At All Costs (Whiskey Bend MC Series)

by KJ Dahlen

  “Excuse me but hacking is illegal.” Charlie glared at him.

  Lucifer turned to the other man with his own glare. “Well, don’t listen then. What I’m saying is we have to find out if we can find any link to the payment the killer talked about night before last. How the hell did he find her if the call was a wrong number?”

  Charlie shrugged. “If the man is playing a cop then he would have access to police equipment and part of that includes a reverse directory. All he has to do is enter a phone number and it will bring up name and address. That’s all he would need to track her down.”

  “Can he track my phone too?” Luna asked. Looking down at the cell phone in her hand, she began to tremble.

  Aries ripped the phone out of her hand and flipping it over he tore the battery out of the back then the SIM card. “He can’t do shit now.”

  Luna took the pieces of the phone from his hand and placed them on the table. Then she frowned. “Wait a minute,” Luna muttered. “What if we could get a DNA match?”

  “Well, that would certainly help but how do you propose we do that?” Charlie asked.

  “In the files I gave Sam and Molly yesterday one of them was from the Seattle Police department. The Seattle police were able to get a DNA report from the cigar band. Apparently before he discarded the cellophane and band, he mouthed the cigar.”

  “Mouthed the cigar?” Demon asked.

  “Well according to Mitch Wells,” Luna explained. “The police detective I spoke to in Seattle, some cigar smokers stick the cigar into their mouths to wet the outer leaves. The saliva seals the outer edges of the tobacco. They found enough saliva on the band to get DNA.”

  “Did anyone else find DNA?” Charlie asked.

  “Chicago and New York found DNA and it’s a match to the Seattle report. All we have to do is get a sample from here for comparison.” Luna told them. “I kept a hard copy of the information at my house.”

  “Can you get your deputy drop off the cigar band he found to be tested?” Lucifer asked Charlie.

  “But isn’t that breaking the chain of evidence? Tainted evidence is usually thrown out of court.” Luna asked.

  “It could be but we have to check it out anyway.” Charlie nodded. “If it matches the rest, we can at least get a warrant for Cooper’s DNA to compare to the rest. If it matches the rest, we’ll know we’re on the right track. But if my deputy took it himself and had the DNA place sign for it, it wouldn’t be breaking the chain of custody.”

  Charlie made the call. When he hung up, he told the room, “He’s taking the band to Western Dairyland Labs. They can test it there. I’ll call and let them know the sample is coming and who to contact when they get the results.” He frowned as he looked at Luna. “My deputy also said Nathan has been making a pest of himself looking for you. Apparently, he stopped by your house this morning and you didn’t answer your door. He kept trying to call but when you didn’t answer, he stopped by the station to find out if anything was wrong. Now he’s been calling every hour on the hour.”

  “How long can you put off your boss?” Lucifer asked.

  “If I know Nathan, not very long. This is a big case. He’s gonna want all the juicy details.”

  “Does he realize how much a leak could ruin whatever we have on this killer?” Demon asked. “If he goes underground he may see us but we’ll never see him.”

  Luna sighed. “If we don’t give him something he’ll run the story with what he’s got and that would tip Cooper into running. He feels the public has the right to know everything and it doesn’t matter if he only has half the story.”

  Aries scoffed at this. “That’s not only irresponsible in this case it’s downright dangerous reporting. He could get someone killed.”

  “It would make the story that much more important, at least in his mind,” Luna agreed. “If he found out we were tracking a serial killer he would plaster the news all over the front page of the paper.”

  “We can’t allow that to happen,” Charlie said. “We have to keep Nathan out of this until we have the proof we need to arrest Cooper or whatever his name is.”

  Luna fidgeted with her fingers before she announced, “There might be one more thing you should know.”

  Lucifer glanced at her. “What might that be?”

  “Mike told me something else about Bruce. It might not mean anything at all but he said Bruce was trying to trace his ancestry for some reason. Mike said he was interested in finding out who his father was.”

  Charlie’s cell phone began to ring. He gave Luna a quick glance before he answered it, “Boone.” He paused then said, “What can I do for you, Captain Matthews?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me the Judge and the DA weren’t the only murders you had the other night?” Kyle told him.

  “What do you mean?” Charlie frowned. He glanced over at Luna to let her know there was more to the case.

  “I mean we’ve had reports of three more bodies since shift change. One was a Kwik Trip store clerk, she was found in the back room with a broken neck. Another one was a homeless man, found in the park. His neck was broken as well. The last one is a Sheila Donner. She worked in a small office. We’re trying to get hold of her boss, Lester Kratz but so far he’s not in his office and there’s no answer at his home.”

  “Did you say Sheila worked for Lester Kratz?” Charlie asked.

  “Yes, she was his secretary. Do you know Mr. Kratz?”

  “I’ve never met the man personally, but I know of him, yes. He runs the used car lot just outside of town.” Charlie scoffed. “His reputation says he’s a slick shyster, one that would sell his own mother a lemon. But that’s just rumor.”

  There was a pause on Captain’s Matthews end of the conversation. “Is he the reason those agents came here? They never got to the real reason they came to my city.”

  Charlie didn’t answer his question but told him, “I’ll get back to you as soon as I know anything. Thanks for the update. And I really don’t know why the FBI and SEC are visiting your town.”

  Charlie closed his phone and frowned as he looked at Luna. “Sheila was Lester Kratz’s secretary. She died along with two innocent people. All three have broken necks.”

  “Do you think it’s a coincidence?” Luna asked.

  “Not likely,” Charlie replied. “Only one problem though, I never reported the deaths to anyone. How did he know about them? We’re still looking into the deaths. My deputies never would have said anything to anyone, not until I gave them the all clear.”

  Lucifer shook his head. “Do you have a leak in your office Charlie? Or is someone else trying to muck up your investigation?”

  “Maybe the money man is trying to throw off suspicion by mucking everything up,” Aries suggested. “Everyone will be running around looking for someone that may or may not exist and the real power behind the murders gets away with it.”

  “We need to find a money trail.” Charlie got to his feet. Before he left he turned to Lucifer. “If you find anything you will let me know right?”

  Lucifer smiled showing all his teeth but he didn’t say anything.

  Charlie turned to go when Luna called him back, “If you talk to Sam let him know what’s going on here. Tell him I’m going dark until this is over. Please...”

  Charlie nodded and left the clubhouse.

  Chapter Eight

  Meanwhile in LaDonna, Sam and Molly were in another meeting with Kyle Matthews.

  Sam stared at the other man. “Lester Kratz is the reason we’re here. He’s about to be indicted for grand larceny, wire fraud and multi-state thief.”

  “How much did he get away with?” Kyle asked.

  “Close to three million dollars before we found out,” Molly answered. “We’ve frozen the accounts we could find but we haven’t found all the money yet.”

  “There’s a reason I asked,” Kyle let them know. “His secretary Sheila Donner was found dead yesterday in a small town not too far away from here. But her
death wasn’t the only one. There were two other random killings. The town is called Whiskey Bend.”

  Sam stared at him for a moment. “Are you sure it’s Whiskey Bend?”

  “Yes, why do you ask?” he asked.

  “I have a friend who lives in Whiskey Bend and I’ve been trying to get a hold of her all morning but she’s not answering her phone. To tell you the truth I’m getting concerned about her welfare.”

  “Your friend is that the same woman that was here yesterday. Luna Mathias?”

  Sam nodded. “She went back home yesterday but she’s not answering her phone.”

  “I just called the sheriff up there and he said everything was ok in his town.” Kyle shrugged. “I’m sure if there was anything going on, he’d let me know.”

  “Do you think Sheila was in on the scam and Lester didn’t want to share the money?” Molly asked getting back to the conversation before Sam mentioned Luna. “I mean if he knows he’s being watched, maybe he’s getting ready to move on and didn’t want to leave any potential witness’s behind.”

  “That might account for her death but what about the other two?” Molly asked.

  “If our killer is the same one who killed the Judge and the DA, the other two deaths might be cover for Sheila’s death or a killing to mess up the first two,” Molly explained. “What if all five murders is some way to hide a bigger crime?”

  “What’s a bigger crime than murder?” Kyle wanted to know.

  “Maybe it was Lester trying to muck up our investigation into his illegal acts in hopes that the investigation into the murders might take our focus away from him allowing him to slip out of town unnoticed.”

  Sam agreed, “So by murdering two others, he’s hoping to draw us away from Sheila’s murder. Maybe she was his last link to take care of before he left town. That makes sense. It would also set the city up for a touch of panic. Oh, he is a clever killer.” Sam then looked over at Molly and at her nod, he broached a subject Kyle Matthews might not want to face, “Captain we have something you need to know. You remember my friend Luna?”

  At Kyle’s nod, Sam pushed on, “She told us about a case that’s been fifteen years in the making. It’s all about one scary son of a bitch. No one really knows what his name is, he’s used so many over the years. He’s a real psychopath.”

  “And this should interest me why?” Kyle asked.

  “My people have doing some digging and that man might be your officer Cooper Connors.” Sam dropped his bomb.

  Kyle just about fell out of his chair. “You’ve got to be kidding me? I’ve known Cooper for about three years now and you couldn’t be more wrong about a person.”

  “Also being a cop, he can draw attention away from the case by focusing on something else. He can downplay the connection between Sheila and Kratz by trying to find the connection between Sheila and the other two,” Molly reasoned.

  “Let me ask you this Captain.” Sam squinted at the other man. “Where did you get the shot glass from Little Creek, Illinois?”

  Kyle raised his eye brow at his off the mark question. “Why do you want to know about a dammed shot glass?”

  Sam raised a brow at him. “Luna was doing a story about a man on death row, he was telling her about the psychopath, and that town came up. She also noticed several of your glasses are from places this man was in. She also mentioned something about fingerprints and DNA. We’re waiting on a DNA test to verify things. We ran his fingerprints and got a two point match. It isn’t enough for court but it does lead us to wonder what else he might be trying to hide.”

  “That was the first step,” Molly added. “The next step would be to get a sample of Cooper’s DNA to match it too. Though that might not be easy to do. We don’t want to give this guy any reason to run.”

  Kyle sat there thinking for a moment before he said, “There’s something you might need to know about getting a sample from Cooper. He’s very particular about not leaving anything behind. He washes his coffee cup as soon as he done with it. He even washes out his water bottles before he throws them away. Not to mention he dumps his silverware into his glass of water after he eats in the diner. It’s like he’s watching his every move to avoid being identified.”

  Sam looked over at Molly and frowned. “I haven’t seen him around today, is he working today?”

  Kyle shook his head. “No, he took a personal day today. He said he had something to catch up on.”

  Sam packed up his things and so did Molly. “I think we’ll go back to our motel and see where our colleagues are at with running things down. We’ll get back to you when we find anything out, but I may take a trip up to Whiskey Bend this afternoon. I want to check on Luna, you know make sure she’s ok and all that stuff.”

  “Well keep in touch then,” Kyle told them. He kept his thoughts to himself as he watched the pair of them walk down the hall.

  ~*~

  Cooper drove past the motel later that afternoon. He found the same blue car he’d seen this morning parked out in front of one of the rooms and he made a mental note of the room’s location. He was getting the same itchy feeling he had in Denver, the feeling it would be a good time to move on again and he was deciding whether or not to act on his feeling. He’d liked it here but he had liked living in Denver too. That was until his last job there almost got him caught. He should have known the Senator’s daughter was trouble. He should have known she would tell the police what they wanted to know in order to save her own butt. He got out of there just hours before the police and the FBI moved in on him.

  He thought about last night and growled. He still didn’t know how she escaped him. Running off into the woods was a smart move on her part, getting mixed up with the bikers was unexpected. Unexpected and totally out of character. He hadn’t thought she was all that brave but she surprised him. After they’d run him off or thought they had and he moved in to finish the job, they had come storming back and they damn near caught him the second time. He barely escaped with his life. The only things that saved him was the fact they couldn’t find him, now he had to go back and finish the job but he had to be careful the next time he visited Whiskey Bend.

  He thought about the other person involved with the other morning’s activities. Lester Kratz had been the only other person who knew about him. While it was true all Lester had was a phone number and Cooper had thrown away the phone he used to confirm the hit, Lester was still a concern. He was a mild-mannered, slick conman, kind of guy with a secret that could put them both in jail. Cooper decided he needed to take care of Lester Kratz his own way. He had no doubt Lester would try to make a deal and give him up without a second thought if it came down to it.

  He drove away from the motel without stopping. Lester Kratz might not be the only one he needed to take care of. While Lester had hired him to kill his secretary, there was another person who hired him to kill the judge and the DA. His other contact might have hired him for the same job but Lester had made the initial contact.

  Cooper parked the blue sedan down the block away from Lester Kratz house. He noticed Lester’s car was parked in the driveway. He couldn’t believe Lester was still in town. He’d thought Lester would have left by this time. Cooper looked around the quiet neighborhood. It was still early enough in the afternoon and everyone was still at work or in school so that fact worked in his favor.

  Cooper looked back at Lester’s house in time to see a man coming out the front door with a large suitcase in his hand. If this man was Lester, Cooper never would have put the face to the man. This man was tall and skinny. His mop of bright red hair was unruly and worn a little on the longer side. Cooper deduced he would have presented himself better if he kept his hair shorter.

  Lester opened the trunk and put the suitcase inside. He left the trunk open and hurried back into the house.

  Cooper got out of the car and walked up to the front door. He saw Lester inside the front hall.

  Lester looked nervous as he reached for another suitc
ase and a small package lying on the table.

  Cooper stepped inside. He reached for the holster in the back of his waistband and pulled out a gun. He quickly pulled a silencer from his pocket and began twisting it on the gun barrel.

  Lester jumped and asked, “Who are you and what are you doing in my house?”

  “Just tying up loose ends, I hate loose ends,” Cooper told him

  Lester paled when he saw the gun in Cooper’s hands. “I’m leaving town right now. You don’t have to shoot me.”

  “Normally, I would just let you go on your way, but something happened this morning and I can’t allow you to leave I’m afraid,” Cooper calmly informed him.

  Lester’s face became pasty looking and a bead of sweat rolled down his temple. “What happened this morning?” he asked, his voice was barely a whisper.

  “Did you forget to tell me the FBI and SEC were looking for you?” Cooper asked as he closed the door behind him. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have taken the job you asked me to do. You see my friend, that kind of heat I don’t need. If you get the FBI involved, they don’t like to stop looking until they get whoever they’re after. In my line of work that isn’t a good thing.”

  Lester paled even more. “I can pay you more money.” His voice was barely over a whisper.

  Cooper smiled. “How much more?”

  “Is fifty thousand enough?” Lester asked nervously.

  Cooper pretended to think about it but after a moment or so he said, “I don’t think so. Now if you had offered five hundred thousand I might have entertained the idea but fifty thousand just isn’t enough.”

  Lester looked astounded. “Five hundred thousand? Are you completely out of your mind?”

  Cooper cocked his head to one side. “Isn’t your life worth that much to you?”

  “But I’ve already paid you a lot of money.”

  “That’s true you did pay me but that money was for a service I’ve already preformed for you. This transaction is separate from the first one. Now...” He paused and rubbed the end of the silencer against his chin. “....you have to decide if your life is worth another five hundred thousand.”