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“Look at how he holds them at a distance,” Ava interjected. “See how his arm isn’t actually touching them, but they’re curled toward him? He’s trying to keep his distance.”
“That would make sense,” father agreed. “He married Elizabeth not long before this photo was taken.” It had been dated in the corner as having been taken in 1997. The year Bailey was born.
“I’m assuming Eriksen doesn’t know his new wife was the one who undoubtedly killed his late wife.”
My father shook his head.
“But why were they all killed?” Ava questioned, her brow furrowed as she scrolled through the news release on the Vixen massacre. “If it was a personal vendetta, why kill the rest of them? That takes time and planning.”
“No one has a clue about why they were suddenly massacred,” Father admitted. “But they didn’t have all the information we have. Bridgett managed to gather some information from one of the disgruntled bikers from Eriksen’s crew. Apparently, he’d been branded and removed for raping one of the biker bunnies who said no.”
Kiernan grunted in disgust. “That term gives me hives.”
I chuckled. “Kind of gives me furry vibes.”
Ava groaned at the image. “Gross.”
Ignoring our antics, our father continued. “At nineteen, Eriksen was engaged to marry a Marilina Brandt, the daughter of another biker president. Then he met Elizabeth and fell in love. According to the biker, the marriage was called off. It shouldn’t have been that big of a deal. Eriksen hadn’t met the girl, and he managed to salvage the relationship with the other club and make an even better deal. Eriksen married Elizabeth in a private courthouse ceremony. Only for her to end up dead three years later. Bridgett managed to dig up a new marriage certificate. Lina Davenport married Toph Eriksen two years after Elizabeth’s death.”
“I’m betting Toph doesn’t know Lina Davenport is actually Marilina Brandt.”
Father sighed. “From what I was able to get out of the new president of Brandt’s chapter, she was thrown out after she killed one of their club girls in a jealous rage. Word was she was also selling flesh with some of the local traffickers for extra cash and drugs.”
“Why did she end up fixating on Elizabeth and Toph?” Ava wondered.
“Greed,” I presumed. “And jealousy. Every picture I bring up that has Lina in it. She’s staring right at Toph as if he’s her sun. It’s never reciprocated.”
“I believe it started long before then.” My father dragged out a photo from one of the folders he’d brought in. “When I was digging up information on Senator Crowe, I came across something I didn’t think held any value. Not until that photo of a younger Lina popped up. These two ladies look familiar?”
It was a college sorority photo taken in front of the University of Washington. Underneath it, the wordsbad bitches rule the worldwere scrawled in sloppy loops. The same loops as Bailey’s resignation letter.
“You probably recognize two of them.” My father pointed to the two strawberry-blond girls who were posed on either side of their raven-haired friend. “The one on the left is Sarah Bradshaw, Crowe’s wife. Marilina Brandt is the one on the right. The dark-haired one in the middle was Bailey’s mother, Elizabeth. They met their freshman year of college in an economics class. All three of them were studying finance and business.
“Later that year, they joined Alpha Delta Pi, where they met Elias Ward and Richard Crowe, members of Sigma Nu. From what Bridgett has been able to piece together, the three girls had a falling out after a disastrous frat party one night where the police were called. Elizabeth alleged that Richard Crowe, Sarah’s boyfriend, drugged and raped her that night with his fraternity brothers while her friends stood and watched.”
“Jesus.” I was going to be sick.
“The case was buried, of course.” My father waved a hand dismissively. “The Crowe family was untouchable, even back then, and so was Ward. Everyone knew that Ward was connected to the Romano Don, and Dante’s father wasn’t to be messed with.”
“What happened after that?” Ava asked curiously, sipping on the coffee she’d brought down with her.
“She unenrolled from college and started the Vixens. She met Eriksen somewhere along the way, seemingly mended bridges with Lina, and the rest is history.” He shrugged. “But what’s really important was what the Vixens MC fought again, because I believe that was part of the reason theyallended up dead.”
“Human trafficking.” Ava let out a breathy laugh. “She combated human trafficking, and if Sarah and Lina were working with Richard and Elias, they were all a hindrance.”
“Not only that,” Kiernan jumped in. “We’ve been wondering why Eriksen would need the port. He doesn’t. Crowe and Lina do.”
“And making sure she married Eriksen meant that she’d have not only status, but people she could control and manipulate. It also feeds into her obsession.” It was all coming together. “I wonder how many of Eriksen’s men even know that their boss isn’t the one giving the orders anymore.”
“I think it’s time we go find out.”
35
It was the last place I expected for him to want to meet.
Eriksen.
The warehouse was dilapidated, vines growing over and through leftover barrels, abandoned cars. Anything they could grow on, they took over without remorse, spreading across the graveled lot. We hadn’t brought any men with us.
