Page 59 of Tex's Angel

“Las Salinas PD already knows she’s had someone stalking her for the last month or so. They’ve been setting off her car alarm in the middle of the night.”

He interrupts me to ask, “What makes you think this is linked? That sounds like kids to me.”

“Someone broke into her house and spray painted insults on her walls, calling her a bitch. Check the case records, a couple of CSI guys dropped by to take prints. I don’t know if y’all got anything back?”

“Is she?”

“Is she what?” I ask, confused.

“A bitch,” the cop says.

“No. Of course not! She’s the sweetest woman I know. But even if she was mean as a mama wasp, she’s still gone missing. Anyway, today was her first day back to school. I thought she would be okay with so many people around, but she stayed late. The stalker must have been waiting for her because when she came out her tires were slashed. I told her to sit tight, and I’d be there right away. I swear to God, I was here in twelve minutes flat, and someone had smashed her passenger window, got her door unlocked and dragged her away. I could tell because there was glass everywhere and the driver’s side door was standing wide open.”

“Pretty speedy response for you to just be neighbors,” he responds almost accusingly.

“We’re dating, if that’s what y’all are hinting at.”

“Just trying to get everything I can on record, Tex.”

The problem is, I don’t have endless hours to play twenty questions with Las Salinas’ finest. Therefore, I tell it to him straight, “There’s more than enough evidence on record of her having a stalker for whoever that is to be considered the prime suspect.”

“You know they’re gonna want to clear you, Tex.”

“I know. This ain’t my first rodeo. I have multiple eyewitnesses that put me at her house painting over the graffiti when she was abducted. I can give y’all plenty of evidence that I had nothing to do with it, but all this talkin’ is just wastin’ time that could be spent findin’ my woman.”

His attitude isn’t helping, I know he needs to get the background, but they need patrol cars out looking. Once someone goes missing, time is of the essence. The longer they’re gone, the greater chance they’ll wind up dead. While we’re finishing up the conversation, I hear sirens approaching. Three patrol cars come flying into the parking lot and my former colleagues come pouring out of the vehicles. The officer who responded to the break in at her house is leading the pack.

I step out to greet him. “Howdy, Officer Ryan. Thanks for coming out so quickly.”

“I remembered Mrs. Collins from when she had that break-in a couple of weeks ago. Do you think this is related?”

“Yeah, I’ve been moving heaven and earth to try to find out who’s doing this and what they want. Unfortunately, I keep on coming up empty handed.”

“Who have you eliminated?”

“She’s in the process of divorcing her husband for cheating with her sister. It’ll be final in a month or two. I ruled out the sister and the sister’s husband. Clara doesn’t believe her ex is responsible for the stalking but even though he’s the laziest asshole I’ve ever seen, I still like him for all this shit. And she made a couple of CPS reports where the kids were taken into state custody. I was looking into whether one of the parents might have an axe to grind over that, but so far nothing has panned out.”

“I had our captain put out an APB and we have every squad car we can spare out looking for her, using this school as ground zero.”

I take a few minutes to let him inspect the vehicle while I reiterate to him everything I already told the dispatcher. I’m not quite so impatient now as I know the cops are onto it. Afterwards, I ask, “Do y’all need me to come down to the station and sign a written statement?”

Officer Ryan takes a step closer to me and taps his body cam with two fingers a couple of times before switching it off. Lowering his voice, he says, “Look Tex, I know you didn’t have anything to do with this abduction. None of us know exactly what freaked the higher ups out about you being with the Legion but those of us who have been on the job for a few years know they’re not a one percent club. If it wasn’t for the Legion, Chief Popelstone would still be in charge. Maybe they’re ashamed that they missed it, and it was your MC who saved the damn town? Anyway, I’m not going to force you to come in at this very moment but once I write up my initial report, I will need you to come down and sign off on the statement you just gave to me. And I hope you have enough trust in us to communicate any relevant information you discover about this case. We all want the same thing and that’s for Mrs. Collins to make it home safe and sound.”

Relief surges through my chest, it really means a lot to know that not all my former colleagues think I’m lower than low for being a member of an MC. “Yes, of course I’ll report anything I find. I trust the LSPD to do everything within their power to solve this case.”

“This is a small town, we look after our own. We’re gonna get her back.” His hand comes up to switch back on his body cam. Like last time, he hit it a few times, as though it’s malfunctioning. This man is smart.

“Well, that’s all I know Officer. I guess I’ll leave you to investigate,” I say.

“We still have to formerly rule you out of the investigation,” he says, more for whoever watches his body cam footage than for me. “We have your contact information on record, and I don’t want you leaving town until the investigation is completed.”

“Yes, sir. I understand completely. Rest assured if y’all call me, I’ll come in right away.”

We say our goodbyes and part ways. I get on my bike and head to the clubhouse to meet with my club brothers. I want to be riding the streets looking for Clara, but without any leads I know I’d be going around in circles. Rigs already left as soon as the cops pulled up, no doubt to try and distance the investigation from the Legion as much as possible.

As I ride to the clubhouse my heart is hammering in my chest because I’m terrified that we might not find her in time. Images of her smiling at me, how she felt in my arms all drift thorough my mind. Clara is a fantastic human being and doesn’t deserve even a little bit of what’s happening to her.

When I approach, Evan and Levi are at the gate. Levi is looking all kinds of worried. I slow down long enough to talk to him. “I guess you heard what happened to Clara?”

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