Page 13 of His Road Dog

Chapter 5

Priest

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RODDY SAT AT THE TABLE, writing on a notepad. Priest hung up the phone and stood, frustrated over not getting answers he needed.

"What did Gardner say?" asked Roddy leaning back in the chair, clicking the end of the pen with his thumb.

"No suspects yet." He shook his head. "The GSR on Nicole came back negative."

"GSR?"

"Gun Shot Residue." Priest scoffed. "She never even mentioned it last night that they'd tested her. I thought I was dealing with a broken woman when I took her home. I spent all fucking night trying to figure out her connection to Roy."

"Your thoughts have changed?"

He blew out his breath. "This morning, she..."

She'd slept naked and got up without a lick of self-consciousness. Nothing got her down. She was the most upbeat person he'd ever been around.

"What?" said Roddy.

He looked to his MC brother. "I locked her in the spare bedroom last night. This morning, I told her she couldn't go back to the motel, and she would be going back home with me once I'm finished here. She never argued or realized she should be afraid of me. She's just along for the ride like a damn road dog."

Roddy chuckled. "Where is she now?"

"I have her locked in one of the rooms." He cocked his brow. "She's probably in there singing and dancing to entertain herself."

"Shit, Prez." Roddy rubbed his whiskered jaw. "You've got your hands full."

"Do me a favor and work on finding out more with the information I gave you. By now, people have to be talking about Guthrie's murder. Find out if there are any rumors, tying Nicole into what happened." He walked to the door and stopped. "Also, check with that chick over at the Missoula Tribune. She's a snoop on shit like this and might slip while talking to you."

"I'm on it." Roddy tore the piece of paper off the notebook.

Priest walked down the hallway and stopped outside the door where he'd put Nicole, listening for any noise coming from inside. Hearing only silence, he unlocked the door.

"God damn, mother fucker," he mumbled.

The room was empty.

He lifted his gaze to the open window. Damn.

Striding down the hallway, he went through the main room and straight outside. Hopefully, Nicole hadn't had time to get far. He hadn't kept her locked in the room long. Only enough time to order Roddy to look for more clues to Nicole's background.

He rounded the corner of the building and found her standing with three Tarkio members. The fifty feet separating him from her gave him enough time to see that she hadn't run off when she had the chance. Why the hell not?

Nicole passed a doobie to Ringtail, the newest prospect.

The Tarkio members noticed him first and lifted their chins in greeting, directing all their attention to him. It took until he reached the small group for Nicole to turn and face him.

She raised her eyebrows, but she wasn't surprised at seeing him. "Do you know at your house and the clubhouse, all the locks are installed on the wrong side of the door?"

Shy snickered. Priest swung his head and glared at the prospect. Now was not the time for the quietest wanna-be of the group to make a sound.

"Luckily, the windows are installed right. If there had been a fire, it would've been dangerous." She grinned as if nothing ever bothered her.

"Are you high?" He hooked her chin with his finger and tilted her head.

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