Page 72 of Hard Heart

“Screwed her, like he fucked her?”

“No, no, more like he got her fired from her job. Stark wanted a little payback.”

“And you were happy to oblige?” I said, unable to hold back any longer. I couldn’t condone the bikers’ methods, but what Jacobs had done was worse. Professor Groveland had a dispute with a lady at work, so Jacobs had burned down his house with him inside? And the callous bastard didn’t think it was a big deal?

“It was just business.”

“There was a dog inside, man,” Jester said. “What kind of fucked-up nutjob tries to kill a dog?”

Okay, on that one point, I had to agree with him.

“I didn’t know about the damn dog.”

“For a cocky little shit, you don’t know much at all, do you?”

Jester booted him in the nuts, and Jacobs began to cry again.

Chain Guy kept at him for another hour, but apart from a good description of the Audi and a not-so-good description of Stark himself, we didn’t get anything more of note. Jacobs hadn’t been interested in Stark’s motives, only his money, and he hadn’t given much more thought to the job itself. No, he’d just headed to the house with Robbie Mullen in tow and lobbed the lit firework through the first open window he saw. The firework had come from another guy at the car meet, not from Stark. Jacobs had bought half a dozen, intending to scare one of his neighbours, and he’d simply repurposed one of the rockets.

This mystery was far from being solved; it was merely evolving.

But by the end of the evening, three things had become clear: One, it was now impossible for me to go to the DA about Sheriff Mullen’s shortcomings. Two, the fifteen hundred bucks Oryn Jacobs had earned from his amateur hit job wouldn’t come close to covering his dental work. And three, I’d be kicking Levi Sykes in the balls on Saturday morning.

CHAPTER 22

LEVI

“You absolute fucknugget.”

Levi had thought Sera was done chewing him out about the Diamondback Devils’ protection detail, but clearly not. Today, she was wearing tight jeans, a shapeless sweater, and chunky leather boots that laced all the way up to her knees. Those wouldn’t be coming off in a hurry. And then there was the ferocious scowl that hit him as soon as Jim left the room.

“The Devils will only be around for a few weeks. If you don’t look out the window, you’ll barely even notice they’re there.”

“That’s not why I’m upset, and you know it.”

No, he really didn’t.

“Can you fill me in?”

“Kidnap, torture, and a gross, sweaty helmet full of biker cooties. Ring any bells?”

What the fuck?

“I’m still not following.”

As Sera updated him, Levi felt a growing sickness in his gut. Duke’s people had done what? He tore a hand through his hair, cursing. He might have been falsely accused of murder, but give him time and that could change—the temptation to knock Duke’s head off his shoulders was almost overwhelming.

“I swear, I didn’t ask them to do any of that.”

“Then what exactly did you ask them to do?”

“I filled them in on the situation and asked them to make sure you stayed safe in the run-up to your exam.” He sucked in a breath. “And I might have said Jacobs needed to understand you were off-limits.”

“There was a hell of a lot of leeway in that instruction.”

“Yeah, I’m beginning to realise that. I figured they’d just give him a warning.”

“Pah.”