Page 54 of Edge

“Possibly,” Luca said. “He was spouting off the usual threats. ‘You’ll pay for this,’ and so on. During his tirade, he mentioned his son knew where he was, and their club would come looking for him if he didn’t return.”

“Yeah,” Phoenix said. “I figured as much. Well, if you’ll show us where he is, we’ll take him off your hands.”

“Right this way,” Luca said and led us to a basement that was set up similar to the one at the clubhouse.

Muzzle’s body was resting on a metal table and haphazardly wrapped with a tarp.

“Let’s get him ready to transport.”

Carbon and Duke moved to the table. Carbon dropped his backpack on the ground and pulled out a roll of duct tape and another tarp. They made quick work of wrapping the body and sealing the ends to prevent any leakage of blood or other body fluids.

When they finished, they picked up his body and carried him out through a different exit, placing him in the covered bed of a truck one of the brothers had driven to Cedar Valley.

Luca handed a large envelope to Phoenix. “These are the personal belongings we found on him—wallet, keys, cell phone, etc. I turned his phone off as we were leaving the diner.”

Phoenix took the envelope and extended his hand to Luca. “Thanks, man. We owe you one.”

Luca chuckled. “I believe you owe me two, but who’s counting?”

It took me a moment to realize he was referring to providing a safe place for Byte and Gabby to stay as the other favor we owed him.

“You’re right. It is two. We’ll be happy to fulfill that debt whenever needed,” Phoenix vowed.

“I hope it’s never needed, but I have no doubt that I can count on you.”

Phoenix nodded in acknowledgment before he turned his attention to the rest of us. “Let’s roll. We’ve got a busy night ahead of us.”

I headed for the truck with Muzzle’s body and offered to drive. Since he was technically my problem, I felt like I should take responsibility in case we got pulled over or somehow discovered on the way back to Croftridge.

Phoenix shook his head. “I don’t think so. You may not realize it, but you’re too wound up to drive.” He handed the keys to Carbon and clapped me on the shoulder. “But you can ride with us.”

Before we left Luca’s property, Phoenix reached into the envelope with Muzzle’s things and pulled out his keys. “Looks like he was driving a Ford. I need two of you to go by the diner, locate his vehicle, and drive it back to Croftridge.”

“What about the cameras?” Shaker asked.

“Depending on where he’s parked, it might not matter, but I’ll text Byte and make sure they’re off.”

“We’ll go,” Dice said and gestured between himself and Ink.

“Ride with Dash and Duke and follow them back in Muzzle’s car,” he instructed. “I want everyone else to head back to the clubhouse. And for fuck’s sake, don’t speed.”

With that, everyone dispersed while I got into the truck with Phoenix, Shaker, and Carbon. Once we were on the road, Phoenix turned in his seat to talk to me. “Obviously, Evie’s going to find out her father’s dead. Do you think she can handle knowing she’s the one who killed him?”

“I don’t think she’ll have any issues with it. There was no love lost between them, and she acted in self-defense. He wasn’t there to make amends with her, and she knows that.”

“I’m not sure how we’ll end up handling this, but I know for damn sure we won’t be delivering him to the Mad Dogs and telling them the truth. Will she be able to keep this to herself and lie to the cops if necessary?”

“I think so,” I said. “I can’t say for certain without talking to her, but I think she’d do whatever is needed to protect herself and the club.”

“Talk to her and be sure before you tell her any details,” he said.

I nodded in understanding. “Will do, Prez.”

He opened his mouth to say something else when his phone dinged with a text message. “They found the car and are on the way back to the clubhouse.”

I felt a slight sense of relief at hearing they got his car, but we still had a lot of things to take care of before I could breathe easily. First and foremost was figuring out what we were going to do with Muzzle’s body.

When we arrived at the clubhouse, Carbon parked the truck in the back, and we left the body where it was for the time being. “I don’t see any reason to risk spreading his DNA around the clubhouse if we don’t need to,” Phoenix said as we followed him to church.

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