“Mrs. Monroe. Have you gotten any calls from the station?”
“No, why? Is Scorpio okay?”
Tess set the bottle on the bar, and the big guy picked it up immediately. She smiled gratefully at him as he went behind to wash it in the sink.
“He’s fine, but I think you may need to go visit your client, now. Immediately.”
I couldn’t really say what I thought was going to happen, but if I was right, Duncan was about to get questioned without his attorney present, and that was no good for him, our case, or the department. “He asked me to trust him, Mrs. Monroe. I’m asking you to trust me and follow me back to the station now.”
“Let me get my purse.” She ran back toward the hallway she had come down earlier, leaving me alone with Zodiac and the big guy that were quietly sizing me up.
“You believe Scorp is innocent?” The big guy finally asked me, he was leaning on the bar and still towered over my five-foot four frame.
“I’m not saying that.” I took a deep breath. “I’m saying that there is too much that doesn’t add up. We have his gun, but a man with no criminal past doesn’t typically go off the rails one day and decide to shoot a woman he considered a friend, and that was under his club’s protection. I’m not saying I believe he’s innocent because I have no way to verify where he was that day and his story is suspicious, but there is something off about this case all together. I don’t believe if he committed the crime, he would be dumb enough to leave the smoking gun behind that would convict him.”
“At least one of y'all have a brain. Your dad was a good man and a good sheriff. He will be missed in this town, and if Hollender takes over this town won’t be the same.”
“I agree, and I do plan to run against him, but that’s not why I’m here or what is important right now. What’s important is finding the truth about what happened to your friend.”
“I’m ready.” I turned to see Mrs. Monroe coming back into the room carrying her purse and her briefcase.
“Thank you.” I nodded toward the guys and headed out with Duncan’s attorney on my tail. When we were outside, I went toward my car and said over my shoulder, “Mrs. Monroe?”
Our eyes met as she was getting into her SUV, “I didn’t come here today. You were heading to the station.”
She nodded and got into her car as I climbed into mine. I didn’t have my lights on, but I pushed the speed limit, an urgency to get back settled deep in my stomach. Something was way off about the man that came in today, and I’ve known there was something not right with David Hollender for a long time.
I just didn’t have the proof to bring Hollender down, and I had no clue who Mr. Pornstache was. The only think I could do was make sure that Duncan had his lawyer present, even if that meant breaking rules for myself. I looked in the rearview mirror to see two bikes following behind Tess. Her husband and the other man I guessed.
As we got to the station, I sent up a prayer that I had chosen the right side. When I walked into the station, I had no doubt I did.
Chapter Ten
Scorpio
“I want my attorney,” I told them again. Hollender and the guy who introduced himself as Agent Ricci brought me back into an interrogation room. My hands were cuffed again as I sat staring at the two disgusting law enforcement officers I’d ever seen. They were so fucking corrupt, and if I ever got out of here, I would devote my time to getting Hollender out and Juliette in his place.
The club didn’t need police protection. We owned Stars & Strips and most of us worked there on rotation as well as at other jobs. The club was my full-time job though. I was the one that ran the day to day, inventory, scheduling for the girls, dealing with the staff issues, and making sure the girls varied their routines to keep the men coming back for more. Me being at the club all the time was how Brooklyn and I got so close.
But even with how close we became, I had no idea that she was on the run until Zodiac found that envelope and the journal. I had no idea the hell she’d been through or that she was so damn strong and brave. I hated that a woman like that was gunned down and these two sorry excuses were walking free, and in a position to take someone else’s freedom away. It made me sick.
“You can ask all the questions you’d like to, but I’m not answering anything without my lawyer present.”
Hollender looked annoyed and Agent Ricci looked pissed. “Did you know your friend was wanted for theft and robbery?”
I stayed silent and slouched back in the chair, folding my cuffed hands behind my head, giving off the appearance that I was relaxed. Appearances can be deceiving though. Juliette left the building so the only people here were Hollender and Ricci.
Juliette had nodded to me before she left the building, but I couldn’t tell if she believed what I had told her or not. She wanted to, but with her father dying at our rally, I wondered if she would ever be able to look past that and see who we were–-who I was.
“Look, asshole, just tell us what you know about Megan Mizzano. I want to know everything that happened before she came here and where the kid is that she brought with her.”
I took a calming breath and gave him the same answer. Hollender and Ricci got in my face, and I repeatedly asked for my attorney. The bastards thought they were intimidating, but they had no fucking clue what intimidating looked like. “Get ya ass up.” Ricci pulls me from the chair and shoves me against the wall with his arm across my throat, pushing on my windpipe.
“I want my lawyer, Stache. Until she’s here, I refuse to say anything else.”
“You stupid piece of shit, redneck, bahstud.” His accent thickened with his anger, “Tell me whatchu know about the girl. What did that bitch tell you?”
Hollender stood by as the guy pressed harder against my neck. I gasped for air but couldn’t really fight back with my hands cuffed and no other witnesses to what was happening. It would be their word against mine if I tried to defend myself, and since I was already on the hook for Brooklyn’s death, I knew that chances of anyone believing me were slim to none.
