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“Zeke had nothing to do with his wife’s death,” she shot back furiously. “She was killed in a car accident while he was still in L. A. ”
A flash of cunning glittered in his gaze for a second.
“Well, there’s a piece of gossip you didn’t know,” he chuckled coldly. “No, little girl.
Zeke Mayes’s wife was murdered because he was sloppy. He was working an investigation in L. A. into the bondage scene. Good ole married detective Mayes was bopping pain whores and one of them found out who he was and what he was doing.
His wife died and his son almost died. He was the reason she died, just like he’s going to be the reason you die. ”
Pain whores. It was a term Rogue had heard used for women who liked sexual pain.
Whips, chains, multiple sexual partners, cutting, the list went on and on.
“Where did you hear this trash, Jonesy?” she asked in disgust. “Zeke is not into giving pain, and I doubt very seriously if he did anything to cause his wife’s death, no matter why or how she died. And you need to stop this now, before I call Alex Jansen and have you escorted off my property. ”
“Gonna fire me, are you?” He snorted, dropped his arms from his chest, and moved farther back along the counter. “Check it out yourself. Ain’t many people that know what happened, but I was here when he came back with that kid of his, and I was here before his old man died. His daddy blubbered the whole story into his beer one night, whining like a little girl ’cause his boy was a failure. ”
Jonesy didn’t lie. He was mouthy, he was pissy, but he wasn’t a liar. He believed what he was saying. Rogue refused to accept it. Zeke’s wife might have died because of his involvement in an investigation, but it wasn’t because he had failed. She knew him too well for that. His steely control wouldn’t have allowed for such a failure.
“Jonesy, don’t make me fire you. ” She faced him, shoulders squared, fury beginning to build inside her. “Don’t push our friendship any further. ”
“In other words, don’t tell you the truth about that jackass you’re fucking?” he sneered.
“If that’s how you want to see it,” she replied coldly, “then that’s exactly what I mean.
Because the next time this trash comes out of your mouth, you’ll be out of here. ”
With that she turned away from him and began making the order list for the liquor. An hour later she was in the kitchen in the back getting the order list the cook had left last night before moving to her office to make the necessary orders.
She still had her own financials to go through and get in shape for monthly taxes, and those for the Mackay restaurant were waiting for her to complete as well.
She had a full day ahead of her, and one little side trip to make to the sheriff’s office before she headed to the restaurant. Zeke, like Jonesy, would find out just exactly how much she thought of tattlers. Which was nil. Zero. And she was getting fed up to her back teeth with autocratic, arrogant men. It was time to do something about both of them.
That evening Zeke ran his fingers over his short hair and stared at the reports the county and city coroners had submitted. The county coroner, Jay Adams, sat in the visitor’s chair on the other side of the desk, his lined face creased into a worried scowl as Zeke read the report.
Long minutes later Zeke lifted his head and pinned the other man with his eyes. “You sure about this, Jay?” he asked quietly.
“Gene and I both ran the same tests and came back with the same conclusions, Zeke. I don’t know who killed those boys, but they were unconscious before the shots were fired. Both boys were pumped full of heroin, not just Joe. Evidence shows they were nearly dead before those shots were fired. I don’t know what you have going on here, but I’m ruling it a double murder and I’m using those grounds to justify holding their grandmother’s body for an autopsy as well. ”
Zeke rubbed his hand over his jaw and shifted through the reports before blowing out a heavy breath.
“Why?” He lifted his gaze back to Jay. “Why go to these lengths to hide a murder?”
Jay shrugged. “Hell, it looked like a murder-suicide, Zeke. Chances were, we’d never have run these tests this in depth. Even with your suspicions I wouldn’t have normally justified it myself. It was a damned slow week though, so what the hell. Whoever did this, they almost pulled it off. We had to look for this. ” He waved his hand to the report.
“It didn’t come easy. ”
Zeke stared down at the file and he knew, knew in the pit of his stomach, that the Walkers had been killed by the Freedom League’s killer. The why of it was driving him crazy. There were no answers to be found, no way to tie Joe or Jaime to any one particular woman, or to pinpoint if this was simply a League hit and the woman was an incidental.
“The Walkers were rumored to be courting one particular woman,” Zeke said. “They told their grandmother they had a date with her that weekend. The day of that particular date they’re killed. According to their sister, their grandmother was trying to contact me in regard to that girl’s identity. She never called, but she ends up dead the same day. ”
“Sounds like you’re looking for a very smart little girl, or a really pissed off husband or lover. ” Jay shrugged as he rose to his feet. “If you learn anything let me know. Until then, you have our reports and your evidence to continue the investigation. Good luck on that. ”
“Thanks, Jay. ” He nodded as Jay turned and left the room.
He shook his head as he closed the files and slid them into the drawer at the side of his desk. It was time to figure out exactly what had happened to those boys.
Zeke had questioned everyone he could think of that were close to the Walker boys. He knew they were supplying DHS with information, but Zeke knew Cranston and the Mackays. Unless the Walker boys had let that information slip, then no one else had known it. And from everything he’d learned, Joe and Jaime hadn’t talked. But their grandmother must have.
