“And Jason?” Jayce asked, exasperated now. He cupped his chin.
Pierre sat taller on his stool and turned to catch me in his smirk. “He started going on little jobs for Derek.”
Sapphira huffed out a long breath and a deep vee settled between her brows.
“Why the long face?” Jayce asked her.
“It isn’t good sense to poke at a hornet’s nest.”
“Yeah,” King drawled. “We usually leave Derek alone. Try to, anyway.”
“Oh, can I tell the story?” I asked, and excitement tingled through me. Sapphira finally laughed and looked less like someone was about to die. “Last time Derek Uhlig got into it with someone they found—”
Sapphira raised her hand, and I stopped. She closed her eyes and seemed to be centering herself. King grinned at her and patted her back, but she belted him in the stomach hard and they laughed together.
“What did they find?” Jayce asked, giving me a stern look. He was obviously over this interview himself.
“There used to be a small band of bikers who thought they were going to go into the gambling business. I wasn’t piss stupid, so I stayed out of that when we were forming the foundation of our… completely legal bike club,” King said with a wink at Jayce, his tone warm and agreeable as he caught Sapphira’s eye and she nodded.
“What the hell stupid thing did they call themselves? Satan’s Goats or something?” She giggled, and it turned into a full belly laugh.
King snickered. “It was so fucking stupid.”
“Beelzebub’s Beasts,” I supplied easily. I laughed myself. “They had that 666 patch, straight out of a B horror movie.” I rolled my eyes, and King and Sapphira cackled together.
Jayce frowned. “I haven’t heard of them?”
King snorted. “Oh, you’re new in town, right? You wouldn’t have. They set up an illegal casino. New Gothenburg doesn’t have a legit one, except for a couple of tables of poker and roulette at the lounge in the yacht club.”
“Most people go to Salamanca and gamble on the reservation,” I added.
“Anyway,” King cut in, giving me a lazy smile. “They set up shop.”
“Started stealing Derek’s business.” Sapphira shook her head.
“One night,” I started, in my spookiest, scary-story voice. King held up his hand and waved me over toward him. I glanced at Jayce, but he only had his arms crossed over his chest, frowning at all of us. I stood and crept toward King, feeling more like myself than I had in days. I stopped near him and steepled my fingers under my chin. “People showed up to gamble and the doors were locked.” I did my best Vincent Price impression, and Sapphira let out another giggle. “There were no lights on at the building, and when someone got a Maglite out of their car, on the door in the beam of light was smeared, in blood, getoooouuuut.” I wobbled the last word of my tale, and Sapphira lowered her head to the bar and just laughed.
“Ha-ha,” Jayce said, and I could see he was getting irked with us, but I started chuckling myself.
“No, this is a really fucked-up story that’s true.” Rubbing my hands together, I grinned. “Saw it myself. I was, er, dating sort of a high roller at the time. He liked to go lose money to Derek.”
King yanked a pack of smokes out of his rear pocket and tossed it on the bar, then took his time shaking one out. “Thathappened, and then, what, two, three weeks went by? No one saw the goats or whatever.”
“Beasts,” I reminded him. I wasn’t sure why this was funny, but even then I’d thought they’d sort of gotten what they deserved.
“Two weeks,” Sapphira said with certainty.
“Yeah, I think two.” I nodded.
Sapphira perked up. “This is all hearsay. And I know you’re a cop, and I’ll let that slide just this once.” King raised an eyebrow at her and finally shook out a cigarette. He popped it into his mouth but didn’t light it. “No bodies were found, but all eleven members of that club vanished like a fart in the wind. They say Derek Uhlig had them taken out into the woods. Way out in the country is a rat-filled cave. He tied them up, painted their bodies with rotten meat, and left them there for the rats to eat.” She lowered her voice and crept toward Jayce. “And they’ll get you too,” she said and smacked him on the ass.
Jayce flinched and grabbed his chest, and King roared with laughter. I’d missed this, being in the club. King held out his hand toward me, and I went over to stand near him. He was in such a good mood that I didn’t think anything of sliding into the arm he held out. I hugged him.
“Okay, okay,” Jayce said, and now he sounded pissed. I glanced at him, King’s arm still around my waist.
Jayce was staring hard.
King snorted and let me go with a pat, shoving me toward Jayce. I stopped between them and crossed my arms, not quite ready to be passed around like a blunt.
