Page 41 of Maverick
She shrugged and she turned to walk away. “Never bothered you before.”
I sighed. What could I say? She was right. I’d never cared who else Sheila fucked. It was just sex and I had the club to run. But maybe I was tired of “just sex.” Maybe I liked having a life outside of the club. Although, it was becoming more and more clear that that life wouldn’t involve Kat.
I walked inside the meeting room where we held church and banged my fist on the table. As much as I wanted to chase after her, now wasn’t the time. And what would I say? I could pull the tapes if she didn’t believe me. But after the fight from earlier? Her not understanding the club? There was no easy fix for that. And it wasn’t like we were a couple. We both knew this was a fling when we started.
I had a few more minutes before the rest of the officers arrived. I skimmed through the folder Baller had left for me and my blood boiled. He’d printed out photos from the trail cam. Photos of Larry. Of me. Of Kat. And someone I didn’t recognize walking past the house with a drip torch on the night of the fire.
Bear, Blade, and Baller entered the room. Tracker, our road captain, had physical therapy so we’d fill him in later. Cometo think of it, he’d missed a lot of church because of physical therapy…
“Ah, you got to that one, huh?” Baller asked. “Looks like Ol’ Larry was telling the truth.”
Blade cleared his throat. “I searched the area during the fire. No one was around, but I did find the drip torch. It was one of Larry’s. I assumed he started it given his…” Blade tapped a finger to his head. “But there’s no lock on the old man’s shed. Anyone could have taken it out and used it.”
I rubbed a hand over my eyes as my blood raged. Someone prowled around Kat’s house while she slept. Set fire to the woods behind her. Could have killed her if the wind had picked up.
Fuck temporary. Fuck what she thought she saw. What she thought she knew about the club. All that mattered was that right now, at this moment, she wasmine.
“Could be related.” Bear interrupted my spiral.
“Related to what?” I asked, trying to catch back up.
Bear snorted. “To everything, brother. To the Alliance. To the Diablos. The Bratva. I talked to Rowan, and he had a lot to say.”
“Fucking finally,” I muttered. “So what are we dealing with?”
“According to Rowan, one of the families has fallen under tough times. The Volkovs were mostly into heroin and cocaine until they lost a huge shipment in a DEA raid. Their organization fell apart as it became a literal rat race to see who could turn the fastest.”
I scoffed. Loyalty was everything. Thank fuck that shit would never happen to us.
Bear continued. “With most of the crew in jail and their assets seized, the remaining members of the family scattered across the country. Seems the few that stayed out of jail decided to shift into a more local drug trade. Less chance to get caught if the drugs don’t have far to move.”
“So they’re growing pot?” I asked.
“Yeah, some of that and cooking meth. They’ve been buying up large properties across the south and midwest, ones that are in rural areas and heavily wooded. Perfect cover, away from law enforcement and next door to their prime clients. It’s a pretty good model, if I’m being honest.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thank you for that objective opinion of their business plan.”
Bear shrugged.
My eyes narrowed. “The pieces fit. Between the MC and Larry, that’s eighty acres. A hell of a lot of space to run an operation. They’ve got to be the ones behind those fucking Diablos.”
Bear rubbed his hand over his beard. “If those rejects had taken us out as planned, Larry would have been easy picking. But when that didn’t pan out, maybe they tried to get his land and move in that way. Having access to his property would certainly have made it easier to get the jump on us.”
“Makes sense.” Baller nodded. “That fire wasn’t meant to kill, but maybe they were trying to scare him? Or Kat. Larry’s never going to leave that place, no matter what happens. But scaring the daughter into selling her dad’s property? That’d be a hell of a lot quicker than waiting out probate after a double homicide.”
“Watch your mouth,” I warned, enraged he’d speak so callously about Kat’s death.
Baller had the good sense to look sheepish but didn’t take back his words. And he shouldn’t. He was right.
Blade nodded. “Has Kat or Larry mentioned any offers to buy the property?”
I shook my head. “But that doesn’t mean they haven’t.”
“Let’s assume they have, and the answer was no.” Blade looked around the table. “If the Volkovs can’t buy the property and the fire didn’t work, what will they try next?”
My heart stopped.Fuck.
Baller grabbed the picture of the man with drip torch. “This guy was pretty well covered, but there was one image where you could see a tattoo on his right hand. I’m running it through some programs to see if I get a hit. With this new Bratva information, I can narrow down the search. Might get something sooner.”
