He squeezed my hand, smiling over at me.
“I did my best to fit in with them. I got all this ink, let my hair grow…” His voice trailed off and I could see a distance in his eyes. “After a while, things went way south with the club. Everything we’d built was destroyed and we were all out of work, out of a place to live, out of a family. But they say when one door closes, another opens, and that’s how that worked out, too. A few of us were invited to join up with another club — one much different — and much better — than the last one.”
He lifted his chin with pride.
“We’re called the Gods of Chaos. They’re my family now. They’re really good people.”
I looked at him with a twinge of alarm. He was still a part of a club?
“I usually wear leathers, but we left our cuts at home.”
“I don’t understand,” I finally said. “I thought you were visiting your sister.”
“Yeah, this is a really long story,” he laughed.
“Okay,” I laughed. “Keep going.”
“The Gods aren’t like your usual outlaw motorcycle club. Not at all, in fact. Ryder’s the president and his old lady, Grace, they’re our leaders. But the other guys are just as important. Anyway, the difference is that they aren’t out running drugs or guns or whatever other nefarious shit most clubs do. Grace used to be an undercover cop, in fact. But she was on a bad case and Ryder rescued her and they fell in love, to make a long story short. Grace quit the force and she and Ryder started working together. They like to call themselves an underground railroad for people who need help but can’t get it in traditional places. They save girls from sex trafficking or high-profile women who can’t get away from their abusers and need help disappearing. We do whatever it takes to get the job done.”
“That’s kind of amazing, Blade,” I said, thoroughly impressed. He’d made something of his life, after all the bullshit, and I was proud of him.
“I love the Gods and Grace and all the other old ladies. You’ll meet them, Rose. You’ll love them, too. We all live together in a compound of log cabins, deep in the Tillamook Forest on the northern Oregon coast. It can get a little crazy at times, and even dangerous, but it’s absolutely thrilling and I love it so much.”
He was beaming talking about his new family. I loved seeing that he was so happy.
“So, I told you I came back to visit Sera, but that’s not entirely true. I’m here on a case. And this is where shit turns dark.”
I looked at him with worry as his eyes turned as dark as his tone of voice.
“A long time ago, there was a woman named Cherry who lived with the Gods. She was a matronly figure to the guys, in a way. But she left a few years ago, moved to New Orleans to start a private investigations firm with her sister. A few days ago, Ryder got a call from Cherry’s sister, Hannah. Cherry had come to Savannah to investigate the two cases of the murdered girls. Apparently, she got too close to the investigation and she was involved in an accident. The cops won’t investigate and her sister, and us, don’t think it was an accident. Cherry’s been unconscious in the hospital ever since the accident. Derek is her doctor.”
I gasped again, my head spinning now.
“We came here to investigate and make sure Cherry stayed safe. We’re undercover, and we’ve spread out a bit. Derek doesn’t know I have anything to do with Cherry. He won’t answer Ryder and Hannah’s questions about her care and he’s very vague and evasive. I don’t know if he’s involved, but I suspect he might be.”
My eyes widened at his words.
“My god,” I said. “Why would he harm someone?”
“It gets darker, babe.”
He shook his head, then we started walking again.
“I didn’t want to tell you any of this shit. I didn’t want to worry you or freak you out. But after our misunderstanding yesterday, I realized if I wasn’t truthful with you completely, you’d never understand why I was asking the questions I was asking. I’m telling you all of this because I trust you to keep this between us. If our cover is blown, it will screw up our chances of getting to the bottom of what happened to Cherry, and maybe saving a life in the process.”
“Who’s life?” I asked.
He took a deep breath and shook his head. “That’s the million dollar question. We don’t know. But, as I’m sure you’ve heard, there’s a lot of talk about another murder happening, since it’s the same time of year as the last two.”
“Yes, of course, I’ve heard that,” I said. “I’d dismissed it all as just town gossip and hadn’t worried about it too much, though.”
“And it may very well be. But we’re not sure yet. The thing is, there’s a lot we don’t know yet. But here’s what led to me asking questions about Maggie, and I don’t want to freak you out, but again, I feel like I have to be honest.”
“Tell me!”
I was definitely getting freaked out now.
“Hank had a list behind the bar the other night. Some people in town have a running bet going on who is next.”
“Who is next for what exactly?”
“Who the next victim is going to be.”
“What!” I cried. “That’s disgusting.”
“Rose, Maggie’s name is on it.”
I gasped again, my stomach churning. “No!”
“Don’t freak out. The list doesn’t mean anything, just a bunch of drunk assholes trying to entertain themselves. Maggie’s name is on there, but so are a dozen
