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Chapter Fifteen
Ransom
“Three of them,” Bear muttered. “It’s not a coincidence anymore.”
It wasn’t.
Three copies of Popular Mechanics at been found at three of the crime scenes. This one had been blatantly placed directly under Avery’s head.
It seemed that whoever was doing this was getting fed up with the fact that we weren’t picking up on the magazines. The magazine had been bagged up and placed into evidence along with a million other things that were spattered with Avery’s blood.
I had called Luna three hours ago with confirmation of which one of her girls was the victim.
Her sobs broke my heart, and she shouted over and over that it couldn’t be true. She couldn’t believe that this was happening again and there seemed to be no way to stop it or know who was next.
“Now we need to figure out what he is trying to tell us with these magazines.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “At least we can get a couple hours of sleep before we need to be at Tanya’s storage unit.”
“That came through?” Bear asked.
I nodded and stepped out of the duplex. “Right before I came home. I have high hopes we’re going to find a Popular Mechanics.”
“And if we don’t, we are completely fucked with these leads.”
That was a possibility, but I had faith that we were going to find what we were looking for.
Bear and I stood on the front porch.
“Am I the only one who finds it odd as fuck that Leo Banachi’s nephew is standing on the front lawn talking to deputies without being in handcuffs?”
I glanced at Bear. “You got a grudge against the Banachis that I don’t know about?” Yes, the Banachis were a well-known mafia family, but they were clean for as far as we could tell. They helped the economy of Rockton and didn’t cause any trouble. Hell, Greta was more of a nuance to the town than the Banachis were.
Bear grunted. “Had a run-in with one of their goons once. It didn’t end well for me.”
“You found out the Banachis have their hand in everything, even the local police, huh?” I chuckled.
Again, the whole force knew that the Banachis were mafia, but there wasn’t anything we could arrest them for.
“You wouldn’t even believe it if I told you,” Bear growled. “Let’s just say if I ever hear the name Banachi, I turn the other way.”
Marco turned and headed toward the house. Straight to Bear and me.
“I think you better be turning the other way,” I laughed.
Marco climbed the steps to the porch, and Bear muttered something about checking the scene one more time. He disappeared into the house and left me to deal with Marco on my own.
“Detective Ransom.” Marco held out his hand and I gave it a firm shake.
“Evening, Mr. Banachi.” I wasn’t an idiot. If I wanted this guy to like me, I was going to need to be respectful to him and hope he showed me the same thing back.
“My men told me you talked to them, but I just wanted to make sure you got all of the information you needed.”
I nodded and flipped through my notebook.
This crime scene had been pretty straight forward. We could see where the intruder had come into the room, assaulted, and killed Avery, and then left her dead, on top of the magazine.
“I’m pretty sure I got everything I need from them. They gave me a very detailed account of what happened.”
It was too detailed, but I had to take into account that Drake and Crane worked for Banachi. This wasn’t the first time they had dealt with the police. They were both calm and collected and didn’t miss a beat on any of my questions.
“As I hoped they would.” Marco sat in one of the chairs on the porch and sighed.
It was hard to believe that this guy was directly connected to Leo Banachi. Hell, word was, he was the one who was going to take over the Banachi properties and empire when the time came for Leo to retire.
Marco was wearing a black t-shirt, faded blue jeans, and white sneakers. He looked like any guy walking down the street and you never would have known that he has his hands on more money than most people would ever have in their whole lifetime.
“What is happening to Rockton, Detective? My mother and I moved here when I was in my teens because it was a safe place to be. There wasn’t danger or evil lurking around the corner.”
“It’s just change. The town has been steadily growing, and with that growth, you’re going to get people who aren’t so savory.” Marco should know about that. His family was originally from Chicago, and some would say they were the evil in that town. Or so I had heard.
Marco sighed and looked around the house. It was close to three in the morning, and the police presence in front of the house was starting to dwindle. Bear and I were ready to head home when Marco had approached me.
“If you need anything, Detective, please don’t hesitate to ask me for it. I know you may not think or feel it, but we both want the same thing.” He tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair. “I just might have access to things the Rockton Police Department doesn’t.”
I was picking up what he was laying down. “I’ll keep that in mind, but right now, I think I have everything I need. If I think of anything you could help with, I’ll let you know.”
Marco and I shook hands and we both stood.
“All done in there,” Bear called from the front door.
Marco turned and looked at Bear. “Bear Short. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen you.”
Of course, Marco would remember Bear. Just in a physical sense, it was hard to forget Bear, but since Bear had tried to go up against the Banachis, I was sure Marco would remember him.
“Banachi,” Bear growled with disgust. There went me thinking that Bear would try to be cordial to any of the Banachis.
Marco chuckled and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I better get back home to my wife and son. You two have a good night and try to get some rest.” He clapped me on the back. “Good luck on your case, Ransom.”
Marco moved to the steps and nodded to Bear.
Thankfully, Bear managed to not punch or kick Marco when he passed him. He clutched his fists at his side and just glared at Marco.
There were very few times I had seen Bear be so affected by someone.
Marco was in his car before Bear moved. “Let’s get the hell out of here,” he grunted.
I was too tired to try to deal with Bear right now, and it didn’t really have anything to do with the case. If Bear was going to stick around Rockton, he was going to have to figure out how to tolerate the Banachis, because they weren’t going anywhere.
I followed Bear back to Luna’s house and wasn’t surprised to see that it was lit up and there were two more bikes outside.
“We having a fucking party?” Bear grunted.
I clapped him on the back. “You okay?” I know we had just come from a gruesome crime scene, but normally, that didn’t affect Bear like it was.
Bear grunted. “I’m fine. Just not wanting to have a fucking party right now.”
I didn’t, either, but something else was bothering Bear. The sight of Marco Banachi had put him in a horrible mood that he was just stewing in. “Don’t worry. They’ll be out of here.”
Bear had been sleeping in the living room, and that was going to be hard to do when there was a group of bikers hanging around.
We walked into the house, and my eyes instantly went to Luna who was sitting on the recliner.
“You’re home,” she gasped.
“I’m gonna take a shower,” Bear grunted. He didn’t look at anyone and stalked up the stairs.
Pie and Bristol were sitting on the couch while Zig was in the kitchen with Easy and a guy I didn’t know.
“Is everything okay?” Bristol asked. She flitted her hand and cringed. “My God, that came out wrong. Of course, things aren’t okay. I just meant with Bear,” she clarified.
I glanced at the stairs Bear had just climbed. “Uh, I think he’s just ready to get some sleep.” It had been a long night, and I was dead on my feet, too.
Luna jumped up from her chair. “Everyone out,” she called. “Bear sleeps in the living room and he can’t sleep if you guys are here.” She flailed her arms around and grabbed the empty soda cans off the coffee table. “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here,” she muttered.
Bristol helped Luna gather the rest of the cans and empty plates and took them into the kitchen.
Pie stood and moved toward me. “Any good news?” he asked.
I shrugged and ran my fingers through my hair. “Not anything that I can see right now. We found a couple of things that might help us, but right now, it’s just too early to know anything.” It was also the middle of the night, and there wasn’t much we could until the sun came up.
Zig and Easy moved into the living room with the other guys lingering behind them.
I eyed the guy up and spotted the prospect patch on his cut.
That would have been me if King had let me in the Knights. Granted, I would have thought I would be past being a prospect by now.
I lifted my chin at the guy. “I’m Ransom.”
The guy looked around nervously, almost searching for permission to speak. Yeah, that definitely wasn’t something I would have been okay with. I was more into being the guy giving the permission to talk and not waiting for permission.
King had been right. At the time, it hadn’t felt like it, but I knew right then that I was doing what I meant to be doing.
“This is Mouse,” Easy laughed. He clapped him on the shoulder and ushered him forward. “He’s a little bit nervous.”
“Because you told him Ransom and Bear had killed the last prospect with their bare hands,” Bristol shouted. “You’re being assholes.”
“Babe,” Pie called. “How many times do I have to tell you that this is all part of being a prospect? Did you really think it was all just washing our bikes and being the bartender?”
“Yeah,” Easy scoffed. “That’s only about ninety-eight percent of it. The other two percent is taking shit from the club.”
“He’s right.” Luna turned off the kitchen lights and folded her arms over her chest. “Being a prospect is not for the weak minded. Keep your chin up, Mouse. It’s only going to get harder.”
And this is what Luna wanted to do. If Luna were to tell the Devil’s Knights that she wanted to be part of the club, I doubted they weren’t going to make her prospect. She was going to bend the rules by becoming a female member, but that didn’t mean they were going to just let her walk right in the door. She was going to have to go through the same shit Mouse was going through.
“Nice pep talk,” Easy laughed. “Kind of like, buckle up, buttercup, the shit storm is coming.”
Pie busted out laughing, and Mouse managed to look even more terrified.
“But right now, you need to hit the road,” Luna called. She motioned everyone toward the door.
Bristol gave Luna a hug and then threaded her fingers through Pie’s. Pie lifted his chin to me and led the way out the door.
As soon as they were clear of the door, Luna shut and locked it. She slumped against the wood and sighed heavily. “I thought they were never going to leave.”
I chuckled and held out my hand to her. “You knew they were going to stay until I got home.”
Luna grabbed my hand and faceplanted into my chest. “I know,” she moaned, “I just wished they would have shut up so I could have passed out instead of sitting up and worrying about you all night.”
“You were worried about me?” I asked softly. That was nice to know. For the past two years, I had figured that Luna never thought about me, let alone worried about me.
I wrapped my arms around her and just held her.
I didn’t want anything else right now besides Luna in my arms. Her touch calmed my racing mind.
“All right, fuckers. Take your mushy bullshit upstairs.” Bear barged down the steps and flipped off the lights in the living room. “That recliner is calling my name.”
Bear flopped down in the chair and kicked up the footrest.
Luna hummed and rested her head on my shoulder. “You do know you guys act just like the guys in the MC, right?” she laughed.
“Good to know,” Bear grunted. “Now haul your ass up the stairs because this bear is ready to hibernate.”
I busted out laughing and stepped back from Luna. “This is when I know Bear is tired. He starts referring to himself in third person.” I raised my hand to Bear. “See you in the morning, brother.”
“Late morning,” he grunted. “Don’t be waking me up too early. I know we got a case to solve but we’re both useless if we don’t sleep.”
I nodded knowingly. “Late morning.”
Luna whispered her good night, and we climbed the steps to our rooms. I paused in front of my door, but Luna tugged on my hand and kept walking to her room. She opened the door and motioned for me to go in. “We’re not doing anything but sleeping, Ransom, but I figure you better have the best bed in the house so you can be fully rested.”
“I knew you still had the same bed,” I muttered, and I wasn’t about to turn down her invitation to her room.
Luna laughed lightly and toed off her shoes. “As if I would get rid of it.”
I pulled my shirt over my head as I kicked off my shoes. Then, I dropped my pants at my feet and fell on the bed. “This is good, but it’s better if you were in here with me.”
“Hold your horses, Detective,” she laughed. Her eyes traveled over me, and she bit her bottom lip.
I flipped over on my back and propped my head up with my arm. “Like what you see, beautiful?”
Luna laughed and turned her back to me.
Luna was a goddess, and I had a front row seat.
Every curve and valley begged for my hands to touch and caress. I was exhausted, but I wasn’t too tired to not appreciate how gorgeous Luna was.
“You like what you see, officer?” she asked playfully. She pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it into a hamper next to the door.
“I am not complaining at all, babe.”
“Are you sure? I can’t say everything is the same as the last time we were together.” She dropped her pants and kicked them next to the hamper. Then, she pulled a shirt out of her dresser and tugged it over her head.
“You’ve only gotten better, babe.”
She turned off the lights, and I slipped under the covers, patted the bed, and called for her to get in. “I’ve got your bed, Luna, now all I need is you next to me.”
“I’m right here, Ransom,” she whispered. The bed dipped, and then, her body was next to me. She draped her arm over my waist and rested her head on my shoulder. “I’m here.”
Those words are ones I had been dying to hear come from her mouth.
The world outside was spiraling out of control, but right here, in this bed, everything was perfect.
Luna was back in my arms, and I was never letting her go again.
