Page 20 of Flick

“It’s where they have canvases and paints set up for either date nights or friends, and your admission cost includes supplies and so many drinks for the night,” Rose said.

“Show me,” he said, motioning to her phone.

“Bossy much,” Rose grumbled but fiddled with her phone.

Beth hid a smile because if Rose only knew how bossy Brew could get, she might run the other way. But man, watching those two butt heads would alleviate the boredom of the surveillance. She hoped when they went through everything tomorrow, something would pop up that gave them a break and a company or person to focus on.

She glanced around the room because it was second nature to check out her surroundings when they were on a job, even in the clubhouse. The Original Chapter of Bluff Creek had gotten rid of women who lived on the compound and provided sex years ago. Regina had been a huge influence on that. The Cider Creek Chapter allowed women to come in on party nights, but Bootstrap and Brew had banned any type of club girls from being on the compound permanently five years ago.

Two of the girls had come onto the compound with less-than-honorable intentions. They’d been from a rival MC the club had trouble with. The girls had given information to the rival MC, and the Cider Creek Chapter had been ambushed on a ride.

After that, women could come in on party nights, or if one of the guys had a significant other, they could stay at the clubhouse but no women just for sex, which Beth appreciated. It was interesting to Beth that a party on a Monday night had women showing up, but she’d since heard the Cider Creek Chapter enjoyed a good party no matter what night of the week. A woman who’d come for the party was over by Flick, running her hand down his chest between the opening of his cut.

Flick had sighed when he’d put the cut on after coming to the compound. They’d both been able to not wear any disguises, and Flick had gotten to wear his cut. Beth had missed Flick’s dark thick hair. The disguise he was wearing when at the house had his hair a dirty blond color and shaggy. He also had glasses he wore. She’d gone with a bushy beard so he wouldn’t have to shave his regular beard, which he was eternally grateful for. He’d said he felt naked without it and had asked her to figure out a way to keep it.

Beth turned her head when the woman’s hand continued down his abdomen before she cupped his dick. Man, that was not something Beth wanted to see. It actually left a sour taste in her mouth, though she wasn’t sure why.

When she tuned back into the conversation, Rose was telling Brew goodnight because she had a headache. Beth enjoyed hanging out, but she was exhausted from constantly being on guard. Bed sounded terrific to her.

The woman had moved on from Flick and was now trying to sit on Cowboy’s lap. Beth wasn’t sure why she relaxed after that.

“I’m out too. I’m exhausted. See you all in the morning,” Beth said.

Chapter Fourteen

Beth sat waiting for the meeting to start. Cowboy had the room prepped. Photos were printed and on bulletin boards along with a large map of the area. A whiteboard was waiting for notes, and Cowboy also had a large screen to show anything from his computer. Rose and Della had handouts they were giving as people came in.

Flick wasn’t here yet, and Beth wondered if she needed to text him to wake him. She hadn’t seen him this morning.

“I’m here. Sorry, your coffee here was disgusting,” Flick said, placing her favorite coffee down along with a chocolate Long John from the donut shop she loved. Flick sat down beside her.

“I knew we had to be on our best game, and their coffee wasn’t going to cut it,” Flick whispered, sipping his own coffee and taking a blueberry cake donut out of the box to eat. He pushed the box toward Rose and Della to grab theirs next.

“What, no coffee for the rest of us?” Brew groused.

“If you all want better coffee, make it. It’s obvious you’re content with that swill,” Flick said, taking a huge bite of his donut, then flipping Brew his middle finger.

Beth sipped her coffee, thankful that Flick had gone out and bought her some. She’d looked at their dirty coffee pot and knew there was no way she was drinking out of that. Rose was drinking a soda, and Della had made herself some tea.

“Okay, let’s get started. Rose, Della, and I have divided up the things you had us checking on, and we’ll update where we’re at. Then Flick and Beth will take over for their update. I’ve been keeping up with the map of where everyone goes. To make it easier, we’re calling them Kingpin and Junior since they have the same names, Junior being Rose’s former partner. Kerwin will always be Kerwin to us.

“Junior has three places he visits consistently besides his station: this apartment building, the bar where Rose was taken, and this appliance distributor warehouse. Kingpin visits his country club, his office downtown, and this house belonging to a John Smith.” Cowboy paused while everyone laughed at the most common made-up name.

“And Kerwin visits a nightclub that we’re working our way through shell companies to determine ownership, a house that we believe belongs to his wife, though he doesn’t live there, and the appliance distributor warehouse.”

Rose stood up and walked over to the wall of pictures. “We’ve identified these ten people who we have my former partner paying off. All of them are either current police officers or they work security at area nightclubs. We have two more that facial recognition isn’t working on, and the cars they were in from the pictures have stolen plates on them. Of these ten, four have visited places the others have visited: the bar, the shelter, the nightclub, the apartment complex, and the appliance distributor.”

Della stood up and tapped the computer.

“Sifting through the flags on the calls is slow going, and we’re not seeing anything that’s triggering a red flag for any of us. I know this is slow going, but I honestly think we need to watch a couple of these places around the clock. Whatever they are doing, I feel like they’ve been doing it for a while, which means they’ve worked out the issues that would bring them to law enforcement’s attention.”

“I agree, baby girl. They are too slick at this. I mean, the former partner has no problem visiting these places repeatedly in his uniform. It screams that he believes he’s untouchable. I’m good with allotting some more people for surveillance if needed. These people need to be stopped,” Bootstrap said.

They were looking to Beth and Flick to give their opinion.

“I agree. Round-the-clock surveillance on some of these places. Let’s focus on the four that have people from both groups visiting—the bar, nightclub, apartment, and the appliance place. If we don’t see anything in two weeks, I think we widen our search again.

“I know I’ve told you this before but use the disguises. We don’t know how sophisticated their tech is, and I don’t want someone running facial recognition on one of us because we hit on a traffic camera multiple times two blocks away from one of the businesses. Flick and I can take our turn too. Log what you see, even if it seems inconsequential. A truck arriving. A truck leaving. All the vehicles. Something has to break,” Beth said.

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