Rise of the Phoenix: Phoenix Skulls Motorcycle Club: (Phoenix Skulls MC Romance Book 1)

by Cooke, Jessie

  “Our Tommy is not a murderer.”

  Jace shook his head. “I don’t believe he is. But someone wants Tommy to be a part of this and I think if we can figure out who that person is, we’ll find us a murderer.”

  “And what’s in it for you? I mean, you’re not a cop. Why not just let the police do their job?” Jonathan asked.

  “This person is terrorizing my family. My old lady lost our child and I believe it had something to do with the stress this is all causing her. My whole life, and the lives of the men who work for me, are on hold right now because we can’t even build on this property that we put our money into. What’s in it for me? Getting my life and my family’s back. And as far as the police go, I won’t get in the way of them doing their job, but I won’t sit back and wait either. The police are human. Who’s to say they won’t just stop with Tommy? I mean, I have heard about them finding a suspect and then they just stop looking. Innocent men get convicted every day. I want to know that the right man is behind bars.”

  “Tommy’s not a killer!” Aunt Lena said again, passionately. It was clear she cared deeply for the boy. Jace wondered about what Tommy’s cousin said about his only visiting once since he’d been back. If Lena raised him, it would seem that she’d be like a mother to him, or maybe even like a grandmother.

  “Maybe not,” Jonathan said. Jace looked at the other man, suddenly confused. Jonathan had seemed on board with defending Tommy, so why the about-face?

  “Stop that,” Lena hissed at her son.

  “I’m just saying, Mom, he’s always been different.”

  “Different doesn’t mean murderer. Tommy has a good heart.”

  “I’m sorry, Mother, I spoke out of turn. Of course, I don’t believe Tommy is a murderer.”

  “Can I ask what you mean when you say he was ‘different’?”

  “I was already grown by the time Tommy was born,” Jonathan said, “so honestly, I wasn’t around all that much. He was quiet and he spent a lot of time with Great-grandmother so he just wasn’t your average kid, you know?”

  Lena said, “My mother lived here and I took care of her until she died. When Ajei found out she was pregnant with Tommy, none of us felt she was...” She stopped and while she seemed to be searching for the right words Jonathan said:

  “My cousin Ajei was a hippie.”

  “No,” Lena said, “not a hippie, a free spirit.”

  “It’s the same thing, Mother,” Jonathan said. “The family just thought ‘free spirit’ sounded nicer. She and Rock eloped when she was barely seventeen while our family was still in mourning...” Jonathan’s voice was full of resentment, but Lena interrupted him:

  “Jonathan, it was a long time ago, leave it be.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jace said. “I didn’t intend to open up old wounds.”

  “You didn’t,” Jonathan said. “There are wounds that never heal. Ajei lived with us for a while when she was a girl. Her father wasn’t around much. He lived in New Mexico and Ajei only visited him occasionally. So, when she was fifteen and her mother died of cancer, Ajei came to live with us instead of him. She was a handful for my parents.” Lena seemed to be about to say something again, but Jonathan seemed determined to be heard at that point. He spoke over her and went on, “When I was sixteen and Ajei had barely turned seventeen, my father was viciously murdered. He was beaten to death and left naked in the desert. By the time the police found him, nearly all the blood in his body was gone. My mother’s heart was broken...we were all broken up over it. And in the midst of our trying to cope with that, Ajei ran off and married Tse. It was disrespectful, and we barely saw her over the next thirteen years. Then suddenly she shows up with this baby...”

  “Tommy was a light to me after a very dark time,” Lena said.

  Jonathan sighed and to Jace he said, “My sister and I left for college a year apart within two years of our father’s death. Mother replaced us with Tommy.” The conversation had definitely turned. Jonathan was telling him, not in so many words, that his cousin Tommy was far from being his favorite person.

  “Tommy was not a replacement for anyone,” Lena said in a tired voice that indicated she had said it before, and probably many times. To Jace she said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Bell. You didn’t come here to hear our family drama. When Tommy lived here with me, he had no enemies. He’s always been a good boy. Jonathan is right, though, about one thing. Since Tommy left for college, we haven’t seen him enough to know who his friends or his enemies are. But I can tell you beyond a doubt that the boy never had any evil in his heart, and evil would be what it would take to murder those girls. Have the girls been returned to their families?”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, I don’t know. They did identify them, so hopefully.”

  He could see the pain in her eyes when she said, “Evil exists, Mr. Bell. It took my husband. Be wary of it.”

  * * *

  Jace left the Claw residence half an hour later, without a lot of information, except of course for the animosity Jonathan seemed to have for Tommy. He put that on a shelf for now, but he wasn’t going to forget it. He stopped by home and talked it over with Beck, had some breakfast, and checked on the guys. Streak and Punk were hard at work and Finn was fumbling through his day as usual. The construction was still suspended while they waited for the police to decide what else they needed to do...but at least the bikes were still coming in. Jace looked around the cramped garage. He was going to have to figure out something better until they were able to build...maybe renting a building in town would be an option he’d have to look into. He found Bubba hanging around too and he was reminded of his promise to Beck. To the kid’s credit, he had been up and out the door before Jace and Beck, and his bed was made neatly. Jace found him running for a tool for Streak. The guys seemed to be using him as a gopher, as it should be, he thought. They didn’t have a lot of room for prospects just yet...they needed real, working members. But while they were training, they’d still be subject to a lot of the same laws that prospects lived by.

  “Hey, Bubba, if you’re gonna stay around here we’ll have to run a little check on you. You got anything you want to declare first?”

  Bubba chuckled. “Like at the Mexican border, huh, boss? Nah, I ain’t done much with my life, but I haven’t been in any trouble other than the normal kid stuff before I turned eighteen.”

  “I need your ID and social.” Bubba didn’t hesitate to give it to him so Jace took that as a good sign. The other three in the garage hadn’t been checked out, but Bubba didn’t need to know that. Punk and Streak were Beck’s friends and were there on her recommendation and Finn’s past was...well, pretty much the reason they were all in Arizona to begin with.

  Jace walked away from the garage before calling Hunter with the Southside Skulls. He left Bubba’s information on Hunter’s voicemail knowing the bounty hunter/investigator/biker would get back to him ASAP. Once he did all that he decided to go by the Highway Club and then back around to talk to Rock again about his questions about Jonathan and Tommy.

  The parking lot of the Highway Club had a few cars and pickups out front. The sign said they opened at 11 a.m. It was a little after noon when Jace parked his bike near the front wall of the crumbling little building and went inside. There were a few older men at the counter drinking beer, talking politics, and eating off a big plate full of greasy food that sat in front of them. A younger man sat a few stools down from them, dressed in business-type clothing, and there were a man and a woman in one of the booths, looking at a menu. The “Club” must serve lunch as well as beer.

  Jace went up to the bar, where an annoyed-looking man about his age was pulling beer out of the tap into a large mug. “Is Jessie here?” Jace asked.

  The man looked up at him, set the beer down in front of the guys talking politics, and then said, “Not yet. She was due over an hour ago.”

  “Hey, Robbie, when you going to fire up that grill?” one of the men at the bar asked. Robbie gave him a dirty look
and said:

  “In a minute! I’m by myself here if you haven’t noticed.” He looked back at Jace and said, “You want a drink?”

  “No thanks, but can you tell me where Jessie lives?”

  The guy laughed like Jace was crazy for asking and then said, “No.”

  “I could try to hurry her along for you,” Jace tried.

  Robbie laughed again and said, “Nice try, man, but she’ll show up. She always does. If you don’t want a drink, I gotta run.” Jace nodded and the bartender slipped back into the room behind the bar, probably the kitchen. He turned to leave when the man sitting alone at the bar said:

  “What do you want with Jessie?”

  “I just want to talk to her,” Jace said. “I’m actually just looking for people who know Tommy Tsosie well and I heard Jessie does. Do you know him?”

  The guy took a drink of the iced tea in front of him and shook his head. “I’ve seen him in here. He’s an odd duck. He’s got it bad for Jessie...poor guy. He’s not her type.”

  “What’s her type?” Jace asked.

  The guy chuckled and said, “You...guys like you. She’s my neighbor. We live at the Red River Apartments out on Clarendon. I saw her come home with a guy in the same vest you have on just last night. His bike was still there early this morning when I left for work like at 6 a.m. or so.”

  “What did the guy she was with look like?”

  He shrugged. “Biker. Long hair, lots of tattoos.”

  Shit. Finn, of course.

  * * *

  The apartments were in a small neighborhood in a rural part of Arizona. They looked pretty expensive for a bartender in a place like the Highway Club, but maybe she had roommates, or parents who helped out. Jace parked his bike in the front lot. Jace didn’t like the idea of Finn’s being there since he’d already spent a night in jail over this woman, but he was at work and he looked fine when Jace stopped by...so maybe he was worried for nothing. At least Tommy was still in jail.

  He walked through the courtyard, around a swimming pool that looked like it could use a good cleaning, and then down the second hall to his right where the guy had told him the apartment was. She lived in G4. There was a cheery, bright welcome mat out front and a matching wreath on the door. Jace raised his hand to knock when he realized the door was open a crack. “Hello?” He called out before tapping on the doorframe. “Jessie? My name is Jace Bell, I’d just like to talk for a few minutes if you have the time.” He listened closely but there was no noise coming out of the apartment. It looked dark inside. He used the tip of his boot to push the door inward slightly. It swung about halfway open and that’s when he knew he had to call the police.

  15

  Almost two hours later when Detective Tyler found Jace waiting outside of the crime scene tape like he told him to, he said, “Did you go inside? Did you touch anything?”

  “No. The door was open a crack when I got here, like I told you. I called out to her and when she didn’t answer, I opened the door a little more with the toe of my boot...”

  “Which is a borderline crime,” the detective interjected. “Intrusive at the very least.”

  “Would you have preferred someone else came along and robbed the place before you got called?”

  Tyler didn’t answer that; instead he said, “What did you do once the door was open?”

  “I called the police. I could see the blood as soon as the door swung open.” The wall in the entryway to the right looked like someone had dragged their fingertips across it after dipping them in blood. Jace hadn’t touched anything and he hadn’t gone inside. He wasn’t an idiot. “Is she in there?” Jace hadn’t seen an ambulance or a coroner, so he doubted it, but he wasn’t sure that her being gone was any better.

  “Why were you here, Mr. Bell?”

  “I came here to talk to her, about Tommy.”

  Detective Tyler rolled his eyes. “So, you found another crime scene while interfering with the crime I’m already working.”

  “I wasn’t interfering. I was simply going to talk to her.”

  “How did you know where to find her?”

  “Some guy at the Highway Club pointed me in the right direction.”

  “What guy?”

  “I don’t know his name. He said he was her neighbor.”

  “And he just offered you this information, without even knowing you?”

  “He heard me ask the bartender and when the bartender wouldn’t give me the information, he spoke up. I guess I should have asked for his name but at the time I didn’t think it was important.”

  “Sir.” One of the crime scene techs was at the door. Tyler held his hand up at him and told Jace:

  “Go home Mr. Bell, and stay out of my case. I’ll contact you if I have any more questions. And stay away from Tommy Tsosie.”

  “Away from him? He’s not still locked up?”

  “We don’t have anything to hold him on,” the detective said. “They cut him loose a few hours ago.”

  “You never answered my question, Detective, is Jessie inside?”

  Tyler still didn’t answer him. He simply turned his back and walked away, following the crime scene tech through the door. Jace headed toward his bike and took out his phone on the way. When he got to the parking lot he called Finn.

  “Hey, boss...”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m still at the garage, working.”

  “What time did you get there?”

  “About nine...ish...”

  “Did anyone else see you get there then, at that time?” Jace couldn’t vouch for him if need be because by that time he was already on Rock’s doorstep.

  “Yeah, Streak was just opening the doors...is something wrong, boss?”

  “What time did you leave Jessie and exactly where did you go when you left?” Finn hesitated, but then he said:

  “I left there around seven, went home and showered, and got here around nine. Is something wrong?”

  “Don’t leave the garage. I’ll be there soon...and Finn, whatever you do, if the police get there before I do, don’t talk to them. This time you’re going to need an attorney.”

  “Shit. Boss? You’re kind of scaring me.”

  “Good,” Jace said. “Stay put and remember what I said. I’ll be there soon.” Jace headed toward home, but first he stopped at Rock’s little store again. Rock was waiting on a young couple when Jace walked in. Rock smiled at him, waited for the couple to leave, and then said:

  “Hey, Jace. How’d it go with Jonathan and Lena?”

  “I’m not sure,” Jace said. “Is Tommy here?”

  Rock frowned. He looked and sounded sincere when he said, “Tommy’s still locked up.”

  “No, he’s not. Detective Tyler says they kicked him, early this morning.”

  Rock immediately took out his phone. He pressed in a number, waited, frowned, ended that call and pressed in another. A few seconds later he said, “Ajei, where’s Tommy?” A short pause and he said, “No, Detective Tyler told Jace they let him go this morning.” Rock closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, “I just want to know where he is, why he didn’t come home, and that he’s not in trouble. Okay, My Heart, get here whenever you can. I’m locking up for now so I can look for him. I’ll call you when I know anything.” He ended that call and looked at Jace. “I assume you’re going to look for my son. You’ll get further if I go with you.”

  Jace nodded. “Thank you.” They walked out and as Rock was locking up Jace said:

  “Jessie, the bartender from the Highway Club...I think she’s missing.”

  “You think?” Rock asked.

  “Yeah. I went to talk to her, found her front door ajar and blood on the wall. I called the police and there were in there for hours. No one called an ambulance or coroner so I assume they didn’t have a body. The other bartender, or cook at the club...”

  “Rob?”

  “Yeah, Rob said that she was over an hour late for work when I was there.
”

  Rock didn’t say anything else. He just climbed on his bike and put on his headgear and sunglasses and started the engine. Jace started his and pulled out after the big Indian man. Rock got on the highway and he looked like he knew where he was going. Jace hoped, for Ajei’s and Rock’s sake, that they found Tommy and he had an alibi for the time between getting out of jail and now, because if he didn’t, he’d have to be number one on the detective’s list of suspects...or number two. Jace cringed when he thought about Finn again. If he spent the night with that girl, his fingerprints and DNA would be all over the place. If he got in trouble again...Jace might not be able to keep Beck from kicking his ass out like she’d promised she would.

  * * *

  The vehicle stopped moving and Jessie felt slightly nauseated as they changed direction and began backing up. She had something dark over her head, like a pillowcase or stocking. She couldn’t see anything, not even shadows, and the motion without sight was making her sick. Of course, it could just be the aftereffects of whatever the man that grabbed her earlier had given her. Jessie didn’t have much of a tolerance for any kind of medication. She’d never done drugs, and being raised by an addict had made her leery of even taking an aspirin when she needed it. The vehicle came to a stop and she heard a loud noise like the sound of a garage being closed. Then she listened and tried to control the adrenaline surging through her veins when she heard the sound of one door being slammed closed and another pulled open. Jessie was a fighter. She was born a fighter and had to fight for everything her entire life. But she was also smart. She’d tried fighting off the man in the ski mask when he’d boldly walked into her apartment and taken her. He was a lot bigger than she was, and stronger, and he had a knife. The only thing those three things could add up to, if she wasn’t careful, was her body in a ditch somewhere.