“What?” Moves asked. He sat straight up at this news. “When?”
I smiled and enjoyed Moves’ befuddlement. “Here actually.”
Moves’ eyes widened as it dawned on him.
“No fucking way,” he said. “The blonde chick the other night?”
“Yup,” I said.
“Ok, so I’m definitely your best man?” Moves asked.
I rolled my eyes. Inviting Claire to the Outlaw Souls barbecue was one thing; getting married was quite another.
Despite my dismissal, Moves made several more jokes. I let him go on for a while because I was feeling appreciative, but when I was done with my beer I stood up and said goodbye.
When I got back to my place, I typed out a message to Claire:
Biker barbecue this weekend, you wanna come?
Her response came in minutes:
Yes! Perfect opportunity to find someone to teach me to ride!
I grinned at her enthusiasm and texted back:
You think I’m not good enough?
She fired back in no time:
Oh, I like to keep my options open.
For the rest of the evening, I couldn’t stop smiling.
Sixteen
Claire
I couldn’t believe my luck. Pin was full of information, but I couldn’t come out and ask him if he was in any way, shape, or form involved with illicit drug activity. A barbecue with all the bikers would be different. I wouldn’t even have to ask, I could just observe. I could pick up plenty of details about the other Outlaw Souls and their habits. I would gain so much more intel than could be picked up on a casual date with Pin.
Because I had to admit that we were dating now. Whatever was between us, it was not just casually hanging out with mixed intentions. There was something new and very delicate growing.
I couldn’t think about that though. I had to separate my pesky feelings from the case. And going to the barbecue was definitely the best choice for the case.
If I was really lucky, Zoe or Hector would be there. Maybe tucked into the host’s house or sitting on the edges looking nervous. I didn’t think this case was going to be that easy though. After a few days of digging through the details of Zoe and Hector’s disappearances and interviewing friends, the case was only growing murkier and murkier.
I responded to Pin’s invite as quickly as I could and then set my phone aside. It gave me a warm feeling in my stomach to text him, and it was too easy to fall into the trap of texting him back and forth for an hour. We had done that yesterday. I sighed and turned to my notes.
I wanted to have a firm grasp on everything I knew before the barbecue that weekend. Any random little fact might help. I could think of a thousand ways a biker might give away what happened to the teenagers without actually coming out and telling me.
I flipped to my page with notes from my chat with Liz. I had tracked her down the afternoon after Pin slept over, and my hunch had paid off. Liz was a wealth of information. I just had to approach her from the right angle.
Instead of ambushing her at school, I had texted her an explanation of who I was and what I wanted. Zoe’s parents had already told Liz that they were hiring a PI, so Liz agreed to meet me at a coffee shop after she was done with school for the day.
Liz was a nervous girl. From the second she sat down in the seat across from me at the table I had selected in the corner of the shop, she was fidgeting. She tugged at the hairbands on her wrist and fiddled with the ends of her mousy brown hair. I gave her a big smile to try and put her at ease, but it didn’t seem to help. It made me wonder if she had always been this way, or if she had changed after Zoe left.
“I don’t really know if I can help that much,” Liz said. “I already told everything I could think of to the police.”
“That’s ok,” I said. “Honestly, I just want some insight into Zoe as a person, and I figured you would be the best one for that.”
