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“This works,” I say, tilting the bottle at him in thanks.
Seeing as I’m not in the mood to talk, Smooth returns to washing glasses. I nurse my beer and take stock of myself. I’m angry. Problem is I can’t figure out why I’m so pissed off. This situation with Angelica feels like a clusterfuck. We all fell in love with the damaged little girl when Dice and Avery brought her back from New Orleans. I felt a connection to her even before I discovered she was my sister. Now that Rafe has found her mother, I fear we’ll lose her. And just like that, I realize why I’m so angry. Why the hell should we trust her to protect her daughter? She didn’t protect her from Wayne.
Shoving away from the bar, I seek Spark. Unsurprisingly, I find him in his office.
“Hey, Viper, what can I do for you?” he asks. “I’m still running that search on Rafe’s boss.”
“Appreciate it, but I was hoping you could add another search to your task list? Angela Turner?”
“Angelica’s mother?” he asks, and I nod. “I’ve already done it. Did it when I finally found Angelica’s birth certificate. She’s clean, except for her taste in men. Not sure how she got messed up with that asshole, but she’s a hard worker and, from what I can tell, an excellent mother.”
“Except she let Wayne sell her baby,” I remind him.
“Do you think she could have stopped him? Or do you think she was complicit? Because I’m not seeing anything to suggest she was involved with Blakely. I have the timeframe for when Wayne sold her to Dr. Blakely. Angela quit her job soon after, moved here, and got a job as a cocktail server. She’s been handing most of her salary over to a private investigator. Barely keeping enough for her to live on. I hacked into his system to check his progress. Which isn’t much. He’s been taking her money but not getting anywhere.”
Fuck, I don’t want to hear that. I don’t want to feel sorry for Angela.
“Oh, I also got this for you,” Spark says, handing me a sheet of paper with a dozen names on it.
“Uh, thanks. What is it?” I ask.
Spark chuckles. “I did some digging on those assholes you took down last night. That is a list of women who have filed complaints against at least one of the three in the past year. Those assholes attend UNLV, and each of those girls is a student there. Or they were students. Ten of those girls are now missing.”
My eyes snap to his. “Missing? As in, they dropped out and returned home? Or missing, as in these three assholes, may have made them disappear?”
“I found two who left Nevada shortly after filing complaints. They transferred to different schools and appear to be alive and well. However, those who I’ve listed as missing have missing person status with no activity or sightings. My opinion is that these three are bad news. They’ve been friends since high school. Interesting side note. Two cheerleaders attending the same high school reported being gang-raped by three boys. The girls couldn’t identify their attackers, but I have a pretty good idea of who they were.”
“Those fucking assholes! I knew I should have killed them. Fuck. Do we know where they are now?”
“Gears is watching their place. They all share an apartment near campus.”
Gears is our newest prospect. One I’m uncertain about yet. He rides bikes for a living, and I don’t mean motorcycles. He’s a professional cyclist. Not sure why he wants to join an MC, but Wildcard brought him in, and we’re giving him a chance. Probably because we’re in desperate need of prospects. Both Max and Smooth are getting close to patching in. Hunter has some time yet, but considering Chill’s his woman, I doubt he’ll have to wait the full year. Unless he pisses her off.
“There you are,” says Max as he enters the room. Both Spark and I turn to look at him. Max nods at me. “I was looking for Viper. Although, I have another request from Puma for a search. Two searches. Angela Turner and a Reggie Carter.”
Spark and I both laugh. “I came to ask him to run Angela,” I explain. “But it turns out Spark already did.”
“You found nothing bad on Angela, did you?” Max asks in a tone that says he already knows the answer.
“No, I didn’t. Timing shows she left Wayne when he sold Angelica, and she’s been paying a man to search for the little girl, although, like I told Viper, I don’t think he’s done much except cash the check.”
“Maybe we should pay him a visit,” I muse. I may not be Angela’s biggest fan, but I don’t like the idea of some asshole taking advantage of a desperate mother. Spark nods while Max gives me a raised eyebrow. “What?”
“I didn’t think you liked Angela,” he replies.
“I don’t know if I do or not, but I hate lazy fuckers who just make a difficult situation worse.”
“Speaking of situations, I’m joining Rafe when he meets with Angela and CPS. Puma thinks I’ll be a familiar and friendly face for both Angelica and Angela.”
“That’s a good idea,” Spark says while I nod in agreement. “Are you going?” Spark asks me.
I shake my head. “Best if I don’t leave the clubhouse until Rafe can clear me of murder charges. His boss wants him to arrest me. When are you two leaving?”
“In a few minutes. Rafe’s still in with Puma,” Max says as we head back to the common room. “You’re angry with Angela because she didn’t protect Angelica the way Mom protected you.”
“You’re right. I couldn’t figure out why I was so angry with her, but that’s part of it. The other part is that I’m angry with myself. If I had just made sure Wayne was dead back then…”
“Then Angelica would not have been born,” Max reminds me.
