“Don’t do anything stupid,” Layne cautioned from where he sat with the laptop on his knees.
“I want to man, you have no idea how much I want to,” he told him, his teeth clenched.
“I can imagine, but you have to take your personal feelings out of this. We catch him doing whatever it is he’s doing and we can get him out of her life. Out of ours.”
Jagger knew that Layne told the truth so he tempered down his rage and locked it in a compartment that he barely went to. It was hard, but he knew he had to do it. He had to put an end to this, and the only way he would be able to do that was if he had some sense about himself. He continued rifling through the paperwork in the desk and was surprised when he came upon expense reports from the school.
“Why would a principal have expense reports from the school?” he asked Layne, making sure he was right in thinking this was odd.
“I don’t know. You would think that would stay with the school board. Here,” he threw a camera over to Jagger. “Get a picture of it, there’s no telling what it says.”
“A picture?”
“That’s a high resolution camera. Trust me, we’ll be able to see whatever’s on those papers. Just be sure and get a picture of all of them.”
Jagger went about taking pictures of everything he could find while Layne continued to clean the laptop.
“How are we on time?” Jagger asked as he rifled through more papers he found.
He watched as Layne pulled up his sleeve and consulted the military watch he still wore and carried with him. “We’ve got 15, so we need to pack this shit up and get the fuck outta here in a just a minute or two.”
Opening the last drawer of the desk, Jagger whistled. “Jackpot,” he said to himself. Lying inside were bundles of cash. He wasn’t sure how much, but it filled the drawer and it was stacked in neat rows.
“Now why the hell would he have that in there?” Layne asked, over Jagger’s shoulder.
“Don’t know, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out with these expense reports.”
With a gloved hand, Layne rubbed his chin. “You think he’s skimming from the school board?”
“Could be. He’s obviously in bed with the Vojnik. Wonder if he’s paying them for protection?”
“That’s an interesting thought. Let’s get out of here.”
The two of them cleaned up what little mess they had made while they’d been searching. Jagger couldn’t help it as he saw that picture of Bianca again. He reached into the desk drawer and ripped it in half.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Layne laughed.
“Can’t help it. Nobody but me gets to see her like that, and he should have thought about that before he started fucking with me, with her, and with this club.”
As they were going out the back door, they heard a car pull into the driveway and they both hit the ground, making themselves as small as possible. Layne motioned with his hand for Jagger to stay where he was as Layne went to investigate. There were voices of two men—one sounded familiar but Jagger couldn’t place it. He waited for what felt like years for Layne to finally come back to where he was hiding.
“Let’s get outta here. They went inside.”
“Who was the other guy? His voice sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it.”
“Fucking Dino. They are most definitely doing something together. We just have to figure out what. Whatever this Money Bags guy is into, it’s not little and it’s not good.”
Both of them jogged down the street to where they had parked their bikes and left quickly, just wanting to get back to the clubhouse. Neither one of them was sure of what they found, but both knew they wanted to figure it out quickly. Something was going on that no one knew about, and for some reason Jagger knew that this was dangerous, and he wanted to get Bianca as far away from this as possible. Losing her to someone else’s stupidity and selfishness was not an option. It was not something that he would stand for. She was too important to him and to his life. Jagger knew that he would do anything to protect her, even if that meant going head-to-head with people that were more powerful than him.
Chapter Thirty
Jagger pulled his phone out of his pocket and sighed as he saw a missed call and two texts from Bianca. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Layne asked as he walked over to where Jagger sat.
The two of them were at a local coffee shop, waiting to meet with their sheriff friend, Rooster. “Friend” was actually too strong a word, but he was useful sometimes and they all tried to work together whenever possible.
“B called and then texted twice. I should probably see what she wanted,” he said as he dialed and put the phone to his ear.
On the other end, Bianca answered. “Hey, I was tryin’ to call you earlier.”
“I see that. I had some business to take care of for the club, so I was out of cell range. What did you need?”
“Full disclosure…I’m teaching tomorrow.”
Immediately, he stopped everything. “At the middle school?”
She sighed. “Yeah. I know you don’t want me to be doing it, but I have to get my hours in. The way for me to do it is student teaching and substituting. I have to do what I have to do. I’m just telling you so that you’re aware.”
Jagger ground his back teeth together. The conversation replayed in his head as he told her not to burn him.
“Jagger, talk to me. I’m not burning you, I’m being completely honest with you. Honesty is what you asked for.”
In the back of his mind, he knew that she was right. She was being honest with him, and she was telling him what he wanted and needed to know. That didn’t make it any easier. Her being at the school with Money Bags and Jagger not being there to watch out for her took everything out of his control. Control was what he needed to make sure that everything went correctly. He wasn’t the type of man to leave things up to faith and chance anymore.
“I know.” It took everything within him to tell her those words. “I know you’re being honest, but it doesn’t make it any easier. It just makes me not question you.”
“I don’t always like what you do,” she told him softly. “But I don’t stop you from doing it. I trust that you know enough about what you’re getting into to make an educated decision.”
That was the mature way to look at this situation, but to be fair, he wasn’t always mature. “Again, I know.”
“So now I’m going to ask you this, and I don’t want you to be pissed at me because I’m asking it.”
He chuckled. “You say that before you talk to me and I already know I’m gonna be pissed, but ask it anyway.”
“Is there anything you need me to do? Anything you need me to ask Money Bags?”
“Ohhh no, don’t even think about it. I want you so far away from this your fine ass should be in Puerto Rico.”
He knew she must have rolled her eyes on the other end of the phone line. “I appreciate that, but I want this asshole out of my life.”
Jagger wanted to tell her just to let it go, but Rooster walked into the coffee shop. “We’ll talk about this later. Right now I gotta go.”
“Love you,” she blurted out before he could hang up.
That was it right there. The hard part of his heart softened. “Love you too. I’ll call you.”
“You better.”
“I got a message from Liam that you guys wanted to talk to me,” Rooster said as he had a seat at the table with the two men.
“Yeah,” Layne answered slowly. “We have some questions about Raymond Tucker.”
Immediately Rooster appeared to sit up straighter. “Really?”
“What’s your thoughts on him?” Jagger asked, taking a drink from his coffee cup.
“Why?”
Both men shifted in their seats. How much did they tell this frenemy? How much could they trust him?
“Look, this is a ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ situation. If you want me to give up information,
you have to be willing to answer some questions. I’m sure Liam would tell you the same thing. I’m not an idiot, I wanna know what the fuck I’m gettin’ myself into.”
“Fair enough,” Jagger answered. “He’s harassing my girlfriend.”
“Bianca?”
Jagger nodded. “Yup, and I’m about to get real pissed about it. So instead of slashing his throat and leaving him on the side of the road, we were proactive and came upon some information.”
“Came upon? Do I dare ask how that happened?”
Layne grinned. “Maybe that’s just one of those things we don’t disclose for your protection, Boss.”
“Okay, so what did you come across? Can you tell me that?” he asked as he leaned against the table and waited for them to offer him some kind of information.
“Money. Lots of it,” Jagger told him. “The thing with this guy though, they call him ‘Money Bags’ at the club because he’s always rollin’ in the dough.”
“Yeah, but he lives in a very modest house in a very modest neighborhood,” Layne picked up the story. “Let’s just say we know that he also has financials from the school board and a drawer full of money. Let’s also just say I have some serial numbers from that money. If I give you said serial numbers, can you run them?”
Rooster liked these two. They were as smart as Liam and Tyler, and they covered themselves well. “What’s your thoughts on it?”
“Personally? I think he’s skimming off the school board and he’s using that money to fund his extra-curricular activities. At the same time, we’ve seen him with the Vojnik, and that’s what I’m confused about. What he’s doing with them? What are they using him for? What do they even have in common?”
“Maybe it has something to do with the money?” Jagger threw out there. “But I don’t know why they would need him for money. They have their own.”
“Tell you what,” Rooster said as he got up from the table. “I’ll do some checkin’ around. Maybe go to the school and see what I can overhear. Talk about a Peyton Place…If he’s doing something then it’s probably already around the school. Is Bianca gonna be there any?” He pointedly looked at Jagger.
“She teaches there tomorrow.”
“Then I’ll tread carefully.”
“I would appreciate that. I don’t want any of this to come back on her.”
Rooster put his hat on. “I’ll be in touch, and I’ll let either you two or Liam know when I’m ready to meet you again. I’ll see what I can do.”
Brandon Hancock, aka Rooster, hadn’t been to this middle school in years. Not since he and Liam Walker had been kicked out and threatened with jail time. Brandon shook his head as he thought of his wild childhood. Things hadn’t been easy for either one of them. Liam was stuck trying to live up to the preconceived notions that everyone had about him since his dad was the leader of Heaven Hill. Brandon had been busy trying to get as far away from an alcoholic stepfather as he could. The two of them ended up hanging out with each other on more than one occasion. Brandon knew that no matter how much time had passed, he owed everything he had now to Liam. Which was why he didn’t often make a big deal when the club asked for help.
Walking into the school, he was transported back. He could almost see himself and Liam walking up and down the halls, trying to get girls to notice them. They would run around, trying to avoid class and generally being a nuisance. It really had been amazing that neither one of them ended up dead before that fateful night that had sent to Brandon to a camp for at-risk teens and Liam to juvenile detention. That night had changed the course of two lives, and to this day Brandon questioned whether or not the right one had been saved.
“Ms. Young, how ya doing?” he greeted the secretary as he entered the office.
“Rooster? What brings you here?” she asked.
He took note that her face paled as he walked in. That could mean any of a number of things. With all the school shootings that had taken place, he wanted to put her mind at ease. “Nothing official. I’m just checking around on some things. Mr. Tucker here?” he asked, looking behind her head, trying to see into the office the principal used.
“No.” She shook her head. “He went home early today.”
Which explained why Layne and Jagger had obviously been caught.
“Well, then I guess I’ll just have to be questioning his pretty assistant, huh?” he poured on the charm. He leaned against the counter and rested his forearms just level with her.
“Question me?” she asked. “About what?”
He didn’t miss the jump in her pulse that told him she was either nervous or interested. Intrigued, he leaned closer. “There’s been some rumors about Mr. Tucker. My superiors are a little bit interested in what he does off the clock,” he spoke softly at her ear.
“Off the clock? Surely you don’t expect me to know what he does in his personal life.” Stacey bristled, this was beginning to make her uncomfortable.
A flash in her eyes told Rooster that she was either scared or offended.
“I didn’t mean that you would gossip about your boss or mean for you to say anything out of line, Ms. Young. However, I do have to investigate anything that is brought to the attention of our office. Word has it he spends a lot of time at Wet Wanda’s.”
“Who doesn’t?” She shrugged. “Most men in this town might as well have their own parking spots.”
“Fair enough, but you tell me this. On the salary that you make, could you spend that much time at a house of ill repute?”
Rooster knew he was laying it on thick, but he had to find a way to break her.
She swallowed hard. “No, I couldn’t. I don’t. I haven’t had a vacation in over a year,” she admitted, not quite meeting his eyes.
“That doesn’t sound like this job is providing you with all you need.”
“I love my job.” She hiked her chin up. “But I don’t love the people I work with.”
Something about the way she said the words gave him the feeling Raymond Tucker was worse than any of them thought. “Has he done something to you?” He pointed at Mr. Tucker’s office. “Has he threatened you?”
“He’s just like any other man with power and authority, Officer Hancock. I’m sure you can figure out the rest on your own.”
He could, and that just slick pissed him off. He hated people that abused authority. This had just become personal for him. He did not like the look on the pretty secretary’s face. “Is he free tomorrow afternoon?”
“What?” She was confused as the tone of his voice changed.
“Check his calendar, is he free tomorrow afternoon?”
Flustered, she clicked on the calendar icon on her computer and scanned it. “Yes, he’s free tomorrow afternoon.”
“Then I’ll be here. I have some things that I’d like to talk to him about.”
It looked like Stacey wanted to tell him to shove it, but Rooster had to give it to her, she did as he told her and smiled brightly. “Anything else I can help you with Officer?”
“No, but thank you for helping me today. I’ll be seein’ you tomorrow.” He tipped his sheriff’s hat at her. “Do us both a favor, don’t tell him I’m comin’. I’d like to see how he answers some questions when he hasn’t had time to rehearse his answers. I think you know a lot more than what you’re tellin’ me, Ms. Young. Think about that before you try to protect him.”
Walking out of the school, he placed a call to Jagger.
“You be here tomorrow afternoon when Bianca leaves. If this is what I think it is, shit’s about to go down.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Bianca could hear her heels clicking against the concrete as she made her way into the school. Her heart thundered in her chest this time for different reasons than the first time. She was no longer nervous about how she would do, she was now nervous about who would be there and what might be said to her.
“Good morning, Stacey.” She did her best, but the smile didn’t exactly meet her eyes as sh
e signed in at the office.
“Morning, Bianca. Here’s everything you need for your classes today.” The other woman handed her a badge and what looked to be lesson plans.
“Thanks.” Their greeting was awkward and Bianca wasn’t sure why. She cleared her throat and tapped her toe against the carpeted floor. “I wanted to say thank you again for the email you sent me after the last time I was here. I really do appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. I think you’re a nice woman, and from what I’ve heard about you, you’ve worked hard to make your dreams come true. The kids need someone like you around. You don’t seem like you would be influenced by the powers that be. I think you would stand up for the kids. That’s something that honestly doesn’t happen around here enough.” She closed her mouth quickly, almost like she realized that she had spoken out of turn, said too much.
Just then Mr. Tucker made his way into the office, and Bianca cursed herself for not getting out earlier when she should have.
“Bianca, how nice to have you back in my school.” He smiled at her.
Just the look of the man was enough to cause a shiver to come up her back, making her shake with disgust.
“Mr. Tucker,” Stacey cut in. “Officer Hancock was here yesterday. He wants a meeting with you this afternoon to discuss some things going on at the school. He indicated that you don’t want to ignore the request.”
Bianca watched as Mr. Tucker’s face went red. It obviously chapped his ass that someone made demands on his time without asking him first.
“Well, I’ll do my best to be here. If something comes up, he’ll just have to reschedule.”
Not wanting to be a part of this anymore, Bianca held up the papers in her hand. “Thanks for this, Stacey. I’ll see you today before I leave.”
“Are you gonna let us sit in with you?” Liam asked Rooster as he and a few of the Heaven Hill members sat outside the school a few hours later.
“Seriously, Liam? This is official police business no matter what you want to believe. I really do think he’s breakin’ the damn law. No, you can’t sit in on it.”
Losing Control (Heaven Hill Series) Page 15
