a fairly public sport.” He shook his head. “And why track her for five years when she wasn’t even the one who broke the code in the first place?”
Was he trying to throw away all their hard work? “Maybe they couldn’t track her. We know Karli moved an awful lot. Maybe someone just happened to spot her at an event.”
“I doubt any California Mongols have been attending extreme snowboarding in Canada and Alaska.”
“Okay, maybe they spotted her on ESPN’s coverage of an event.”
“Maybe, but the question still is, why would they go after her?”
“To tie up loose ends.”
Robertson broke in. “If they killed her, it would have been for some twisted form of vengeance. If you still consider this lead worth following, I suggest you look at the guys recently released from prison, including Karli’s dad, though I’m not seeing that one.”
“Because she was his child?” Piper asked.
“Because he claims to have found God in the joint.”
“What was that back there?” Piper asked Landon as they exited the station.
“I was just thinking out loud.”
“Thinking Reef’s guilty?”
“I didn’t say that.” He unlocked the car and held her door open for her.
She climbed inside. “If you no longer think the Mongols killed her, who else is there?”
Landon rested his arm on the roof of the car, leaning in to converse with her. His fine muscular form blocked the sun from her face. How could someone she was so attracted to make her so mad?
“Part of working a case is looking at all the threads—logically. I’m just not sure how logical it is that a gang member wanted Karli dead so badly that he spent five years tracking her down when she wasn’t even the one who testified.”
“Maybe it was a kid or a brother of one of the guys Michelle’s testimony helped put away.”
“Maybe. We’ve got a copy of the case file. We’ll go consider family and friends of each of the guys Michelle’s testimony put away. I’ll call Cole and tell him to key in on that when he questions the associates. In the meantime, Detective Robertson said he’d see what his insiders are reporting. If a Mongol took out somebody, word will have spread.”
“He’s got cops inside the gang?”
“I doubt it. The only law-enforcement officer to successfully get inside the Mongols was William Queen back in the late nineties. But I’m sure there are men and women from vice on the fringes, planted in Mongol hangouts, bars . . . that sort of thing.” He strode around the car and climbed in on the driver’s side.
Piper shifted to face him better. “I can’t imagine how it would feel being surrounded by such darkness all the time.”
“Someone’s got to do it.”
“Is that how you feel? That you have to do your job?”
“Somebody needs to.”
“Because?”
“Because justice is important. Because there are consequences for breaking the law and for hurting others.”
He spoke with such passion, such conviction, that Piper again began to see deeper inside the heart of the man she’d unwittingly come to love. As much as she didn’t want to hear what he was saying, the same doubts about the Mongols having killed Karli were beginning to creep into her heart. But they couldn’t walk away now, couldn’t give up hope that for some reason a Mongol had sought Karli out after so many years and exacted revenge. Otherwise they were back at square one, and Reef’s trial date was steadfastly marching nearer.
40
Darcy’s heart fluttered as they waited for John Terry to appear. Though glass would separate them, she hated the thought of being so close to a cold-blooded killer.
A buzz sounded, and Terry entered, his orange jumpsuit the only color in the otherwise bland room. The officer led him to the seat opposite the glass and Terry plunked down with a slightly curious glance. His eyes raked over Darcy, and he smiled in a way that made her skin crawl. She was so thankful Gage was right behind her. She leaned forward and picked up the phone on her side of the partition, and Terry did the same.
He whistled. “Too bad this ain’t a conjugal visit, because you are fine.”
“Mr. Terry, I’m—”
“Nah.” He waggled a finger. “We ain’t going to go there. It’s John. Call me John.”
“Okay, John.”
“And you are?”
She swallowed, the thought of giving this creep any personal information about her making her hesitate, but in the end she complied and prayed he’d do so as well. “Darcy.”
“Now I like the sound of that.” He leaned forward, only the glass partition separating his face from hers. “What is it you want from me?”
“I want to talk about Michelle Evans.”
“That’s easy.” He slumped back with a shrug. “She’s dead.”
“You killed her?”
“I’m not in here for the three square a day.”
“And Michelle’s daughter? You kill her too?”
He chuckled. “You obviously haven’t done your homework. The kid wasn’t home when the house blew.”
“I know that. Angela Evans, aka Suzanne Wilson, aka Karli Davis, was recently murdered in Yancey, Alaska.”
“Is that right?” He smiled, no surprise on his face at the news.
“I have a feeling you already knew that.”
“What’s it to you if I did?”
“Because it could be evidence of your role in her death.”
He laughed. “How do you figure that? If you haven’t noticed, I’m not in the position to be killing anyone outside these walls.”
“But you could have ordered the hit.”
“Why would I bother? I killed the rat—her stupid kid meant nothing to me.”
“You’d planned to kill her back in Oregon, but she escaped.”
“She didn’t escape. She just wasn’t home when the bomb went off, and it was no sweat off my skin. Like I said, I got the rat.”
“So the fact that Karli’s dead means nothing to you?”
“No different than any other dead broad.”
“If you had nothing to do with her death, how’d you hear about it?”
“I got the message last night that a group was down from Alaska poking around about Michelle and her brat.”
“And you’re claiming that’s the first you heard of Karli’s death?”
“I ain’t claiming. I’m telling you, that’s the first I heard the kid was dead.”
“Karli—her name was Karli Davis,” Darcy corrected, annoyed at his derogatory tone when he said the kid.
“Whatever. I never knew her name. Just knew she was Michelle and Bryan’s kid. The fact is, she’s dead and I had nothing to do with it.”
“What about the rest of the Mongols? Anyone else want to see Karli pay for what her mom did?”
“Look, this is getting old and you ain’t listening. If we’d wanted her dead, she would have been dead five years ago, just like her momma. We sure wouldn’t have waited all these years to hunt her down.”
“Maybe you couldn’t find her until now.”
He burst out laughing. “Couldn’t find her.” He shook his head. “You really don’t get it, do you? We can find anybody, anywhere, anytime.”
“Sounds like a lot of talk.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“You and your crew”—he looked at Gage with contempt—“are staying at the Marina Del Ray Hotel.”
She ignored the trepidation shooting along her spine. “That’s not hard to find out.”
“All right. How’s this? You’re sleeping all by your lonesome in room 203. The other two foxes are in 204. The dude behind you is staying in room 206 with his brother. And the deputy and the other guy are in 205.” Terry’s smug grin widened. “It’s clear you’re way out of your league, darlin’. I suggest you head back to Mammoth and the snow reports.”
Gage leaned across Darcy, staring Terry straight in the eye. “You or your goons come near her, and I’ll . . .”
“You’ll what?”
“Do whatever is needed to keep her safe.”
“Trust me, if we were after her, that would hardly be enough.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Mongols don’t make threats. We act.”
“Like you did with Michelle?”
“Exactly.”
“And now with Karli?” Darcy said.
“Darlin’, I’m only going to say this one more time. Mongols had nothing to do with the death of Michelle’s kid. If we’d wanted her dead, she would have been the day after her momma.”
“What do you think?” Darcy asked as they stepped back into the sunshine. She’d never been quite so thankful for fresh air.
Gage pulled out his phone. “Time to change hotels.”
“You really think it’ll make any difference?”
“Probably not. But I’ll tell you one thing—they try and come after us, we’ll be ready for them.”
“You really think you, Landon, Jake, and Cole can hold off an army of Mongols?”
“They never send in an army to do their dirty work, just a handful of guys.”
“Armed and dangerous ones.”
“We protect our own.”
She knew he would do anything in his power to protect her and his family, and his strength comforted her, despite the fear.
“Kayden?” Piper pressed her cell closer against her ear.
“Yeah. Where are you?”
“In the car, driving up to Huntington Beach to speak with Karli’s father.”
“Any progress?” Hope, usually foreign to Kayden, lingered in her tone.
Piper couldn’t share the disappointment she’d just experienced, couldn’t share Landon’s doubts, even if the
y were reasonable and made more sense than she dared admit. Not with him sitting right beside her. “We’re still hard at it.”
“Oh.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I hate to tell you this, but I thought you guys needed to know that Judge Morrell rejected Harland’s request for an extension.”
“What?”
“I know. I couldn’t believe it.”
Landon looked over at her, worry heavy on his face.
Piper fought back a sob. “It’s so unfair. Didn’t Harland explain the extenuating circumstances, all the new evidence that’s been uncovered?”
“Yes, and Judge Morrell said he may present any of those facts in Reef’s defense during the trial. But since there is no clear evidence that Reef is innocent or that the Mongol club or any of its individual members killed Karli, she refused to approve a trial delay.”
“But it’s taking time to find that evidence. That’s exactly why Harland is asking for the extension.” After all the progress she’d thought they’d made, it suddenly seemed like it was all crumbling.
“Meredith argued that you were all on some wild-goose chase that could go on indefinitely. Unless something other than supposition and conjecture is discovered, the trial begins as scheduled.”
Piper hung up, tears stinging her eyes.
“The extension was denied?” Landon asked softly.
She nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t even think the Mongols did it,” she lashed out, knowing it was wrong and completely undeserved. It wasn’t Landon’s fault. She just wished, just hoped, that he would stick by her regardless of what logic said. That he’d put her before logic, ridiculous and unfair as that was.
“I didn’t say that.”
“I can see the change in you. You no longer think Karli was killed because of her past.”
“I still think it’s possible . . .”
“But not likely.”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.
“Then what are we even doing here?”
“Trying to find Karli’s killer.”
“If you don’t think the Mongols did it, then who?” She prayed he had come up with another suspect, anyone other than Reef. That they hadn’t circled back to the start.