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Rafe drapes his arm around my shoulders. “Yeah, you’re right. Puma often says you and Chill are his secret weapons. Takes a man like Puma to look beyond a person’s gender.”
“True. He’s confident in his skin, his abilities, and his leadership. Can’t ask for anything more from a President. He’s an excellent judge of character, too. Let me show you something,” I say to Rafe as we follow Max down the hallway to where he keeps his pets. Before I became a patched member, Max and I bonded over a fascination with reptiles. We talked Puma into letting us transform a spare bedroom into a habitat for them. Each species has its own enclosure. Milo was ourfirst. We’ve added other snakes and lizards. We spent time and money customizing each enclosure to accommodate a species’ preferred environment. Milo’s enclosure has a heat lamp, sand, and several rocks, along with other desert features.
“Holy shit,” Rafe mutters when he steps inside the space and looks at all the critters we house there. “Why did I not know about this?”
Max and I share a look. “We talked Puma into letting us have this space by selling him on the idea of using the snakes during interrogations. Like what you just saw out there. Amazing how quickly men will tell us what we want when they’re facing an angry rattler.”
Rafe chuckles. “Yeah, I can imagine. Wait, is this how you got your road name?”
I nod. “Puma knew my proclivity toward snakes, and he considers me deadly. Hence, Viper.”
“You didn’t show me this before because you’d have to admit that you interrogate people for information?” Rafe continues.
“Well, yeah, it isn’t like holding an enemy prisoner and interrogating them is legal.”
Rafe nods. “That’s true. I should probably arrest you rather than admire you.” He leans over to kiss my cheek. “But I’m seeing that you and the club have a reason for living outside the law. You’ll do what you have to in order to protect each other and your families. I can’t say that I’m always going to be comfortable with your tactics, but I can compromise. I don’t need to know the details as long as I know you try to stay on my side of the law as much as possible.”
I beam at him and throw my arms around his neck before slamming my lips against his. He wraps his arms around me, lifting me off the ground. Wrapping my legs around his waist, he cups my ass before deepening the kiss. My back slams against the wall, or at least what I thought was the wall.
“Fuck, man, no one wants to see this. At least stop blocking the door so I can escape,” Max whines. His words are like a bucket of cold water.
Laughing, we pull apart and turn to look at Max, who, I have to say, looks a little green. Maybe it’s just the lighting in the room.
“Sorry,” Rafe chuckles as he moves us away from the door before releasing me.
“Let’s go see if Spark and Tracker have found anything useful,” I say to Rafe as I take his hand and lead him back toward Spark’s office.
We find Tracker and Spark reviewing the feed from the casino while Juliet is looking at the feed from the hotel. I nod in approval. If Tracker wasn’t the one who murdered Wayne, then someone else entered the room before Tracker got there. She must be looking for that person.
“Amanda took the bait,” Juliet says when she spots us. I lift a quizzical eyebrow. So Juliet explains about using an employee at Michelson Trucking to blow the whistle on Rafe’s boss, Lieutenant Traynor. “She has all the details, and I can tell by the tone of her voice she’s not only willing to take this to the authorities, but she’s thrilled. Turns out her brother has had a few run-ins with the Lieutenant and always thought he was a dirty cop.”
“That’s good news,” Rafe says. “It will be interesting to see how the department handles it. I’ll find out when I go back in tomorrow.”
“You’re going back in? Is it safe?” I ask him.
“I’m not in any danger,” Rafe assures me. “Besides, I’m hoping to take back the investigation into Wayne’s murder. Speaking of, have you seen anyone enter his room?” Rafe asks Juliet.
“No, and that pisses me off. How could someone kill him without going into his room?”
“Was there access via the back? Or a connecting door between the rooms?” I ask. “Who was in the room next to his?”
Juliet glances at me before shifting to another computer. Her fingers fly across the keyboard before she sits back and looks at us. “No name on the registration, but get this. Whoever rented the room paid for it with a credit card belonging to Michelson Trucking. That can’t be a coincidence. Let me check the feed to see if I can get an image of someone entering the room next to Wayne’s.”
While Juliet continues her search, I wander over to Tracker and Spark. Rafe follows me.
“How is it going?”
“Slow,” Spark says. “We know when and where Tracker met with the fucker, but none of the camera angles captured the meet. The fucker either got lucky or knew the blind spots. I’ve spread out the search area to capture images from other cameras. He couldn’t have gotten into the casino and all the way to this set of tables without showing up somewhere.”
“Can you check the registration records? See if anyone using Michelson Trucking hired a room at the casino?” Rafe asks Juliet, who grins at him.
“Good thinking. Guess that’s why they made you a detective,” she chortles as her fingers get busy.
While they toss about ideas, I study the feed. I look at each person who crosses into camera view even though I doubt I’ll recognize anyone. Whoever killed Wayne likely knew him, and that’s one thing I’m happy that I can’t claim. He was a decade-old nightmare who never had a role in my life except as a sperm donor and my mother’s murderer.
I see Tracker on one screen. He’s placing a bet at the craps table. His long hair is loose around his shoulders. His hair isthick, wavy, and shiny enough to make him look effeminate, but that’s only if you stop with his hair. He’s thin, but his arms and legs have enough muscle to scream, ‘I’m packing wood.’
I don’t know what grabs my attention, but I focus on a man standing off to the side. His back to the camera, but his stance squares up to Tracker’s location. Maybe it’s his stillness that captured my attention. Everyone else is moving, even if they aren’t changing locations. Arms waving, heads bobbing, and feet shuffling. Everyone enjoying the lure of money-for-nothing while chugging down free booze.
