Hunter didn't answer.Didn't even try to speak.He'd been here before, too many times.He knew better than to volunteer any information.
All he could do was point to his ear, shake his head, and shrug.Again.And again.
The officers exchanged a look as if he was antagonizing them on purpose.
While he knew exactly why he was taken to the station, he had no idea how to convince them he was not involved in removing Leigh from Jason Stevens' house or in hiding her and Annie from him.The only crime he committed was entering someone else's home.If he could hear and speak clearly enough for others to understand him, he could tell them that Annie had given him permission to break in, given that she was living there at the time, under duress.But who the hell would believe him wearing a Royalla Motorcycle Club patch?
He'd been down this road before and spent eighteen months in the state pen for stealing a car.He'd gotten away with the same crime many times throughout the years riding for Royalla.But the few seconds a siren would warn him of an incoming police officer didn't work for him when he couldn't hear and relied on his sight instead.
Just like tonight.
Fuck.
He hoped Baddy got the girls somewhere safe.It was the fear on Annie's face, sitting in the truck, that warned him something was wrong.At first, he thought she was in danger.He'd scanned the area around the truck and came up empty.Only then had it dawned on him that her fear was for him.
But by that time, it was too late.He'd turned around, and the policeman had drawn his pistol.
He was a criminal.A biker.He wasn't stupid.He had a record.He couldn't outrun a bullet.
The door opened.Another man stepped in, folder in hand, and passed it to the nearby cop.The mustached officer flipped it open, his brow furrowing as he scanned the pages.
The other officer leaned closer, reading over his shoulder."Prior records show him as deaf..."
The police officer handed the folder back and then leaned on the table, facing Hunter."Can you hear me, you son of a bitch?"
He stayed uninvolved.He could read the man's lips.He was angry.He was frustrated.If he thought he was going to get a rise out of him, he thought wrong.
"Get someone who knows sign language," he said finally, his lips slow enough for Hunter to catch.
Hunter sat still, his face unreadable.
The other officer frowned."I'd be surprised if this is our suspect.The report says Officer Stevens was verbally threatened by him before he kidnapped Stevens' wife."
Hunter's jaw tightened, but he didn't move.
The officer pushed off the table and shrugged."Jason Stevens is higher up than I am.I'm not losing my job over this."
Hunter leaned back in his chair, his silence louder than any words.The rest of the conversation between the officers was lost to him.
He knew the game.All he could do was wait until he had more information.
The door opened again, and this time a woman stepped inside.She carried herself with calm authority, her eyes steady as she sat across from him.She lifted her hands and signed:Do you know why you are here?
Hunter blinked, the hand motions stirring something deep in him.It had been years since he'd used ASL—three years of tutoring after he lost his hearing, paid for by the state, but no one in his life had ever spoken with their hands.In the clubhouse, there wasn't much use for it.
But now he found himself wanting to talk, having understood every sign.
He lifted his hands, stiff and achy, but once he started, the fluency returned."No.I don't understand why I was picked up.I was riding my buddy's motorcycle to Seattle as a favor to him.He just got married.I only stopped to get gas.I paid for the gas inside and hadn't even filled the tank."
If they wanted to look, they'd find Baddy's Harley at the gas station.It was a clean alibi.
The woman nodded, then spoke to the officers."What do you want to ask him?"
For the next several minutes, she relayed their questions.Where had he been?Did he know Leigh Stevens?Was he in Vancouver on the day that he'd taken the women?
Hunter answered each one, his hands moving with precision, his face calm.He hid what mattered.He would never give up the girls' location.He gave no hint that he even knew who they were talking about.He explained that he worked at the garage owned by the Royalla Motorcycle Club and expressed his gratitude for being hired despite his disability.It gave him a chance to work with his hands, which he did well.
He'd been stuck in the room for hours.They'd tried to feed him lunch and had given him two-bathroom breaks.
