Heads shook and a few murmured something along the lines of “not much.” Shaker leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m sorry, Phoenix, but I’m kind of leaning toward Carbon on this one. He’s had plenty of time to come up with a good story. If the Disciples of Death had enough of an issue with our club or Boar’s to kill a brother and his family, don’t you think we would have heard more from them over the years?”
“No, I don’t. We moved, remember?” Phoenix asked flatly. He had a point. Right after Boar became president of the Manglers and Carbon’s family was killed, Phoenix became the president of Blackwings and moved the club to Croftridge.
“Right, but it still doesn’t make any sense,” Shaker continued. “Let’s say they did kill Carbon’s family to try to pin it on Boar. They left absolutely no evidence indicating the Manglers were responsible, which is like rule number one in trying to set someone up. On top of that, they just let it go when their plan didn’t work out? Why go to all the trouble of killing four people and then say, ‘That didn’t work out like I thought, so I guess I’ll just give up.’?”
Phoenix cleared his throat. “Let me clarify what I am saying and what I’m not saying. I’m not saying the Manglers didn’t kill Carbon’s parents and I’m not saying the Disciples of Death did. What I am saying is I believe Boar didn’t do it, didn’t order it, and knew nothing about it.”
“You think someone in his club did it?” Shaker asked.
Phoenix sighed. “I have no fucking clue who did it. Don’t misunderstand me, I want to know and hold them accountable for murdering our brother, his Old Lady, and two of their children in cold blood, but that was nine years ago. There were no leads back then and this new information is all speculation. We need to focus on the things happening right now and get that shit handled before it escalates any further.”
Carbon asked, “Do we know if the bitch downstairs is the one who ran my sister off the road and tried to kill her?”
Phoenix shook his head. “No, I don’t know that. I plan to question her again as soon as Byte is finished going through her phone. Where are you on that, Byte?”
Byte looked up, said phone in his hand. “Almost finished. Found some things of interest, but nothing indicating she was the one who hit Reese or sent the letters. I haven’t had a chance to do a full search on her yet, but I can get started on that ASAP, assuming it’s okay to drop the searches on Shannon and Boar.”
“Yeah, put them on the backburner for now and see what you can find on Melissa. What things of interest did you find on her phone?”
“Her texts with her sister are sporadic and it does look like she only texts her when she’s causing trouble, which is consistent with Shannon’s story. She does text someone she has saved as Nemo frequently. I’ll run a trace on the number and see if it gives me anything. They communicate frequently, but I can’t figure out what they’re saying to each other. It’s like a foreign language, but not one I’ve ever seen,” Byte told us.
“Has this Nemo person tried to contact her since we’ve had her?” Phoenix asked.
Byte shook his head. “No, it looks like she sent a text to him right before we caught up with her last night. Don’t have a clue what it says though.”
“Let’s see it,” Phoenix said. Byte handed him the phone. Phoenix studied it for a few moments then passed it off to Badger. The phone passed from brother to brother until it made it to my hands. I looked down at the screen.
Nemo: Esu puuj foarzg.
I blinked twice to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. What the fuck did that mean? I looked down at it once more and passed the phone to the next brother. It continued around the room until it made it back around to Phoenix. He looked at it once more and handed it back to Byte. “Anybody got any idea what that says?”
Not a one of us did. This bitch was apparently an all new level of crazy, complete with her own damn language.
“Duke,” Phoenix called out, “has Reese gotten any more threatening letters?”
“Not that I know of. I haven’t checked the PO Box recently, but they weren’t coming through regular mail anyway. I’ll stop by the post office this afternoon and check.”
“Let me know one way or the other. For now, everyone stay alert and aware of your surroundings. Reese and James are to stay at the clubhouse and not leave the property, even with protection. Byte you keep digging and doing your thing. We’ll reconvene when we have something new or at the next scheduled Church, whichever comes first.”
***
I stopped by my room to check on Reese and James, but found it empty. After searching the clubhouse and still not finding them, I started to worry. She knew she wasn’t supposed to leave the clubhouse grounds. She might not follow the rules if it was just her, but she would never knowingly put our son in danger, so where in the hell were they?
I pushed the back door open with more force than necessary, causing it to slam against the side of the building. All heads turned toward me, including Reese’s and James’s. They were in the pool with Ember and Harper. Dash, Carbon, and Shaker were sitting in chairs along the side.
“Duke, you scared me. Is everything okay?” Reese asked, eyes wide.
I inhaled slowly, trying to calm myself. “Yeah, everything is fine. Just didn’t know where you guys were.”
“Oh, sorry. We decided to go swimming while you guys were in Church. Do you want to join us?” She smiled sweetly at me.
I really would love to jump in the pool with my family. My. Family. But I couldn’t. “I would love to, sugar, but I have to run by the post office and take care of a few other things. You need anything while I’m out?”
“No, I’m good right now. Will you be long?”
“I’ll try not to be.” She made her way over to the side of the pool, pushing James in a little baby float. I squatted down to kiss the top of his head. Then, I kissed my girl. “Be good, sugar.”
“I will. Just until you get back.” The little minx winked and swam off.
