Ten

Rance stormed toward the interrogation room where he knew Jace waited, once again in cuffs attached to the loop in the middle of the table. Deputy Johnson stood outside the door, shaking his head. “You know, Lainie isn’t going to like this,” the deputy said. “Isn’t she all over your ass enough as it is?”

Rance nodded, outwardly showing he understood the deputies concerns, while inwardly, he wanted Lainie Everest all over him in so many stimulating ways. “Then we just won’t tell her.” He glanced through the window in the door at the small man stuck inside the room. “You know as well as I do that something isn’t adding up.” He pointed inside the room. “That kid knows something, and I intend to find out what it is.” Rance knew he was just lucky to be in the sheriff’s department when Lainie called Johnson about the cell phone and how the other gang members were seen heading west out of town. Johnson was the only one they had told about their little jaunt into the woods and coming upon the other thugs, mainly because how they discovered their information was hard to put into a report. However, they left out the part of the two guys planning on using Lainie to get to the phone. While it wasn’t Rance’s idea to keep that part a secret, Lainie thought that if people knew, then everyone would try to keep her protected at all times, and they’d never get the chance to capture the bad guys. However, the bad guys had split, so what had changed?

Johnson shrugged. “I’m just giving you fair warning, that’s all.” He opened the door and gestured for Rance to do whatever he was there to do.

Rance gave a curt nod before entering the room and shutting the door behind him. He didn’t sit, nor did he stand. He pressed his palms down on the table and leaned into the kid, his eyes narrowed, his voice a growl as he said, “Your buddies left you. They were just spotted with their tails between their legs heading for the Turnpike.” He cocked his head to the side. “They must not care about you or the phone, seeing as how they left without either.” He just leaned there and stared at the kid, willing the slimy man to confess something that would help him figure out what the plan was and where he needed to focus his attention.

The kid looked everywhere but at Rance. “I don’t know what to tell you. They do whatever Snake tells ‘em to do.”

“And Snake must have told them to leave your ass behind. No such thing as loyalty these days. How does it feel to be expendable?”

Jace just shuffled in his seat, keeping his eyes on the walls around him, choosing to remain silent.

Rance didn’t blame him. It sucked to finally realize that the man you worshiped never cared for you and considered you merely a pawn to be sacrificed. “Now, you get to go from being Snake’s little bitch to some musclebound lifer in prison. Hell, that might even be a step up for someone like you.”

The kid turned and sneered at Rance. “Fuck you. I ain’t nobody’s bitch. Go fuck yourself, man, and get out of my face.”

“Did I strike a chord? Oh, you poor boy, you. If you’re not Snake’s little bitch, prove it. Tell me where your buddies went. What’s the plan? I thought you said no loose ends. You’re a loose end, aren’t you?”

“I ain’t no loose end.” Jace jerked forward, wanting to strike out at Rance, but the cuffs kept him from going too far.

“Then tell me what the plan is!” Rance snapped. “Snake’s going down. Why do you want to go down with him? So far, all we have you on is trespassing. Unless we can pin Roger’s murder on you, which seems to be what your buddies want, since they left your ass behind. Seems they don’t care about the video any longer either. So, what’s the next move?”

The kid turned his gaze back around to the wall, ignoring Rance and his barrage of questions. His loyalty would cost him in the end, but not this time. If he didn’t kill Roger, and it seemed even more unlikely that he did, then all they had him on was the trespassing charge, and maybe breaking and entering, even though the cabin was unlocked. He’d get a fine and be sent on his merry way to return to Pensacola and whatever punishment Snake doled out for his failure. Rance shook his head. “Fine, have it your way. But you know Snake’s not a forgiving man. You failed here by not getting what you were sent to obtain. He won’t take kindly to that, and you know it. Let us help you.”

“I ain’t no snitch. Now arrest me or let me go.” The Serpent fell back into his chair, his shoulders slumped. He knew what his fate was, but he was willing to take that rather than rat out the others. Stupid.

Rance shook his head as he shoved away from the table, turned, and headed out of the room.

Johnson waited outside the door, another deputy with him, waiting to return Jace to his holding cell. “Anything?” Johnson asked as the other deputy entered the interrogation room.

Rance walked away from the door, not wanting the gang member to overhear him. “No. Nothing. What is it with these kids that they’ll sell their souls to some pathetic loser who would turn on them in a heartbeat?”

Johnson just shook his head. “So, what’s the plan now?”

Rance took a deep breath, his hands on his hips. “I’m going to call my boss and let him know the other two may be heading back his way. I’m still going to wait around for that cell phone, but if the Serpents who just left are the killers, I’m not sure what else Lainie can do. I’ll try and catch them when I get back.” But I don’t want to go back. The wolf within him growled at the notion, clearly expressing his disagreement.

“What do you want me to do with him?” Deputy Johnson pointed to Jace as the other deputy led him out of the small room.

“That’s Lainie’s call. Honestly, I’m not sure what you can hold him on.”

Johnson gave a soft chuckle. “Yeah, too bad stupidity isn’t a crime.”

Rance laughed as well. “Are you kidding? We wouldn’t have enough room in the jails to hold that many people.” He shook Johnson’s hand, thanked him once more, and then said goodbye. As much as he doubted the Serpent members actually left Bull Creek, he still needed to give his boss, Scott Campbell, the Assistant District Attorney, a heads up that they just might be heading his way.

As soon as Rance was behind the steering wheel and heading down Madison Street, he pulled his cell phone from his back pocket and dialed Scott’s number.

“About damn time,” Scott’s gruff voice filled Rance’s ear. “I thought maybe you decided to take a vacation while you were down there. Did you find him?” Rance could hear the man’s chair squeak and pictured Scott leaning back in his chair, face aimed at the ceiling. If the man was anything, he was predictable.

Rance took a deep breath, knowing Scott was not going to like the update he was about to receive. “Yeah, I found him, but not before the Serpents found him. He’s dead. The local sheriffs have the cell phone and are working on getting me the video. There’s a rambunctious female sheriff who seems to think letting me have it now might screw up her case.”

“What the hell?” The chair squeaked again, Scott swiveling in his anger. “Roger is our witness. His murder belongs to us. Why the hell didn’t you call me sooner?”

“Because this is the first chance I’ve had. We found one of the Serpents trying to break into Roger’s cabin. He’s in custody now, but there were two others, the ones we think killed Roger O’Brien. We couldn’t get them before they bugged out.”

“Where did they go?” Scott’s tone held the same exasperation Rance felt with this case. He just wanted it over with so he could get things settled with Lainie.

“West is all I know. The theory is that they’re heading to the Turnpike and back to Pensacola. I don’t buy it, though. The video is still here. Snake sent them to kill a man to get it, so they won’t return without it. My guess is they ran into St. Cloud on a beer run, but I thought you might want a heads up. The locals have put an A.P.B. out on their car, a nasty brown Lincoln with a hard-shell top.”

“I’ll pass the description around here. I’ll also send Burkes out to the Serpents with what we know, see if we can rattle some cages. You never know who might slip up.”

“Sounds good. I’m going to hang out here until the video is ready, and then, I’ll head back.”

“Great.” The chair squeaked again, and Rance smiled, knowing Scott was relaxing a little and leaning back on his desk. The man had habits. “Did I hear you say Roger was staying in a cabin? Where the hell are you?”

“The town’s called Bull Creek. This place is so far out in the sticks, they have to import their sticks from another small town. It makes the small towns back home look enormous. Still, it has its own charm. The locals are friendly enough, and they’re what make the town.”

“But cabins? Instead of a house? Really?”

Rance just laughed as he told Scott he’d keep him updated and hung up. He turned off Madison onto Highway 192 heading to his hotel. Might as well wash the dust of the day from his body. There was nothing to do now but wait for Sheriff Einstein’s forensics team to finish with the phone. Still, Rance wondered whether the other two Serpents did head back to Pensacola, make a quick escape, or just went into town for beer. What happened to their plan to trap Lainie? He didn’t like his destined mate being used as bait, but it was her call, and he was not going to stand in her way again. He needed her to like him, after all.

He sighed, propping his head up with a fist, elbow resting on the interior door panel. And just what am I going to do once I have that video? How do I convince Lainie that we need to surrender to the call of our animals? Then he worried about the logistics of when they did surrender. They weren’t exactly neighbors. Someone would have to move, and he highly doubted Lainie would volunteer. Not that he blamed her, of course. Bull Creek kind of grew on you in a slow drawl sort of way. Would he be happy here? He found himself smiling, knowing that as long as he had Lainie in his arms, he would be happy anywhere. Destined Mates happened once in a lifetime, and he refused to let Lainie slip through his fingers. They were each other’s future. Now, he just had to make her see the same thing.