Page 110 of Wicked Ends
He’d need a much more direct message.
“Rough night?” Someone had sat beside me.
I glanced over. The guy who’d been nursing a beer for a while looked at me.
“Why do you say that?” I wondered.
He stared down at my hands. I’d been cracking my knuckles without realizing it. I relaxed my hands. I still had paint flecks on them.
“Not really, it’s fine. You? I haven’t seen you around here before,” I noted.
The Clutch didn’t get many new customers who weren’t introduced through an MC member. They were free to bring along a new lady or a new potential recruit, but randomstrangers didn’t really wander in. The odd lost family on their way to town sometimes, but they usually took in the vibe and left pretty quickly.
Except Ari. She’d wandered in here, like a delicious bunny into a den of wolves, without even sensing the danger. She hadn’t even known it was an MC bar until I’d pointed it out. My lips tilted at the thought of her.
“Pretty damn good. Came to town looking for someone… someone who didn’t want to be found.”
“Oh, you a bitter ex or a collections agent?” I mused.
The guy chuckled. “Neither. I’m a PI by trade, tracking down a thief. Not just any thief. A thief to the tune of one hundred grand.”
I whistled. “That’s quite the figure to make off with. He rob a bank?”
The guy shook his head. “Not quite. But it doesn’t matter. I found her and took back what’s mine.”
“You’re a PI, but she stole your money?” I asked. The guy’s story was wild as hell.
“Yeah, well, this is a case that hit close to home,” he muttered and tapped a finger on a photo lying facedown on the bar top. “She’s also my little sister, and she tried to kill me before she left to run here, so you could say she’s got a few screws loose.”
He seemed eager to talk about his target, so I figured I’d oblige him.
“And she’s hiding out in Hade Harbor? I need to see this dangerous criminal,” I chuckled and turned the picture over.
The noise in the bar quieted. The music stopped. Even the air didn’t dare to move.
“She’s your sister?” I repeated, staring at the photo.
A photo of Ari.
My birthday girl.
“Sure is. Arianna Spencer, just turned twenty-five, and she’s lucky I tracked her down to get the money back myself. I could have let the cops do it, but you know, she’s family.”
I don’t have any family.
“Arianna Spencer?” I repeated.
The guy nodded. “She’s been hiding out here in town under a fake identity. She planned this theft well, probably for years. She might think she’s smart, but not smarter than me. Seen her around?” He turned an expectant expression on me.
There was something smug in his face. Like he was enjoying this conversation too much. What was his fucking angle?
“Maybe,” I muttered. The last thing I wanted was to listen to this fucker talk about Ari when she wasn’t here to defend herself.
“Well, if you do, be careful. This is her MO. Move to a new place and bleed people dry. She targets the most vulnerable. She paid me off, and I have no idea where she got the money, but it’s not hers, that much is certain.”
As he spoke, the door to the bar flew open and Maddox strode in. Every single Hound in the place sat up straighter, drawn by his urgency.
He met my gaze and jerked his head toward the back. His look was clear.Now.
