“Winter, put this address in your phone,” I said, conceding I wasn’t entirely certain where we needed to go, even though I’d been all around this area. I handed him the sheet of paper from my pocket.
A couple of minutes passed, then he said, “According to Google, we need to turn on the right up here. Look at all those pine trees. Aren’t they beautiful?” Winter took a sip of his coffee and gazed curiously ahead of us. I drove along a lane that ended at a large A-frame house. The windows on the first floor were lit up, but there were three bikes parked around the open door to a professional-sized garage, so that’s where I went. I stopped the Audi, and Winter was out of his seat like a shot. Cursing, I went after him and Piers hopped out, too.
A tall, muscular man covered in tattoos stood near one of the bikes in a black leather coat with a Kings of Men patch on the shoulder, and Winter went directly toward him with his hand out. I growled and closed in on him, but the biker only shook Winter’s hand.
“Thank you so much for helping me,” Winter gushed.
The big man didn’t smile, but he nodded, and I noticed a skull tattoo with glowing red eyes on his neck. “The Kings always love a good time. Not often we get a treasure hunt.”
Winter groaned, and a tiny smile flashed across the man’s face as he pointed toward the garage. “Go talk to Undertaker.”
“Thanks.” I came to a stop at Winter’s side. “I’ve seen you around the Courtesan once or twice when you had to talk to Madam Winters. I’m RJ.”
“Reaper,” he said.
I snorted because it was fitting, then hooked my arm around Winter’s waist and led him toward the open garage door. Piers trailed along behind us, shivering because he wasn’t wearing a coat, and I felt bad for him, but I had one boy to wrangle and didn’t need two. Guilt ate at me anyway, and I stripped off my winter coat and tossed it at him. He nearly spilled his coffee but gave me a grateful smile.
“Oh my God, that hearse reminds me of the Addams family!” Winter had a hand in his hair and stood gawking. Along the wall to our right sat a beautiful long black car, a stately vehicle that gleamed with perfection. It was no wonder the rolled wheel wells and boxy design had snagged his attention.
“It belonged to my grandfather,” Undertaker said, coming around the back of the Porsche. The pride in his tone was clear. I was surprised because he wore a pair of black suit pants and he’d stripped down to a white undershirt, which was smudged with grease and dirt. His makeup was missing, and his hair was dark and normal, too, nothing like the way he’d looked when we’d first met him. “It’s a classic. Isn’t she a beauty? My aunt wanted me to sell it, and I told her if I got rid of every last thing I owned, including my bikes—” He pointed at a row of six motorcycles that were not standard and probably cost more than my house. “—I would keep that car.” He grinned at Winter.
“I hate to ask,” Winter said, a pout taking over his face that made me curl my arm across his shoulders. “Please, please, please tell me that you found my money.”
Undertaker smirked. “Well, actually, Reaper found the car. It was impounded. It took some finesse to get it out of there, but we managed, just for you.” He reached out and tapped Winter’s chin, staring at me while he did it.
“Are you trying to piss me off?” I asked.
He chuckled and his eyes gleamed with delight. “Yeah, actually. It’s fun, too.” He blasted me with a wide smile that showed off his pointy canines. “Anyway, Reaper said he would split the cash with me because he found the car, butIfound the money. He thought it was a dead end. Come on.”
Undertaker waved at us, and we followed him to the trunk of the Porsche, which was empty. “It’s actually clever. I was like, where would I hide money in a car like this?” He lifted the carpeting and tossed it out. “Nothing here, right? You probably thought the same thing I did, that there might be a hidden compartment, but there’s no welding marks or seams.” He knocked on the trunk floor. “Solid, right?”
“Okay. I wouldn’t have thought anything, really. I make jewelry.” Winter grinned at Undertaker.
“Well, little magpie—” He waggled his eyebrows. “—let me show you something special, then.” He walked around and opened the driver-side door. I was shocked when he peeled down the front cover of the driver’s seat. The leather folded over.
“It shouldn’t do that!” Winter shouted and slapped my arm.
“Nope,” I said, then sipped my coffee again.
There was a layer of black plastic with a zipper around it underneath the leather. Undertaker pulled the zipper down with a dramatic sweep of his arm, and once the plastic fell away, Winter moaned and it sounded almost sexual. Inside were neatly wrapped stacks of cash.
“I didn’t take the money out to count it yet.” Undertaker patted the top of Winter’s head like he was a puppy. “I thought you might want to be here for that.” He smiled at Winter, who had a hand over his heart. Tears began to pour from the corners of Winter’s eyes, and he flew at Undertaker. The biker raised his fists as if he was going to punch someone, but Winter ducked in and wrapped his arms around Undertaker’s trim middle, giving him a hard squeeze. Undertaker’s eyes widened and he gave me a look, clearly begging me to rescue him.
“Winter, that’s enough. You’re scaring the bikers,” Piers said with an amused grin. He slurped his coffee and stared hard at the floor when Undertaker glared at him. It took a few seconds for Winter to back off, but when he did, he swiped at the tears on his cheeks and smiled around at everyone.
“We’re missing a laptop, too.”
Undertaker frowned at the car. “Let’s get the loot out and see what we find.”
It took us about an hour to destroy the car—and by us, I meant me, Piers, and Undertaker. Winter paced around watching us like a caged lion, worry setting in anew since the laptop wasn’t right here where it should be. There was money hidden in each seat, and while we didn’t unearth a laptop, we did all gather around to stare at a USB stick that had been taped to the bottom of the plastic shell surrounding the glove compartment.
“This could definitely be where the crypto currency is stored,” Piers said, taking the USB stick from Winter, who had been glaring at it like it was an exotic bug. “I can check if someone lets me borrow a computer.”
“I have a laptop in the house,” Undertaker said with a sigh. All the cash we’d found was stacked on the trunk of the car, and there was a lot of it. “I have a money counter in there, too. We can take this party inside. My pet’s asleep, though, so keep your voices down.” He scowled around at all of us. “He has a harder time taking direction when he hasn’t slept enough.” His expression melted into a grin. “I only like him sleep deprived because of me.”
Reaper helped us move the cash to the house, and it filled a coffee table surrounded by red leather couches near a fireplace. Undertaker got a fire going, brought us all more coffee, and it was a regular cash extravaganza. He sat cross-legged on the stone floor next to the table counting money with a notebook at his side while Winter and I snuggled on the couch. Reaper was on a different couch with his head back and eyes closed. It was hard to say when the bikers last slept if they’d been on the hunt for money all this time. Piers sat beside Undertaker on the floor with the borrowed laptop screen casting his face in a ghostly blue glow.
“Well, this was quite the night. We’ve got over three million here.” Undertaker said, stretching his arms high above his head. Sunlight streamed through the windows but hadn’t crept across the floor to meet us yet.
