“I ran it through every filter I had at my fingertips at Willa’s. I got a couple more I can try at home. Ones that will attempt to sharpen and adjust contrast and exposure. But I doubt it’s gonna get much clearer than this.”
“Height gives us something, though,” Kai says. “Tall, not bulky.”
He stashes his bike off the road in the trees, then scurries to the rear of Isla’s house. There’s a five-minute gap between us getting into the house and the rider making their way back to the bike. Where he goes from there is anyone’s guess. “You think you could track him?” I ask Kai.
He shakes his head and I’ve learned to trust his gut. He seems to have an immediate sense of whether tracking is worth it.
“My guess is he’s long gone,” Kai says. “You know how it goes. When we were in Florida, I tracked that dealer who’d stolen fifty thousand bucks from Knox and our brothers there and found him within an hour. But when I was tracking Paltrow after…”
He looks to me and I remember what he told me. After he saved Paltrow’s sister, it was long days of stopping and starting and backtracking to find him. Even then, the trail went cold and it took him weeks to pick up another.
Isla nervously fidgets and Kai places his hand on her shoulder, out of sight of Catfish and Wren, who are both looking at the screen. I brush my hand over her hair, for a second, to reassure her that I’m here too.
“Guess the question is, who are they here for?” Catfish asks. “We know Isla’s uncle caused some shit. You had your windows graffitied, then smashed. Being run off the road. And now, this person, doing a ride by, but focusing on Isla’s house. Are they looking out for one of the two of you or Isla?”
I sit back in the chair. “What are the chances there are two unrelated things going on?”
Wren shrugs and looks to Isla. “Does your uncle have a bike?”
Isla shakes her head. “To the best of my knowledge, Kevin doesn’t, but my cousin Jacob does.”
“Could this be Jacob?” Wren asks.
Isla nods. “It could be. But I don’t know.”
Kai shakes his head. “When I spoke to Kevin, he said Jacob was in Cleveland for a job or something. We can verify, but I doubt it’s him.”
Isla looks at me. “There’s also…I don’t think he’s violent…but there’s someone at the vet’s who…”
My first thought is to climb out of the chair, grab a knife, and get ready to gut the person making her feel uncomfortable.
“Who is it?” I ask.
“Noah. He’s a vet. He’s asked me out a few times. I’ve said no. And, at first, I thought he kind of got it. But now…the last time he asked, he seemed upset I said no.”
Catfish studies Isla, for a second. “Upset like, I’m sad you said no? Or upset like, I’m gonna make you say yes one way or another?”
“The latter,” Isla says before biting on her lip. “I don’t think he was going to hurt me. Just kinda angry I’d embarrassed him.”
Wren points to the bike. “Could this be him?”
Isla wraps her arms around her chest. “Possibly. He has the same tall rangy build. But I…I don’t think he would do something like this.”
Kai rubs a hand across his face. “The truth is, it could be someone we know too. We had to go talk to Jinx this week, and it didn’t go well. And Shade was knocked off his bike. There’s no reason for this Noah guy to do that. But it could be someone like Jinx. He has the right build. I don’t know all the bikes he’s got to know if this could be one of his, do you?”
Catfish squints closer. “Wish we could see what the bike is in more detail. Doesn’t look like a heavy bike. It’s not a Harley.”
“It could be Jinx,” I say. “But let’s not rule Noah out. He could have been watching Isla before this, seen her coming and going from our place.”
“I’ve been looking out for Shade while Jackal’s been busy,” Isla says quickly after giving me a warning glare, like I just gave something important away.
The use of our road names throws me, for a second, but I understand why she felt the need to minimize the reason she’s here.
“It’s the start of a shortlist, though,” Wren says. “Jinx. Noah. Kevin. Jacob. I feel like this is something the club could get theirarms around pretty quickly. Get eyes on them all. We could get trackers on all their vehicles or something, as a minimum.”
“I’ll come to the clubhouse in the morning and table it,” Kai says.
“We will,” I add. “After we’ve gone to tell Noah to leave her the fuck alone.”
