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Sonny ignored Nate’s comment and left the room.
Nate was the only married member of the club and his wife, Rochelle, was their cook and housekeeper. A woman who was an excellent chef and a skilled markswoman. She was one of a handful of women Dante loved and respected like a sister.
“Where does that ring come from and who does this hand belong to?” Dante asked Gage.
Gage sighed and leaned back, his leather chair squeaking and groaning with the weight of his two hundred and fifty pounds. He ran one hand through his white-blond beard and tugged.
“I started this club when I was twenty, back in 1998, along with two other guys, Cashel Flood and Leon Hallows. Cash was from Vancouver and Leon was from Thunder Bay. We met in Calgary at a local bar, then hitchhiked around Alberta. All three of us had been in trouble since we were teenagers, with shitty parents and no desire to stay in school. We didn’t know where the fuck we were going when we left Calgary. We just wanted to get away from the city. Anyway, we landed here and loved it. I started working at the only auto body place in town, got my first bike, and that was it. I came up with the idea for the club, the name, we got our cuts, and tattoos.” Gage pointed to his left hand. “And got these rings made. Just the three of us. I lost mine not long after we got them.”
“And Cash and Leon?” Avery asked as she walked over to stand beside Gage.
“About a year after we got the club going, we had grown to fifteen members. But Cash wanted to move back to B.C. I told him sure, start up a chapter there if you want but I’m staying here in Longford. We had a big fight about it. He quit the club and left. Never heard from him again. As to Leon, he disappeared about six months after Cash. Went hunting one day and never returned. We searched the woods and nearby trails he used to frequent. Nothing. Back then, every biker crew was at full-scale war, and guys got killed or went missing on the regular. And then, a week after he left, I was arrested for possession with intent to sell and served two years. When I got out, I had to rebuild the crew from scratch all over again.”
Jackson nodded, his black cowboy hat tilted back. “It’s gotta be one of them.”
“I agree with Jackson. It has to be Cash or Leon. Padraig was very clear about his message to you. He said you don’t want history repeating itself. Does he mean you going to jail?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Gage shrugged.
“But what does a former member have to do with us now? Why kill someone who’s been all but dead to you for years?” Dante asked.
“I don’t fucking know. And I hate being in the dark. Xander, dig up all you can about Cash and Leon. And any link to Padraig. Both him and Cash are from B.C., start there,” Gage ordered.
“Don’t forget our neighbor, Sage Lowry,” Avery pipped up.
“What about her?”
“Her sister Rosemary was married to Padraig when he was a VP. Then Rosemary goes missing and her body washes up in a nearby river. She was murdered. You think Sage moving here is a coincidence? I thought it was suspicious months ago and after tonight, my concerns are confirmed,” Avery replied.
“That’s right, I did a run up on her a few months ago. I’ll add her to my list and do a deeper dive,” Xander replied as he pulled out his phone.
Xander took care of all their security and cyber stuff. If anyone could find a ghost – or dig into someone’s past, it was Xander.
“We’re no further ahead than we were a half hour ago,” Dante declared. “But I have an idea. I’ve talked to Sage a few times. Let me see if I can get something out of her.”
Gage nodded. “Fine, but Xander is still going to do a full run-up.”
Sonny re-entered the room with a bolt cutter.
“It would be useful to have the fingerprint ID,” Xander interjected. “I have a contact in the provincial forensics lab that might be able to help. He owes me, big time.”
“Do it.” Gage leaned forward. “Make sure he knows the consequences if he doesn’t comply.”
Xander nodded and kept tapping away on his phone.
Sonny leaned over the package and carefully cut the ring finger, the bone and tendons snapping with a loud crunch.
The sight and sound made everyone rear back. Everyone except Sonny. He hardly blinked.
Gage slipped the ring off, wiped it with a tissue, and glanced at the inside before passing it over to Xander.
“No markings.”
“Give me the hand, I’ll put it in the freezer to preserve it,” Xander replied as Gage handed the package over.
“Not next to our food, man! That’s fucking gross,” Jesse snapped.
“The freezer in the bunker, idiot,” Xander scoffed as he stood up in front of Jesse. “And it’s not nearly as gross as the skank you fucked last week.”
