Neither of those were an acceptable option. Shark didn’t need an audience.
I would give him this one gift of privacy. It was the least I could do.
“Listen up!” I yelled at the crowd, my mouth running on pure instinct. If I over-thought this, I’d be a mess. I’d play it the best way I knew how. “The club is on lockdown, effective immediately. Any untitled members, old ladies, children… hell, even a fucking pet hamster, I don’t care. You all need to get to church and barricade yourselves in. I don’t know the full details – none of us do, so please don’t waste time asking. All we know is Macbeth has betrayed Dante and, in turn, betrayed every member here and the entire club. Tonight, he told Dante to meet him upstairs and had an ambush waiting for him.” There were some angry murmurs, but other than that, everyone stayed silent.
“What I can tell you is Shark was stabbed in the process, and Dante was taken. Shark managed to tell me Dante wasn’t in a good way – not that he is much better himself at the minute, either. The second, and I mean the goddamn fuckingsecond,Doc arrives, you make sure he’s sent straight up to Dante’s room. I want everyone with Crash’s number to be ringing him. I want you to ring him until his phone grows hands and bitch slaps him out of annoyance. You ring him until the phone company puts in a complaint that we’ve crashed the system. Ring him until your fingers are bleeding with the constant tapping on those stupid screens, you hear me? He needs to get his ass back here immediately. If anyone saw anything, anything at all, you report it to Zach.” I flicked my eyes at Zach, and he nodded his agreement, his phone still at his ear.
“I’m sorry I don’t know anything more, but I want everyone working on this immediately. Think back on conversations you’ve had with Macbeth recently. Think of where he’s been, and who you’ve seen him with. No detail is too small. Was anything off about him? Did he seem different? Ring around, find out whatever you can. No stone will be left unturned. If we all work together, then we bring Dante back where he belongs, safe and sound.”
I paused for a moment and glared into the crowd. “Oh, and rest assured, if any of you are involved, Iwillfind out, and Iwillkill you myself. The difference between me and Crash is, I don’t give a fuck about club protocol. I won’t wait for church to condemn you to hell. I will gut you in your sleep, bake your intestines into a fucking pie and send it to your mother as a present. Do I make myself clear? If anyone has anything to confess, do so now whilst I’m feeling merciful. Don’t let me find out you kept it a secret a second longer than necessary. You’ve no doubt heard what I did to the man in the garage, so please don’t think this is an empty threat.”
“Rachel!” my mother admonished from my side. I glared down at her, pushing my red hair out of my face.
“You’re included in that threat, Mother. I have zero patience for your interference today. In fact, go and make yourself useful and go upstairs. The first door on the left belongs to Dante’s daughter, Bee. If she’s awake, go and comfort her. Introduce yourself and keep her safe. And Mother,” I paused, tensing my jaw as I narrowed my eyes at her… “Do not be yourself. You leave that girl alone. No criticism, no insults, nothing. She should be asleep, so do not disturb her. If she wakes, you play games with her, you make her laugh, and you say nothing about what’s happened here tonight, understood?”
“But—”
“No, no buts. You will do whatever that girl asks. If she wants you to go to a tea party with her dolls, you’ll act like it’s the best fucking tea party you’ve ever been to. If she asks you to go on all fours so she can ride you around the room like a horse, you best whinny and neigh like the most realistic horse she’s ever seen in her entire fucking life. Understood?” I all but growled, my voice barely recognisable as my own.
“Yes.” She nodded, and I pointed in the direction of the stairs, before turning my attention back to the bar, a sudden idea coming to mind. It was true that we wouldn’t be bringing police investigators into this, but we had our own means of investigating.
“Monster!” I yelled, looking around for the newly promoted prospect.
“S’up, Rachel?” He said, pushing through the crowd.
“You’re here, brilliant!” I said, holding my hand up to my eyes to block out the light and see him better. “You’re good with the dogs, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Can they sniff things out?”
“I—”
“Yes or no, Monster?” I hissed.
“They’re not bloodhounds.”
“Yes, or fucking, no?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe’ s good enough for me. Get the best one and get upstairs. Maybe they can help us. Now!” I barked when he remained where he was and took great satisfaction in seeing him scramble to move towards the door.
I sighed and looked down at Zach. “Any luck getting hold of Crash?”
“Not yet. We’ll let you know as soon as we do,” Zach said, holding out his hand to me to help me off the bar. “We’ve got it from here, Rachel. You go back upstairs and see what else you can find out. Believe it or not, the club prepares for stuff like this.”
“I had a feeling you’d have some sort of plan. Isn’t that what your stupid church is all about?” I smiled, albeit a sad one, and accepted his outstretched hand. I stepped down onto the barstool, and jumped to the floor.
“Something like that,” Zach smiled back at me. “You did good,” he murmured in my ear, and my heart skipped a beat, welcoming the approval. “Dante would be proud of you.”
The mention of his name had my heart squeezing. “He’ll be okay, won’t he?” I asked, a slight tremor in my voice.
“Dante will be home before you know it. This time tomorrow, you’ll be fighting over some stupid shit and burning some more of his belongings, I guarantee it.” He wiped away another tear that I hadn’t even realised was rolling down my cheek and smiled at me. “Go upstairs, Rachel. Everything will be okay.”
“Thank you, Zach.”
He gave me a small nod and then turned back to face the club members, clapping his hands once. “Alright, you heard the lady. Titled members pull up a seat. Everyone else, fuck off to church and don’t move a fucking muscle until we know what’s going on here.”
