Page 26
Laughing, she opens my door and slips outside, straightening her clothes while I put the seat back up and climb out next to her. The parking lot is still empty and I breathe a sigh of relief as I give her a little nudge toward the clubhouse.
“You go first and I’ll follow behind you in a few minutes.”
She nods, pressing a quick kiss to my lips before she walks over to the door. I lean back against my car and pull out my phone to waste time. Once I get inside, I need to investigate the name Tawny gave me and I might even take Rowan’s advice and get the entire case set up on the giant white board we have in the war room but I can’t do any of that until I get up to my room. As I waste time, I run through scenarios in my head of what I’m going to walk into and blow out a breath. Overthinking and running through every single possibility has always been something I’ve done and I honestly hate it but I can’t stop. My brain just won’t ever shut the hell up and I’m always fucking thinking about something. It’s annoying as hell and one of the reasons I like being around Rowan so much because when I’m with her, it’s easier to just be in the moment instead of a million miles away.
I wait a few more minutes before tucking my phone in my pocket and walking across the lot. As I step inside, I hold my breath but it’s surprisingly quiet. In fact, the bar area is completely empty and I run up to my room before anyone can stop me or ask me why the hell my crotch is wet. Upstairs, I slip into the bathroom attached to my room and take a quick shower before throwing on some clean clothes. Once I’m presentable again, I sit down in front of the computer and start looking through bar receipts for anyone named Warren around the time Tawny made her accusations. Only one name pops up - Warren Ehlye.
“What in the fuck kind of name is that?” I whisper to myself as I quickly look it up. My search doesn’t give me any answers but as I study the name, I realize it could be pronounced “Eli” so I run a quick search on that and begin reading to myself. “In the Old Testament, Eli was the high priest and last judge of Israel…”
Does that mean something?
Is it supposed to be a message to us?
Shaking my head, I file the thought away for later and search the full name. I can’t help but smile when a property record pops up for one Warren Ehlye. It’s a little cabin way out in the woods and I resist the urge to jump up and let out a whoop.
This is our fucking guy.
I print off the property records before digging a little more into Warren but it doesn’t take very long for me to run into a problem.
Fuck.
I should have known it was too good to be true.
Sighing, I scrub my hand over my face and grab the files off of the desk as I stand up. First, I need to get these all laid out in order on the white board and then I’ll tell everyone what I found, not that it’s much. With the folders under my arm, I head back downstairs, ignoring Moose, Blaze, and Chance as they sit at one of the tables talking. I can feel their eyes on me as I slip into the war room, shut the door, and lock it behind me. Working quickly, I lay all of the files out on the table and put them in order, double-checking the dates, before taping them to the white board and putting a date by them. When I’m finished with the main cases, I put up other things that have happened like the break-in at the clubhouse and when Tawny accused Moose before stepping back and looking at it all in front of me. Nothing jumps out at me right away but I hope something will stand out to the rest of the guys or at the very least, it helps us keep the story straight in our heads.
“Streak,” Storm calls from the other side of the door and I walk over, yanking it open. He arches a brow and glances into the room. “You all right?”
I nod. “Yeah. You want to round everyone up though? I have things to show you.”
“Sure,” he answers, eyeing me skeptically as he turns and walks out of the room to get the rest of the guys. Blaze, Chance, and Moose get up from their table and nod to me as they walk into the room and when I glance up, I meet Rowan’s eyes. She peeks at the white board behind me before her gaze flicks back to me and she smiles.
Shit.
I really can’t wait to get more time alone with her later.
“Did you find something?” Kodiak asks as he walks up to the war room and when I glance back over at Rowan, she has turned away from me. Sighing, I nod.
“Yeah, I’ll explain in a minute.”
Everyone else files into the room and takes their usual seats before all turning to look at me. Blaze arches a brow as he crosses his arms over his chest and leans back in his chair.
“All right, Streak. You have the floor.”
I nod. “Right. So, I’ve been going over the interview with Veronica for the past week and something stood out to me.”
“What?” Chance asks, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on the table.
“Veronica said that the man who took her talked about a woman who he met in a bar…”
Blaze nods, scowling at me from across the room. “Right. And?”
“And I had a suspicion that it was Tawny. We knew that she met some guy in a bar and he convinced her to try and frame Moose so it just made sense. I went to talk to her this morning to see if she had any other information to give me.”
“Okay,” Fuzz says, studying the board. “And did she?”
I nod and point to the name written at the top of the white board. “She gave me a name.”
“How in the hell do you even say that?” Smith asks.