Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Hornet

Iwent downstairs to answer the doorbell with my sweet daughter in my arms. My Mom was standing there with a huge stuffed bunny under one arm and an even bigger smile on her face.

“I came to visit with my granddaughter.”

“Well, you can’t because I’m visiting with her right now,” I shot back smugly.

My mother frowned at me. “Stop acting foolish and let me in. This stuffie is getting heavy.”

I realized my dad was behind her when he snorted a laugh. There was no dealing with them when they were like this, so I stepped back and watched my mom toss the bunny to my dad, then pluck the baby out of my arms. Something about that made my chest ache. I couldn’t believe I ever thought about leaving my child with them and coming for visits. Then again, I was pretty naive about being a dad back then—a month and some change ago.

My cell phone rang as my parents fawned over my little one. It was Brook.

“Hello, Brook. Is everything okay?”

She hesitated before answering. “Yeah. I stopped to have coffee with my mother, and when I came out, my car had a flat tire. I just wanted you to know that I’m going to have to call a tow truck to come out and take my car to a garage. I don’t know how long this is going to take, but I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Hold up. My club owns a garage. I’ll get them to come out, that way you be assured you’re not getting ripped off.”

“That’s really nice of you, Drue. It looks like someone slashed my tire. I don’t know if I should call the police or not.”

Shock slammed through my chest. “Of course you should call the police! Better to be safe than sorry.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too,” she said sadly.

“Who in the world would do something like this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was a case of mistaking my car for someone else’s. My mom had to go pick up my brothers from school, so I’ll get an Uber to the garage after the police get finished doing their thing. We can talk more about it when I get home, okay?”

I didn’t like the thought of Brook going through something like this all on her own, so I volunteered to help. “Are you at Brew Crew?”

“Yeah. It’s the only place with good coffee for miles.”

“That’s what I thought. Look, call the police and sit tight. I’m on my way.”

“You don’t have to come running, Drue. I’ve got this.”

“I know you do, Brook. Call me a nosey fucker, but I want to have a look at that tire with my own eyes before the car gets towed. I can’t help but feel like someone is targeting you.” I didn’t stop to think too hard about the possessive jealousy that was running through my mind.

“Jesus, I hope not,” she responded, shocked.

“Well, what with people making false allegations about you being a shitty babysitter and then this, what am I supposed to think?”

“I guess I’m used to bad things happening to me, so I don’t see a pattern.”

“Stuff like his has happened to you before?”

When she didn’t immediately answer, I added, “Now’s probably not the time to talk about all that. I can be at your side in about fifteen minutes.”

“Well, okay, if that’s what you think is best,” she responded. I could tell from her voice she was embarrassed about having to accept and a little worried about what had happened. In my opinion, she wasn’t nearly as worried as she should be in this situation.

I turned to my parents. “Brook has a flat at the coffee shop. I’m going to go help her change it. Are you two going to be okay here with Ariel?”

My mother looked up from making funny faces at the baby. “Stop asking silly questions and go and help the woman. She’s Ariel’s nanny. We can’t have her stressed out while trying to care for our grandbaby, can we? No, we can’t, poppet.”

The last bit was addressed to Ariel, and said in a silly voice. As my mom continued with the baby talk, I walked over and picked up my helmet from the side table. Heading for the door, I shouted goodbye, but they were both so lost in cooing over my daughter that I don’t even think they heard. Despite my anger at what had happened to Brook, it was a sight that warmed my heart.

I got on my bike and rushed to the coffee shop. Inside, I was churning with emotions. In addition to being angry, I was worried about who and why someone would keep trying to upend her life. I know Hacker had thought the malicious accusations might have something to do with me being chosen as Ariel’s guardian, but now I wasn’t so sure. This seemed personal and directed at Brook and I wasn’t overly eager to see what they would pull out of their bag of dirty tricks next.

I pulled into the parking lot to find her talking to two law enforcement officers. Throwing down my kickstand, I jumped off my bike and headed over to make sure she was okay. What I heard pissed me off all over again.

“Ms. Arnold, we’ll file a report, but random acts of property destruction are unfortunately fairly common in this town. Chances of making an arrest are not in your favor.”

“Chances are much worse when law enforcement can’t be bothered to conduct a proper investigation,” I said. While there were some good cops around, in my years of riding with the Dark Slayers I was pretty damn well disillusioned with those in our county—who seemed to be split between lazy fuckers who sat on their asses all day, and their more proactive colleagues who wanted to blame everything on bikers because we were an easy target. Looked like these two boys in blue were in the latter category.

The younger officer, Porter, going by his name tag, glanced at the motorcycle helmet under my arm and shot me a look of disdain. “Who are you and how are you involved in this case?”

Before I could answer, the older officer asked, “Was your MC involved?”

I shot him an irritated look and answered their questions in the order they were asked. “My name is Drue Davis and Ms. Arnold is my child’s nanny. Naturally, my club would have no reason to harass an innocent woman. Have you pulled the security footage from the coffee shop?”

Porter responded defensively, “Well, no. As you can see, there doesn’t appear to be security cameras facing in the direction of Ms. Arnold’s vehicle.”

“Were you planning to leave without taking the tire for evidence? That doesn’t make a lot of sense. Or it makes about as much sense as not looking around the area for a discarded knife. If one turns up after you leave and you don’t even have the tire, how are you supposed to match the knife to the slashes?”

The older cop, with no name badge on his uniform, grumbled, “Exactly how much time, energy, and the taxpayer resources do you expect us to expend on a vandalized tire?”

“Enough to find out who did it. This isn’t just a misdemeanor destruction of property case. It could be someone intentionally stalking her.”

Officer Porter turned to Brook. “Could this be true, Ms. Arnold? Have you seen someone following you? Are you receiving threatening texts or calls?”

“Not exactly,” Brook stammered. “I had a couple of people call to complain about jobs I’ve done in the past. Only I didn’t recognize their numbers. I’m pretty sure I never worked for them before.”

“That’s odd, but doesn’t support the assertation that you’re being stalked.”

Brook took a small step back and looked chastised. “I’m not sure I am, officers. Maybe this was just teenagers messing around.”

“We’ll write this up so there is a record of the damage. If you make a claim with your insurance company, they’ll want a copy for their records.” Porter then fished a business card out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Call if you want me to e-mail you a copy of the report. Meanwhile, we’ll be on the lookout for similar crimes that might indicate a pattern of vandalism in the area.”

When she reached out and took the card, he added, “If you need anything, just let us know.”

As the officers walked off, I knew my club would have to sort this out, like always. The cops in Griffinsford weren’t particularly diligent about details and couldn’t be relied on to solve what they perceived as a petty crime.

“I’m sorry the police weren’t more helpful.”

She just shrugged. “I’m not bothered. I didn’t think they’d do much. It was why I debated back and forth about calling them in the first place.”

I kneeled down and ran my fingers over what appeared to be slits a couple of inches long that were flat on one end.

Brook squatted beside me. “My tire was slashed, right?”

I pointed to the bunt end of each slit. “I believe someone stabbed into your tire with a rather large hunting knife. That’s why one end is a smooth point and the other square with and has a bit of the rubber pulled out. On hunting knives, the back of the blade has jagged flat teeth that can be used to saw.”

Her pretty green eyes lifted from the damaged tire to me. “Were you a detective in a former life?”

Her teasing caught me by surprise and alerted me that I was taking this situation a lot more seriously than she was. To her, this was just an unfortunate thing that happened, but to me, it was a sign of a potentially bigger problem. Before I could find the words to drive home how serious this might be, Coyote showed up driving the Slayers’ tow truck.

My club brother jumped out of the tow truck and walked over to talk to us. “Storm sent me out to tow your nanny’s vehicle. Is everything okay?”

“Someone slashed one of her tires. The police weren’t jumping with glee at the prospect of tracking down the person who did it.”

Coyote responded tightly, “Yeah, they’ve probably got a lot on their plate right now. I heard they were stretched thin and are working on a double homicide on the other side of town.” He glanced at Brook. “You want me to go ahead and tow it our garage?”

She nodded. “Yes, please. Do I pay you now or will the tow be added to the final bill after they put my new tire on?”

Coyote smiled at her before glancing at me. I gave a slight shake of my head.

“I’m afraid your money is no good here. We don’t charge our club brothers or their friends for services, only parts.”

Book’s surprised expression spoke volumes about how unexpected the gesture was. “Thank you. I appreciate it more than you know.”

“Not a problem. I’ll get right on it.” Turning to me, he asked, “Are you giving her a ride, or am I?”

The way he phrased that had my hackles rising. “She’s riding with me and she’s off limits to all you horndogs. Pass the word.”

Brook would probably be pretty pissed if she knew I was staking a claim on her, but I couldn’t help myself. As Coyote walked back to hook Brook’s car up the tow truck, I gestured towards my Harley. “I guess I should have asked if you want to ride on the back of my bike first. I had no right to speak for you.”

“I’ve ridden on the back of a motorcycle before. In fact, I love riding.”

“Great. I have a spare helmet in my storage compartment.”

I fished it out and watched as she strapped it on. We mounted up and I pulled out of the parking lot. Brook held on tight. I liked the feel of her arms around my waist. I might have even liked it more than riding the open road as a cool breeze whipped through my clothes.