Alec tilts his head. His hand goes to his chin. “Why do you think it was her?”
“I don’t want to go into it right now. Can I have the lead investigator’s address?”
He passes me the piece of paper. “It’s on that. And Knox?”
“Mmm...”
“If Audrey had anything to do with it, tread carefully. Regardless, she’s still my dad’s sister. And trust me, you don’t want any blowback from him or our family.” He and Audrey own most of the large establishments in Crown Village. They are wealthy, and with money comes power.
I shrug, then walk out.
I don’t give a shit.
When I get backto the MC, I park between Viper and Demon. It’s a sunny day, so the men are outside cleaning their motorcycles. I pull my helmet off. Viper has stopped cleaning and is staring at me with a raised brow, wipe in hand. He opens his mouth as if to say something, then slams it shut and stands.
Demon stands too. They know something is wrong. I step to Reaper. He wipes over the handlebars, but when I get close, he peers over at me and slowly stands up.
“I need a church meeting,” I tell him.
He takes a second, then nods. “Church.”
Everyone stops what they’re doing. I feel their curious stares as I move inside. Ava is wiping down the entryway table as I walk in. She gives me a small smile and looks behind me, then frowns. “Where’s Zara?”
I shake my head at her, make my way to the computer room, and peek inside. “Twitch, church.”
He swivels in his chair to face me. “Yeah, coming.” He stands and follows me out.
Once we’ve gathered the rest of the MC, we stand around the table, with Reaper at the top, me and Viper at his sides, and the rest of the club around it.
Everyone sits.
“Bomber, you have the floor,” says Reaper.
“First, I’d like to say thank you to every one of my brothers for being there for me during this difficult time.” Reaper leans over and puts his hand on my shoulder. “I called a meeting because I found out more information in relation to Zara’s sister’s missing persons case, but before I go further, before bringing all of you into this. I wanted to call a vote. This isn’t club business,” I say as I look around the table, “so leave now if you don’t want to be involved. I won’t have any hard feelings toward any of you.”
I make eye contact with every single member, giving them an out, but no one leaves.
“I live for this shit!” Demon says from beside me.
I knew he would be with me. Keen to get his hands dirty.
“Zara and I contacted an ex-employee who worked at the Pratts’ when Misty disappeared. Once she suggested Misty was pregnant with my brother’s child, she was paid off by Audrey, my mom, and was made to sign an NDA to not speak about the case to anyone.”
A mix of grunts and gasps sound around the table.
“I went to visit my father and brother, Kane, who did not know about it. Then I went to see my cousin Alec. He had done his own digging for me and said there wasn’t enough done about the case. The lead investigator purchased a home outright in Crown Village. Alec and I drew the same conclusions—that he was most likely paid off. I know it was Audrey, but I wouldn’t mind paying the investigator a visit.”
“Yes!” Demon says beside me, rubbing his hands together.
“Why would your mother do that?” Viper asks.
“She cared about her reputation, and if she found out Misty was pregnant, I know she wouldn’t have approved. I don’t know what happened, but it can’t be a coincidence that soon after Misty’s disappearance Audrey left to go live at our holiday house in the mountains and never returned. We thought it was odd, but we put it down to her being a coward and wanting to get away from everyone’s grief.”
“A police officer, even in retirement, couldn’t afford a home in Crown Village,” Cash chimes in.
“You know,” Twitch says, “I looked into the statistics of missing persons cases, and when it comes to teenagers, acquaintance kidnapping is comparatively high for women compared to your stereotypical kidnapping where the person doesn’t know the perpetrator.”
Axle squints at Twitch. “Only you would look at statistics in your spare time... ya nerd.”
