Page 105 of King
He dropped that line of questioning, thank fuck, then Lt. Brown tagged back in, asking if I owned a gun.
“Yes, but you should know that since it’s legally registered.” He rolled his eyes, then asked what other guns I had access to.
“That’s the only handgun I own.”
Marsden jumped back in with his bad cop routine. He shook his head and smirked. “That’s not what he asked, Mr. Morgan,” he chided condescendingly.
“And yet the answer is still the same, detective. I don’t own any other handguns.”
“Asked and answered, detective. Move on,” Tom drawled in a bored tone that irritated Detective Dipshit, I was happy to see.
They apparently didn’t have any other questions to move on to, and Tom was tired of playing.
“Gentlemen, unless you have any other questions, I suggest you confirm Mr. Morgan’s alibi, and then release him from custody with your most sincere apologies.”
Brown sighed and looked at Marsden, who looked at me and smirked again.
“I’m sure Ms. Chadwick is being questioned as we speak.”
I forced myself not to react as I imagined how scared Ella probably was, then the realization set in. Even if Ella could find a way to forgive me for what I’d said about her on Friday, there was no way she would be able to get past this. This was club business at it’s worst, and I knew she would want no part of it, or me, ever again.
Brown and Marsden left the room, and Tom got up to go make some calls.
“I need to call Sinner and Cowboy. They’re waiting for an update,” he told me quietly. I raised a brow, wondering how they knew I’d been arrested.
Tom shrugged. “I called them while I was on my way here.”
I grinned. “I thought we had some kind of attorney-client confidentiality.”
He discreetly flipped me off as he walked out of the room, leaving me alone to ponder how fucked up my life had gotten in the last seventy-two hours.
I was pacing the small room impatiently when Tom strode back in about thirty minutes later, followed by Lt. Brown.
“Let’s go, King. The charges have been dropped.” Relief flooded me at Tom’s words, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to get outside and breathe some fucking fresh air.
Lt. Brown escorted us out, handing over my wallet and my phone. He leaned in quietly and apologized for Detective Marsden. “Normally I can rein him in, but this time, he did an end run around me and went to that new hotshot down at the prosecutor’s office. The guy has a hard-on for cases like this. I’m guessing he’s planning on taking a run for his boss’s job down the road, and figures if he takes a stance against a high-profile figure like the president of a biker club, he’ll win the votes.”
I snorted. “Well, he’s sure as shit not gonna get mine.”
Brown leaned in further. “He won’t get mine either. Guy’s a complete dick. So is Marsden, for that matter.”
Sinner and Cowboy were waiting on me in the parking lot. Sinner had driven his truck, so they could give me a ride home. Before he headed for his car, I told Tom to double his normal bill before sending it over. I’d gladly pay the extra rate, since I would most likely have had to spend the night in lockup at least, if it weren’t for his help.
Sinner pulled me in for a hug and Cowboy clapped me on the back, then we hopped in the truck and got the hell out of there.
“Has anyone talked to Ella?” I asked, and Sinner nodded.
“Don’t worry, she was upset, but she’ll be OK. The cops came by and talked to her for a bit, then I directed them over to talk to Miriam Kirschbaum. She has one of those doorbell cameras, and the angle of it points directly at the front of Ella’s house. Miriam told me after they left that it showed all the lights off and your bike sittin’ in the drive all night. Between what Eleanor told them and Miriam’s video, your alibi was solid.”
Cowboy spoke up from his seat in the back. “Abby’s dad managed to get a little intel for us. He was left out of the loop until after you’d been picked up, but he’s pretty fuckin’ pissed. He said they found the drugs and cash in her apartment right away, so they knew she was dealin’ for T-Bone.”
“If they knew that, then why the fuck weren’t they looking at him for this. Why was I the one catching a fuckin’ murder charge?” I glanced over my shoulder to see Cowboy shrug.
“That’s what Randy wants to know. He’s thinkin’ one of the guys in his department is on T-Bone’s payroll, especially since he got a look at the crime scene photos. Get this, brother. An empty baggie with T-Bone’s mark on it was shoved in Star’s mouth.”
I whipped my head around to stare at my best friend. “Fuck, he left his calling card, and they still went after me? That’s more than shitty investigating.”
“Yeah. Randy said he’s gonna do some digging’ around. He’ll let us know if he finds anythin’ worth knowin’.
I sat back in the seat and stared out the window, wishing Star could have made better choices with her life. I wondered why T-bone had killed her and then Pic, but I doubted I’d ever get any answers. Maybe he was just cleaning up loose ends at this point, who the fuck knew.
I turned my mind to what was important now. Ella.
“I don’t want to head home just yet. I need to check on Ella. If she doesn’t want me to stay, I’ll have you take me home later.”
Sinner glanced at me and nodded. “She’ll be glad to see you, I’ll bet. She was really fuckin’ upset after the cops left. I filled her in on what I knew, which wasn’t much at the time. She was scared to death that she’d said the wrong thing, and you’d be in trouble because of it. She relaxed a little when I told her that she’d done exactly the right thing, and they’d be releasin’ you soon.”
Sinner pulled into his driveway a few minutes later, and I barely waited until the truck came to a stop before I hopped out and headed across the yard to Ella’s front door. I reached for the doorknob then hesitated, wondering if I should knock or just walk right in like I’d been doing for a while now.
“Fuck it,” I muttered, then let myself inside.
