Page 105 of Cole

“He wasn’t here, so I went to the bar, then I checked the room. He was sleeping. I left without waking him. I went out to the bar and watched videos on my phone for a while, talked to some other prospects, then I went back in and tried to wake him up.”

“So, that’s you calling his name?”

Finn nodded. Relief hit me. Cole had an alibi.

“Yeah. I woke him, I think, but then my mom called and I had to go. I left through the shop.”

“Fuck yeah!” Gage growled in the corner.

“What does it mean?” Marcus demanded, looking to me.

“It means your brother has a pretty strong alibi for the time that they’re trying to set him up for. Oh, also…” I clicked around in the recording app and found the file that had sent me to the shipyard that night. “I should have gotten my head on straight and asked you this before… but better late than never. Do you guys recognize this voice?”

thirty-six

COLE

It had been a long first night in my cell. My lawyer was working as fast as she could to get my bail hearing set up. Right now, I was staring at the wall and zoning out. There wasn’t much else to do in here.

Sure, things weren’t going to plan, but I’d known something was going to happen. I just hadn’t expected them to take it this far. The mole in the MC. The Iron Vultures. Grant Elwick’s death. And considering what I’d learned from my conversation on the burner phone, there was only one reason.

Grant Elwick was somehow involved in MC business, and there was only one explanation that made sense. Grant Elwick was The Lion. The shady, upper-crust fuck who drugged and tried to assault my woman. The guy my dad owed money to. The fucker I’d been doing dirty work for, for years. I wished he wasn’t dead, so I could kill him myself.

“Bailey. You’re being released,” a cop said, arriving at my cell and unlocking the door. I unfolded slowly from my prone position and looked at him.

My lawyer hurried in after. “You heard him, Cole. You’re out. The cops fucked up and followed the most basic line of thinking in this incident and embarrassed themselves. You’ve got an alibi.”

“An alibi for sleeping?” I wondered.

“Yeah, an alibi for sleeping. There’s a recording. It’s complicated, but it’s enough to get you out of here while the police work out who really did it.”

“Yeah, it might still be you,” the cop at the door muttered under his breath as I passed by.

I ignored him. I had no patience for one more word from a cop today. We got out to the main area, and I took my belongings, wrapped in a plastic bag.

“The recording device,” I said in wonder after my lawyer filled me in on the latest events. With all the craziness lately, I’d completely forgotten about the little spy device Goldilocks had brought into my bar, the one that led to her discovery of a mole in my MC.

My little Goldilocks’ scheming had saved the day after all.

I’d expect nothing less.

I left the station to find Gage and Maddox waiting outside. A sudden movement at the corner of my eye made me tense, but it was just Finn, throwing skinny arms around me fiercely.

“Hey, buddy. Everything’s ok,” I told him.

He nodded. “I’m your alibi now, you know?” He pulled back and looked up at me. “I saved you.”

“Noted. Thank you very much,” I said with a grin.

I scanned the street. No Goldilocks. I couldn’t lie. I was disappointed.

“She went down to HHU to pull the newspapers off every desk she can find,” Maddox said, perfectly understanding my feeling.

“Makes sense,” I murmured, though I wished it didn’t. I wanted her here, now.

“Brought you your ride,” Gage murmured.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Thanks, but how are you getting back?” My eyes shot to Maddox. “Looks like you two are in for a romantic ride.”