Page 40 of Property of Heart

–HEART –

Lina keeps glancing at the clock.The bags under her eyes show she’s barely slept.There’s only a handful of hours left.We’re clearly running out of time, which means Karev will have to make a choice.Taking a wife, or calling Big Daddy to find out if he can step in and intervene.

Big Daddy is the president of the Kings of Anarchy’s founding chapter in California.Hero is their VP, I could call him, make sure they know we have Lexmore Beach chapter’s back in this.Which goes without saying because this shit is linked to two chapters.

I rub a hand over my face when Lina’s voice filters through our bedroom.“Do you have my notebook?I want to go over it one more time.”

Stepping closer to where she’s sitting on the edge of the bed, I gently tell her, “It’s in church.Fatal wanted to check again as well.We’ve been through every single item in the warehouse and the shop.Yesterday, and today all over again.Maybe the fucker sold off the coins to someone else.Who knows?It’s clear the old fucker didn’t have any sense.First, he stole from his boss, one he damn well knew wasn’t an upstanding citizen.Taking priceless coins and going to a damn pawn shop to try and sell them.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Lina sighs.

Taking a seat next to her, I take her hand and tell her, “Wesson went through the man’s background again last night.He checked all the phone numbers and dug a little deeper with one he had the most contact with.Jasper Molin was a dying man.The only option to prolong his life was an expensive trial medication.Some gene therapy or treatment for a rare genetic disease.”

Lina frowns.“So, he did know the coins were valuable?And if it’s a rare genetic disease, would his daughter have it too?”

“The why and how doesn’t matter anymore, darlin’.We have a few hours left to find the coins and return them to Calvania.We also need to find Jash, the one I shot in the forest.They say he’s dead, but we don’t need any loose ends.”

She bobs her head and murmurs, “You know what else doesn’t make sense?That a man has priceless golden Roman coins and gives Karev a chance to either bring them back or marry his daughter.What kind of father does that?”

Now I’m bobbing my head, and the first thought that comes to mind is, “Better question...what kind of daughter does that fucker have if he needs to bind a man to her by using such a threat?”

Lina jumps to her feet and stares at me, eyes wide with worry.“I need my notebook.We have to go through everything again.This whole thing is shady.Who knows what kind of bitch Karev will be tied to if we don’t find those coins.”

I’m about to tell her that we’ve already searched every damn place of her warehouse, the shop, and Karev has done his own research when it comes to the house, the garden, and the fucker’s daughter.

The despair in her eyes makes me swallow those words, and instead I tell her, “Come on, let’s find Fatal and get the notebook.”

We walk out of our room, through the hallway, and into the main room of the clubhouse.Wesson is typing away on his laptop with Tybal right next to him, pointing at the screen.Some of the others are hanging around the bar.There’s no loud music or women hanging around.Everyone is on edge because the deadline is nearing.

The door of church is open and Fatal is sitting at the table.Norie is at the other side, books open in front of her as she’s writing something down while holding an invoice in her other hand.It’s clear she’s working on the books while keeping her old man company.Kepner and Remus are sitting near Fatal.No one is saying shit, and Lina’s notebook is lying in front of them on the table.

Remus catches us as we step inside and says, “We still have those two fuckers in the basement.We could interrogate them some more.We put it on hold because of all the hands that were needed to go through everything.Maybe this Jash fucker is still alive and has the coins.Run off, who knows?”

Lina rushes forward and snags her notebook off the table.She takes a seat near Norie.

I shake my head at Remus’s suggestion.“If they knew something they would have told us by now.”

Remus leans back in his chair.“Yeah.I tied them to a chair naked, left them for hours, hosed them down, took a knife to their throat and made them shit in their non-pants state.Nothing.Not a peep about the coins.They said they left Jash in the woods because he passed out against a tree.Dead weight they didn’t want to carry along with them.They saved themselves and left their friend behind.They said Jash’s chest was drenched in blood.Do you know where you shot him?Could the fucker still be alive?Searching the woods would fucking suck, and if there’s a chance he’s still alive it means there’s a loophole.He could have gone back and trashed Lina’s store.”

“There wasn’t any blood at the store or the warehouse,” Norie states without looking up.“If he headed there after he was shot there must have been evidence.You guys went by their house and found nothing.No blood.So, he’s either dead or patched himself up somewhere else.Did he have a girlfriend?”

“Fuck,” Remus grumbles, shoves his chair back and rushes out of church.

I assume he’s going to the basement to ask those two fucks this question.Grabbing a chair, I’m about to pull it out when Lina starts to curse.

“What’s wrong?”Norie asks and drops her pen.

Lina’s gaze finds mine when she whispers, “We haven’t searched everywhere yet.”

Taking a step closer, I ask, “Do you have an idea where they might be?Somewhere we haven’t checked yet?”

She bobs her head and places the notebook on the table in front of us.

Pointing at a tiny triangle with a line straight through it at the bottom of the page, I frown and glance at her.“What does that triangle mean?”

“I can’t believe I didn’t notice it, or think about it,” she grumbles.

Flipping through a few pages, I notice the triangle is missing from most pages.She uses color codes to indicate some items which are rare, collectable, or whatever.Which means a triangle must stand for something too.