Page 247 of Sweet Temptation

Holy fuck.

I sat down. “Date rape drugs.”

“He was in possession. Unclear yet whether he was trafficking, or a user himself.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Trafficking meth carries a maximum penalty of up to life imprisonment, depending on how much they can prove he actually possessed. Sounds like they’ve also got him on what they call Aggravating Factors. Those’ll add mandatory minimum penalties. Shit like selling to a youth, and using violence, weapons charges. The list goes on.”

“Youth?”

“He was luring underage girls online. That’s what I’m told. I don’t know how they know that or what the extent of it is. And they’ve definitely got him on the association with a criminal organization. That’s the shiny bow that ties the whole thing up into a pretty package.”

“Well, shit. That’s some good news.”

“Yeah. That’s all I’ve got so far. I’ll be following up on this throughout the day. I don’t know why all these charges are being laid now or exactly what evidence they’ve got against him. I couldn’t get more information yet. Just the list of charges.”

Which meant we didn’t know yet how the Kings fit into it.

“Do you think the Kings are working with the police?” I asked him, spinning it all in my head. “That they fed them evidence? Or maybe they set him up or something? Maybe the cops were already watching Sanchuk and wouldn’t tell us?”

“It’s possible. At this point, anything’s possible. The Kings definitely have a back door to the police. I don’t know who or how, but it’s pretty common knowledge that they’ve cooperated with the law when it benefits them. Most criminal organizations do. And from their point of view, it might not be worth sticking their necks out over a lowlife like Sanchuk unless they have to. Better to let the police deal with it, and the problem goes away anyway? I wouldn’t be surprised if they served him up on a platter last night with a fucking apple in his mouth.”

“Has he coughed up a lawyer yet?”

“I don’t know.”

“Piper seemed to think the Bastards would cut him loose at the first sign of trouble.”

“Then maybe he won’t be able to afford a decent lawyer.”

“One can hope.”

“I’m gonna say, though. No matter what lawyer he swings, these are serious offenses and it sounds like whatever VPD has on him is strong.”

I headed out to the living room; I could hear the distinctive roar of motorcycles coming up the road outside Summer’s house.

Fuck me.

“Ronan?” Naveen said, when I was silent.

“Gotta go,” I told him, opening the front door. “I’ve got company.” I couldn’t see the bikes approaching beyond the trees, but they were definitely coming this way. “I’ll touch base in a bit.”

“Sure. And I’ll get back to you when I know more.”

“Thanks, brother.”

I hung up and headed outside, where the sound was loud. They were close. I walked to the end of the driveway as the roar of engines died.

Piper had just parked his bike in front of the house next door. And with him, as usual, was Blazer.

I was almost relieved to see them. At least it wasn’t friends of Sanchuk’s. If he had any.

They got off their bikes and headed over as I walked out to meet them. I didn’t really care whatever they might’ve done last night to help me or Summer; still didn’t particularly want them on her property.

At least they seemed to know it. We stood in the street, blocked from Summer’s house by the trees. Even if she looked out a window, she wouldn’t see us.

“Morning, Ronan,” Piper said, just like we were neighbors, chatting across the fence over a morning coffee. “Nice day to be alive, wouldn’t you say?”

---