Denny gave a long sigh. “We have the hospitals on alert for GSWs, but there were a number of legit ones that came in from your rally. No telling if one of them was the shooter who simply told the docs he was there as an innocent bystander.”
“They have to give names when they check in right? We can take a look at who came in with gunshot wounds and—what?”
Denny’s headshake drew everyone’s attention. “HIPAA, my friend. We have to have probable cause to get a records warrant. That’s gonna be a hard sell to a judge.”
“What the fuck can we do about this shit, then?”
“We got our tech guys going through all the videos people posted. We’ll piece together what we can and see if we can identify this guy. Chances are, it’s part of that duo that’s been terrorizing the area.”
“Well, it’s taking too fucking long!”
Denny’s face grew dark. “Look, man, I’m just as frustrated as you are. I’m sick of getting calls to look at another blown-up business or a dead body who used to be a friend and neighbor. Only reason I’m here is to figure this shit out and put a stop to it. If my chief found out I was talking to you bunch, I’d be fired.”
Wolf backed down somewhat, but his gold eyes still burned with fire. “Imma do something I never thought I’d do. I’m gonna ask my woman to do a deep dive on the dark net, and yinz already know how I feel about that.”
A few of the members squirmed uneasily, and it wasn’t because of the uncomfortable chairs. Every one of them remembered how Jazz put herself at risk by hacking intoa massive criminal network and nearly lost her life for it. Nowadays, she stuck with her programming app to help protect people from internet scammers. Asking her to go back in was not something Wolf would ever consider unless the situation was desperate.
Denny’s grim expression matched the Knights’ president’s, but they were running out of options. “I get it. I’ll back your play as much as I can. How’s Cam, by the way?”
“Home. He’s got his girl and some high-octane pain pills,” Melter informed the group. “I offered him some oxys, but he’s got a scrip for percs.” He shrugged.
“How the hell do you always have pills?” Crossman asked.
Melter shrugged again. “I have my ways.”
Wolf leaned forward. “Please tell me you’re not doing pills as well as pot.”
Melter let out an affronted scoff. “’Course not! I keep them for other people who might need them. I like my weed. It’s natural and organic.”
Denny let out a long sigh. “I can’t listen to this conversation as I’m not really here, yeah? Just watch yourself, ’cause if you get caught, I’ll be the first one to put you in cuffs and throw the book at you.” His gaze traveled around the table. “That goes for all of you. I realize that sometimes Lady Justice has her limits, but don’t fuck up what yinz forged.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
Sabrina pulledup to Cam’s house, exhausted from a long workday. Maneuvering her bike past the narrow driveway and into the detached two-car garage, she hit the remote to lower the door, popped down her kickstand, and stripped off her lizard helmet. Cam let her borrow his cold gear and gloves, since riding was impossible for him right now. The jacket was loose, but it was still usable. Summer apparently gave up its last hurrah for the rally, and now the weather had turned cold. Rain was forecast again later this week, but she no longer had to worry about her van.
Rugrat and Reptar had their enclosure on the main floor in the dining alcove. Cam added two more rooms to the cage, plus a bigger tree branch. The beardies greeted her with scampers and waving their hands, begging to be let out for food and pets.
After the park shooting, several businesses stayed closed for extra days, but the massage spa was open for business on Monday morning as usual. Stephan would be out for a few weeks because of his leg injury. He’d lost a lot of blood and had to be rushed through surgery to get the bullet out. According to the ER doctor, he was lucky, as the bullet came close to his femoral artery but didn’t damage it. Until he was back on his feet, sheand Cicely had to tag-team to keep everything going. It would be a tough couple of months, but they would manage to keep it together somehow.
Rugrat scratched at the bars and stared intently at Sabrina.
“All right, I’m coming,” she groused. She opened the door, and both pets scrambled up her arms to sit on her shoulders. “How’s Cam today? Sleeping, I hope.”
She climbed the twisting staircase carefully so as not to dislodge the two lizards. Sure enough, he was sacked out on a pile of pillows in his boxers, snoring lightly. Straps from the hard white plastic brace graced his bare chest. The device covered his entire upper arm, from shoulder to elbow, restricting his movement and holding everything together. He had to take the thing off once in a while to check the stitched-up bullet wound and clean the area. This was a task best done by her, but not while he slept.
She crept back downstairs, putting the beardies back in their enclosure before heading to the kitchen to check the refrigerator for dinner ingredients. Ground beef, veggies, and potatoes. A half-empty bottle of ketchup sat on the door shelf, and the cabinets held the rest of the ingredients.
Meatloaf coming right up.
She wondered what Scrap was eating in that miserable little house of his.
He’d agreed to go to the health center on Thursday for the checkup that Mary badgered him into and get the DNA test done at the same time. Sabrina had asked Cicely for that hour off to go with him. It wasn’t like she had any obligations to the man, but decent people helped others, right?
She dumped the meat, spices, and breadcrumbs into a mixing bowl and squirted a generous amount of ketchup over the pile. As she pressed it all together, she thought about cooking enough dinner for three and borrowing Cam’s truck to take someover to Scrap’s place. Chances were that he was home, as he rarely left it since his fall. It wasn’t that far either.
Her mind wandered through various topics as she worked. This was Cam’s house, yet she’d already learned where everything was, and he’d let her rearrange stuff as she wanted. The beardies had their new palace, and Cam had mentioned clearing out one of the extra bedrooms and setting up a home spa kind of place in case she wanted to take on some private work. More and more, their lives were becoming integrated.
