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Cole exhaled and squinted at him through the smoke. “So, they think we burned our own goddamn business down? A business bringing in a ton of money? For what? Insurance money?”
Crash shrugged. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just telling you what he’s thinking.”
“And does he know what and where it started?”
“Says it was at the back of the rear wing, where the lighting was probably the worst.”
Jason walked up and Cole turned on him. “I thought we had security cameras?”
“We do. But we also have a ton of customers coming and going at that time of night. We don’t have someone staring at the monitor non-stop. Dolly and I are busy with customers and payments and keeping the Johns in order.”
“I thought we had dogs. What happened to the two Dobermans you kept out back?” Cole prodded.
“They found their bodies behind the building. They were shot.”
“And you didn’t hear that shit?” Cole snapped.
Jason held his hands out. “Look, everything happened so fast. One of the girls reported hearing something, but then the smoke detectors started going off, and then building started filling up with smoke. People were panicking, and we were just trying to get everyone out.”
Cole ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “You do a good job, man. I’m not trying to blame you. I’m just fucking pissed.”
“What’s the next step? You planning to rebuild?”
“Not sure. Mack’s gotta work that out with the state licensing board, I’m not sure how it all works. Maybe they’ll let us set up something temporary and keep the girls working. Maybe not.”
Jason nodded.
“They all doing okay?” Red Dog asked.
Jason shrugged. “They’re all pretty shook up. Dolly’s with them. The Red Cross is putting up some of them temporarily down at the Kingman Motel.”
Cole lifted his chin toward Jason. “Give us a minute.”
Jason nodded at the look Cole gave him that meant he needed to discuss club business, and that wouldn’t be happening in front of him.
When Jason walked off, Cole’s eyes swung to Crash. “They recover the safe?”
“It’s buried. They’re pulling it out now.” He nodded back toward a couple of firemen working through the debris.
Cole nodded. His mind went over every enemy they had. Burning the place to the ground was a little drastic for a pissed off client or jealous boyfriend, but not outside the realm of possibilities. But Cole couldn’t help thinking this had to be directed at the club. If someone wanted to hit them where it’d hurt, this was definitely a way to do it. Financially, it was going to be a major hit.
“You thinking this is connected to Temecula?” Crash asked in a low voice.
Cole’s eyes swung to him. “If somebody is wanting to fuck with us, they’re doing a damn fine job of it.”
“If there is a connection that pretty much rules out another cartel in the Temecula hit. There’s no way a cartel would bother with this.” Crash nodded toward the rubble.
“So who does that leave?”
“Another club, I’m guessing.”
“But which one? DKs? Death Heads?”
Just then Green came hopping on one foot across the parking lot toward them.
“Oh, look. Here comes Peter Cottontail,” Red Dog bit out with a grin.
“I stepped on a motherfucking nail!” Green shouted.
