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The deputy looked around Zach to Cooper. “We’ve been trying to find the owner. You got ID on you?”
He pulled his wallet out and showed his license—still Oklahoma; he was always slow with bureaucratic shit and hadn’t gotten around to getting a Nevada license yet. He left the license in his wallet and the wallet on its chain.
The deputy didn’t like that. He glanced up at Cooper and showed his irritation. Cooper had no room in his chill for this chubby white boy to get tricky and try to keep it, so he glared stonily back. If Deputy Dawg here wanted to make a fuss, Cooper would make sure it was a fucking fuss.
Choosing peace, the deputy leaned in to study the license, then checked something on his own phone and nodded. “You should have a Nevada license, since you live here.”
“Currently, I don’t live anywhere,” Cooper said and nodded to the rubble.
The deputy smiled grimly. “I’m not gonna write you up for it. You got enough trouble for the day.
“I appreciate it.” Cooper glanced at the deputy’s name tag: R. Mikkelsen.
“Get the license handled soon, though.” Mikkelsen said as Cooper put his license away.
“I will.”
“Arson investigator’s coming first thing once the day starts. Firefighters told me it’s pretty obvious somebody set your house on fire. The wind took the one next door with it.” Mikkelsen made a show of looking over Cooper’s kutte, then glancing around at the Bulls around him. “You got enemies, Mr. Calderon?”
They’d made nice, or at least peaceable, with everybody else working this area. The Silver Dragons were gone. They’d left the crew in Vegas breathing, but some very mad motherfuckers had decisively cut that loose thread. Maybe one of the other crews in the area had decided the Bulls were too much competition, but Jesus Christ, this was a helluva way to start a beef.
He let none of that show now. To Deputy Mikkelsen he said only, “Doesn’t everybody?”
“The kind that’ll burn down your house? No, not everybody.” His aspect changed, and he leaned in a little. Cooper fought the urge to step back. “Look,” Mikkelsen said now, “I know you know the sheriff, and everybody knows how he works, so I’m not gonna bust your balls. But please tell me this isn’t some damn gang war happening around innocent folks. There’s a woman and kid lost their house, too.”
“I’m aware. And I didn’t know somebody did this until you just told me. If I’m in a gang war, it’s news to me.”
Cooper looked over at Kai, who nodded. He hadn’t gotten around to installing full alarms in the Bulls’ homes yet, but he had installed cameras that recorded constantly and sent footage to a secure server in his basement. The cameras were destroyed, but they must have recorded everything until the flames took them out. Cooper wanted to know who the fuck had burned him out, he wanted there to be no doubt, and he’d just told Kai as much with a glance.
“Okay. Well, you’re gonna need to talk in detail with the investigator. But right now, there’s not much you can do. Firefighters haven’t cleared the scene yet. We don’t have a phone number for you. Which is weird, by the way.”
Cooper ignored that. They used burners for club business and wiped them routinely. Their personal numbers were shielded as much as possible, but they couldn’t be made completely invisible. Law would have found it eventually by contacting the provider.
“You can reach me here.” He handed Mikkelsen a business card.
“RockSteady Racing? Never heard of it.”
“We’re not open yet. Coming soon. But that’s how I can be reached.”
Mikkelsen slipped the card into a shirt pocket. “We’ll be in touch.”
“Yeah, okay.” Cooper turned to Zach. “Let’s get the fuck away from this wasteland. I need to see her.”
Zach nodded. “Then let’s go.”
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~oOo~
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Geneva flew from thehouse before he could park his bike. As soon as he was on his feet, she threw her arms around his waist. “You’re here!”
Lyra had come out, too, but she stayed on the porch. Zach went straight to her.
Cooper focused on the girl attached to him. “I told you I’d get here as fast as I could.” When he tried to put his arms around her, she wriggled away and stood back.
She looked okay. Wearing clothes that were too big for her, and her face was a little red, and her expression was full of weary stress, but overall, considering what was left of their houses, she looked good.
