Page 56 of Edge

“Hello,” she answered on the second ring.

“Hey. How’s Irene?” I asked.

“She’s doing okay. She was in a bit of pain earlier, but they gave her some medicine, and she’s sleeping now. How are things there?”

“Fine,” I said and took a moment to choose my next words carefully. I couldn’t tell her exactly what was going on, but Ididn’t want to outright lie either. “I’ll be at the hospital first thing in the morning. I’ll fill you in on everything then.”

“Oh, okay.” I could tell she wasn’t happy with my response, but I couldn’t very well tell her over the phone that her father died and we were tossing his dead body and car off the side of a mountain.

Instead of trying to reassure her, I changed the subject. “Any news on Bart or Tony?” I asked.

“Neither of them has friends or family to speak of, and they both had Irene listed as their emergency contact. It took some doing, but we finally got one of the doctors to come in and talk to Irene. Tony has a broken arm and a concussion. Bart also has a concussion and a couple of broken ribs. They should be able to go home tomorrow and are going to stay at Tony’s house to help each other.”

“So, they’re both going to be out of work for a while?”

“Sounds like it,” she said. “Irene wasn’t happy about it, but she agreed to keep the diner closed tomorrow.”

“We’ll get things figured out in the morning.”

“That’s what I told her, but you know how she is.”

“Well, try to get some rest, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay,” she said softly. “Be careful.”

“Always,” I promised and ended the call.

Leaning back against my headboard, I closed my eyes and sighed. Even though we had a handle on the situation for the time being, I knew there was more to come.

Since I didn’t have time to dwell on it, I got to my feet and went out back to search Muzzle’s car. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, just doing a general search to see if there was anything that might be useful, particularly since we were expecting future dealings with his club.

“Gross,” I grumbled to myself as I tossed yet another bag of fast-food wrappers onto the ever-growing pile. The man wasa fucking pig. His car was filled with trash, and it smelled like sweat, smoke, and something rotten.

Other than a gun and some meth, I found nothing of significance inside the vehicle. The trunk, however, was another story. I opened it, saw what was inside, and immediately closed it before running back into the clubhouse.

“Prez,” I said and tried to catch my breath. “Found something in the trunk you need to see.”

Phoenix, Badger, and a few other brothers followed me out back to Muzzle’s car. Without preamble, I opened the trunk and stepped to the side.

“Fucking hell,” Phoenix grimaced. “Do you—?” he started and covered his mouth. “Do you know who that is?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s Marcy, the waitress who works the evening shift at Irene’s.”

Phoenix gestured for me to close the trunk. “Well, I don’t think that’s coincidental.”

“Me either,” I agreed.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled heavily. “I knew this had been too fucking easy. Give me a minute to think.”

“I don’t see how this changes anything,” Badger chimed in.

“How so?”

“She’s dead,” he said simply. “We can’t change that. She can go over the edge with Muzzle. Her death, or disappearance, will go unsolved or be linked to the attack at the diner. Either way, it has nothing to do with us,” Badger explained.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Phoenix said.

Badger grinned. “I usually am.”

---