CHAOS (A Lords of Sin MC Novel) (Motorcycle Club Bad Boy Romance) (17 page)

“Shut up, Matty! I can’t even believe all of this. Why? Why would you want to point the finger at Chaos? You started killing those innocent guys long before I even started talking to him. What was there to gain?”

His gut jiggled up and down as he laughed. “Honey, it ain’t all about you. These guys did me wrong from the start.” He cocked his eyebrow as a smirk spread across his face as he stepped closer to me. “And your friend Vic? Consider that payback for ending my future with the club before it even started.”

Everything inside of me snapped. My eyes protruded as I planted my legs wide apart and stepped in, closing the distance between us. An animalistic instinct took over as my voice let out a throaty growl and I started pounding him, bludgeoning his face—just like he did to Skeeter. The only difference is that I was using bare knuckles, he’d used an instrument when he committed his assault. Fighting back, he got in a good punch—square in the jaw—but it didn’t faze me. Wrestling in the bedroom, I took him down to the floor, straddling him and pinned him down with my weight. His eyes bulged out of his head as my thick, burly hands wrapped around his neck and I started choking him. Grumbling and snarling at him about what a piece of shit he was, he reached down at his side and grabbed his police-issued gun that he was carrying.

“I’ll kill you!” he wheezed, cocking the gun and pointing it in my face.

Barreling toward him, we wrestled with the gun. A gunshot rang in my ears as the firearm discharged. All I knew is that he was still moving, and I wasn’t stopping until he was dead. With a deadlock grip, I pried the gun out of his hands and pointed it at him.

“No, I’ll kill
you
!”

Screaming and crying after I shot him, Raven went into shock. His lifeless body was sprawled across the floor, a pool of blood dripping from his head.

“Oh my God! What are we gonna do?” she panicked.

“We call the cops. Tell ‘em to come pick up their piece of shit Sergeant, that’s what we do!”

She was alarmed by how calm and collected I was. “I thought you said you weren’t a murderer?”

“I’m not, babe. I may come from the wrong side of the tracks, but I have more dignity and respect than what he had behind that badge of his. Justice was served today when he met his maker.”

Digging in my pocket, I fished out my cell phone and made a call to the police.

“911 what is your emergency?”

“I was just attacked by one of your officers and killed him.”

“I’m sorry, sir. Can you please repeat that?” The woman couldn’t believe what she’d heard, even though I said it loud and clear. I repeated it again, though, more for the satisfaction of saying that
I
killed him!

“Sir, what is the address you’re at?”

After giving her Raven’s address, I went out on the porch to have a smoke. I knew it wouldn’t take long for a fleet of red and blue lights to show up—and I wasn’t wrong. Within minutes of sitting down and lighting my cigarette, cops were swarming the street, blocking off every direction possible. I didn’t bother getting up; I was familiar with the drill. Raising my hands in the air, I stood up and laid on the ground. A small army of cops ambushed me, placing me in handcuffs before standing me up to check for weapons as they read me my rights. Sitting in the back of a cruiser, I saw Raven walk out of the house with two officers who looked like they were holding her upright as they escorted her off the porch. The look of shock and fear had overtaken her usual happy and cheerful appearance. She peered over at me, walking past me in slow motion, as the police sat her in the backseat of a nearby squad car. The boys in blue were busy lining the place in yellow police tape, marking off the crime scene area after the coroner’s office placed Matt’s body on the stretcher and put him in their van. I took great satisfaction watching them wheel him out with the white sheet covering his body. Only bad thing was, the worst part was still coming.

They carted us down to the police station, locking us in different interview rooms to get our stories. I wasn’t worried, I knew they’d match because there was only one story. The story where a crooked cop had gone on a murdering spree and set up a biker who ended up killing the cop in self-defense. Yeah, that’s right. Self-defense. No matter how bad I wanted to kill him, he’d turned the situation into just that. After the police interrogated me for five hours, they let me have a short break to smoke and get something to drink. When I went out into the lobby to head out for a smoke, I saw Raven sitting at a detective’s desk, nodding her head as I passed by. She offered a weak smile, causing the detective to look over in my direction. His face gave nothing away—no innocence, no guilt. The night air was cool when I stepped outside and was refreshing. I lit my cigarette, propped myself up against the brick wall and reflected on my thoughts of the interview. Overall, I’d say it went pretty well. The two detectives who were conducting the investigation seemed like they had their own suspicions about Matt based on the questions they were asking me.

Chapter 13: Raven

I’d never seen so many cops than the day that Chaos killed Matty at my house. When they initially took me in along with him, I thought for sure they were going to say that I was an accomplice. I was wrong—dead wrong. Matty’s supervisor had a hunch about the murders all along and they’d been studying him for quite some time. The ultimate ruling in the murder of Sergeant Matthew Donnelly was self-defense. Duke was waiting outside the police station in his old beat-up truck when they released both of us. With the things Chaos told me that he’d said about me, I didn’t think he was there for me. I was about to go back in the station to call Amber for a ride when the old man patted the seat and told me to get in. My jaw dropped as I looked at Chaos. He smiled and nodded. Climbing inside the cab of the truck, I kicked Styrofoam cups and soda cans out of the floorboard. Strangely, his truck smelled the exact same as the clubhouse.

“Well done, son. I guess you and the girl here work well together.” He politely smiled at me. I still wasn’t sure what I should say or do. He’d said some pretty nasty things about me—or at least that’s what Chaos had said. The old man seemed to have a different tone tonight.

“I told you she was on our side.” He put his massive arm around me, squeezing me against his side. “And I couldn’t have done it without her.”

“Little girl, I’m gonna apologize to you. I don’t do these very well, but you’ve earned it. When you first started showing your face around the club, I had my doubts about you—if your old man hasn’t already told you. But you’ve shown me a side of you that is rare, and I’m proud to welcome you to the club.”

Did he really say that? He’s proud to welcome me to the club?
Chaos nudged me in the seat. “Thank you, Duke. That means a lot coming from a guy like you.” His hardened face seemed to relax as we drove further away from the police station. Staring at his long gray beard, he appeared older than he actually was. I only knew his real age because he’d graduated high school with my dad many, many moons ago. His black bandanna was displayed neatly across his forehead, hiding some of the crow’s feet that protruded from his eyes.

“And I’m sorry to say, but there won’t be a celebration tonight. As much as we’d love to, it just wouldn’t be right—out of respect for Vic’s family. His brother is flying in from Colorado and I promised to pick him up from the airport in the morning.”

“Prez, you don’t have to worry about explaining shit to me. I’m not in the mood to party anyway. Right now, I’m glad that motherfuckin’ Sergeant is dead and cold. That’s all that matters to me.”

“Son, I know you and Vic were like brothers. We’re having his funeral on Tuesday and his brother wants you to give Vic’s eulogy since you were the one closest to him.”

“Wait a minute. How are they having his funeral on Tuesday? I haven’t even examined the body yet and there’s no way I’m going to work tomorrow.”
The only way they could have the funeral that soon is if his autopsy was completed today, and I’d spent most of my day and evening in a police station.

“That girl you work with, the one that likes to gives blow jobs? She did it. They called her in and she did it. I think they said she released the body to the funeral home a few hours ago, but they won’t go pick up the body until morning.”

Oh, fuck me. They’re referring to Amber as the girl that likes to give blow jobs? Well, I guess she’ll be popular if or when she comes back to the clubhouse.
“She did it by herself?”

“Yep, as far as I know. Hell girl, I wasn’t there.” He got a good chuckle out of that one for some reason. His laughter sounded like he’d smoked one too many cartons of Camel’s as he coughed and wheezed through it.

“That’s good.”
Actually, I was impressed.
Amber hadn’t performed a single autopsy in her entire career yet. She was my understudy and hadn’t been at the lab all that long, but she had learned enough from me that she could do the job by herself.

§

Every member of all the area Chapters rode in to town on their motorcycles one after another to attend Vic’s funeral. The bike engines roared for miles and miles. The service was held in an unusual place—at a banquet hall. Barton’s Banquet was the only place big enough to accommodate all of the bikers and Vic’s family. The MC paid for all the costs and spared no expenses. His rich, dark wood, Mahogany coffin was lined with white silk and displayed a memorial ribbon that read, “Beloved Son, Brother and Friend”. Black and red roses rested atop the casket along with pictures of him, celebrating his life and commitment to the club. Chaos had been such a wreck that I didn’t think he’d be able to complete the eulogy, but he did an excellent job. A few of the other members, including Duke, also stood up to speak on his behalf.

As for Matt, his family buried him in a private plot next to his father. Not one member in town attended his funeral other than his immediate family. The police department was too embarrassed that one of their own was guilty of such heinous crimes. About a week after the funerals, the Fresno police force made a public apology to the town. I was sitting in the clubhouse with the rest of the MC when it aired on TV. Duke turned it up so that we could all hear as we listened to what they had to say.

“Ladies and gentleman, I would like to apologize on behalf of the Fresno PD,” Captain Sheldon started his opening statement. “We regret giving Sergeant Matthew Donnelly the powers in which he abused. Our department conducted a thorough investigation, and with the help of Troy Atkins, we were able to determine that Sergeant Donnelly was guilty of these serial killings. We would like to ensure our community that he acted alone. The evidence that we obtained prove these were not acts of local motorcycle clubs as we had originally suspected. We know that one bad cop does not make all cops bad—and we’d hope that they’d extend the same courtesy to us. While we are still waiting to appoint our next Sergeant, myself as well as the Chief of Police, promise you that the community is safe and that these senseless murders are behind us.”

Duke flipped off the TV before the Captain finished his statement. “Ain’t that some shit. I like how they said, “Troy Atkins” but left out the part about him being affiliated with the Lords of Sin and said local motorcycle clubs. If this town knew half the trouble we keep ‘em out of, they’d call us instead of the damned police.”

Everyone agreed and celebrated a toast. While the guys were drinking and having fun, I walked up to Duke. He was too busy indulging in his whiskey to notice me approaching him. I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He turned and looked at me, shocked when he saw who it was.

“I wanted to thank you.” He started to talk but I put my finger up to his lips. “I was quiet that night in the truck—I guess partly due to shock and the other part…sadness. You said some kind words that night, and I appreciate them. My dad’s told me stories about you and I know it wasn’t easy for you to do that. You’re a good man, Duke.”

His old, wrinkled face began to blush. “Aww, sugar, you know how to make an old man feel good.” He wrapped his arm around my waist. “You’re gonna make a good wife and mother when the time is right, but darlin’,” he stared at me. His baby blue eyes twinkled at me, “You gotta stop workin’ with them dead bodies. Crypt keepers give me….the creeps! How ‘bout you take a nice job doin’ the books? You’re a smart girl, I’m sure you can do invoices for our tow company.”

I laughed. Even though I knew he was serious, it was ridiculous. “Duke, I didn’t waste more than a decade of my life going to school to do what I do. Besides, I prefer working with the dead. They’re easier to get along with.” His eyes bulged, a little shocked at my comment. I watched all the color drain from his face when I said, “And if someone pisses me off, I know what to do with the body.”

“I’ll, uh, keep that in mind.” He raised his shot glass and gulped it down.

“There’s my girl.” Chaos walked over to join us. “What are you doin’ with this old man? He tryin’ to hit on you?” he teased.