Page 46 of Patch's Bride
The tablet is unlocked and a message thread sits open. Tank announces, “It’s a fairly incriminating conversation about howBeth is now agreeable to be his new companion in exchange for wiping his debt clean.” Tank stops to take a deep breath before continuing, “There is an image of Beth and Lila in a foyer with fancy spiral ironwork behind them. The sender’s phone number matches the number on the card. The timestamp is a few hours old.”
“Let’s get going,” Siege says.
“What about him?” I ask Siege. “We need to interrogate him properly.”
“Zip tie him, Tank.” You two escort him back to the clubhouse and put him on lockdown. We’ll have a go at him right away. He’s gonna tell us what we need to know or else.”
“You can’t just abduct me.”
I turn on him. “Why not? You abducted Beth and Lila. Turnabout is fair play in my opinion.”
It’s clear Robert Jefferies is a little too used to having his own way in life and didn’t quite know how to handle having all of it being removed in one fell swoop. As Tank walks past with him in tow, my hand shoots out, hard and fast around his throat. “Just want to let you know that if any harm comes to Beth or Lila, I’ll personally see that you get a dirt nap. Think on that while you’re dragging your feet.”
Now, I don’t know for sure that I have it in me to murder a man in cold blood, but I want him to reflect on his choices and worry about his safety, just like he’s made Beth and Lila.
He goes pale as Tank gives him a rough push towards the back door. We shove him into the truck between Dutch andTank. They take off with him. The rest of us jump on our bikes and head back to the clubhouse.
***
By the time we make it back to the clubhouse, that asshole has clearly had time to think about his situation. He comes barreling out of the pickup truck, screaming about how we can’t make a lawful citizen’s arrest and that we were abducting him.
Smoke approaches him. “Stop being a dipshit. You’re not under arrest. You’re being secured at our property for safety reasons. We’re gonna give you to the cops when we’ve finished with you. Violation of a medical welfare check? That’s another crime the police can add on top of the abduction and trafficking charges.”
Tank and Dutch hustle him off to the basement. Zen gets busy reviewing information from all the devices we brought back.
Smoke walks in and lays out the evidence. “We have an eyewitness that says you took Beth and Lila away in your vehicle. You named another person, and we found his business card amongst your personal effects. It looks like we have what we need to turn you over to the police.”
“You want to make this easy for yourself? You can tell us, or we can beat it out of you,” Rigs says menacingly.
Robert groans and looks at Smoke “Not you again. I thought you left. You gonna lawyer me to death?”
Smoke responds humorlessly, “I’m like a bad penny or your worst nightmare. Anyway, talk to us about the whereabouts ofBeth and Lila. If something bad happens to them, it’s going to fall back on you.”
Rigs walks over and leans down to look into the stubborn man’s face. “If you don’t talk, I’m gonna start pulling out your teeth one by one.”
I call out to Zen. “Start with his cell phone. Maybe check his Google Maps or see if he’s sharing his location with anyone.”
Zen immediately starts working on his phone, while the rest of us take turns having a go at Jefferies. We’re playing nicely, but I want to hurt him so bad. I tell him, “We’re gonna find out where they’re at, sooner or later. You might as well tell us, so we don’t have to start cutting off ears and shit.”
The stubborn fool gives me a withering look. “You’re a doctor. Doctors don’t cut people’s ears off.”
“Do I look like a doctor right now? If it gets my woman and her sister back, I’m gonna cut off your fingers one by one and feed ‘em to you.”
“That’s some pretty sick shit.”
“Sicker than trafficking your own daughter? I don’t think so, asshole.”
“We’re not going to give you an infinite number of chances to cooperate,” Siege growls. “Give us the address. You’ll still be turned over to law enforcement, but at least you’ll still be alive. On the other hand, if you keep playing stupid games, I guarantee you will end up winning stupid prizes.”
Zen finally speaks up, excitedly, “I think I found it in his contacts list of all places.” He rattles off the address, causingJefferies to jerk his head up to give him a dirty look. “You are going to ruin everything. Why can’t you assholes mind your own business?”
Siege slaps Zen on the back. “Good work, Zen.” Turning to Smoke, he says, “Go ahead and turn him over to our contact at the Las Salinas PD. Give him all the evidence we collected and have him meet us at Vincent’s address.”
Chapter 15
Beth
Lila only sleeps for a few minutes at a time before startling awake. Her breathing issues come and go. We use the inhaler to help her get through each episode. I feel absolutely terrible for her. She took one rescue puff in the van before and had three more today. Since her life depends on this one inhaler and we don’t know if or when we’ll be able to secure more, we need to make this one last as long as possible, especially as we don’t have her other meds.
