Vince stared at him a long moment, mouth tightening in a hard line, finally. “You’re unbelievable.”
“You already knew that about me. Don’t act surprised.”
~*~
Carter hadn’t expected to sleep well, still buzzing and keyed-up from his evening with Leah; his lips had felt swollen and unwieldy by the time he got back to the clubhouse. He’d expected to feel frustrated, after having pulled back. But instead, he’d been suffused with warmth, keenly aware of the phantom pulse that seemed to beat all down his side where Leah had leaned up against him in front of the TV. He’d fallen asleep with a smile on his face, and dreamed pleasant dreams for once.
Until he was awakened by a pounding on his door the next morning.
After that, the whole day went to shit.
“I don’t get it,” he said at table. His pulse was throbbing again, through his whole body, and no part of it felt pleasant, now. “I thought someone was watching his house!” He had his hands buried in his hair, and scrubbed them back and forth, wishing he could massage the mounting tension headache away.
“We did,” Briscoe said, tone heavy. He motioned to Dublin, who was smothering a yawn in his hand and lifting a coffee mug with the other. “We parked right in front of the house and didn’t move all night. Didn’t see anyone coming or going.”
“He musta snuck out,” Ghost said. He stood behind his chair at the head of the table, visibly coursing with energy as he frowned down at his now-empty coffee mug. He’d chugged it straight off. Without being asked, Harry got to his feet, and took it from him to go for a refill. Ghost nodded absently. “Put a slug of Jack in it this time.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m letting Vince handle telling the family,” Ghost continued, one hand on his hip, the other on the back of his chair. “It’s not gonna be pretty, and I expect Connors to blow up and do something stupid. Keep your eyes open, because hewillturn up here.
“I told Vince to take his people in and out the back of the building. No one’s been coming and going there save the crew, and Todd said he’d keep them all back. The last thing we need is a buncha crime scene tape out front and squad cars parked in front of the place. Vince agreed not to tell Connors where the body was found.”
Carter stared down into the depths of his own untouched coffee and the idea of taking a sip turned his stomach. This was not the first, nor would it be the last time Ghost broke things down into the cold language of club damage control. For him, the club, and his blood family were all that mattered. Oh, sure, he would help others if he could – but only if it didn’t require a personal sacrifice. It was an attitude that had expanded and protected the club, but it was one that still nauseated Carter when it made an appearance. When it painted tragedy in black-and-white figures and dispassionate edicts.
“It was going by that house that did it,” he said, before he could catch himself, and lifted his head to find that the whole table had fallen silent, Ghost cut off mid-sentence. “We took him to the house they were dealing out of, and now he’s dead. They must have seen us.”
“How?” Briscoe asked – demanded. He was rattled and angry that Jimmy had gone missing on his watch, Carter suspected. “Were you not watching for a tail?”
He’d checked his mirrors periodically, but maybe not as carefully as he should have…
“There could have been cameras in the house,” Fox said. “We followed them the whole way, and there were no tails.”
“Cameras would be smart,” Mercy said. “Then you’ve got dirt on your buyers.”
“Look,” Ghost said, impatient. “It’s nobody here’s fault. In hindsight, we shoulda been keeping the kid here overnight under lock and key.”
“Yes, because that worked so well in Texas,” Albie said, and his gaze, when Carter glanced toward him, was harder than he’d ever seen it. It left him wanting to recoil.
Ghost nodded. “Yeah. I don’t like the idea of keeping civilians here, especially not ones with targets on their backs.
“Right now,” he said, rerouting. “We’ve got to minimize the fallout. And we need to find who did this. We need to find themyesterday.”
“I’ve got a call in to my lab guy,” Ratchet offered. “He’s got access to the sketch Nicole’s boss gave us, and he’s running it through all the databases.”
“That could take forever,” Ghost said with a wave. “I want boots on the ground.”
“If Fred and Ricky were at Jimmy’s party, then some of the other kids there will have seen them,” Walsh pointed out. “Maybe even bought product from them.”
“Right,” Ghost said. “Let’s go back to Allie Henderson’s parents – Eden can be the go-between, since they’re familiar with her, now, and she–”
A soft knock at the door interrupted him. Evan poked his head meekly through the door. “Sorry, boss. But there’s a guy here who wants to talk to Carter. He says it’s important.”
Carter felt his brows go up. “To me?”
“Yeah. Said his name was Elijah.”
~*~
