Page 10 of Vortex

A chorus of ‘Ayes’ goes around the room, and Tanner is voted in.

“Okay, assholes. Is he a prospect or a brother?”

“Definitely a brother,” Cannon adds quickly. “We’ll call him Twang. He liked that suggestion when we first approached him.”

“We’ll get him in and let him know,” Pres states, shaking his head.

“He’s on his way. He should be here anytime.” Cannon smiles at Pres and gets a glare back.

“Bull. Anything new on this Cottonwood Glades outfit?” Pres leans back in his chair, expecting there to be something, I’m sure.

“Honestly, Pres, it’s as clean as a whistle. In fact, it’s so clean that it’s too clean. I think someone is doing a number on everything concerning that business, its associates, and anything connected to it.” Bull looks around the room. “No one that works there has as much as a speeding ticket. Any problems in any of the towns that have a satellite office are linked to small local realtors. Cottonwood Glades have a reputation made of Teflon. Nothing sticks to them.”

“So, are we barking up the wrong tree? Is there something we’re missing?” Pres is frowning, and that’s not usually a good sign.

“Hell no. I think Bull is right on the money with what he’s saying. A company of that size would have something in its history, every company does. A disgruntled employee, dissatisfied customer, supplier issue. They have nothing, zero, nada. It isn’t possible. There would be something or someone that complained, but there isn’t even an out-of-court settlement. I agree with Bull. They are too clean.” Pens doesn’t usually say a lot, so this is quite a statement from him.

A knock on the door and Noel pokes his head in, announcing the arrival of Tanner. Pres squints at Cannon and then nods to Noel. Tanner slips into the room, gives us all a chin lift, and then stands against the door. The only truly free space left with everyone present.

“Tanner, you have been voted in as a full brother. Your road name is Twang, apparently you approve of that name. Do we happen to have his cut handy, by any chance?” Pres shakes his head again, as I’m sure that it will have been ordered some time ago. Bank nods and passes a box to Pres. He doesn’t open it but just tosses it to Twang, who rips it apart and slips the cut on with a huge smile.

There’s a roar of approval, and Pres tells everyone to save their backslaps until the end.

Pres waits for quiet and then addresses Twang. “Have you heard anything about what’s going on with the town and this real estate developer?”

“I tried to dig into their past, but I don’t have security clearance for that level, apparently. That in itself raises a red flag for me. Since when is a land development company off my radar? I tried every backdoor I know to find out what’s going on and got nothing. In fact, I was called into the office and told in no uncertain terms that I was meddling in things above my pay grade. I think something's going on, but I don’t know what. Land, businesses and homes aren’t even making it onto the open market before they are purchased. I’d bet my salary that if you made a map of Cottonwood Glades holdings for the town and maybe even the county, they are the majority landowners. I don’t see what the end result is for them. What do they gain by all the land ownership?”

“Bull, Pens, Bank? Any thoughts on that?” Pres asks the three most likely to see through the scheme, if that’s truly what it is.

They all look at each other, but there is no lightbulb moment.

“Other than controlling real estate prices, I can’t think of anything,” Bank volunteers.

“I've got nothing better,” adds Pens.

“I’ll ask a few people I know in that business, see if they can shed light on it,” Bull states.

“Can we lean on the local realtor, see if he can be made to talk?” Twang throws this out to the room.

“You think Chris Everett is complicit in whatever is going on?” I frown as I hadn’t made a connection to Chris.

“He’s the only realtor in town. He’s upgraded his house, his car, in fact cars, plural, and yet he hasn’t a damn thing for sale through his Home and Hearth office. I know quite a few people who have tried to get their first home, and he has nothing to even give them a showing. What do you think, Vortex?” Twang raises his eyebrows at me.

“If you look at it like that, I’d say you have a point.” He makes an excellent case for Chris to be involved in whatever is going on. I can’t dispute the fact that there is nothing available. I’ve been told as much, twice now.

Ghost asks Twang a question. “If you were told that it’s above your pay grade, does that mean that someone above you is involved? Or, does it mean that someone above your pay grade is already building a case?”

“I don’t see anyone in the department being on the take. I could be wrong, but I’ve had my back covered by everyone there at one time or another. It doesn’t sit well that one of them could be involved in something like this. If there truly is a ‘something’. We have absolutely nothing to back up one suspicion other than that we have a greedy development company buying every piece of real estate they can get for cheap.” Twang looks thoughtful. “It wouldn’t be the first time some higher power had closed down avenues of investigation because they were involved in something.”

“One other thing while I’m here. Our new mayor came in to speak to our chief. It seems she wanted information on any ‘indiscretions’ by the MC or any of you guys individually.”

Pres sits straight up with this information. “And what did the chief give her?”

“From what I’m told, he gave her a talking-to about trying to involve his department in her personal vendettas. She was shocked that he knew what her game was by all accounts. I wasn’t privy to it, but the sergeant was more than happy to tell me all the gory details.”

“If the chief wasn’t willing to get involved in that crap, it sounds like he’s on the level.” Pres sits back and visibly relaxes.

“Has there been any development with Silas and his ranch?” Twang asks me directly.