by Debra Kayn
But, she couldn't risk getting killed because if she were gone, nobody would be around to help Rachel. She needed Notus Motorcycle Club.
"Why not?" he asked.
She inhaled deeply and studied Chuck. How far could she trust him?
Almost her whole life was spent tagging along with her dad at the office, going out with him on contacts, and eventually, she became his partner and helped lead the way to bringing in those who skipped their payments or failed to follow their probation rules and had a warrant out for their arrest. She relied on gut instincts regarding people. She usually could pinpoint the good from the bad by merely watching their body language and the way they talked.
She needed to trust Chuck with the information she had. Her sister's life depended on it.
"On Wednesday, my sister walked out of the office with a client we'd bonded that was due for his scheduled court sentencing appointment. We offer that service to those who are not at risk of running." She rubbed her thighs under the desk. "She never showed up with the client to the court appointment, and I haven't heard or seen her since."
Chuck leaned forward and his brows lowered, hardening his rugged face. "That's an emergency situation and needs to be reported to Lieutenant Gomez or anyone at the police department. Regardless if you hire us privately or not, you need to make a missing person report with the lieutenant. If the police deem they need our help on the ground and with your approval, we search for free."
She swallowed and lifted her chin. "There are reasons why I can't go to the police with help in finding my sister. I had hoped Notus Motorcycle Club would agree to work with me, and then at the time your club agrees, I will give you more details to help you in your search and recovery."
Chuck rubbed his jaw, disrupting the long whiskers. Her stomach fluttered in hope. For reasons she couldn't explain, the unconcerned act of ruffling his beard made him appear not as scary.
"I'm assuming there's a crime involved." He looked straight at her, never wavering his attention away from her. "And, you expect Notus to commit a crime on the recovery."
He held his cards close to his vest. Literally, his black leather vest held all the secrets of who and what Notus MC stood for. She had no idea if his club would work with her or think she was half-looped.
"I want my sister back." She leaned forward and put her elbows on the desk. "With or without Notus, I will do whatever I need to do to bring her home."
She'd been around criminals her whole life and worked with probation officers and knew enough about the law not to say anything that would come back to bite her in the ass. Studying Chuck, she failed to read what he was thinking. He was either smarter than she'd imagined or she hadn't been blunt enough.
Chuck stood. She jumped from the chair prepared to try to explain again when he rapped his knuckles against the surface of her desk stopping her.
"I'll need to talk to the others." He held up his hand when she opened her mouth. "I'll call you, and if we decide to help, we'll want to meet with you between midnight and one o'clock in the morning."
"But, can't you come sooner?" She pressed her hand to her stomach, trying not to get excited about the possibility of the motorcycle club helping her.
"One of our members just got married today. I won't interrupt a celebration." He walked toward the door and turned back around before leaving. "If I get an answer from everyone before then, take care of a few things on my own, I can come back earlier if you'll be around or I can meet you at your house."
She pointed up. "I've been staying in the apartment upstairs. You can come here."
He nodded and opened the door, dismissing their meeting.
"Chuck?" she said, approaching his back.
He turned around. She came up short. Her heart pounded in her chest. At a dead-end, she'd had nowhere else to turn.
She held out her hand. "Thank you."
He shook and held onto her instead of moving away. "Don't thank me yet, sweetheart. Your sister is still missing."
She sucked in her breath, steeling herself for the hard fact that she could already be too late to save Rachel. Chuck left without another word, nothing to console her or give her hope. She stared out the glass door until the roar of his motorcycle faded away.
Walking back to her desk, she tried to go through the files of clients who were scheduled for court tomorrow. She needed to call each one and make sure they had a way to the courthouse and get a verbal reply on whether they were planning to go or skip. Their answers were always the same, regardless of their plans. To them, she was as welcome as a cop knocking at their door to harass them.
She stared at the top file until the words and numbers blurred and a teardrop fell, splattering the paper. Quickly swiping her hand across the paper, drying the file, she let out the shudder that constantly built, released, and rebuilt inside of her lately.
Sniffing, she dropped her head forward and cradled her forehead. When she got Rachel back, she was never going to let her go out alone with a client again. Even though she was two years younger than Rachel, she had always been the one who took an interest in her dad's business. While Rachel only started helping her out at Bail Bonds after their father died. Rachel wasn't trained or had any experience with criminals, but she was qualified to escort the non-dangerous clients to court. Or, that's what she'd thought until Rachel had gone missing.
She squeezed her eyes closed. Chuck had to convince the other members of Notus to help her. She'd pay them any amount of money they required and even sell the business if she had to in an effort to get help.
Banging interrupted her plans. She startled and knocked over her Dad's jar of rocks that had sat on the desk since she was little. Ignoring the pebbles, she quickly rushed to the front door, turning the deadbolt to lock everyone out. Groaning at her forgetfulness while panicked, she hurried back to the desk and grabbed her pistol. Standing halfway between the back door and the front, she waited and watched the screen where the security camera showed what was happening outside the back door of the building.
The same two men had shown up again. They weren't going to get inside this time.
Chapter 3
Wayne, Glen, and Thad stood around the fire, away from the women sitting in the gazebo clustered around Lena. Chuck had already filled his MC brothers in on the job prospect, and one thing was clear.
Wayne and Glen were looped off their ass.
Chuck widened his stance. What the fuck was he supposed to do with them?
He gave them the bones of the case as he'd heard it from Erikka, and received a hearty yeah on searching for her missing sister, except from Thad. The vice president of Notus stared into the flames of the fire not saying a word.
Glen thrust a whiskey bottle Chuck's way. "Have a drink, brother."
He waved off the offer. Any other time, he would've been the first one to get shit-faced and let the responsibilities toward the club fall on his brothers. Any type of celebration called him to party. But, he'd promised Gracie a ride home before dark, which meant he'd remain sober.
"The woman never mentioned why she wouldn't report to the police that her sister was missing?" Thad glanced over at the gazebo.
"Nope." Chuck lowered his voice. "She wants an agreement with us before she tells us anything more."
"What's your feelings about the woman?" Thad grabbed Wayne before he could stumble back on the rocks lining the fire and shoved him in the opposite direction.
"Around thirty-five years old, hot as hell, and hid her fear for her sister better than most families who we've worked with on searches. She pulled a pistol on me the moment I stepped inside the office." Chuck blew out his breath. "Whether she held the information secret while she got a read on me, I don't know. Whatever she was doing, she made sure she didn't come straight out and ask us to get rid of whoever has her sister."
Thad squinted. "Others have asked us to do that very thing. We've done it with no requests. It's a normal feeling to want someone to pay for a crime if th
ey hurt a loved one."
Chuck lifted his chin and looked at Glen and Wayne bullshitting on the other side of the fire. The longer they talked, the farther away their MC brothers moved across the backyard. "That's why I called a meeting, but by the looks of things here, those two are done until tomorrow."
"Wayne and Glen needed to let loose. The women have decided to spend the night here and let everyone else drink. Something about wanting to help Lena put away all the baby things she got yesterday at the shower. I'd go with you to the meeting, but I need to stick around in case Lena goes into labor." Thad rubbed the back of his neck. "Though, this is a missing person we're talking about. We've never turned down a private hire before and time matters."
Every time someone came up missing, Chuck was reminded of Thalia. Thad's sister had also gone missing years ago when they were barely adults only to later be found raped and murdered. Soon after, they lost their MC brother, Rich, who had loved Thalia, when he up and ran.
Chuck could read the pain on Thad's face as he contemplated how to handle club business, knowing if it was his sister, he'd want someone out looking for her immediately. That was the whole purpose of Notus. To bring back the missing to their loved ones, so nobody else had to live through the pain of losing someone.
"Do you think she'd be willing to talk with you alone?" asked Thad.
"I think she'll take any help she can get." Chuck put his hands in his vest pockets. "The only thing I can do is try and get more information, so the club is better prepared to give an answer tomorrow."
"Go ahead and do it," said Thad.
"I'm on it." Chuck nodded. "Sober those assholes up. I'll want everyone riding out tomorrow early. Say...six o'clock?"
"That'll work." Thad knuckle bumped Chuck. "Call if anything new comes up."
"Will do." Chuck walked toward the gazebo and caught sight of Gracie laughing over something one of the other women were saying.
He crooked his finger and motioned her to him. She'd changed her dress for a pair of jeans and a tight, long-sleeved shirt. He grinned at finding her feet bare. She'd complained about her heels being uncomfortable earlier during the wedding.
"You came back." Gracie stopped at the railing of the gazebo and leaned over to talk to him instead of walking down the two steps to her left. "We put the food away, but I can cook you a hamburger if you're hungry."
"I'm not staying." Chuck stepped forward until he had to look up into her face and slipped his fingers into her hand. "Thad said Clara and Ingrid are staying the night. What about you?"
"I don't know," she muttered, looking over his head.
In a half hour, the sun would go down. Gracie would need to be inside before darkness fell, either at Thad's house or her own, where she'd feel safe. He brought her hand over to his mouth and kissed her fingers.
"You should stay." He bit the tip of her index finger. "Have fun."
"You do realize that this party isn't going to go past ten o'clock tonight." She pulled her hand away and looked across the backyard. "Wayne and Glen are wasted. Lena's pregnant and already yawning, and it's only seven o'clock."
"Your sister is staying because Wayne can't ride home in his condition."
If he'd learned one thing, Clara and Gracie, being identical twin sisters, liked to stick together.
Gracie wrinkled her nose. "I'll stay the night here."
"Good."
She rested her elbows on the railing. "I wish you'd stay."
"Can't." He tugged a long strand of her hair, pulling her head down closer and kissed her nose. "Sweet dreams, sweetheart."
"You, too," she whispered, giving him a sweet wave.
She'd never know how proud he was of her. She'd come so far after experiencing one of the worst fears of any woman. Hers even more so, because the man who'd taken her was the serial killer who had kidnapped and killed her mother, who she'd lost when she was young. He winked at her, waved to the others, and left the backyard.
At his motorcycle, he looked up at the sky and decided not to zip his sleeves to his vest, yet. He could get to St. John's Bail Bonds before the air cooled enough to need a jacket. Deciding to skip calling Erikka first, he rode away from Thad's house and headed toward Lombard Street. Until he knew the whole story behind Erikka's missing sister, he rather go into the situation without any announcement. People were more real and less likely to hide important facts when they didn't have time to think up an alternative story and try to hide their emotions.
Ten minutes later, he pulled up to the front of the building. He shut off the engine and gazed around. The place was shut up tight. Blinds covered the front windows, and not a speck of light came through. He tipped back his head and looked up at the second story. The two windows to the living quarters upstairs were also dark.
There was no use going and trying the door. He took out his phone and the business card he still carried in his pocket and called Erikka.
She answered on the second ring. "Hello?"
"This is Chuck Parker. We've had a change of plans. Is it possible to meet with you now and tomorrow the club will be available to discuss an arrangement with you that will work for both of us?" He wanted to make her believe they'd help. The more comfortable she was with him, the more she'd share. He could fill in the rest of the members when they got together in the morning to discuss the situation.
"Now? Yes. I can do that." Her voice came and went over the phone as if she was moving.
"I'm at the front door," he said.
"Oh." She paused. "I heard a motorcycle but thought it was traffic. I'll open the door. Give me a few minutes."
She disconnected the call. He pocketed the phone as he waited for a light to come on. Not knowing Erikka's schedule, maybe she'd been sleeping when he called.
The front door opened and Erikka stuck out her head, motioning him inside. He carried his helmet with him. If she'd been resting, she looked damn good with makeup around her eyes, her dark brown hair bound in a braid over her shoulder, and still dressed in the jeans and green shirt she'd worn a couple of hours ago.
"Just follow me. I'm going to take you upstairs." She walked forward through the room without turning on any lights.
He blinked, forcing his eyes to adjust to the dark. Giving up on his surroundings, he concentrated on Erikka's body. At least she moved and let him have some sense of where he was going.
She stopped. "We're at the stairs. There's eighteen of them, and the steps are steep. It's an old building. The handrail is on your right."
Her footsteps filled the narrow area, and the wood creaked with each step. He followed her, determined not to reach out and feel his way up to the second story. The whole time, he remained quiet, hoping she'd explain why they were going through the building in the dark. There was money to be made in bail bonds, and he doubted if the lack of lights came from a money shortage.
At the top of the stairs, Erikka touched his arm. "We're going to walk forward and then left. Once you're in my bedroom, I can turn on some light."
He let her pull him through the upstairs while he ran his hand over his jaw and tugged on his beard. He'd done a lot of fucked up things in his life, but he'd never been escorted through the dark to a woman's bedroom. Every woman he'd been with preferred the lights on. Hell, he liked to see what he was getting.
But, he wasn't here to fuck Erikka. At this point, he had no idea what was going on.
Her hand tightened on his arm, stopping him. "Stay right there, so you don't trip over a shoe or anything."
She let go of him, and her footsteps hurried across the room. "Oh, can you reach behind you and close the door. Quietly."
What the hell? He decided he was done following her instructions. "How about we turn on the light, and you tell me why you brought me up to your bedroom?"
"Please," she said.
"Lady, I'll do about anything with a pretty woman in her bedroom, but listening to one boss me around has never been something I enjoy."
A loud sigh came f
rom across the room, followed by her footsteps getting louder until they stopped beside him, and then the door clicked. "Was it that hard just to shut the door?"
She walked back across the room without waiting for him to answer and a dim light pushed some of the darkness away. He squinted wanting to know where that attitude came from when he was the one without a clue on what the fuck was going on.
Erikka pulled her gaze off him before stretching and pulling the comforter over her unmade bed. "Go ahead and sit down."
The vagueness of her getting him up to her room was starting to entertain him. A woman who looked and acted like her would be wild in bed. It'd be a challenge to get her to submit to not being in control, but hell, he was confident that he could get her bending over without wasting too much time.
"I don't want anyone knowing I'm staying in the apartment. That's why I brought you up here without turning on the lights. I rather have everyone believe I close it up at night and it's empty." She sat down on the edge of the mattress.
He glanced at the one window in the room. She'd covered it with a dark blanket. Her only light source came from a small outdoor camp light that ran on batteries and failed to provide enough light to see much more than shadows.
His hope of an evening of sex dashed, he sat down on the bed. She was starting to give him more information about her situation, though she probably wasn't aware of how much.
"Who is after you?" He sat, leaned forward, and braced his elbows on his knees.
Her mouth tightened. "Has Notus Motorcycle Club agreed to let me hire them?"
"That's not how we do business." He softened as she slumped forward and hung her head. "As much as you want to protect your sister, we must protect our club. You need to understand that while we would work for you privately, there could be more missing persons who come afterward that the police department asks us to search for. More people will need to be found. More bad guys who need to be caught, so no more women and children are hurt."
She nodded. "I understand, but..."
