Page 66 of Grave Curse

“Oh, honey, from what I’m hearing, the war might be over anyway,” Mabel said confidentially. “Two of Hades’s lieutenants were killed, Doug Dug and Ghoul. Radar was Hades’s vice president and Cheese was his long-time advisor. That means the majority of the Chicago Gravedigger hierarchy has been wiped out. That’s bad enough, but reputation-wise it’s even worse because of what happened to the club girls.”

My breath caught as I dropped the meatballs into the cart. “Oh, no, Mabel. Don’t tell me some of the girls got hurt.”

“Not just hurt, honey.Killed.” She looked around carefully before leaning forward, and we all came in for a huddle. As always, Mabel could be counted on to have the juiciest gossip. “Last night I talked to one of my old girlfriends from my little mama era. She told me that half the casualties in the hospital right now are actually the easy-lays and the mamas. A load of them were basically shot in the head, execution-style.”

“Oh my God,” I gasped, while Misty pressed a horrified hand to her mouth. “Why? They were harmless.”

“My girlfriend said that the person who did this was crazy, so they genuinely believed that they werefreeingthe girls from the Chicago Gravediggers, not killing them.”

“Wow, that is crazy.” And it tracked with what Tyr had told me about the spy they’d sent back. God, she must have been utterly insane to have believed death was the only way out.

“True, but that’s not the point,” Mabel added, waving a dismissive hand. “You know how macho the biker world is, right? Even if none of those girls were claimed by a brother, it’s still understood that those girls were club property. No one should have been able to harm them while they were under the Chicago Gravediggers’ roof. If the leader of a club does allow such a thing, that means that leader is too weak to have that property in the first place.”

Wild hope flared in my chest. “Is that the word on the street right now, Mabel? That Hades is too weak to lead the Chicago Gravediggers?”

Mabel lifted a shoulder. “All I know is that Hades’s rally’s been called off, and the brothers who came into town for it—and for the war—are leaving in droves.”

“She’s not lying,” Ash added in a stage whisper that normally would have made me laugh. “Hades has taken over this shitty little motel called the Arrowhead Inn out by the airport, and until last night it was filled to the brim with Chicago Gravediggers from all over the region. But as of noon today, most of them have checked out and are headed back to their own territories. Remember though, I didn’t mention anything about that, because that’s club business.”

“Holy shit.” I tried to absorb it all, even as I wondered if everyone else could feel the shifting of the world like I did. At long last my personal nightmare, Hades, seemed to be on hislast legs, and he was going out with a pitiful whimper, just like he deserved. It was all thanks to Tyr’s brilliant move of sending Hades’s spy back home where she belonged, and that alone put me in the mood to celebrate. “I guess it’s like what Sun Tzu said, the greatest victory is that which requires no battle. That’s exactly what’s happened here—a Gravedigger victory with no battle. I say we count our blessings and move on with our lives.”

“Good ol’ Son o’ Sue.” Ashtray beamed at me. “Rode with him in Milwaukee in my younger years. Nice fella. Took me to check out one of his tribe’s powwows. Guess you know him too, huh, Ginge?”

Oh, Ash, don’t ever change. “Absolutely. And he’s got a point, yeah? We need to go on with our lives, and right now that means hitting the food court. If I’m going to survive this post-massacre party prep shopping spree, I’m going to need some coffee and a big slice of pizza before I hit the Halloween decorations.”

“Food!” Ashtray boomed happily.

“You know what I’m worried about?” Misty confided after grabbing a table on the edge of the food court and everyone had settled in with their food. “I’m worried LEO is going to show up on our doorstep and start sniffing around Tyr and the Gravediggers. The authorities have to know our two clubs are at war. Naturally they’re going to blame this crazy shootout on us generally, and Tyr specifically.”

“Tyr didn’t do it.” The words were out of my mouth before my brain could engage. When they all looked to me with questions in their eyes, I realized how close I was to revealing everything—exactly what Tyr didn’t want. “Uh, at least, I’m fairly certain he didn’t.”Oh, great save, Ginger. Real smooth.

Misty’s eyes narrowed while Mabel stared at me as if she’d never seen me before.

“How would you know anything about it?” Ash asked absently, his eyes on the whole pepperoni pizza he’d ordered for himself. “You two have nothing to do with each other.”

“You’re not wrong,” I assured him, sounding ridiculously hearty to my ears. “I’m just thinking about timing, that’s all.”

“Timing?”

“Yeah.” I took a sip of hot coffee to stall while I scrambled to get my thoughts in order. Thinking before speaking was good. I should try it more often. “The Chicago Gravediggers massacre happened just before dawn, right? That’s like forty-five minutes away from Vixen’s Den. It just so happens that Roxie and I were in the shop super early to clean it up after Tyr had a huge fist fight in my store yesterday with some spy Hades sent my way.”

“So that’s how Tyr got that wicked shiner and bruised cheek,” Misty gasped, snapping her fingers. “I asked him what had happened, but he refused to say.”

“Those two idiots, Tyr and Red Flag, trashed the interior of Vixen’s Den,” I muttered darkly, grateful I didn’t have to pretend about being upset over this tiny part of the story. I really did hate lying to my friends. “Just as the news was breaking on TV about the mass shooting going on over at the Chicago Gravediggers hangout, Tyr walked into the shop with a box of piping hot breakfast tacos from Casa La Fonda, which is over an hour away from Rooster Juice. I looked it up,” I shrugged when they just stared at me. “Tyr was waiting in line before the sun was up to order apology tacos while all that carnage was going on across town. He has a ton of witnesses to prove his innocence. At least he’s innocent when it comes to the massacre. He and that asshole Red Flag are still in the damn doghouse for busting up my shop.”

“Well, I for one am glad to hear that,” Mabel announced, attacking her hotdog with gusto. “That Tyr has an alibi, not that your shop got messed up,” she added hastily. “Having Vixen’sDen all smashed up sounds horrible. Why on earth would Hades send a spy your way? And Red Flag? I don’t know that name, do you, babe?” She nudged Ashtray with her elbow, who absently shook his head, his mouth and hands filled of pepperoni pizza. “Are you sure he was a spy, Ginger?”

“That’s what Tyr called him.”

“What’d he look like?”

“Basically like Tyr, but with black hair. No patches, no cut, but Tyr seemed certain he was a spy—even told him to run home and report what he’d seen to that decrepit piece of shit across town, which I assumed meant Hades. That’s when Red Flag launched an uber-violent attack on Tyr. Considering they basically gutted the front room in a matter of about a minute, I’m trying to look at it in a positive light by holding my birthday party there. Like Roxie said, I now have more than enough room for it.”

“Aw, honey.” Mabel reached over and patted my hand, her eyes soft with sympathy. “Don’t you worry, everything’s going to look great by the time we’re done with it.”

“Absolutely.” Misty slid closer to me on our bench seat and gave me a one-armed hug. “Hand us a disaster and we turn it into the best damn party ever. That’s what we Gravedigger women do.”

I opened my mouth to remind her that I wasn’t a Gravedigger woman, when Darth Vader’s theme suddenly sounded from my phone lying on the table. Tyr.

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