Page 53 of Chaos & Carnage

“Shot Jake. I was fucking shot. Get it right.”

“Shot?”

“Yeah. A gun. Bullets. That sort of thing. Your lot took them away, the bullets they fished out of me. Thought you guys were supposed to have intelligence.”

“Ok. Shot. What can you tell me about that night?”

“Dunno. Can’t remember.”

“Was…” Jake looked towards Ciara.

“Ciara. I’m Ciara. And I don’t remember either. All happened so fast, you know,” her Irish accent filled the room.

“My report says you also presented with injuries. What happened to you?”

“Can’t remember. It was quite a while back now. Should have asked questions then.”

“Funny thing is, we tried. But apparently the doctors didn’t think Demon was well enough to answer any. What happened in the hospital? We have a report someone got into your room.”

“Can’t remember, Jake,” Demon continued, staring at him from his chair.

The young police sergeant sighed in frustration.

“And what about you, Carnage?”

“Chaos,” I corrected. “And what about me?”

“What can you tell me about the night there was someone in Demon’s room? What happened? CCTV showed you and some of the other MC members turned up immediately after the event.”

“Can’t tell you anything, mate. We weren’t there. Not till after.” I shrugged.

“Strange that.”

The uniformed officer behind Jake moved to the fore now, looping his thumbs into his belt buckles.

“We can either have this conversation here, or I’m happy to do this down at the station.”

I glanced at Demon, at the anger collecting on his face, and I could swear the temperature in the room dropped to freezing. Yet it was Ciara who was on her feet, crossing her arms against her chest.

“On what grounds? You have no cause for arrest, and, in fact, no warrant to even be on these premises. I am now requesting that you leave immediately.”

The uniformed officer frowned. “It’s not your property, so you can’t ask us to leave.”

“Yeah. But I can. Now f…”

“Alright. Alright,” Jake interrupted before Demon finished the word and gave the jumped-up copper just cause. “We’re going. Todd,” he nudged the police officer towards the door. “I’ll meet you outside in a minute.”

We all waited until the front door creaked shut, the wood not quite fitting properly in the frame after it had been kicked in.

“Look,” Jake paused, taking a breath, finding the right words. “What do you know about a fire last night?”

“What fire?” I asked.

“Thought as much.” Jake gripped his nose, nodded to something only he seemed to hear, and turned away. He went to take a step, but then didn’t continue. “You didn’t kill them, you know. None of them. There was no one in that shit clubhouse of theirs. Keep those doors locked and look after your women.”

Jake glanced at Ciara, but his focus wasn’t really there.

“You know the MCs don’t go after the ol’ ladies. Or other family members.”