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“Thanks, Kendall.” Phoenix reached inside his pocket and slipped a hundred-dollar bill in her palm.

My brows furrowed at the exchange.

What the hell was that about?

“Will you ask around for me?” he asked her.

Kendall sighed, but nodded and deposited the money in her back pocket. “I can’t guarantee anything. I don’t really talk to my brother anymore. You know he hasn’t exactly been supportive of my career choices.”

“But your niece is still fucking around with Killian and Levi, right?”

“That’s none of your business, Phoenix, but yes, I guess you can say Kendra still sees them on occasion.”

“Can you talk to her? See if she’ll ask them?”

“You know this shit can cost me my job if word gets out to the wrong people.”

“It’s me, Kendall.” He reached up, and in a stupid as fuck move, cupped the side of her face. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do.” Her fingertips grazed his wrist before she pulled away and stepped back, shaking her head. “I can’t do this, Phoenix. It’s not fair, so please don’t make me.”

“Fine, Kendall. That’s fine. Just check into that for me and let me know as soon as you can.”

She ran off then, leaving him to stand there gaping at her with tears shimmering in his eyes.

“Phoenix.” I stopped him, grabbing his shoulder as he made to turn and walk away. “Are you still—”

“I stopped seeing her years ago. I heard she was back in town and had gotten a job at the lab recently, but this is technically the first time I’ve seen her since the breakup.”

Jesus fucking Christ. Kendall Wilson used to be Phoenix’s everything once upon a time. They’d dated throughout high school, but when college rolled around, she’d called it quits in their senior year and left Phoenix devastated. Since then, throughout the years, Kendall would randomly pop up, drunk off her ass, pussy soaked, and would spend the night in Phoenix’s bed, just to crush his world the next morning when he’d wake up and find her gone without leaving so much as a goodbye note. I’d spent many nights nursing my dear friend back to health thanks to him damn near drinking himself to death over that woman in the past.

“Phoenix.”

“I don’t want to be with her anymore, okay, I don’t. I gave up on her a long time ago. The only reason I slipped her that money is because we need to know if the MC’s may have any involvement with these cases. Crow would know, but since he and Kendall aren’t on speaking terms, then we’ll have to go with the next best thing.”

“And if Kendall doesn’t deliver?” I asked.

“Then it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve made a mistake with her, now, would it?”

It was extremely risky confiding in Kendall, but Phoenix was smart and knew just as well as I did that with us being cops, we couldn’t inch a toe inside Crow's turf or make it within twenty feet of his daughter without having an army of fucking weapons aimed at our heads.

“Why not just go by his place and talk to Crow yourself? You used to be friends, right?”

Phoenix sighed and said, “It’s complicated. Crow and I had a bad falling out after Kendall and I ended things the last time. I see him around once in a while riding with his crew, but he and I haven’t spoken a word to each other in over four years.”

“Was there any evidence found indicating a MC member was involved?”

Phoenix shook his head. “Not exactly. We’ve got blood, hair, fingerprints, and a few fiber samples I think may be from either the couch or carpet. We won’t know more until we get the results back.”

“Then why did you ask Kendall to hound Crow’s daughter?” I had to ask.

“Because Crow’s club isn’t the only MC in Seaview Pines, and it also isn’t a secret that a lot of them stay coming and going from the precinct. I know we ruled them out with Delilah’s case, but here, we’re at an actual crime scene and have a little bit more to work with this time around. Plus, you know some of the crews are good for this kind of shit. I understand Chief thinks our cases are connected, and he may be right, but I want to exhaust any and every possible lead we can think of first before we draw up any sort of conclusion.”

I opened my mouth, starting to tell him I agreed, when suddenly, a loud thud resonated behind me.

My eyes widened, and as I whipped around, cursing to myself, I ran for it, right on over to Daniel Strickland who’d just tipped over forehead first onto the floor.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.